Bristol or Leeds University?

[goingmadinthecountry]

Has anyone chosen one over the other and why? Dd was keen on Leeds but after post offer day at Bristol has changed her mind! Would appreciate any experience on why you or dc preferred one or the other. All her conditional offers (except Reading) are the same so that won't be a deciding factor.

myth my ds is looking at Leeds can zi ask which Halls your dd was in ,also what type of subject

Just to say even if Bristol does have quite a lot of students who've come from private schools, there must be at least 50% who've been to regular schools.

I found it very easy to make many friends that I felt very comfortable with - though I suppose there is a bit of a tendency for the two groups not to mix as freely as they might. But, within my subject group for example, I wasn't particularly aware of school background once we all got to know each other.

My DD is in her second year at Bristol. She loves it, the course [not Law], the city, everything.

Have just checked on Times Uni guide and there are 60% from state schools at Bristol. My DD went to our local comp and has no problem at all mixing and making friends from a variety of backgounds.

I must admit I love visiting her too. Bristol is a great city.

I went to Bristol university in the 1980s too and liked it so much that I still live there now! I would say that there was a good mix of students from both independent and comprehensive schools. A high proportion of students were from the South East / London areas though and not many northerners like me!
Goldney Hall and Manor Hall, based in Clifton, are both self catering which could suit your dd if she is already fairly independent.
If your dd is thinking about bringing a car with her, she will find that parking close to the university is very difficult and possibly some Halls may have restrictions on car parking too. However having a car may be useful in the evenings and at weekends, particularly if she lives in one of the Stoke Bishop halls. HTH

She was in James Baillie mrs woodentop but originally wanted Henry Price - both are new and smart. James Baillie is fairly small but next door to Devonshire Hall which has lots of facilities and grounds. Bodington's not so good and probably the cheapest but is a long way out at the sports fields - and the buses coming in from there in the morning are always packed. Most of the social life is in Headingley so anywhere between there and the University (like James Baillie and Devonshire) is good. She was in the Biology Faculty.

DD loved Leeds as a city, but was in Bodington which she hated (but is now closed I think) and she also hated her course. She left, and is going to Cardiff next year.

The reputation of the uni can be important in law.. But it depends what sort of a career you are after.

I think dd is veering towards catered - she's perfectly capable of cooking, but it's a lot to take on board in your 1st year. Had she not messed up her physics AS (or indeed chosen something Humanities based), she'd have applied to Oxbridge. Doesn't bother me - I probably got more out of Cambridge as a postgrad than I would have at undergraduate level. Also have friends who did the same and are still academics now (I was at King's in London).

We're in a very rural area of SE and the children are at good state grammars (no comprehensives here in Kent). Hsd they not passed 11 plus we'd have struggled a lot with 4 children but payed for private schools - her school beats private local schools with results most years. I guess you'd call us middle class and I definitely have academic aspirations for my children. Dd is quite a strong-minded individual.

Nwighbours' dd is a newly qualified barrister - she's home for the weekend and seconded that more of her colleagues are from Bristol than Leeds.

(Yellowstone).

The son of my next door neighbour as a child headed up the Law dept. at Bristol for twenty years, until 1998. His mother was a bitter rival of my mother on the golf course (or rather she thought she was: my mother's game was infinitely better). He had eleven daughters and my own contract tutor back in the eighties told me that Prof. Furmston was at a Law conference when his tenth or eleventh daughter was born and when it was announced from the stage all the assembled Law dons broke into cheers. This has got absolutely nothing to do with the relative merits of Bristol and Leeds.

I don't recall a high proportion of Bristol students in the places I was in in the City or at the Bar all those years ago in fact rather the opposite, but I think its reputation is now very good, or perhaps the low numbers were coincidence.

I should also like to say that Prof. Furmston is a very great deal older than me.

Purple what was she reading?

I applied to both in prehistoric times, Bristol 1st choice Leeds last, on basis of which was the nicest city

Then realised that Bristol v snooty, Leeds was v much more down to earth; on visiting realised leeds was a great city (this was way back when it could be described as 'rough' ) with the Yorkshire dales on the doorstep. So i chose leeds and utterly loved it.

Though of course things change. I get the feel that Leeds has gone much more upmarket since my day

I was at Bristol in 96, doing an MA. It was very public schooly. If you daughter is going to make it in law she is going to have to learn to 'swim with them', anyway. Best get to grips with that at Uni, I suppose.

DD1 is in her second year at Bristol and loves it. She has two close friends who are doing Law, neither of whom are public school educated (one went to a 'super selective' and the other to a rough comp in Derbyshire which hardly ever sent anyone to any kind of uni). Both girls are doing very well in their course although, interestingly, it's the one from the local comp who is finding it easiest as she seems to have superb study skills and a really ability to focus and cut out the crap. (i have met both and spoken to DD1 about this). Bristol seems to offer a lot of support for Law applications, eg for finding summer internships, choosing where/when to apply to firms etc. One of the girls is spending her 3rd year abroad in Italy studying Law, which also seems like a bonus.
DD1 chose halls in her first year which were in Clifton, not Stoke Bishop, as much closer to the university and libraries. The uni gives out stats on how many applications to each hall etc, as some are very oversubscribed. Students get to put down 2 choices, so no sense in putting down 2 hugely popular ones as you will very likely miss out on both and then get the dross. Goldney seems to be the one they all want (but Manor hall, which is close by, is also nice). Wills is the one with all the rahs in it.

Thanks for all the pointers/information. Ancient, have passed all that on to dd. She'll certainly be meeting a whole new range of people over the next few years - most of the public school types she knows round here are quietly confident rather than loud and not posher than us. I well remember a particular group of Harrow boys at university!

One last point. If your DD wants to be a lawyer, she might be better off not studying law. There's a lot of prejudice against a law degree in law, y'know (not joking).

mrswoodentop she was reading BA French. Just wasn't quite right for her! Enjoyed it at A level but it was much much more historically based than she anticipated.

there's a Harvey Nics in Leeds. Just saying