Written by Madison French, a 2nd year Drama and Film Studies student.

Congratulations on your offer to study at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom! This is a major accomplishment in many regards, especially as a potential international student. My name is Madison and I am from Denver, Colorado and have (somewhat successfully) gone through the major shift moving from the United States to England. Any university you choose to attend will provide you with a completely new sense of self-worth and independence, you’ll be thrown into an endless compilation of unforgettable experiences and your perspective will be challenged and added to no matter where you go. However, choosing to study abroad in Manchester will provide you with a variety of unique once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

Your biggest shift will be the culture shocks to life in the United Kingdom, how you’re thrown into a world where young adulthood is treated as adulthood. The city of Manchester has rich cultural diversity not only in the international aspect of the city but in arts, sciences, education, and experiences. Manchester has major big-city resources with access to endless museums, art galleries, art installations, theaters, dozens of universities adding to student life, handfuls of clubs and bars (which you can enter at 18??), while maintaining a decent cost of living that is far cheaper than London. Inside the city, you’ll find a Chinatown and the world famous Curry Mile along with traditional British, Irish, and Scottish pubs.

If you are on the adventurous side, like myself, and uprooting your life to study abroad is not quite enough travel, you have access to two nation-wide train stations that can carry you throughout the United Kingdom, a highly successful bus system in and around Greater Manchester, and a short ride up to the airport. Travel, even on a student budget, is extremely accessible. With the right apps (RyanAir and EasyJet), enough dedication, and research time, trips across Europe can be astonishingly cheap (I’ve bought round trip tickets to Paris for around $83). Not to mention, the hundreds of locations to visit inside the UK.

Now, let’s talk about your time at the actual University. Education in the UK is different from any time you have spent in the USA. Luckily for you, everyone at University is being graded the same way you are and for the first time as well. Your education at university is centered completely around the passions you have and the degree you choose. For my art students, you won’t have to take another math class again! The University makes sure you are able to focus on what you want to take on into your life, you get to pick the classes that will benefit you both personally, academically, but career-oriented as well. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t also expand outside your degree, as there is an option to take outside classes in courses you’re fascinated in.

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