Coventry anyone?

[stonecircle]

Best for university experience in the 2015 Good University Guide (42nd last year!)

Sadly DS is on a field trip on the next open day but I'm thinking it might be worth a look. Anyone know anything about it?

My DS is currently enjoying freshers week at Coventry, so hopefully can answer some questions.

Coventry was never a uni he particularly thought of when drawing up his shirt list it just happened to fulfil the main criteria he had (distance from home and they offered pure marketing rather than as a duel). On the open day though it completely wowed him, it was the only uni whose lecturers were still active in the industry, the support given for work experience (he wants to do a sandwich year, which is something they actively encourage to the point where they do not charge any fees during placement year, whereas Chester did), the atmosphere of the place, just the whole feel. It also offered a bursary that he could access which didn't depend on our income.

When he attended offers day to all the unis, he said he was comparing them to Coventry and it was quickly firmed.

His modules include compulsory (which is compulsory for ever student) 2 ad+vantage modules which are based on employability skills, he collects his free text books today and although it's the made freshers week with a hectic day timetable of introduction to the academic writing support etc he is loving it.

We as parents were very presently surprised to see their rankings this and last year, but so far can understand why it is higher than a number of 'traditional' unis

They do hold more than one open day, but I would definitely recommend visiting as until DS did, he never gave them a thought

Apologies for some weird words - phone auto correct!

There are also 27th overall in the Guardian, 42nd overall in the Times

Just realised that I didn't include a major factor in his decision was that they offered the most contact hours of all the unis he visited. 14 hours, which was 5 hours more than the others and whilst the others offer support for academic writing as in someone to contact if struggling, they have a dedicated unit for this and maths. (English is not a particularly strong point, enough skills to get his results but an area where he does struggle)

Yes.... But who wants to live in Coventry as a Uni experience? Surely choosing a university is not all about league tables? Coventry has more contact hours because, one suspects, it has more students that need this approach. It is more of a "holding your hand" university but also the type of place many would not consider in comparison to, say,Warwick down the road. Horses for courses I think.

If he's paying so much for tuition fees, the more contact hours the better IMO. It is not in comparison to Warwick as it runs different courses and so far my DS is loving the experience (I feel that it is a very snobbish view to base the uni you attend on where it is). Everytime we have visited we have been very surprised as to how nice it seems, the twin centre is clean, welcoming and has a wealth of history as well as modern shopping facilities, bars and clubs

The Sunday Times has an interesting take on modern universities

My DS is also at freshers' week at Coventry. He's loving it! I agree with cricketballs. The only fly in the ointment was the accommodation. He didn't get into halls and so is now in a shared house. Coventry have their own letting agency, but they were a bunch of charlatans who wanted £1,000 on the nail without any prior notice for some absolutely disgusting rooms in some really horrible houses/areas.

It was a very pleasant surprise that he got his books for the course for free.

Did he not firm them Judge? DS was lucky that he got in his first choice given realistically it was the only one he could afford.

DS got 3 of his free books yesterday he moaned about how heavy they were to carry back , waiting for 2 more to be delivered, at the parents welcome event they said free books again in 2nd year, final year they get e-vouchers to enable them tho buy digital copies of the books they need

Snobbish. Yes I probably am if that is wanting the best course and university my DCs can possibly get into! We do all know that teaching hours are not the only thing that counts as value for money. It is where you go,what course you do,and how employers value it. A few hours less teaching is not really a deal breaker for most students. If it was, many of the top rated universities would be empty! A below average course at a below average university is probably not worth £9000 pa whatever teaching hours it has. However there are some brilliant niche courses out there which employers like but if you are doing a standard school type subject, eg Geography, why look at Coventry?

if you are doing a standard school type subject, eg Geography, why look at Coventry?

Where would you suggest that would be better Milly with the same typical offer? (BBC I believe)

But you said that he would probably get a prediction of AAB, stonecircle. He would have to drop a grade in every subject to be looking at BBC. I know that you have to have an insurance / what-if offer but you shouldn't be too pessimistic.

Exactly Senua. If you look at Geography at Coventry employers will know you didn't get AAA to get anywhere better and your DS will be competing in the jobs market against all those who did. Therefore a University like Coventry will have its niche market, but Geography is not a niche subject. I will see where might offer ABB or BBB.

As somebody who's student aged and living in Coventry, I think it's a fantastic place to be a student. Rent and living costs are generally cheap, lots of societies and a wide variety of students, plenty of things to do and a good central location with Birmingham, London etc in easy reach.
I've been to much worse cities (and universities) than Coventry but people never fail to criticise all the same

Stonecircle. A trawl through some universities has produced the following: Manchester AAB, Liverpool ABB, Sussex AAB, Swansea ABB or BBB, Birmingham AAB, Newcastle AAB -ABB, Southampton AAB-ABB, Sussex ABB, Leicester ABB, Royal Holloway ABB, UEA ABB, Oxford Brookes BBC, UWE 300 pts.

