Is Newcastle really a "Party-uni"?

I’ve heard the same rhetoric about Newcastle University since I applied here, years ago: that it’s a so-called “party-uni”, with students seeing the inside of clubs more often than their lecture halls. While Newcastle impressed me at open days, it was this reputation that unnerved me slightly, it was the one thing that I didn’t want - it’s fun to have fun, but I for one enjoy balance, and from the sounds of it... students at Newcastle were full sending it. 

I can confidently say after four years of studying here, that this is categorically untrue. I can’t speak for pre-2020, for all I know this could be a shift that occurred following Covid. But at least in my years here, I have never seen Newcastle as just a party scene - it has so much more to offer than this. How accessible and walkable the whole place is. How we have a countryside and beaches within the reaches of public transport. I could go on, and turn this into a full-fledged love letter to the city, but I’ll spare you for now. 

Of course, if you go out on the town on any weeknight you will see students out drinking. But this isn’t exclusive to Newcastle, in fact I would say for such a little city you’d most likely see even more students out in somewhere like Manchester or Leeds. I’m unsure how Newcastle seems to be the only university categorised this rigidly. But at the end of the day, university is what you make of it. Sure, any uni can be a party uni if you drink seven days a week and hit the clubs every weeknight. But you can also spend your time knitting and reading if that’s all you feel like doing - do not feel pressured to live up to a stereotype. I for one spend my free time napping and ironing. I am ancient.