Every university is different, so doing your research is vital to help you find the right uni for you.
Updated: 20 Jul 2026
Choosing a university is one of the biggest decisions you'll ever make. After all, your future could depend on it.
You want to know you've made the best, fully-informed decision – so it's worth doing plenty of research. Here's some reasons why university research is important.
The application deadline may seem a long way away now, but trust us when we say it’ll sneak up on you and, before you know it, you’ll have less than a month to go and no idea of where to send your application.
By doing research now, you’ll be able to focus on and finish your application sooner, and you won’t be panicking in January. Think how wonderfully smug you can be when that happens.
You not only need to think about the subject you want to study, but also research whether that subject is covered in a way you’d be interested in.
For example, let's say you’ve decided you want to study English at university. That's great, but English at one university could be very different to English at another.
Some universities will have modules focusing heavily on classic literature, while others may focus more on poetry, or only teach books from the last ten years. Some universities will be incredibly strict with their modules, while others will let you choose from a huge library-sized collection, so it's good to know the differences.
This is where university rankings can come in handy, particularly the ones from our sister website, Complete University Guide. Not only do they have a league table of UK universities, they also have separate league tables for subjects!
NEXT: Explore Complete University Guide League Tables
Research will also help you see what types of teaching methods are employed by each university. While some will give many hours of lectures a week and give constant support, others will do much less lecture work and require you to do more independent study.
Universities will also assess you differently. Some will prefer to grade you on group projects, presentations and written exams, and others will send you on work placements and mark practical work.
By researching your options you’ll find a uni that teaches you in a way you’ll learn, and assess you in a way that works for you.
This is why we've got a bunch of different categories in our Whatuni Student Choice Awards, including Lecturers and Teaching Quality. They can very handy for checking out what unis have to offer.
NEXT: Check out the Whatuni Student Choice Awards
Do you want to be in the hustle and bustle of a city? Or would you rather go more rural and be surrounded by countryside? You need to research your university as a place to study and a general location.
Do you want to be away from it all and relying on your car? Or do you want to have an exciting nightlife where getting home at 3am isn’t a problem? Do you want to study at university with multiple campuses or do you want to study somewhere a bit smaller? All good things to think about during your research.
To help you get an idea of where you could study, we created some guides for the four nations in the UK, the regions across England, and cities all around the country. Start exploring!
NEXT: Explore studying in England
As well as thinking about your location in terms of type of environment, you also need to think about your uni accommodation. Will you be happy having your nearest supermarket several miles away? Or do you want complete campus convenience so you can pick up milk in your slippers and onesie and be back in bed within minutes?
With so many universities to choose from, researching your options thoroughly will help you turn pages and pages of potential options down to the final few that'll actually offer you what you want to learn, in the way you want to learn, in the right location for you.
To make this easier, you can use our Favourites and Final 5 feature to keep track of universities that you're interested in. Spotted a great uni on Whatuni? Give the heart button a click and add it to your list!
NEXT: Advice on picking your Final 5
Ultimately you want to be able to use your degree when you graduate, not just having it as something to frame at your parents’ house alongside your graduation photo.
So, researching things like job prospects and rankings of universities, as well as the subject you’re studying, will make sure your future is bright and you won’t have to convince employer’s your degree is worth something.
You’re going to spend at least three years at your chosen university. If you don’t even pick up a copy of the prospectus, how can you be sure you’ll be happy there? The more research you do, the more satisfied and confident you’ll be with your choice of university, and ultimately the happier you’ll be there as a result.
Feeling daunted? That’s ok, we’re here to help you every step of the way.
You can start by searching for courses. Filter your results based on factors important to you and see clear comparisons between your shortlisted universities. Just enter your subject of interest in the search bar at the top of the page to get started.
You can then view detailed info on courses, modules and unis, order free prospectuses, and plan to visit your favourites with our open day calendar.
NEXT: See upcoming open days
When you’ve started making up your mind and picking your firm choices, you can use your Final 5 to make a note of them and change your mind as often as you like until deadline day in January.
Remember, you can keep track of all your progress in your very own Whatuni account so you can access all the research you’ve already made at any time.
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