Which university to choose?

[FellatioNelson]

My son is currently predicted ABB with a fourth B/C for his 4 A levels. He has been made offers from all five universities he applied to.

He has applied for a joint hons course.

Sussex (asking for an AAB from him, even though the course requirements say only ABB to apply.)

UEA (ABB)

Birmingham (ABB)

and then two others, both decent places and 'proper' unis, who will take slightly less, or a UCAS points accumulated value, or are just less fussy about which grades come in which subjects.

Our fist choice would have been Sussex, but he is not feeling confident he can make the 2 A's they want. He feels if he puts it first it will be a wasted choice. He could pull it out of the hat, but it's a gamble he's reluctant to take, which is a real shame as it seems to be storming up the ranks and would be such a great place to live for him.

He is pretty confident he'll get what he needs for UEA and he really loves it there. It is not an RG or redbrick university, although it is very well established (since the 60s') is not a modern poly convert, and seems quite highyl regarded. It gets exceptionally good feedback for the course he will be doing. (one of the highest ranked in the country, and certainly pretty much joint with Sussex and many of the RG unis for that course/faculty)

Then we come to Birmingham. It's Russell Group. They will take him more readily than the above two, beacuse they are less fussy about the order of his grades/subjects. But the feedback for his course is a bit lacklustre. Where Sussex and UEA were scoring very high 80s and 90s out of 100% for just about everything, B'ham was around the 60%-65% mark for everything. I'm not sure how this feedback compares with other courses they do (it's obviously a good uni but perhaps the faculty my son needs is a bit weak there?) and I'm not sure how it compares to other courses' feeback across the board.

It's back to the age old question. How important is it to have an RG university on your CV versus a (good) non-RG one? can even an RG university be crap at something?

Hi

This is my first ever post, after long time lurking so please be gentle. I graduated with joint honours from Birmingham enough years ago to depress me. I had a great time! It's a big Uni, but the Campus is beautiful, and (at least when I was there) there was a good mix in terms of housing, so can suit all budgets. Although there is a strong focus on the language side (which I dropped asap) it does also have the Shakespeare Institute down at Stratford if Elizabethan and Jacobean lit is your thing (tell me it is, and I'm not just a wierdo?!) and I managed to do a module with them, and it was great to be taught by leading experts in the field, especially as they rarely taught undergrads and so really pushed us.

Birmingham is also a great city - big, with a great city centre, compact and friendly. Certainly when I was there it was large enough to avoid any problems with 'Town and Gown' that smaller towns sometime experience. It also provides some good options for working during term time if this is likely to help with finances.

That said UEA is also a great place, and I know folk who've done the creative writing course there and speak v highly of it.

The key thing is to get a feel for where he'll be happiest. Best of luck to him! Which ever place he choses, he'll be heading to a great Uni, and am getting both nostalgic and very jealous!

Sussex is in the 1994 group as it is a small Uni. I would email/phone the admissions tutor about the offer. At the open day we were told that the Unis get your A level results on the Sunday - students get them on Thursday - so if not all the places are filled by those getting the offer grades they look at one grade down and still offer them a place - they may tell you what percentage get through on the "first fix", so that you can gauge your DS's chances if he drops a grade.

My DD really likes Sussex - but it is our home Uni and she wants to live away. There are usually plenty of part time jobs (from the uni careers office) as Brighton is a tourist town. It is lovely and sunny here, you have the beach, great nightclubs etc (although the city clubs mean its hard for the student union to get v popular) but it is still small and manageable. The Uni/halls buses run 24 hours a day every 10 mins and the library is also 24 hour. Lots of my neighbours are ex-Sussex students who never left or tried London for a few years but were called back!

It is difficult to make such a big decision on the "feel of the place" from an open day. If your son put Sussex first and UAE as insurance then if he doesn't get into Sussex then will UAE not have to take him? or did he want to put a lower offer as insurance?