to ask if DC shouldn't bother with university if they can't get into a Russell Group one?

[TuTuTilly]

I'd never heard of the ruddy things before I joined MN. Didn't even realise I'd been to one. I do recall when I had a tedious summer job in Human Resources which included "sifting" job applications for an international firm of accountants, being told to dump any that weren't from a handful of universities.

So my question is; if your child can't get into an RG university - should they accept that they will be unemployable oiks upon graduation and resign themselves to a life working in call centres?

Hmm I'd never heard of a RG uni until I came to MN. I went to Heriot-Watt, which is virtually unheard of down here in Hampshire, but it doesn't seem to have done me any harm. I'm recruiting at the moment and honestly care more about the actual degree and associated award than the university which it relates too.

Me neither havingamadmoment until about 2 minutes ago! (Southampton btw)

Thabo Mbeki graduated from Sussex - apparently a non-RG university and he seems to have done ok for himself.
Actually I can't bear this sort of piffle - for what is it designed? Oh yes, to make a whole bunch of people feel in some way inadequate. What a crock.

It depends. Do you think all will also be lost if your dc do not get a job with a top law or accountancy firm after graduating? I have a degree from a rg university and I'm sorry to tell you that I am a primary school teacher who is currently a sahm. So that was a wasted degree then?

If attitudes like this still exist I can understand why other so called 3rd world economies are outperforming us.

Pile of absolute crap.

I would say that the course reputation in industry is far more important. The university i went to was renowned in the engineering world so a degree in that subject would supercede in the business world's eyes one from some of the "better" universities.

in our graduate recruitment programme we target certain universities for certain programmes and they are not necessarily on the rg list purely on the reputation of course standards, that is not to say we would disregard those who didn't attend the targeted universities.

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

My SIL is hoping to study Modern Foreign Languages with a view to teaching them. Will have a look at some of the resources/links that MNetters have kindly provided

I'm sure your SIL will be snapped up for both university and a job in the future Good teachers are not that easy for schools to come by.

Former-poly grad here.

Firstly, I don't like your call centre comment - there's nothing wrong with working in a call centre, regardless of your qualifications and where you did your degree. I guess your oiks remark was tongue in cheek given how weird it was.

Of course some employers actively seek RG students and graduates but they're in the minority, and I'm sure there's some post-grad tutors who prefer to teach RG graduates. So for those reasons, if your son is fortunate to get the grades for offers at a former poly and a Russell Group uni and both are similar in every way apart from one is in a club and one isn't, then yes he'd be crazy not to go to the RG uni.

I think a lot of parents on MN put too much emphasis on their kids going to Russell Group uni's, thinking this is the gateway to utopia. The golden ticket. For most RG graduates - at least the ones I've met and worked wth - it's not like that or anything close but having that name on your CV can certainly help. As mentioned upthread, all kids now need to look at employment stats and work experience opportunities.

I've also noticed that when this topic comes up, that one thing that people usually forget is how important the personality of the student is. To get on, contacts are so, so important. The best students on paper will find it a struggle to find the jobs in the first place, get the interview, get the job and move up, if they're socially awkward and have trouble making and maintaining relationships. Personally, I'm in an OK job (no, not a call centre) and I know can do better but struggle to because I lack drive.

Nothing wrong with working in a call centre if you want low pay, low status, high stress, repetitive work. Hardly worth spending 3 years at university for.

I didnt go to a RG uni but I work in one and I am shocked by the poor quality of students that walk through the door. I personally dont think it should count which uni a person goes to knowing what I know now. I have got a decent.job which I got on my own merit.not. through networks & which uni I went to.

I went to an ex poly. I'm now an investment banker on the trading floor of a top 4 clearing bank earning very good money indeed. So from my personal experience, YABU.

In my family:
24yo, consultant with huge international financial corp.
24yo, consultant with huge international business corp.
23yo, hotshot sports trainer with top-league team.
21yo, software genius, earning while still at uni.
All got good degrees (except the youngest, who will,) none from RG :)

As someone who didn't finish their degree, I will be moving hell and high water to make sure that my DC either get a good degree or finish a higher level vocational qualification of their choice. I have a good career because someone chose to interview me on the off-chance that I might be alright even though I didn't have a degree. So many doors are closed to me because I don't have that 2:1 from any university.

Well i'm fucked as I am studying part time with the Open uni, whilst working full time. Should I quit whilst i'm ahead and resign myself to working in retail forever there is nothing wrong with working in retail

Just realised I turned down a RG university place for at Exeter forSussex :(.

I only heard about RG universities on Mumsnet!

St Andrew's, Oxford and Cambridge are all missing.

Perhaps the DC will just have to go to one of these instead

I don't think it's possible for us to judge this based on own experiences if we're older than 30. When I graduated there were definitely people in my graduate intake ( big 4 accounting) who were non - Russell group including ex-polys. My understanding is that they now take from a much narrower pool. People have to do their research. If you don't know what you want to do then I think the best advice is to do an academic subject at the best rated uni you can get into, purely because it keeps your options open.

Russell Group is bullshit. I say that as someone who attended Cambridge and two Russell Group institutions. ALthough the term wasn't in circulation much when I was an undergrad.

The Russell Group Universities selected themselves about 20 years ago and styled themselves as 'leading research institutions.' It isn't directly linked to academic performance, in fact the Russell Group University I am doing my PhD at isn't amongst the best 20 academic institutions in the UK by most measures.

Sadly, employers, students and parents seem to be increasingly fixated by the term. It isn't a gold seal of quality or of a capable student.

Some universities have excellent reputations for certain things, for example the University of Dundee produces more professional students than any other in Scotland (thanks to their large and well regarded medical and dentistry schools)

Oxford and Cambridge are on there, apostropheuse. St Andrews is too small but is regarded as on a par by those who consider such things.

It can help what uni you go to, but equally it may not matter at all. It opens up doors for me in teaching to have a good degree from a 'top' university, but I'm not exactly earning a lot. I could see someone doing an engineering degree at a non-RG and becoming an entrepreneur and making a million times my salary. Having said that, RG is like shorthand for the unis asking for highest UCAS points so in terms of the average academic calibre I think they do have to be regarded as a useful guide.

When I went to uni in 1999, I had never heard of RG uni's; my school year group talked about Oxbridge, 'red brick', 'old uni's, and 'ex- poly's'. We knew which uni's fitted into that heirarchy and we then looked at the teaching and research scores / grades for each course/ faculty / school / department we were likely to get onto.

DH and I both went to an RG uni. My post grad courses have been at ex poly's (both industry related, so the better option for me), and DH's post doc research was at a different RG uni. I am now a SAHM, but was earning above the national average wage, and had the potential to be earning £40k + (but quit to have kids); DH earns more. I worked al

You are making the classic mistake of thinking MN is like the real world.

I briefly considered studying at the University of Lunn (formerly Lunn Poly)

Yanbu. If you can't get into an RG university, you are obviously pretty thick and shouldn't waste time and money going somewhere else in a shit town.