I’m glad I didn’t go to a Russell Group uni

Between the ages of 16-17, I genuinely thought if I didn’t go to one of the 24 Russell Group unis my life would be over. But now I’m older and hopefully wiser, my outlook has dramatically changed.

A big part of this change is owed to the fact that I don’t actually go to a Russell Group uni – gasp – and my life isn’t over. Imagine that.

Russell Group universities may be regarded for their prestige and ability to provide an “ideal learning environment for students to flourish” (their words, not mine), but I still reckon there are plenty of negatives that make life at somewhere such as Leicester just as good – if not better.

Cost of living

Unless you have unlimited access to the bank of Mum and Dad, you’re probably always worrying about not having any money. Five of the Russell Group unis are in London, and while it’s where I’m from and I’ll always love it, it’s also the most expensive city to live in the UK.

Nobody at a London uni is getting the quid drinks Marz serves up every Thursday in the Mayfair clubs, and other RG unis outside of London can also be extremely expensive too. Cambridge is a good example.

Fortunately for us, figures from HSBC revealed Leicester boasts the cheapest living costs for first years out of all British unis. So while your typical London student pays £287 a week for essentials, a Leicester student spends considerably less – just £167 a week.

Suck it.

League table rankings

The table doesn’t lie, and recent uni rankings show being a Russell Group uni is no guarantee of a place at the top of the league. As well as Leicester, other non-RG unis such as Bath, Loughborough and St. Andrews rank higher than some of the Russell Group.

Leicester, which just about makes the top 20, ranks higher than Russell Group faves Newcastle, Nottingham and Leeds, to give a few examples (not feeling so smug now, are we now, Notts).

Social life

Unlike Durham and Cambridge with their limited range of about four clubs, there’s a lot more to Leicester than a night at the O2. As well as enough clubs to keep you entertained, Leicester has an ever-expanding range of shops and restaurants (hello, three Nandos and a Wagamamas).

Leicester is also about as central in England as you can get, making it easy to visit friends at other unis around the country. But why you’d ever want to leave is beyond me. I’ve met some freaking awesome people from all walks of life here and thanks to the diverse number of international students (44^th most international uni in the world) I now have a place to stay in Rome, so I think we all know what I’ll be doing this summer.