Universities to do English Lit for quiet/shy DD

This shy girl did English at Leeds and it turned out I wasn’t shy at all!!
I was in catered halls for my first year and quickly formed a close friendship with a group
of girls.
Although we all live in different parts of the country now we are still in regular contact and meet up once a year.
I loved every minute

Oh, UEA. Norwich is a lovely, small city and they have a superb, long standing reputation for English Lit and related courses. Many successful writers came out of their MA programme.

Leeds, Manchester, Brighton and Bristol are massive party unis

As for what uni for a shy DC

That's just ridiculous imho

You go for the best uni the DC can get into and likes the vibe of on open days and offer days

I'm the complete opposite

I'm trying to deter DD from taking a gap year

She wants to apply then defer her place

I think she'd be better off keeping her head in the academic game

Uni is full of completely different personalities and they muddle along find their feet and confidence

I don't think any parent should decide when or where or what a child should study

I’m bemused by Lancaster or Chichester! Huge difference in quality! Or Worcester. Slightly odd choice too. League tables really do matter. Also you have friends from hall of residence. Few meet everyone on the course anywhere.

Laughing at the idea of Exeter specifically for a quiet, shy person. Obviously everyone might find their tribe, but from what I’ve heard (currently) it is Party Central.

Maybe consider Surrey, a small/medium sized campus and Guildford is lovely. My DD currently doing English Lit and CW at the moment and really enjoying the course.

A modern university (post-1992 or maybe a 60s uni) might suit her best? At an RG uni she’s likely to be in a year group of 300 or more, which is tough for shy kids trying to make friends!

She should try to be honest with herself about how able she’ll feel to contribute in tutorials and seminars. Picking a course that awards marks for tutorial contributions, or requires lots of small group working, won’t suit her if she’ll struggle to speak up!

Lancaster an excellent shout, again depending on where OP is. Collegiate which is good for support.

I think a small town uni - somewhere like Chichester or Uni of Kent at Canterbury would be lovely. Or Lancaster. Or Lincoln.

Yes, sadly. It used to be brilliant for English.

See, for us, Exeter, Plymouth and Southampton would be really hard to get to...

That rather depends! High speed trains from London now, close to A1, easy from eg Nottingham. Totally depends on where OP is!

Oh are they! I studied there 13 years ago so can imagine it’s probably very different now.

Shout out for my local uni, Worcester. Nice small city, lots of societies and nice campuses. English course is pretty good from what I know of it. At least I know one of the staff and some of the modules sound great.

I would have said Kent but they are shutting down depts all over the place and my friend's DD just dropped out of an English degree there.

Exeter is hard to get into for English. Most students have above ABB. Lovely place though.

I have noticed shy DC do turn a corner at uni. As long as you speak to flatmates and course mates, it’s unlikely DD would find no one to be friends with.

English is seeing a drop in applicants. At most unis there will always be a mix of students from very quiet to very loud. It’s perfectly possible to let the loud ones enjoy what they do and a more retiring personality find their tribe. I would therefore sift by reputation above anything else but make sure course is ok too. I’d also look at what grads do afterwards. If you are spending lots, this matters to some people. Employers will care about skills gained but not what literature you have read.

My very lovely shy DD has just finished English Lit at Reading Uni, where she was very supported and encouraged all the way.

Maybe Exeter? I think their typical offer is AAB, do you think DD could achieve that? She should have at least one 'reach' option out of the five on her UCAS. Leicester as well, but it might be too busy for her. Cardiff? Surrey might also be a good option!

Royal Holloway is a lovely campus and environment if your DD is interested in creative writing or combining English with Media?

Second that!

I did English Lit at Kent in another life before retraining in nursing. Loved it. We had some very quiet, shy people on the course but everyone rubbed along together beautifully.

Leeds is good for English and it's a lovely, friendly, creative city that has plenty going on beyond it's admittedly great party scene. There's a great theatre scene and plenty of museums and galleries. The Brotherton library (as well as Leeds Central library in the city centre) is one of my favourite places in the world, have many fond memories of writing essays on the long trestles in the Parkinson Hall. I was that shy teenager studying an adjacent subject there with a minor in medieval studies in the mid-noughties and found that although I never partied as such, I did come out of my shell a lot and made some lovely friends (including future DH!) despite remaining the quiet and studious type😉I still live a short bus ride away (have in fact just got in from a day out at the Armouries with the kids). I absolutely love it here, then as now.

I think University of Kent would fit the brief. The student I know who has thrived there doing English Lit, had dropped out of Leeds the previous year. She is having a very good experience in Canterbury.