To think my DD should go to Edinburgh Uni instead of Kent?

[Girlypops154]

My DD has been accepted to Edinburgh to study Astrophysics and she has also been accepted to Kent University. We live outside of London and she says wants to be closer to home but I say she should go to Scotland because it’s a better university (she has also been accepted to St Andrews but we prefer Edinburgh). We are in a blessed position that we can afford the extra year up there. How do I get to change her mind as she has her mind now set on Kent but I really think going to an RG would be far better. She’s now getting annoyed at me because I keep insisting on Edinburgh. She has also been accepted to Durham and Aberystwyth but neither of them have got back to us yet. Any advice or am I being unreasonable? Thank you.

I must admit when I was 18yo I had no idea that some universities were better thought of than others apart from Oxbridge. I admit I was possibly a dimwit who lived under a rock.

My parents let me trot off happily to Teesside and I do wish maybe they’d suggested I aim a bit higher. I had no help or comments about uni choice and they were both teachers. which I find bizarre looking back.

Ikr

I'd try and sell her Edinb' too - better university but a way more fun place to be and a chance to experience a totally different part of the UK.

But you can't force her

Try changing tack a bit and making your points more fun, but in the end it's up to her

This is a v good point re instability of the university

If she is really set on being closer to home, then she can reapply for Imperial etc next year

Separately, while you cannot force Edinb', if Kent's rep is really poor for her subject you can say that you want her to go somewhere where her degree will provide value for the money you are spending

Worth also remembering that non RG universities in financial trouble may take on large numbers of international students and this can have a major impact on the cultural/social experience of university as well as the academic experience.

I know somebody who has this experience at Greenwich university of the course and their accomodation being dominated by Chinese students who preferred one another's company and quite literally spoke in Mandarin more or less excluding the minority UK students. And that was >10 years ago.

The choice is hers, because it's about her life
(you chose for her) and building her future.
With respect to you financing the Uni, YABVU.
Are you worried she will be home more often?
Is the issue reclaiming your own time?
That I understand, still, this is about your daughter.

Kent has a nice campus but it’s possibly rather isolating in the first year to be in that bubble and then I suppose students move into accommodation in Canterbury and have to bus into the campus everyday.

Why are people posting things that they know nothing about? That’s not exactly helping.

In terms of location, I would pick Canterbury over Edinburgh any day but this isn’t a geography test.

It has to be the DD’s decision. She’s applied to a fairly eclectic selection of universities and if I was her DM, I would have wanted to understand her rationale (whilst supporting her freedom of choice) at application stage. Coming in heavy handed now is not going to help.

It’s more likely to be the other way round to be honest. International students just aren’t coming in the same numbers anymore due to visa changes and currency collapses. So the universities are fighting over ones which are still coming. They’re perhaps going to have a better chance of being accepted into an RG university and will obviously go there. Leaving non for the lower ranked unis.

not necessarily an issue. Dd reckons 90% of her cohort are rich international students but I think because they’re from a variety of countries everyone speaks in English and she has made good friends.

It is her choice. Edinburgh, the city, is great and I'm sure students have a great time up there. But for what it's worth, I studied 3 hours away at a good RG uni and was miserable, horribly homesick and struggled to make good friends up there. As a result, I used to go home a lot and I'm pleased that I was no further away than 3 hours away as it meant that I could go home more often. And this was 10 years ago when train fares were a little cheaper. I then went to a local uni to do a masters and was much happier.

Agree with this. Part of the reason Kent is struggling is due to Brexit and the huge reduction in international (especially continental European) students. They marketed themselves as the “European University” which made sense given that they you used to be able to get to France from there more quickly than you could get to London, and historically had strong ties (for example with Sciences-Po) but Brexit blew that out of the water.

Student satisfaction studies are a joke - tiny numbers reply.

Whilst care does need to be taken at the more granular level a 71.5% overall response rate could hardly be called "tiny" @OhDear111

I shudder to think what word might be chosen to describe the latest Graduate Outcomes survey overall response rate of 35%. Or even the 47% rate achieved for UK domiciled respondents.

