Where would you do the GDL?

[pinnip]

Hi all,

I get the choice of which city to do the GDL in. None of them are my uni city, and I don't have links/friends to any of them.

I get a stipend of about £12,850 from my firm to live off. Obviously for London this is no where near enough and will just about cover rent.
I won't have any other income sources unless I work.

The options are BPP Manchester, BPP Waterloo (London), or BPP Bristol.

Where would you go for?

I am worried that moving to a city for just one year might be difficult as I will spend a while making friends and settling in, by which point I will need to go anyway.

 

[Nicktim]

Hi,
When do you start the course? If it's being sponsored by your firm then you probably won't be concerned by the difference in tuition fees for studying in London but the course generally costs more in London and as a current BPP Waterloo student I haven't actually visited the campus at all since starting in Sept 2020 (the course ends in 2 weeks). I've enquired if the LPC starting in August 2021 will be taught in person and they have understandably not given any assurances. I get the feeling that social distancing will be pretty difficult in the BPP London campuses (800+ London PGDL students and I don't believe the building is huge) so I don't imagine they'll be in a great rush to return to full in-person teaching until it's clear that restrictions are lifted long-term.

Might also be worth considering that your firm might make you study the LPC in London so if you've done the PGDL here and had time to get used to the city and find a place to live then it won't be as daunting as moving here later when you're starting the LPC or your training contract. On the down side I can confirm that London is more expensive than the other cities you've mentioned... having said that rental prices are lower than usual at the moment (in many parts of the city anyway) due to lower demand so if you move here in the next few months you might be able to find a decent place for a better price than you would if you waited until next year to move here.

 

[Deleted member 11573]

Hi all,

I get the choice of which city to do the GDL in. None of them are my uni city, and I don't have links/friends to any of them.

I get a stipend of about £12,850 from my firm to live off. Obviously for London this is no where near enough and will just about cover rent.
I won't have any other income sources unless I work.

The options are BPP Manchester, BPP Waterloo (London), or BPP Bristol.

Where would you go for?

I am worried that moving to a city for just one year might be difficult as I will spend a while making friends and settling in, by which point I will need to go anyway.

I think that, as a general rule of thumb, living expenses in London are 40% more than the regions. I'm not familiar with Bristol or Manchester in all honesty so I can't comment on those areas. As a bonus though- I think BPP Waterloo has just been renovated. I've also heard from my friends at BPP Waterloo the standard of tutors is excellent, but I don't know how this compares to Bristol or Manchester.

 

[shadow-demon]

Hi all,

I get the choice of which city to do the GDL in. None of them are my uni city, and I don't have links/friends to any of them.

I get a stipend of about £12,850 from my firm to live off. Obviously for London this is no where near enough and will just about cover rent.
I won't have any other income sources unless I work.

The options are BPP Manchester, BPP Waterloo (London), or BPP Bristol.

Where would you go for?

I am worried that moving to a city for just one year might be difficult as I will spend a while making friends and settling in, by which point I will need to go anyway.

The PGDL is from Sept-April, which means you will have about £1600 per month to live on.

You can get a room for £700-£800 per month. I have lived all over London for the last four years, and in general I haven't heard of students having to pay more than around £800-£900, and those students are the ones living in more expensive areas/flats.

That leaves you will £700-£800 per month for bills and other daily expenses. I think that is more than enough to live on. I was only given £10,000 by my firm and paid for rent, and was able to pay my expenses, and even managed to save a bit of money in the end.

You could always get a part-time job or ask your firm for more support if necessary. I think people tend to over-estimate the cost of London. It can really be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be. Ofc it is more expensive than the rest of the UK, but places like Manchester and Bristol are getting quite expensive now too.

You can save costs in so many ways if you are savy enough.

If you look carefully, you can find quite a lot of good deals for accomodation in London atm due to covid and brexit ect with lots of flats empty and landlords offering reduced rates.

Good luck.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

The PGDL is from Sept-April, which means you will have about £1600 per month to live on.

You can get a room for £700-£800 per month. I have lived all over London for the last four years, and in general I haven't heard of students having to pay more than around £800-£900, and those students are the ones living in more expensive areas/flats.

That leaves you will £700-£800 per month for bills and other daily expenses. I think that is more than enough to live on. I was only given £10,000 by my firm and paid for rent, and was able to pay my expenses, and even managed to save a bit of money in the end.

You could always get a part-time job or ask your firm for more support if necessary. I think people tend to over-estimate the cost of London. It can really be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be. Ofc it is more expensive than the rest of the UK, but places like Manchester and Bristol are getting quite expensive now too.

You can save costs in so many ways if you are savy enough.

If you look carefully, you can find quite a lot of good deals for accomodation in London atm due to covid and brexit ect with lots of flats empty and landlords offering reduced rates.

Good luck.

Hello @George Maxwell , I'm tagging you on this after going through one of your answers on cost of living recently. How would you view this answer? Do you think this is possible? I mean ofcourse the OP doesn't have any reasons to lie but would love your views on this.

Thanks.

 

[George Maxwell]

Hello @George Maxwell , I'm tagging you on this after going through one of your answers on cost of living recently. How would you view this answer? Do you think this is possible? I mean ofcourse the OP doesn't have any reasons to lie but would love your views on this.

Thanks.

Hi @futuretraineesolicitor,

So this is a very personal choice (i.e., how much you choose to live on).

Personally I found that in the current climate (the London housing market is bonkers right now) it was difficult to get a flat for much below £900 (unless I wanted to pay the same amount factoring in the cost of commuting each day). Factor in energy bills, water, wifi too. I was looking with a friend for nearly a month in June/July for a flat for reference.

The market has changed significantly since this post was written. Properties leave the market within a day of being listed. Friends of mine lost a flat recently which they offered above the asking rent purely because it is so competitive to get a flat currently.

It is also difficult, if not impossible (in my experience) to find a lease for less than 12 months. So you have to count on finding a job after your course (or during if you like). I have friends on the PGDL who thought they could do a job alongside at the start who then quit because the course was so time consuming.

Again, it really depends on how you find the course etc. and how feasible it is to work alongside for you. Of course, different firms offer differing amounts of grant too!

I hope that helps 🚀

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hi @futuretraineesolicitor,

So this is a very personal choice (i.e., how much you choose to live on).

Personally I found that in the current climate (the London housing market is bonkers right now) it was difficult to get a flat for much below £900 (unless I wanted to pay the same amount factoring in the cost of commuting each day). Factor in energy bills, water, wifi too. I was looking with a friend for nearly a month in June/July for a flat for reference.

The market has changed significantly since this post was written. Properties leave the market within a day of being listed. Friends of mine lost a flat recently which they offered above the asking rent purely because it is so competitive to get a flat currently.

It is also difficult, if not impossible (in my experience) to find a lease for less than 12 months. So you have to count on finding a job after your course (or during if you like). I have friends on the PGDL who thought they could do a job alongside at the start who then quit because the course was so time consuming.

Again, it really depends on how you find the course etc. and how feasible it is to work alongside for you. Of course, different firms offer differing amounts of grant too!

I hope that helps 🚀

Thanks for your response, George.