Thread 19 - Corona Cohort, Enrolling on Year 13, hopefully NOT unlucky for some

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I have just read through The Times article : it doesn't say much of interest really : just tells us what we already knew!

We are trying to look outside our shortlist as DS isn’t so keen on a couple of them and are now looking for others to swap in.
We are looking at engineering, either general or mechanical engineering.

Shortlist, in order, is currently Bath, Durham, Warwick, Bristol and York. Bristol and York are definitely towards the bottom now following visits and virtual open days.

Anyone know much about Leeds university? It is fairly highly ranked for engineering but I really don’t know much about the university and the city so any info is very welcome.

Thank you!

What did he not like about Bristol because, looking at your list, Leeds is most similar in nature to Bristol.

Leeds is getting more and more popular. Lots of young people like it as it's quite a trendy city with lots to do, and a good university (Russell Group, obviously).

Thanks Piggy, with Bristol it was the fact that it is quite spread out and not a campus (also applies to Durham but Durham is smaller and the course is really good) . With York, he loves the place but the course is very electronic/robotics focused compared to the others.

Makes sense, yes. Leeds is more compact. Most teaching buildings on one site, I believe.

I love Leeds, have worked there for short periods a few times and really like the feel of it, I bet it's a great place to be a student.

Times Ed has Leeds 16th in the UK for both general and mech engineering. Have you thought about Lancaster? 14th for both and a nice campus university, I believe.

Lancaster did much better for student experience than Leeds in Covid times. I have heard that medics at Leeds were fully on line last year and mostly on line this year. The social life at Lancaster as reported on another mumsnet thread was great, they do the campus thing very well.

Leeds has grown a lot in recent years, but I agree it is a great place to be a student. I heard a programme on R4 which reported drugs being taken by a very high proportion of students, but I guess that happens everywhere.

Thanks for the feedback all, it seems fairly good for students. Interesting re the ranking @singingstones as the guardian guide has Leeds as 4th for Mech Eng. and the Complete university guide has it 11th. It is so confusing trying to compare when they clearly all use different criteria.

Lancaster is probably very nice but we are nearish to London so it’s just that bit too far for DS. Everywhere else he is looking is between 1.5 and 3hrs by train which is far enough, Lancaster is 4.5hrs on the train so out of his comfort zone.

I have only ever been to Leeds for a weekend once but have booked a campus tour in half term. There are very few spaces left if anyone is interested.

My kids say that Bristol and Leeds are totally awash with drugs such that kids who are not driven by drugs are staying away. DD1 said it was bad 5 years ago when she started at uni but it really seems to be a bit out of control now. The trouble is that they have filled up with kids that are attracted by the “party scene” and kids less interested stay away so the problem is compounded.

DS1 who is at Birmingham and by no means a social wallflower says that the difference between them and other unis, (where of course drugs are around, they are everywhere) is that at other unis you can ignore them if you want and at Bristol snd Leeds you can’t. He was shocked by the amount of drugs his schoolmate (med student) and all of his flatmates were doing at Leeds when he went up for the weekend, and said there was just no getting away from it.
So that is my 2p on Bristol and Leeds for what it’s worth.

Wow Delphi, that is scary. DS is a drinker but totally anti drugs so that is definitely something to consider.

@Delphigirl did your DS1 find it easy to stay away from drugs at Birmingham? I heard a similar thing about Royal Holloway to what you’re saying about Bristol and Leeds. It was only from one person though and really hope it’s not true.

To be honest I don’t think he has stayed away from drugs at Birmingham. In fact I know he dabbled in his 1st term. But he didn’t like what they did to his MH and has since stayed away, mostly and he says that would have been almost impossible at Leeds.

Again this information is much more useful to me than how a uni does in the Research Excellence Framework!

That's interesting. We are looking around Bristol this weekend - hopefully DD won't like it. Drugs definitely not her thing - unlike alcohol (had her first 18th party to attend Sat night - DH had to go earlier than planned to retrieve her as she had been sick (thankfully outside). Party was very well organised with lots of older friends looking out for all the drunk 17 yr olds apparently. Annoyingly DD was absolutely fine the next day so no lessons learnt. She even managed to revise in the afternoon and write the 1st draft of her PS in the evening..

Schools are awash with drugs anyway though arent they? 'drugs' is such a catch-all term though as well. There is such a vast difference between them.
I am having much more open chats now with the 13 year old about harms - using David Nutts classifications rather than what is a Class A etc www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11660210

This is 4 years old now but breaks down drug use by drug and university - some quite scary numbers

https://thetab.com/uk/2017/03/30/most-popular-drugs-university-uk-36526

What drugs are they talking about? That does make a big difference..

@Monkey2001 is it your ds who's taking roaccutane? I just wondered how he's getting on. My ds started it last week and he seems to be going through the initial breakout.

Not caught up with thread but just seen those dug stats. How depressing.

CrazyCrofter my friend’s DD has been taking Rocacutane and I think about to or has finished. Haven’t seen her for ages but will later today, her Mum said it’s been a real success. She did have an initial break out .

The cocaine percentages certainly are - the others I can live with tbh.

@crazycrofter, no, sorry not us.

I agree the drug conversations are essential. 2 students died in Freshers week at Newcastle last year after taking some drugs. I don't tell them about drugs specifically, but draw their attention to stories like the very sad Newcastle one. I am fine with DS2 as his body is a temple, nothing stronger than caffeine supplements found in there! DS1 said that at St Andrews there are hard drugs around and less softer stuff, but I am fairly sure that other than a bit of cannabis at school, he has not tried them.

I think it might be @Oblomov21 with a DS on roaccutane isn't it? Sorry for sticking my oar in if not.

Ds1 is at UEA that is well down that list for drugs. Almost on the bottom of the list. I don't think he's tried anything. But he wouldn't tell me anyway. I'd say Ds2 is much more likely to take something as he is easily influenced. He was at a party pre covid, about 2 years ago, he said several were smoking cannabis. I asked if he was tempted...he said it wasn't free and he's not wasting money on drugs and didn't have any money anyway. Not sure if that meant he would have tried if it were free. I don't even drink alcohol, so I find drugs scary. But I guess a lot of them will experiment.

Schools are awash with drugs anyway though arent they

No, they really aren't!