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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Do you want your children to go to UNIVERSITY? Did you or DH/DP go?

140 replies

RTKangaMummy · 20/05/2006 20:17

?

OP posts:
Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 20/05/2006 20:43

JanH - your ds1 sounds much like mine - he's applied for International Politics at Aberystwyth but deferred.

JanH · 20/05/2006 20:48

What grades do they want at Aberystwyth, potty? (It is potty isn't it?) (I should say Smbk just in case!)

I think DS1 would like International Politics (is dead keen on Washington and Moscow) but because of his less-than-wonderful grades we haven't looked into it very far.

tamum · 20/05/2006 20:52

How would Newcastle be Janh? One of stepds's friends did Politics there, largely American IIRC, he certainly went there for part of the course. Mind you, he's now producing Richard and Judy :o

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 20/05/2006 20:58

Yes it's Potty Smile. I don't know about grades they wanted 240 points, but have lowered it to 200 following interview. I thought that was surprisingly low.

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 20/05/2006 20:59

....but he still might not get that!

Blandmum · 20/05/2006 20:59

Shows that the inerview must have really impressed! {grin]

JanH · 20/05/2006 21:02

Oh bloody hell, it is points now, isn't it? I haven't got a handle on that at all.

tamum, I think Newcastle might have been on his dream list, though as you know I would really love him to go to Edinburgh Smile Anyway he will do his gap year - erecting marquees nationwide if he can get up in time every day Shock - and we'll look at it all again in 6 months!

hulababy · 20/05/2006 21:02

Both me and DH went to university. I suppose we would like DD to go eventually - she is only 4 at the moment though, so think we will get school out the way for now! More than hoping she goes to uni though, we just want her to get the most out of all the opportunities she gets offered, to try hard and do her best - and be happy with whatever she choses.

JanH · 20/05/2006 21:02

And agree with mb, he must give good interview!

edam · 20/05/2006 21:06

Yes, I would like ds to go to university. But not particularly for job prospects (although it helps) but for the education and experience. I'd like him to study something he enjoys, rather than just working towards a career. I want him to have the chance to discover learning and thinking in depth.

But if he grows up into someone who doesn't want to do that, that will be OKish - I'll regret it, but it'll be his choice.

I dropped out of my first degree and went back a couple of years later. Dh didn't go and it has definitely held him back.

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 20/05/2006 21:07

He presents himself very well when he has to. Shame about the other 99% of the time Wink

JanH · 20/05/2006 21:10

edam, that's how I feel about DS1 going now - he would enjoy it and benefit from it enormously, as he has enjoyed his politics A Level, but to come out the other end owing £20-25000 means he has to absolutely sure it's what he wants to do.

NotAnOtter · 20/05/2006 21:11

me and dp both went - we met there!!! aaahhhh! Smile
anyway my course was a heap of $%&$ his was vocational . Luckily I was pregnant long before he graduated so that was the final nail in the coffin of any career as i intend to continue procreating as long as possible. HE however has to earn the money to keep me and said offspring so its a good job he did a good course and has a good profession.
Children 'yes' i will encourage them I had a fab time was naughty and met dp! I shall steer them toward vocational jobs!

tribpot · 20/05/2006 21:13

It is HE, rather than FE. Could certainly use a good shake-up.

I went, and have an MSc as well as an MA. My dh has barely an O-Level to his name (he is old, I was in the first year of GCSEers) because he was too ill to take them whilst at school. Despite that he has out-earnt me significantly to date, hence my scepticism about the value of degrees.

I would like ds to go if he has something he would like to study, but I would also like him to be streetwise enough to perceive the market value of whatever degree he is studying. That way he can decide for himself if it's worth four years messing about studying stuff like I did - and I don't really regret it now - or if he wants to follow his dad and his uncle (a brickie) into employment at a younger age.

What annoys me more is schools like mine, who banged the drum of "you must go to uni" to the point where there was a hierarchy of students: those going to Oxbridge at the top, then other universities, then the polys. If you left at 16, they couldn't give a monkeys, and so my bro missed out on some valuable opportunities in FE because no-one told us they existed. What REALLY annoys me is that this school gets excellent marks in its OFSTED inspections, whereas for me, a school which can only fulfil the ambitions of its most able students is failing.

chenin · 20/05/2006 21:15

Yes, am very keen for DDs to go. Neither I or DH went to Uni and eldest DD is currently doing AS levels and is really keen to go and is looking at Exeter, Birmingham, and Oxford (I don't think so....) Worried about the cost but sooooo proud..

singersgirl · 20/05/2006 21:23

Would love them to if they want to. DH and I both did, had a great time and made the majority of our best friends there. Really I just want them to have something they really want to do and pursue that.

JanH · 20/05/2006 21:26

Thing is, in an ideal world we would all say what singersgirl just said, but with the finance arrangement as it is it means anybody who can't sub their kids really has to say whoa - do we want them to start their working life owing tens of thousands of pounds?

And that's wrong Sad

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 20/05/2006 21:29

Dearest Tony has a lot to answer for. I did try to persuade ds1 to go this year - Wales aren't introducing fees until 2007.

fairyjay · 20/05/2006 21:34

We would be happy for them to go to Uni if it was for a purpose, and not just to waste a few years!

bogwobbit · 20/05/2006 22:02

I would be happy if my children went to university and would do everything I could to support them (despite my severe lack of money) if that was what they wanted and not just what society/Tony Blair expected of them.
AS for the money aspect - we're lucky in Scotland (so far) in that we don't have to pay tuition fees...yet but tbh the parental contribution when dd1 was at uni absolutely crippled us but I'll be buggered Shock if my children are excluded from going to university if that's what they want to do, when the children of the wealthy can go.

Californifrau · 21/05/2006 04:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

edam · 21/05/2006 07:44

Janh, couldn't agree more about money. It's a scandal that people have to pay fees. Education should be free in a civilised society. Full stop. Why are adults charged on the basis of their parent's income?

threebob · 21/05/2006 08:11

Dh went - didn't actually take any exams though - so a waste of 3 years really.

I spent 5 years there and got an MA. I have done several postgraduate certificates as well.

Given the cost of university now I am hoping that ds will be an entrepreneur instead! He will have to have a really good plan for whatever he wants to do - and that includes uni.

scienceteacher · 21/05/2006 08:25

I would be disappointed if they chose not to go to university.

scienceteacher · 21/05/2006 08:25

Why should university be free in a civilised society?

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