University offers
It's been pretty hectic over the last month, as I've been visiting universities and trying to make my mind up on where I want to spend the next 3/4/5 years.
I got interviews at York, Manchester and Durham for Computer Science and slight variations. I also got a straight offer from Leicester, but I wasn't planning on going there anyway. Warwick was another choice, but since they wanted a copy of my passport and I couldn't be bothered sending them, and also going down there I just cancelled my Warwick application via UCAS.
The first interview was with York, and it went pretty well. The campus is nice, a little remote since it's in York but still has good student services, and sports facilities were decent too. The department itself was pretty comprehensive and there's a strong focus on research there.
The next was Manchester, probably been my favourite for a long while. Moving there I'm not far from home, yet can enjoy all the benefits of living in the city, with only a short walk from accommodation to the CS building. The interview there was interesting, I was asked what experience I had with programming and general CS stuff. The interviewer was filling out details as I talked before we chatted about the course and the industry itself.
I went to Durham the day after, got up 4am and drove there to arrive at around 7:30. The university itself is nice, it's a student city with a scenic river that flows through it. There's a characteristic, traditional feel to everything and you get the impression that they're proud of their history. However, the CS department was rather disappointing. The course didn't seem as challenging as Manchester or York and the equipment was outdated. Not good for a CS department.
I got offers from all of them (or should be from Durham once I send off passport), and have decided to go to Manchester after they offered AAA. High requirements but you'd expect that and I don't have a problem with it.