virgin university guide says bristol for arts degree is a no no..any experience?

[brimfull]

haven't got a link
dd interested in doing french/music
anyone's dc there doing BA?

Really?

I thought it was a really good uni. Times have changed.

Surprised. I thought it was good for social sciences and arts...?

My dsis did English there.

Had a fab time though the course was a bit unusual/eccentric iirc, went on to do MSc in Overseas development or somesuch.

It is still a top uni but the guide said the contact time for arts students was crap /library crap and to speak to an arts student before applying.
Dh did economics there but that was yrs ago.

Definitely different times. I have no experience re Bristol but in my day the less contact time you had the more attractive the course

Universities are not necessarity equally strong in all subjects, and students' needs for contact time may also differ in different subjects. So I'd definitely speak to students in the relevant subject.

If the Virgin guide is the one written by students, then I'd want to know a bit more about the actual student who wrote the Bristol entrance and what their work was like. I think many uni teachers have had the experience of one single negative entry in a pile of positive feedback and when you look at the handwriting it's the one student in the year who does sod all in class and expects the teacher to hold his hand throughout the course. Before I took somebody's word as gospel truth I'd want to know who they were.

Nothing better than speaking to students face to face ime; then you can get an idea of what their expectations were.

Have no personal experience of Bristol, but have seen some good scholarship come from there.

sorry, 'entry' not 'entrance' (had my mind on university entrance)

Contact time for most arts students in small at all universities. You are expected to do a large amount of reading around the subject yourself.

My advice as a current student, albeit at Warwick Uni, is to go to Bristol for a look round. Speak to the students there and ask what they think. I had my heart set on Durham before I actually went and looked round. I realised that it wasn't the uni for me.

To be honest the reputation of the university matters more than the department at undergraduate level so if your DD did like it then its as a whole is what matters. ASAK, Bristol still enjoys a great reputation amongst employers and other universities.

I think students' expectations of contact time at univ is conditioned by school a lot of the time, and many students find the shift to self-motivation/independent study difficult. These guides are interesting starting points, but can reflect unrealistic expectations, and very few students are in a position to directly compare one university with another. I very much doubt Bristol has a crap library, tbh.

They'renot written AFAIK by students- I assume this was from the multiple surveys I was emailed on these subjects in my last year?

I would take seriosuly but only as one piece of info; it may well have been that there was a bad Lecturer or year and its been sorted now (that happened in one of my eyars on a linked course). And remember of course that students who can be arsed to reply often have an axe!

Bristolgood Uni, worth a definte though. I turned it down in the end but ahd I not ahd children to raise I would have gone there like a shot, just not so great schools etc.

I went to bristol, finished 2000. I had friends who did arts, history, english etc... they had no complaints. so far as i understand you would be expected to do more work on your own, reading etc... but that's true of all uni courses. I did science, and had the same amount of lectures, tutorials and seminars as my friends doing arts, but my hours at uni were longer due to my lab work.
I think it is more important to feel comfortable with the course and the place than what a book says tbh. Why not go and have a look round. Good luck!

thanks for your replies
of course she will go and have a look at the uni and not base her choice on a guidebook

Have a look at The Times Good University Guide. It gives a lot of detail about rankings and contact hours etc.

Bristol is certainly very-well regarded (assume we're talking about Bristol University itself, not Bristol UWE?) and a degree from there is regarded well by employers (it forms part of the Russell Group).

The university has a reputation as a bit 'rah' - very posh, lots of Sloane-types and Oxbridge rejects (although I'm sure that's a bit of a generalisation, but the people I know that went there did fit that profile!)

Bristol arts library has just been rebuilt. Last year the english course was one of the most popular in the country (in terms of applicants to places). Its a great city to be a student in and the uni is still one of the best. I guess it depends what you want though. There are a few rahs... who are VERY vocal and stand out, but also a lot of lovely ordinary students. I work there by the way!

I did langs there a long time ago (in the late 80s) so prob not very relevant. But at that time there were definitely lots of students who did not fit the rep of posh/Sloany. I suspect that continues to be the case, although the arts subjects seemed to attract a more private-school educated group.

But don't read too much into rankings - the methodology is hotly debated, and much massaging of figures is attempted!

DSD finished a degree in German at Bristol last summer. She loved it. She very much enjoyed the course and found most of her tutors very good. She also liked living in Bristol, particularly in the area around the Gloucester Road (socially diverse and culturally very lively). She is travelling and working overseas this year, but intends to return to Bristol to look for a job next year.

Thanks everyone very reassuring.
Yes it is bristol not the UWE