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EEP your weekends free for the next few months. That’s because you (and probably at least one of your parents) will be touring the UK, visiting universities.

This is something you need to plan with almost milit ar y prec i sion, particularly as you may be travelling hundreds or even thousands of miles, staying overnight and trying to fit in as many tours as you want. So where do you start? Find the degree f i r st — then the university. Search online at Ucas.com. Read as much as you can about the courses, the various modules and methods of assessment. Some offer more hours of lectures than others, some are more practice-based, while others are more focused on exams. Try to find out as much as you can and select a degree that meets your particular requirements.

Remember, a psychology degree is not the same at every university so you need to know much more than just the course name.

Then check each degree’s student satisfaction rankings in the National S t u d e n t S u r ve y 2 01 6 (thestudent survey.com) and its employabilit y levels — look for the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education stats at hesa.ac.uk.

Sites like Which? Uni (universit y. which.co.uk) offer a wealth of information, which can help you whittle down your selection.

Once you have done your research, make a shortlist and start finding out more about the university itself.

You are going to be spending three years there, so you have to make a choice that you feel comfortable about. If you are hankering after a quieter life, perhaps a university away from a busy city? If you are sporty, look for a university with great facilities and great teams. If you are not so confident about moving away from home, look at campus universities where you will feel part of a community.

Then make another shortlist of the universities offering the degrees you want to study.

“There a re 3 95 unive r s i t i e s a nd higher education colleges in the UK — so visiting them all is prett y much impossible,” says Ucas.