Hey.. I'm an overseas applicant and I was offered places at St A , Nottingham, Leeds , Southampton, QMUL ... was hoping if I can get a little but of insight on how the computer science department is at the above unis...

Also, awaiting results from KCL , Edinburgh and Manchester...

Completely subjective reply:

> St. A. Bit posh/Harry Potter. Northern/Scottish Oxbridge rejects. Arguably most prestigious choice as a result.
> Nottingham. Probably the middle-ground in terms of academic normal. Therefore potentially boring.
> Leeds. Down to earth and Northern. Probably the least prestigious but most fun. But Leeds is pretty grim as a city (but much improving).
> Southampton. Southern. Some instances of knotted cardigans around necks, though otherwise generally normal.
> QMU. The UoL part nobody has ever heard of. London is awesome, and good UoL prestige. Check campus though as possibility it will be in dirtland 50 miles out.

haha funny characterisation.

It is totally true.

On topic. You will generally find that the more southernly universities have higher living expenses than northern cities. If moe is an issue I would consider more northern unis such as Leeds and Nottingham. I am also not disrespecting St. Andrews as a university but it is effectively a village in the middle of no-where. If you want a city life avoid St. Andrews but it is very picturesque and relaxing if you like fields.