Picking the less prestigious uni as first choice

Except only around 20% of psychology grads do PG courses or get anywhere near qualifying as a psychologist.

In the real world this doesn’t make a blind bit of difference. As long as her degree is BPS accredited she is eligible for postgraduate training. Students qualify from universities ranging from Oxbridge through to pt night classes at the HE bit of the local FE college. Literally nobody is going to pick someone for pg psychology training based on where they went to uni.

@MarchingFrogs it is Russell Group isn't it? Your post suggests only one l or am I misreading? Don't think many people on this thread have spelled it Russel (only one that I can see)?

Edit: oh wait I see you were quoting the misspeller - I get you - as you were!

DD turned down St Andrews and went to York. St A’s was too remote for her. I just wanted her to go where she would be happiest - she loved her time at York.

Glasgow is a fantastic Russel Group memeber.

Being mean, cruel and a thoroughly nasty person (for all I know, it's due to a widespread, specific form of dyslexia only affecting the ability to spell one individual word), I have commented more than once in the past about the obsession with the prestige of the Russell Group apparently not necessarily extending to noticing how many times the letter L appearsin it.

There may well be a Russel Hotel somewhere, but it's not the one the RG named itself after, honest.

That aside, DS2's two friend who have just started their final year at Glasgow would appear to agree that it's a great place to study.

@RecycleThie where did your DD firm in the end, and is that where she is going? (I do hope you read at least one of the posts confirming that your original understanding of the the Firm / Insurance situation was correct and that your DD didn't act on the 'advice' that she should put somewhere someone else thought she ought to as Firm and her real preference as Insurance and then just choose the latter on results day even if she had made the grades for the former).

Wherever she is going, I hope that she will have an enjoyable and successful time there.

Not if stereotypes are based in any truth 😂

I’d say go with her gut.
Glasgow is an amazing old city with a prestigious university.
Very underrated.

Last time I visited Edinburgh the city was full of closed shops and Princes St was just a line of charity shops.
As far as the uni goes, on a par with Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Depends where you live too really. They’re both a long way from Bristol.

This will have been mentioned I'm sure, but a prospective student might want to have a little think or word with themselves about the city they might want to spend three years at, which one turns them on, frankly. Which city they might have a relationship with, you might say, or relate to.

I went to Bristol and hated it. First few months I thought it was me, and I suppose in a way it was, but y'know. It's hard to extricate yourself. But others liked it, and I got on with others who liked it... But it's three years, it's not a like a movie you can easily walk out of.

Glasgow for medicine for example is actually more prestigious than Bristol. It was one of the first universities to teach medicine in the western world. The gold standard assessment of consciousness (GCS) is called the Glasgow Coma Scale. All Bristol has come up with is the Bristol stool (poo) chart lol. Glasgow is a fantastic Russel Group memeber. Great choice.

By the way I think Glasgow now charges fees for 4th year for RUK students - as do St Andrew’s and Edinburgh. My DS is at Edinburgh and has enjoyed the flexibility of modules and subjects for Y1 and Y2 as well as the easier option to switch degree course. It is more expensive, of course. I also loved Glasgow Uni when I visited.

I meant Edinburgh is expensive.

I wouldn’t say Glasgow is especially expensive. All students get free bus travel and my DS uses this a lot. It is certainly way cheaper than eg Bristol or London!

@Fedupwithtax The position on needing fees from non Scottish students applies to every Scottish university. If you look at the Edinburgh website on applications and offers, you will see that the number of Scottish students is capped by the Scottish Government. It’s not a choice by individual universities. So Glasgow won’t be any different. I assume that many students just like Edinburgh! It does receive nearly 70,000 applications and makes 27,600 offers (23 stats). Of whom 6400 accept. That contrasts with 2021 when over 8000 accepted and the 2023 figure is back to 2019 levels. However nearly 10,000 more applicants.

It’s an expensive city and they are 4 year degrees.so going there does cost more! The lUK anpplicants are inevitably from the better off.

