Hi, im a third year at salford.
I think what you need to do is take a good look at the course structure as they differ quite a lot. when i've been on placements i've met students from manchester so we've compared what we've been upto. This is things like when you take placements (i remember them only starting in 2nd) whereas at salford we had a mini 3 week one in first year which was good just to get to grips with things before you were sent out in 2nd year to have your patients. But they start their disseratation a bit earlier.
We also do learning on a problem based approach- which i have to say is the best way to learn as your finding things out for yourself, you then get together in your tutorial group to discuss it (get ued to using lots of flip chart!). The lecturer's are all supportive and you can have a laugh with them, and the new building is fab, and there's a good mix of students who live in and live at home as well as some mature and we have a couple from norway in our year. Its been a good 3 years.
Good luck with choosing