10 reasons you don't want to study in London

So what if it's the capital city? London is not necessarily the best place to be a student

London: A city with many drawbacks for students (Getty)

Tirelessly scrolling through University websites in the hope of finding somewhere within your reach (academically) that also boasts a lively student lifestyle, with great credentials and facilities to support your sporting physical prowess, can be a hard task. Prospective undergraduates head online to find the right place to spend the next three years of their lives.

London’s reputation for the best nights, the most fabulous days and everything in-between can easily make you forget about the negative points. Here are just a few.

Fashionable people

Walking around in public in pyjamas is a given right to any university student in the UK. With a busy schedule and a banging headache from the night before, there is nothing more unimaginable than having to put on some real clothes when heading to the shops for a can of baked beans and a loaf of white bread. This, however, is a hard fought task in London. With its buzzing colony of fashion loving drones that shallowly judge your day-to-day outfits, public pyjama-wearing in the capital is usually out of the question.

TfL

The transport system in the country's most expensive city is, needless to say, pricey. On top of that, it boasts a certain degree of unpredictability, which will almost certainly leave students running late for lectures all over the city. And if an overpriced, delayed service isn’t enough to put you off, there fear of a strike should do the trick.

Graduates

One of the main attractions of studying in the capital is the claim that plenty of jobs are just waiting to be filled by eager, willing undergraduates. The truth is that career opportunities are displayed right in front of you, within reach. Yet, undergraduates still miss out to the thousands of graduates that find refuge in London. With all career prospects over saturated with applicants much more qualified, students find themselves behind the counter at the corner coffee shop rather than undertaking new and exiting internships.

Sports

For prospective students interested in a sport, from rugby to quidditch, London certainly doesn’t have the facilities to support students' activities. With high-rise buildings and shops dominating every last inch of space in the city, students keen on pursuing an active and healthy lifestyle are forced to travel out of the capital to greener land. Wednesday afternoons are filled with train and bus journeys rather than sporting moments to remember.

Everywhere is booked

It is true that London has some of the best bars, restaurants and venues for students to visit instead of attending lectures. However, when deadlines stack up and exams get closer, the only time available for outings comes at the weekend. In need of a relaxing drink, or two, students head to their favourite bars only to be turned away by dull faced hostesses demanding a reservation.

Poor student housing

Living in London always seems a glamorous affair, with locations along the Thames and the vast, beautiful buildings in Fitzrovia. Although these buildings are there and cheap central locations can be found, it is most likely prospective students will be stuck in the outer zones of the city. In a poorly built zone four house with nothing more than a corner shop and a 50 minute tube ride into central London, resentment will soon develop.

Impersonal campuses

Universities in London have to battle for space with shops and offices. This results in a widely dispersed university with very little integration between campuses. This has a knock on effect to poorly organised student nights and very little knowledge of what is happening around the university, leaving students feeling like poor, lost souls in a huge city.

Professionals

Judgement doesn’t just come from fashionistas and graduates but from everyone in London, especially city workers. Whilst performing the walk of shame, which will inevitably involve taking the underground at some point, you will most likely be met by the glares from commuters on their way to work. The bitterness of these slaves of the nation's capital is enough to turn any prospective student away.

FOMO

London has some of the best nights out, every night of the week. To most this automatically comes across as a plus for University life. But as money becomes more scarce as term goes on, for cash poor student nights out become less and less frequent. And on the rare occasion London students can make it out, there is inevitably going to be something better happening somewhere else in the city. Leaving a hole in your heart bigger than the one in your wallet, the fear of missing out is something every London student is accustomed to.

London snobbery

Despite all of the above, students and residents of London still hold a sense of pride attached to where they live. The expenses and the crowds, the delays and the judgement, it's all worth it because you live in London. This is probably the most annoying thing about studying in the capital as nowhere else can compare to your city, even though most of the time it's probably better, cheaper and more fun.