To want my son to go to a higher achieving Uni?

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My son now has A star AA at A-level and is on his year out. He has four unconditional offers from universities (going this September) and three of those unis are considered ‘top’ - Bristol, Durham and Leeds. However, he wants to go Aberystwyth - who have also offered him a place. We think he is aiming too low (most students on the course will have BBB whereas our son has A star AA). AIBU?

Aber is much less developed than Swansea. It is a small town miles from anywhere. The best train line ever there!

Currently have a DS at Aber. Interpol is highly regarded so Aber not really that odd a choice. He does IR and is thriving. But equally one of his siblings went to Cambridge and enjoyed his experience there.

it’s fair to say Aber is remote. It is a small town with a population of less than 20,000, although perhaps with far better amenities than most places that size. Not the easiest place to get to. Stunning beaches and countryside of course.

most students there seem to love it, although for any from a big city it will be a bit of a culture shock to start with.

I don't work there, so no idea! 😉

I've worked at a top 10 for 15 years, went to an incredibly competetive RG, and I'd be very happy for my child to select on things other than entrance grades/acceptance rates etc. Unis invest a lot of time and effort into playing the metrics rather than fulfilling the thing the metric is supposed to measure. What I'd care about as a parent/student is staff:student ratios, and teaching quality plus a place that feels like home.

Ive spent too many years talking to students who are miserable but just try and wade through 3 years.

Having said which Aber does in fact have a very good reputation internationally in the relevant subject, so it seems an ideal choice all round!

Did my undergrad at a top uni, Masters at middle tier uni then another undergrad with the OU.

I liked the top uni the least by far and regretted going there. I didn't find the teaching better - in some ways it was worse. I'm in the "it's his choice" camp.

Aberystwyth is a fantastic university for the course he’s applied for. Let him make his own decision OP, he’s an adult and he’ll be the one studying/living there for three years, not you.

I don't disagree. I think the university should suit the student.
In certain subjects however lower entry requirements do indicate the quality of intellectual curiosity and rigour.
Not for a subject like international relations. But for accounting/finance, computer science it very much is a factor.

I had offers from RG’s for my course but I preferred the course content at a university college. I chose that and I definitely would have dropped out if I’d gone to the universities that were technically best. Check his reasoning.

'A subject like IR' is a subject that requires critical engagement with qualitive and quantative research, as well as engagement with theoretical/philosophical materials.

That doesn't change based on A level entry requirements. Teaching quality and time staff have to spend working with their students can vary a lot however.

I spend a large proportion of my time unteaching A level learning which has focused on formulaic writing, memorisation of the right facts and giving the right answer. I teach 'A students' who never move beyond that and struggle at UG, and students who come in with lower grades but really blossom when challenged and working more independtly.

The biggest predictor of success is a student who is interested in their subject and committed to their course. Add in being happy where you are and you've got a great combination.

Does he enjoy outdoor pursuits and the countryside more than clubbing and a busy city scene? I went to Manchester. I got a good degree but I didn't enjoy my time there. It was very large and, although I made a couple of good friends on my course I didn't go out much in the evenings.
If the course has a reasonable reputation he is better going where he is likely to be happier and take advantage of wider opportunities.

Why is the acceptance criteria so low though? Genuinely curious

.... because not many 18 year olds ard brave enough to go and live in a tiny Welsh town with one nightclub, 2 hours drive from any city (Swansea being the nearest, but you need a car) and 3 hours by train from a major one (Birmingham). It really is the middle of nowhere and so it's a hard sell to get the average teenager even to come and look at the place.

But for those "in the know", it's a FABULOUS place to spend three years, there is so much culture and community if you look for it and are willing to get involved. The local area is littered with people who came for uni and now can't bear to leave. To be honest, I'd go back in a heartbeat. It really is something special.

I feel for you. Of course it’s his decision and he needs to like it but as the parent of a recent graduate I’d recommend he focus on the opportunities beyond Uni and the support the Uni gives you with that. My DS’s Russell Group university course had no links with industry/business and gave him no exposure whatsoever to prep for undergrad interview or selection centres, it was all academic. With those grades your DS can afford to be choosy and employers are definitely choosy about the unis they work with. Good luck.

Depends on the uni and the course!

For example with business, yes sure the big top ones offer the course at high grades, but other universities such as Aston (Birmingham) and Northumbria (Newcastle) have exceptionally well regarded business schools which you can get into on much lower grades.

