The Campus

Most utopias never actually get built (and when they are, they're mocked; take Milton Keynes, or Disneyland, or even, if you really must, Michael Jackson's Neverland). But there are a number of places in Britain where architects were given a pretty astonishing brief. They were asked to design, from scratch, a little town where a few thousand young, intelligent, occasionally physically active individuals could study and play at the state's expense, where mathematicians would exchange ideas with linguists; biologists would cross-fertilise with art historians.

The best campuses will include almost everything you could need: supermarket, a library, a doctor's surgery, banks, a laundry; bookshops, sports centre, bars, gig venues, even perhaps an art gallery, a chapel and/or mosque and a counselling centre. Predictably, many students act as though they despise the campus - despite it being their very lifeline.

So whether it's town or campus, your surroundings can matter a great deal. If you prefer having everything within range of a mid-morning stagger, or if you abhor concrete and long to live among the dreaming spires, then look at what your options are. Go and visit, and get a feel for the place and for how the current students feel about it and use it. If the campus is full of unused shop units and dank launderettes, then maybe think again. And if the university is spread wide across a city, then try to work out how you'll feel, sobering up at 3.30am on a Tuesday with a huge journey between you and your bed. Also remember that often halls of residence are located away from the university campus itself, often several miles.

In the end, it's all a matter of personal preference, but try to think of it in terms of actually buying a house. Investigate the place. Speak to the current occupiers, read the brochures, and try to imagine yourself living there. It's only real estate, after all, and for now, at least, you won't be buying it.

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