There’s also the fact that if there’s been an issue with a course the students will fall over themselves to fill out the nss.

dd’s UG course had a major issue in her final year which resulted in half the cohort initially failing the degree, dd was rep and led the major complaint, got a vice chancellor involved. There was a whole cohort remark, free graduation costs and a partial refund of tuition fees for the whole cohort. Believe me the whole cohort did the nss and it was the lowest scoring course for the whole university. So I think it can be useful to pick up issues.

if there’s been a low response rate it’s generally because people are vaguely ok with the course or better.

Thank you, I am not as up to date!

I've no problem with international students but when it is a cultural monolith of basically, nepo babies from one country, it is a problem. They were overwhelmingly male as well. But yes, hopefully something less likely to be experienced now. Although on the flip side, a shame for students to miss out on a more diverse international experience.

How about applying through clearing for somewhere closer but more prestigious? There’s usually some movement. It might even be worth approaching somewhere if she’s sure she made a mistake with her choices and wants to be closer to home.

Ucas extra opens in Feb as well. I’m hazy on the details but I think she can add a couple more choices. She just won’t receive equal consideration but if applications are down she could be in with a shot. Maybe look at somewhere like York? Manchester?

Edinburgh uni has a poor reputation for pastoral care and it has hideous problems with trans rights issues.

I think there are a lot of good university closer to home rather than Kent.

You can do just the 3 years at Edinburgh. She can immediate join the 2nd year with a levels. And do years 2,3,4 and then master's then?

Edinburgh is a better university than Kent for physics. I think all unis have "pastoral issues" tbf. Everyone seems to complain about the lack of support at each university. An employer will look at Edinburgh more favourably.

she has also been accepted to St Andrews but we prefer Edinburgh

When you say "we" does that include your daughter? I do wonder whether she is partly shying away from Edinburgh because it's in a big city, in which case she would probably love St Andrews. For what it's worth, my niece did an undergraduate degree at Edinburgh and a postgraduate one at St Andrews, and far preferred St Andrews.

Kent seems far too much of a risk to me given its current circumstances. Other issues apart, it is simply not going to attract or keep the best lecturers and tutors so any degree you daughter achieves won't be respected in the astrophysics field.

If she is determined that she wants to be closer to home, I agree with those suggesting she take a year out and apply next year to closer universities like the London colleges and Bristol.

DD is at Kent, in her first year, she loves it there and is happy.

She also wanted to stay in the South, not too far from home but far enough to have a proper University experience. We also couldn't talk her into other universities, I did try as most of my family went to York, but in the end it was her choice.

She has made a good group of friends, her only complaint about the campus is a 50 minute walk into town, and it is a hill all the way back to the Uni, which can be difficult when carrying shopping. (she prefers to walk rather that wait for the bus). Her and her friends still do the walk at least twice a week.

2nd and 3rd years have the option to stay onsite for accommodation but they are looking for somewhere off campus about a 20 - 30 minute walk away so they don't need to get a bus every day.

I am sure that all Universities have good points and bad points, and if you ask people you will get completely different view points.

As parents we can only encourage and guide, and accept they might make choices that we wouldn't make, but they are their choices to make.

It doesn’t matter how great the university is rated to be if you hate it there. I have attended (and worked) at different universities and had the worst experience at some of the very best places. If she goes to Edinburgh and hates it, gets homesick and leaves because the whole experience is not what she wanted then it’s going to be difficult for her. Well-being really does come first because without it she simply won’t complete her degree or her health will be impacted in doing so.

I am really grateful to my parents who let me make my own path and told me I could always come home if I didn’t like it. University is so much more than the degree; it’s important to remember this.

Going against the grain here slightly but I don’t think you’re being unreasonable at all.

I pay for my kids education and every single one of their living expenses. I therefore have quite a large say in their GCSE choices, their A-level choices, the university and their degree.

Once they are fully independent, they can do as they please, but whilst they are living off me and I’m paying their tuition fees, I have the deciding vote.

There is no way my kids would be going to Kent with offers from significantly better universities. The option would be off the table as far as I’m concerned.

Wow. You even told them what degree subject to do? Once they’re fully independent you run the risk of not seeing them for dust!