‘Party animals who absolutely love the sesh’: What the rest of the UK thinks of Leeds

Even they’ve picked up on the Beckett rivalry


It’s great time to be in Leeds. We’ve recently been christened the “University of the Year”, while the city itself was named as “the best big city in England to live in” in 2015, but what do people from other cities and universities think of us? We asked a number of students about what they’ve heard and thought about the universities and the city.

The rivalry between Leeds and Beckett

“My view is that students at Leeds, as with most universities, probably go out drinking all of the time, slack off, and have sex with each other. It’s all far too easy to do well nowadays.” –Meg, The University of Cambridge

“Seems to me that University of Leeds is more intelligent than Beckett, although I bet the alumni are a bit boring.” – Harry, The University of Coventry

“I guess I always think that the University of Leeds is more highbrow than Beckett because it’s a Russell Group.” – Iona, Newcastle

“Went there once, seemed okay but was too close to home for me to really consider it. My friend seems to kind of enjoy living in Leeds most of the time.” – Sam, The University of Durham

“The Leeds uni stereotype would be more academic types doing stuff like English and sciences. Beckett is more vocational so studying more hands on things, maybe didn’t get as good results, maybe didn’t work as hard as they should have, maybe just fancied a more hands on degree.” – Lily, The University of Manchester

Nightlife in Leeds

“I’ve only ever been to Leeds off my face.” – Laura, Sheffield

“From what I’ve heard, Leeds is a great night out. Loads of good clubs and music. Isn’t Alt J from there?” – Sam, The University of Durham

“Nights out in Leeds are classy.” – Edward, The University of Lincoln

“Having so many universities is probably bad for the city. Groups of students out at all hours of the night could scare elderly locals, and irritate other people who actually do proper jobs in the area.” – Meg, The University of Cambridge

“From what I can tell from my pal’s Snapchat who’s there it seems pretty sick. I bet University of Leeds people are more party animals, absolutely love the sesh.” – Lily, The University of Manchester

“Leeds is the UK number one’s best student night out.” – Amy, Plymouth University

“I’ve heard that night’s out in Leeds always lead to getting off your face and then getting off with someone else.” – Iona, Newcastle

Studying

“I imagine Beckett go out more, but Leeds uni studies harder.” – Edward, The University of Lincoln

“All I know about it is my friend who’s doing biochemistry who I visited while she was a few weeks into her first year and she had a gigantic and really thick textbook that she had to learn cover to cover. So, difficult.” – Lily, The University of Manchester

“The libraries looked incredible when I visited last year.” – Harry, The University of Coventry

“Don’t they spend more time worrying about their university’s sport’s teams than studying?” – Meg, The University of Cambridge

“Surely all university students have to study a lot, they’re attending to do a degree.” – Lauren, Sheffield

“The libraries were pretty cool when I went for a visit.” – Nick, The University of Birmingham

Appearance

“We went there on a school visit thing last year, it looked really nice – proper fancy buildings and stuff. And a big park across the way.” – Sam, The University of Durham

“The University of Leeds seemed cosy, Beckett probably isn’t.”  – Harry, The University of Coventry

“The campus was pretty nice and it’s a cool city.” – Lily, The University of Manchester

“The impression I get is that there are neighbourhoods of terraced houses pretty much dedicated to housing masses of students.” – Niamh, Strathclyde University

“I thought the campus looked nice when I went for a visit last year.” – Edward, The University of Lincoln

“I think Leeds is a decent city, looks pretty good too.” – Nick, The University of Birmingham

The people

“A mixture? Every university is going to have all sorts of people but I guess for the most part that we northerners generally tend to stick to other northern cities for university.” – Lily, The University of Manchester

“I’ve heard some pretty horrid stories about some areas being targeted for robbery and sexual assault, I hope that people moving into those areas look out for each other.” – Niamh, Strathclyde University

“I’m thinking most people have a strong Yorkshire accent.” – Harry, The University of Coventry

“I’m sure the majority of people in Leeds are nice, you always get a few exceptions.” – Iona, Newcastle

“Don’t a lot of the students get really drunk and rowdy when they watch sports?” – Edward, The University of Lincoln

Featured image credit: Elliot Young