Maths degrees - second/third tier options?

[Justlurkingmostly]

Just starting to look at options for a maths degree - which unis would you advise looking at after COWI/London for a quieter student - prefers campus or smaller city which rules out a fair few. Will likely be a mix of A star and A at ALs but need to also ID some safer options and in particular ones without additional entrance tests.
A year out abroad or ability to take classes in a language alongside maths is a plus. Thank you!

Birmingham University? Lovely campus with a nice vibe to it. Daughter had it as her insurance for maths and would have been happy to go there. They have a 4 yr maths degree with an International Year BSc or Mathematics with Study in Continental Europe BSc.

Bath has a really good reputation and they also have lots of industry links. Manchester, Nottingham and Cardiff and Bristol also worth a look.

Aberystwyth is perfect for someone shy.

Warwick.proper campus for first year and lots of local accommodation for future years. Loughborough was a great campus too but was a bit aging. Personally we live about 10 miles from Birmingham University but wasn't keen.

A Scottish University would allow them to study a language as well but if it is safer options you are looking for that would most certainly rule out St Andrews and Edinburgh, possibly Glasgow but also wouldn't count on it as a safe option unfortunately.
Leaving you with Dundee and Aberdeen for unis that I think might have languages. Not sure if Strathclyde do languages?

Lancaster (AAB if FM is one of your A-levels) has abundant on-campus accomodation for first years, even if it is your insurance choice (unlike, say, Bath).

The bonus is that if you have a placement year or year abroad, you are guaranteed on-campus accomodation in your fourth year.

The minors system means, if you take a maths or maths&stats degree, that one third of your first year is devoted in another subject and this can be a MFL.

Most dc get uni first year accommodation. Lots of unis run language classes for people taking other degrees. Bristol has done it for years. He might enjoy Exeter. A quiet student we know did maths there and thrived. Surrey is often a good shout too. Maths students are very employable but I would add in some business experience and modules if he can.

We've looked at well regarded maths courses outside of London and avpoding big cities. We would also recommend Bath, Lancaster, York, Southampton Exeter, Loughborough.

Liverpool is ABB, no additional test. You can take extra language classes through the continuing education department and theres a good amount of year abroad options including a year at their china campus if that’s of interest.

Liverpool is a city I love but it's not a small city and has a reputation as party central for students.
Although there may be lots of other activities it's not an obvious choice for a shy student

@foreverbasil Im not actually convinced many unis are quiet! Being in the countryside doesn’t mean quiet halls of residence. Nowhere to go means more partying! Not that many students wander round the countryside alone either.

The advantage of a bigger uni might be quiet halls and clubs for quieter dc. There might be fun to be had in the city but that doesn’t mean a shy person cannot find friends in the right hall. It’s also worth considering a gap year too. Go and do a bit of work and see what happens. There’s the safety net of home but it might be better than choosing a uni based on countryside as opposed to reputation.

My son is just coming to the end if his 4th year studying Maths at Surrey University.
He is quite quiet and shy and the small pretty campus with lake and gardens and low level accommodation at Surrey really suited him. It's a short walk into Guildford Town but you feel safe and nurtured while on campus.

Yes. I thought Surrey might work. Presumably some dc have a noisier life there?

Thank you, everyone - some good ideas to explore here including a few I hadn’t thought of so many thanks indeed.

I agree with others - Bath and Warwick have good reps, campus unis but are very competitive these days for Maths. Surrey and perhaps Southampton for "insurance" type offer. Sussex is a nice campus uni but the Maths degree has low entry requirements

Stirling is worth looking at.

Could definitely do a language alongside mathematics.

Lovely campus with a loch in the middle.

It’s a fairly small city as they go, as in it’s very compact. 25 minutes from one end of the city centre to the other is fairly small.

Fair enough but the population is about a million now and it has a big city vibe. The point I was making is that it has a very lively and renowned night-time economy and lot of which is aimed at students. The universities have closed the more suburban halls of residence and moved students into the centre.
It's not Aberystwyth or Surrey which others have suggested and may not be right for a shyer student...but I don't want to derail the thread.

it was ten years ago, but I did this at Leeds. I also did a language so did a year out that way as a joint honours.

When I went, no additional exam, I hadn’t done FM, a campus uni with lots of employment options related to finance in the local region post graduation.

Is it likely shy young people all end up at the same unis? I find this concept a bit odd. A lively city doesn’t mean a student cannot find their friends in a hall of residence or on their course. What a city offers is not the same as finding like minded people at uni and some will be quieter types. They can, of course, completely change when away from home!

Keele is a quiet campus and might be a good low tariff insurance choice to take the pressure off. It is well-regarded for science and maths but off the beaten track, and quite small.

It has quite a few different maths degree options and you can take language courses and a year abroad as part of the course.

UEA might also have the sort of vibe you are looking for.

This isn’t correct. There are many unis that don’t guarantee first year accommodation to insurance holders. Check this carefully. I believe Surrey had big problems recently.

We were not talking about insurance though were we? Just a list of unis with no idea of what would be firm. If you firm, most unis accommodate most students. If you discount a uni based on accommodation stories, which otherwise you might have firmed, you will never know what accommodation you could have got had you firmed. If it’s top choice for academic and other reasons, I would still go for it. Insurance is another matter in many unis.

OP says “Will likely be a mix of A star and A at ALs but need to also ID some safer option”

I read that as insurance.

I think it’s at best a tad naïve to call them “accommodation stories”. I’m pretty up to speed on this having had a man accommodation nightmare with DC in 2022. Many unis do not provide enough Y1 accommodation beyond firm offer holders and students end up either miles away from campus or in £££ private accommodation not with people from Y1/their uni.

Surrey was one such uni last year.