The Great Debate

Quote of the moment: "The enemy cannot press a button when you have disabled his hand!" - Starship Troopers.

Oh, the irony... There was an advert for becoming an Army Cadet Instructor in the break!

Now, I have a major decision to make. I'm pretty certain of getting at least a B in my exams, and so I'll fulfill the BCC offers I got from Bath and Cardiff. Tis time to choose...

Type:
Bath: Campus, departments along a promenade (central walkway).
Cardiff: 'City', departments spread along a road.

Size
Bath: 7,000 students.
Cardiff: 22,000 students.

Position:
Bath: At the top of a hill above the city.
Cardiff: Near the city centre.

1st yr accommodation:
Bath: On campus, networked.
Cardiff: Blocks mostly along the university road, computer rooms in engineering block.

2nd yr+ housing:
Bath: In the suburbs of the city, mostly down in the valley.
Cardiff: In the triangle formed between the university road and the M4, known as the "student village".

Greenery
Bath: Surrounded by the stuff.
Cardiff: Bute Park is the other side of the university road.

Sports
Bath: Olympic Training village on campus, complete with 50m pool, dojo, the works. In top southern university leagues for most sports.
Cardiff: Pitches 5 minute walk, overflow pitches 15 minutes. Inter-departmental rugby matches.

University Officer Training Corps (UOTC)
Bath: None, must join Bristol OTC. Must commute every week for training.
Cardiff: Own, based at Maindy Barracks, at far tip of 'student village' triangle. Joint exercises and expeditions with other 3 OTCs from Wales.

Entertainment
Bath: A couple of clubs, more in Bristol.
Cardiff: Millenium Stadium for sports, plenty of gigs.

Union
Bath: Small, compact.
Cardiff: Huge, sprawling, occupies the former Cardiff Train Station.

For me, Cardiff is winning until here. However, here's the crunch:

Department
Bath: Unique department of Architecture and Civil Engineering.
Cardiff: 1st in the Times league table for the last 3 years.

COURSE
Bath: Combined with the architects for the first year. From then on, projects involve cooperation between the architecture and engineering students, simulating real-life projects. Engineering students also learn the basics of architecture, its history and the aesthetics of buildings. (The architects do the reverse, including the physics of buildings). The whole department is focused around design, not the actual building work. The whole course - 60 per year -is architectural(structural) engineering orientated.
Cardiff: Combined all-areas engineering for the first year. Architectural engineering is a subset of civil engineering, with 15 'arcs' and 60 straight 'civils' per year. 'Arcs' do three quarters of the same modules, and instead of the enviromental and hydrological ones (drainage and dams) they go over to the Architecture school for basic modules there. End of 3rd (and 4th, for MEng) year projects involve cooperation between the arc. engineers and the architecture students.

It doesn't sound that bad when written down! The main issue is being a minority subset, instead of everyone doing it: the same 15 people for 3 or 4 years could be a real pain in the bee-hind. Plus the Bath course in just cool... like doing Architecture, but grounded in physics instead of art/design. Instead, the Cardiff course is a much more broadly engineering sort. However, that could be more useful if I make it into the Royal Engineers, as practical and hands on is what they're about.

Overall:
Bath wins on Type, 1st year accomodation, Greenery, and Course.
Cardiff wins on Position, 2nd year+ housing, UOTC, Entertainment and Union.
I'm not much fussed about the size, and I'd call Sports and Department a draw.

Basically it seems Cardiff would be more fun!