These are Geography BSc. However there are some really interesting joint degrees out there at some of these universities. It would be useful to see if any joint degrees bring the offers down. I have left out the AAA universities which are the ones you might expect. Didn't check Exeter. Some of the lower offers above might be the contextual ones. I have left out Scottish ones and Cardiff's web site is so bad I can't find the entry offers! You get a pecking order from these likely offers though. Your DS has quite a wide choice. I bet he would enjoy Newcastle!!!!

You can get details on asking grades off the UCAS website eg Cardiff is AAB-ABB. For Geography, they are Number 4 on the Guardian University Guide (above Oxford at Number 7).

I know what those universities offer - we've looked at them!!!! But my understanding is that you need to have an insurance offer. Surely you wouldn't pitch your insurance at just dropping one grade in one subject? DS is likely to be predicted AAB. So he wants to apply to Exeter (AAA-AAB); Southampton and Cardiff (ABB); possibly Loughborough (ABB). Surely he needs an insurance at around BBB? I don't think it's being pessimistic is it to think someone could drop a grade in each subject?

He's more than capable of getting AAB and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with A*AA. BUT things can go wrong can't they?

I'm also a bit sceptical about employers distinguishing between say a 2:1 at Cardiff and a 2:1 at Coventry.

Also I'm curious as to what makes a degree from Oxford Brookes better than one from Coventry since they both have the same typical offer. Is it just that the former is a nicer place to live?

DS2 is looking at Coventry. He wants to do Adult Nursing with a view to working in trauma or A&E, so ideally he wants to train at a university that is linked to a hospital that has a Major Trauma Unit. There aren't that many, Coventry is one of them, he's got the open day booked. Don't ask me when it is, I've got quite a few booked in the next few weeks!

I meant AAB for Southampton and Cardiff - grade blindness!

BUT things can go wrong can't they?

Not that wrong, in the grand scheme of things. It's all a game. Say University A asks for AAB, Uni B wants ABB and Uni C wants BBB. You are predicted AAB. Hopefully, you would get an offer from all three. If you mess up on results, Uni A might relent and still let you in (I know that is a big 'if', it depends on a lot of other factors).

So why not 'try it on' while you have the advantage of hope and expectation? Put Uni A as CF and Uni B as CI. If it all goes pear-shaped then you can always re-apply next year, to Uni C. As I see it, the up-side to this strategy is getting to the best University you can; the down-side is taking an extra year to get to Uni, which is not that much of a down-side (time to mature, to earn money, to get work experience).
Who dares, wins.

I'm also a bit sceptical about employers distinguishing between say a 2:1 at Cardiff and a 2:1 at Coventry.

I'm afraid that some employers are very lazy short-sighted and effectively use Universities to do their selection for them. In extreme cases, they will only recruit from Doxbridge+ICL+UCL. So even if you were Einstein and only went to the local ex-poly because you wanted to be at home to care for your bedridden mother then you wouldn't make the cut.

Cardiff is a Russell Group, Coventry isn't. It matters to some people.

I can understand employers looking more favourably on Oxbridge and some of the more traditional RG universities. But are they really that well-informed about the perceived standing of all of them? If I was interviewing I'd be looking for someone educated to degree standard but I'd be looking for aptitude, interpersonal skills and relevant experience more than whether or not their degree was from a RG uni.

The typical level of students at RG is quite different from those on most post 92 university courses and employers know this.

Also remember that student caps are bing lifted. This means RG are slightly expanding student numbers in many subjects, and many are being generous about dropped grades. (Don't rely on clearing offers, though, as advertising BBB in clearing doesn't mean you will get a place with BBB. I know of courses which were in clearing at ABB but in practice didn't take below AAA equivalent.)

Now student caps are gone RGs can take as many as they want, reducing the pool for universities of lower ranking. In practice a course advertised at BBC at a post 92 may well be taking CCC or DDD in clearing. Indeed I know around a third of students on one course (at a well respected university) came in from clearing with those kinds of grades.

The RG courses are targeted to students with AAB/AAA at A level, even if they have a few students who just missed these grades. Lower ranking universities may be targeting at BCC students and typically the level is far lower.

With an AAB prediction, I wouldn't go for an insurance which is below AAB. Universities will continue to flexible about dropped grades except in ultra-competitive subjects and many courses will be available in clearing if the results are significantly lower than predicted.

And while it might be controversial to say this a 2:1 in a given subject is not the same for all universities. Employers will rightly distinguish between a 2:1 in history from Cambridge, a 2:1 in history from York and a 2:1 in history from York St John, for example.