There's a few cases (usually medicine/STEM) where going to a top top uni does benefit you, but for many other subjects it doesn't matter. If it's an MFL course then experience is probably going to be king. Which courses he has applied to offer a year studying in france for example or work placements in a french speaking country? These will be what gets him a job, not having durham, Bristol or leeds on his certificate.

Agree.

I went to Aber in the 90s, and loved it. Most of my contemporaries at the time (and my parents) couldn't understand why I wanted to go there, but I'd fallen in love with it.

Took DH on his first visit a couple of weeks ago. His verdict - my god, if I'd come to university here I would never have left. By the end of our visit he was looking up PG courses for himself 😁

But it is very remote, and small, and not 'cool' and I think all that probably factors in to the acceptance criteria somewhat. Universities need bums on seats to survive, after all. Doesn't mean the teaching or the level of academic enquiry is correspondingly low once you get here.

My son has made a similar sort of university choice, I don’t love it if I’m honest but it is what it is and I’m going with it. I suspect he knows what I think he should do but it’s his life at the end of the day.

Aber is very well respected for IR.

It tends to have lower entry requirements in part because it is such a marmite place to live. It is very small and remote - people either love that or they hate it and amongst 18 year olds the proportion who anticipate that they would hate it and instead want the bright lights of city living will be quite high. The lower entry requirements in part reflect the fact that there are fewer people who apply there, so entry requirements have to be dropped to a level that will enable them to fill their course.

At a guess, I would say there will be people there with much higher grades than the standard entry requirements because they really loved the idea of living somewhere like Aber.

Like the other non-RG pre-92s, it has also suffered from the increased emphasis on attending a Russell Group university.

One might even suggest that preferring Aber over the bigger 'names' demonstrates a level of discernment, maturity and ability to see the bigger picture in your ds that you should be proud of, OP 😉

Having "barely heard" of a university isn't a great indication of your general knowledge tbh I wouldn't be boasting of that.

I remember seeing a thread just like this a few months ago.....

Yes the first bit is exactly my point.
Whereas in one of the other subjects you can have modules where a large proportion of the grade is made up of in-class work and pop quizzes which don't really differ from the textbook.

PP have mentioned that Aber is a 'marmite' place which also makes sense r.e. lower requirements.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4769556-to-want-ds-to-go-to-the-best-university?page=1

Found it.

I mean, tens of thousands of students go go to uni every year. I imagine there are threads about parents not being sure about their children's choice most years, just like there's always threads on appeals for school places etc.

How up to date is your knowledge? Because I am involved in grad recruitment in the City right now and we do not reveal the identity of grad scheme applicants' universities to those interviewing them and making the decisions. Degree class only. They are not allowed to ask.

I'm not going to use 'RG' as a term because I find it silly. There are the 'brand names' like Oxford, Imperial, LSE and ones like Nottingham which I don't think is much different from other well regarded 'non-RG' like Bath and Lancaster.

However...
No 'university course' gives that. It's all done by the career center. Of course, many people graduate without even realising that it exists, or bothering to even visit but the main draw (caveat, sector dependent obviously!) is that the better universities have very good recruitment and links to a variety of employers. Not just with career fairs, student job boards etc but the alumni network. This is particularly noticeable for high-value, niche employers which hire for generic degrees and tend to concentrate their on-campus recruitment activity due to a lack of resources.

I know there will be PP coming on here to say that 'even post-99' or whatever names you call them have good career support but that's not true. Having been involved a lot with graduates the 'better' university graduates are noticeably more prepared for the milk round, dare I say even... 'drilled'?

However all of that is easily available online, and with major employers there are scores of forum posts, resources etc you can get for free. The only part you can't replicate is practice with someone knowledgeable.

It might be worth investigating the opportunities to transfer to a different uni if he does not like his first choice. He could then, potentially, pick one of the RG unis and if he's not happy then he can move and has not lost that time/cost?

I have nothing agains Aberystwyth, I'm just aware that some job sectors are more picky about universities. If those are the areas he wants to work then that should be more of a factor.

Good luck.

It's a mix.
The Big4 accounting firms (yes, not the 'City' but major employers) are CV blind. So are some Magic Circle law firms and major financial institutions. Governmental bodies like the FCA and BoE are not, but my last information on this was 3 years ago.

My own employer (one of the above) gives us full CV's. I know they do that for all programs across the board, not just mine (tech).

But... in financial services for example a lot of smaller employers like boutique investment banks, PE firms etc very much care about 'pedigree'. Just because you 'can' get a job from a less well known university doesn't mean that it's a good reason to close yourself off the other options, if you have the capability to do so.