Top Unis - am I missing something?

Warwick grad here. If your DD is as bright and hardworking as you say then I can promise from my experience she will not be bored there and will be suitably challenged!!

Er no, this is quite bad advice. If you want to self-fund a 2, i is probably OK, but if you want to apply for a 1+ 3 studentship (ie a year's Masters, then a PhD) offered by the university or by one of the UKRI research councils, you'll need a First.

Most choices in life are a balancing of compromises and most of us put at least some “red lines” in place when deciding things - even quite basic things like which cafe to go to. If you are going to surround yourself with red lines you can’t then complain that your choices are suddenly limited - you did that to yourself. If she wants more choices then she needs to create them herself. Nobody is building a campus uni with a 3A* entry requirement 90 minutes from her parents house.

And if you want to do a post-grad at Cambridge you only need a 2:1 from any university and a good research proposal. So for any budding Oxbridge student who doesn't get in, try again when they just want your money and don't care about your qualifications 😁

I think some students fixate on perfect choice but there will always be compromise somewhere.
Lots are having gap years just to have a breather and really think about what they want as it’s such a huge expense. From all your updates it sounds like your dc may benefit from that.
@Hankunamatata I’d agree op appears to be conflating lower grades with a lesser course. It’s supply and demand. It’s not a mega popular course (like say law) so doesn’t need to ask for top grades even at top universities. Lots of students attending will have all A star grades. My dc’s friend started HSPS this year and her offer wasn’t all A star. Another classmate had a Cambridge history place for 2024 and only need A star in history.

It is correct - you can confirm with a quick Google search. I can't comment on other universities as I am not familiar with their timetabling etc. I was just sharing my experience with the OP. PPs suggested LU as an option, and whilst I think it's fantastic university for some subjects, I would strongly advise against it for PPR. The department does not have a good reputation and has been struggling.

Oxbridge really isn’t the be all and end all. I got into Oxford to study English 20 years ago, had 4 As at a-level ( A* didnt exist then) and I chose to go to Nottingham instead. Gorgeous campus, great course, fab city. I have never regretted it, I had a great 3 years.

Even if this was correct, most universities will mainly be in exam period in the summer term. Having exams in the second half of the summer term is not something that is particular to Lancaster.

Depends on the subject I suppose. I was there two years ago. Politics in the second and third years has no contact time in the summer term (I did PPE)

This simply isn't true. Lancaster has three full terms (longer than many other universities which some will view as a positive and some as a negative). There absolutely is contact time during the third term - right up until exams. I suspect your YP has fed you a line there. There are lectures and seminars for most of the third term. Second half of the third term is exams and then extravs (college festivals), balls, other socials etc

Do you go on the bus with your DS? It takes at least 30 minutes at peak times. It is not unusual to have to wait for several buses. If you are smart about it, housing is much cheaper in town compared with the cheapest campus option. (I was there two years ago). LU has some amazing facilities for engineering, ecology, etc. it has excellent economics and linguistics deps. PPR is really struggling and across the whole university is one of the worst departments - hence the new project trying to link politics with policy and cybersecurity (the course looks amazing btw) which is where all the funding is going. In my view (obviously just my opinion) LU is not the best option for someone interested in studying a standard politics/IR/history course.

When we visited Lancaster, I absolutely loved the library (including the weeping fig 'tree'). Bumped into one of the librarians and he gave us a bit of a tour, everyone was so friendly and we were also blown away by the study facilities.

Also at Lancaster there is no contact time during the third term so no need to be on campus, therefore it can feel quite isolated.

This intrigues me, is it true of all the subjects? Is it also true of all Unis using the semester system, because I thought that in that system the third term tends to be dedicated to exams.

Warwick is also very good for politics. She may not get the 4 xA stars and she may have needed those predicted grades to get the offers she had. In fact at the Cambrdige open day they emphasised that most students exceed the offer not beat the offer. Not even Cambridge ask for 3 x A stars for HSPS.

It is outstanding. The engineering department blew my Russell group uni educated husband away. The new building being built looks amazing .

It isn’t what we’ve found at all. Bus journeys aren’t long at all and my ds has a bus pass. Nips back and forth very easily during the day.Accommodation is a lot cheaper on campus than the rentals he has had but then he didn’t have luxury housing on campus.

You seem to be focusing way too much on the grades needed to get onto a course and equating that with being the best. Just because a course is ABB etc doesn't mean it's not a great course.

Weird post.

Oxbridge isn't a campus.

The vast majority of people I knew at Oxbridge didn't go home during term time anyway. Terms too short and far too much to do.

It's never wasted to work your hardest to get the best results you can, even if not needed. I've passed loads of exams with top grades in subjects that are fundamentally pointless but gave me massive pleasure and sense of achievement.

I got top grades and went to Oxbridge. I was much happier at the less prestigious uni I did my second degree at. Just because you can get in doesn't mean it's best for you as an individual.

I uses to drive from Durham to Suffolk nearly every weekend to visit partner. It's really not that far.

@CherryKefir No need to get defensive, of course I am not always so sure I'm right but - as others say - I am right in this instance. What Oxbridge want and what employers want are two completely different things. I have absolutely nothing against people packing their lives with extra-curricular activities but it's misguided to think they will win you an Oxbridge place (some might win one anyway but it won't be because of their gold D of E). OTOH, they might well help in the job market and they absolutely will help people applying to Ivy League universities who love that kind of stuff.

My understanding is for unis in the UK extracurriculars don't matter just super curricular. For US unis you need both.

For jobs in the UK and US you need both and ideally you should have extracurriculars during university.

@NewFriendlyLadybird has put it very well.

Re employers - DH said when his company was recruiting they wanted one, or at most two serious interests. Which might be something like helping run a club rather than being a good athlete or musician. And that something like gold DofE might be completely meh in some applicants but impressive if another had completed it, depending on whether it would have been a significant challenge to them or not iyswim.

This. They want a prospective politics student to be engaged in youth forums, local political matters, read political science books for fun, engage with Andrew Marr, Laura Kuenssberg and Robert Peston on Twix on a regular basis, be engaging with their local MPs and campaigning for change in their local area maybe even have a researchers job for the local MP.... To read politics at Cambridge or Oxford she needs to make it her life. That said she's better going to LSE for politics, she'll meet with the crowd she will likely work with on graduating.

@meandkarmavibe is right in this instance. It may be true that extra curricular activities look good for some employers, but they are not the focus of Oxbridge admissions tutors.

They don’t want swots, they want nerds: people who are absolutely focused on their subject and study it for pleasure. So super curricular activities are very much worth demonstrating.

It’s not that they don’t appreciate related extra curricular activities, but they’re not going to get you an offer if the foundational interest and extra reading are not there. And people who pack out their children’s lives with the promise that a wide range of activities will ‘look good on the UCAS form’ are wrong.

Yes but not all experiences are the same.