aropax
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« on: October 21, 2011, 08:28:45 PM » |
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All things being equal (salary, position type), where would you take a job: Durham or York?
I'm worried about Durham's northernness, but York's up there, too. They seem similarly ranked in my field.
I'm coming from North America, and trying to figure out which might be a better fit.
I'm research-focussed, an okay teacher, good at grants and publishing.
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hegemony
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« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2011, 08:41:16 PM » |
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York.
That said, what kind of field?
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Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight.
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aropax
New member
Posts: 18
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« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2011, 08:53:06 PM » |
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It's in social sciences.
I've spent time in York - nice city, pretty surrounding area, not-so-attractive campus, but never been to Durham; passed through Newcastle once, don't remember much.
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totoro
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« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2011, 09:07:56 PM » |
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I worked at York in the 1990s. Nice town though the centre was just flooded with tourists every weekend in the summer. Campus is OK. Both are northerly and dark, gloomy, and damp in the winter and not really very warm for much time at all in the summer. I'm from London originally and think there is a big difference. I don't know that there'd be a big difference in climate between Durham and York. York is a larger town than Durham. Durham is closer to other cities (Sunderland, Newcastle) but it's not far to Leeds from York. Well, it's not far to anywhere in England of course :)
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oddlyodd
Junior member
Posts: 58
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« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2011, 04:56:52 AM » |
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I'd go for York, but if you're into big cathedrals and medieval streets, then Durham has them too. Both are on the east coast mainline railway, which has fast connections to Edinburgh and London. I've heard from friends who've worked at Durham that it can be quite insular and the social life more based around pubs and drinking than in York, which has a larger range of theatres, independent cinemas etc.
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scotia
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« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2011, 08:56:20 AM » |
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All things being equal (salary, position type), where would you take a job: Durham or York?
I'm worried about Durham's northernness, but York's up there, too. They seem similarly ranked in my field.
I'm coming from North America, and trying to figure out which might be a better fit.
I'm research-focussed, an okay teacher, good at grants and publishing.
It takes about 2.25 hours from York to London by train (the fastest journey is 2 hours) and Durham - London is around 3 hours. Civilisation does extend even as far north as Durham (and beyond!). I may as well declare my bias and state that I have a strong preference for 'The North', which is much less crowded than large chunks of 'The South', and generally more affordable. All other things being equal I would probably choose York - as a university it is consistently in or around the top 10 UK universities, and although the university was only founded in the early 1960s it has established a very solid reputation in most fields. Durham has some good departments, but my impression is that it relies much more on its reputation as an 'ancient' to attract students. |
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aropax
New member
Posts: 18
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« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2011, 08:13:40 PM » |
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Great, thanks for the useful information. Sounds like a wash-both interesting places with good reputations and reasonable proximity to outdoor pursuits.
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daniel_von_flanagan
<redacted>
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 9,463
Works all day. Posts all night. Needs sleep.
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« Reply #7 on: October 23, 2011, 01:49:18 AM » |
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York, It is much closer to Hull. - DvF
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The U.S. Education Department is establishing a new national research center to study colleges' ability to successfully educate the country's growing numbers of academically underprepared administrators.
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mleok
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« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2011, 08:33:18 PM » |
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What's the deal with all these silly hypotheticals? It's your life, if you've been offered both jobs, then spend the time to explore both cities carefully before making a decision. It sounds however that you're not even at the interview stage yet, and rarely are two offers equal in all other aspects, so all this discussion sounds like a profound waste of everyone's time.
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drspouse
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« Reply #9 on: October 24, 2011, 08:02:37 AM » |
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If I was jobhunting, the city that the job was in would make some difference - on the level of, there are some cities I'd never want to live in, and would be hard pressed to find any area nearby that I would want to live in (I have a colleague who recently moved from Essex to Birmingham, and one of the pushes was that he hated Essex so much and could not find anywhere he found liveable close by); and there are some parts of the country that are too remote and inaccessible (at my previous, London, university a well-qualified admin person moved to the University of the Highlands and Islands because he wanted to spend more time hiking, but I'd find travel to collaborators/family too difficult from that location, I think).
Likewise the reputation of the university would make some difference, for somewhat more obvious reasons.
However Durham and York are near enough geographically, and similar enough in reputation and as cities, that these qualifications don't really apply.
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