Many unis are not mentioned much on MN. Certainly ones like QMUL, Liverpool, and Sheffield aren’t mentioned much.

Edinburgh is fairly dominated by affluent, often privately educated, English students : Mumsnet overrepresents affluent English southern based voices (no one's fault - it just does) so it's a natural by product and the same goes for St Andrew's. I agree both universities are very highly thought of in Scotland , and internationally.

I don’t understand the mumsnet obsession with Edinburgh. Glasgow as a university and a city from a student experience is better as a lived experience and better academically for many many courses. Edinburgh is just chasing the fees. It’s amazing that it’s considered less prestigious than Edinburgh,

@user628468523532453 It’s a DN who is interested in Northumbria. I am certainly not doing the research. What she will eventually do is not certain. I suspect she’s one of the 80% who won’t use the degree as a vocation.

It makes me wonder why medicine applicants are immediately on a Dr course but psychologists haven’t do it step
by step. Has anyone ever offered a straight through course from undergrad doctorate?

BPS accreditation is what matters for psychology. Degrees are not accredited unless they meet the standard. Depending on future plans/destinations then modules and performance therein may also matter.

Work experience must be meaningful and significant, showing how they have used their psychology knowledge in practice. Even then it can take years to get a doctorate place.

The rest is snobbery.

Anyone serious about a career in psychology should have done enough research to know this.

Go with her gut.

which course is better? Of more interest/relevance to her?

Another vote for going with her gut.

Edinburgh has a very high proportion of foreign fee paying students, I went there and had an amazing time, but it wouldn't be the same experience now. Incidentally I went to an open day at Durham and decided that it was very much not for me.

DS is also hoping to go to Glasgow although hasn't had an offer yet [fingers crossed]. It's a Russel Group uni with high entry requirements, so if she wants to go there she absolutely should. If it's where she wants to go, she'll be much more motivated to do well.

Lots of people have said it doesn’t matter where you do your undergrad degree and clearly 3 years, if people don’t have lots of spare money, is fine. Why is Northumbria looked down upon? Obviously has lower entry grades but if the course is accredited, it is! Many people seem to think work and experience counts more. So I’m now quite confused about advice. Does the nhs and applications for academic career progression care about uni or not?

Im well aware what a post 92 uni is but for psychology and pursuing that as a career, does uni matter? I do think it can matter for other jobs but not necessarily this specific one.

@Splety agree, I don't think it is a waste of money tbh (and I don't think I said so, just that there will be more debt, so to be aware). DS2 is doing a four years course with masters so I am on for that as well!

My DS2 turned down a very prestigious uni for a slightly less prestigious one. He just liked thew course and the open day far more and it turned out to be the right choice.

The only thing i'd suggest with psychology is that she has a very clsoe look at the modules as courses differ widely - some are more heavy on the maths and stats than others. Depends on what she's interested in.

Sure - I wasn’t suggesting for one moment that it’s cheap and realise we are fortunate to be able to afford to fund it. But to suggest it’s a waste of money is entirely subjective.

It always makes me lol when pp say don’t go to a Scottish uni as it’s 4 years waste of money etc when they have likely paid thousands in private school fees.

Actually @Splety speaking for myself (I flagged that Scottish unis offer a four-year course with associated extra costs) I didn't pay anything in private school fees.

And having DC at uni (actually two for one year) has been a considerable stretch for me so I do think the extra year of living costs aspect is one to consider. It may be that the OP and her DD will not have an issue obviously, which is great.

if not, what would be the issue with picking another as first choice and having Glasgow as insurance and then deciding on results day?

you absolutely cannot do this. If you get the grades for your firm then that is where you are going. Your potential place at the insurance is released as soon as your firm confirms that you met their requirements. So this is terrible advice.

They have to go with their heart. DS turned down Durham for Lancaster this year. He absolutely loves it there though so it was the right choice.