Teachers trying to get DD to change her Uni choice

[amumthatcares]

Some of you may recall my previous threads about the worry I had over DD's uni choice (between a very good one and a much poorer one). She needed ABB grades for both but in the end opted for the better one as her firm and the other as her insurance = very happy mummy

She re-sat her English Lang earlier in the year as she had got a C at AS. She managed to get it up to an A, which is some achievement and = very proud mummy .

Having upped this grade, a small group of teachers have pulled her to one side and are now telling her she should take a gap year and apply to one of the RG uni's next year, telling her the Uni she has firmed (16th in the new league tables) is not 'all that' in so many words - even thought it's the leading Uni for the subject she wants to do!! DD has decided to stick with her choice but I feel very cross about this. I think they are wrong to put down a perfectly good performing Uni or am I overreacting? I think it has more to do with their success than my DD's.

amumthatcares Over thirty years ago I was called into the Headmistresses study and given a stern dressing down about my uni choices and my determination to study Social History, which was regarded as soft and lacking rigor. I stuck to my guns, thoroughly enjoyed my uni course, had a chance to be taught by EP Thomson and other historians who were leading the study of History as everyone's story, and not just that of powerful white men, and most importantly because I enjoyed my subject I did very well. That enabled me to access a career and now I am back studying History. Now that is how History is taught in most universities, even if Gove wants to turn the clock back in schools. I hope your daughter's choice is similarly successful.

Some schools are terrible in the way they try to manipulate DC for the schools benefit.

A couple of years ago, I was one of the speakers at a UCAS day at a well known private school. In the Q&A, one of the students asked what they should do if they weren't really sure what to study at university. My reply was to focus on getting good A levels and to apply to uni when they knew what they wanted to do.

This position was immediately dismissed, and the school made it clear that it was not acceptable for them to not apply. I have not been asked back . Clearly, it was better for the school to be able to report 100% university entrance than for their students to be on the right course for them.

I have also had numerous conversations in which students report being advised that it is better to compromise on the subject to be studied than the university. These are usually in the context of them either failing their first year or being so unhappy they want to change subject.

Speaking as an academic in a much "higher ranked" and RG university: There is absolutely nothing wrong with the University of Leicester. It's a great choice, and the city itself is fab. Tell your daughter to stick to her guns and tell her teachers to wind their necks in!

I studied a science subject at one of the best unis as an undergraduate and back up what magrats said about research universities
Most researchers need to fund their research with grants so need to do that well in a very competitive environment. Teaching undergraduates is an inconvenience - doesn't help their careers...
Worse lecture series we had was given by a rising star - a young professor ...handout a jumble of photocopied images in no particular order - put one up and talked about it and by the time we had found it had moved onto the next one...obviously couldn't care less ...previous year no-one had answered his questions in the exam -and no-one did that year (I naively thought that should show him what a bad teacher he was -it was so bad I complained - he had to do a tutorial and whole class turned up to it! -confidence of being a mature student I guess...)
Later I realised what I think he was doing (after talking to someone who organised the exams where I did my postgrad)- 'teach' your subject badly, make your exam questions hard and you have less marking (if any) to do - less time away from your research...
Less 'prestigious' universities that care more about their students might be a better choice ...
The only thing i would say about a course which is so specific -look at what weighting etc is given to each area -can you do anything else with it? Not only a hard field to get into - but when she actually starts doing the job she might hate it ...not be what she expected at all ...and might feel a bit stuck!

who WOULDN'T want to go to a uni who found a king in a car park :)