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Higher education

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

Original poster

University Admissions - I'm willing to answer any questions!

301 replies

MrsBright · 18/04/2015 08:53

I have worked in Uni Admissions at several different Unis, RG and non-RG, for over 20 years and am very happy to answer any general questions about UCAS/Offers/F&I Decisions/Clearing/Adjustment etc.

OP posts:
ItsNotTrueThough · 23/04/2015 09:40

I commented two days ago that this thread was full of snarky posts. It's a shame as it could have been a useful thread. Sad

Littleham · 23/04/2015 09:43

Thank you Mrs Bright for your help. It would be great if you would stay as you have been helpful.

From a parents point of view it would be really useful if each university put an official representative on social media to answer parents questions (just the facts, not a heated debate). Student room seems to have started this now - my dd occasionally sees a University of York representative pop up. Is this possible? Or wouldn't it be practical?

JeanneDeMontbaston · 23/04/2015 09:43

I am not trying to snark.

It is not more useful for someone to perpetuate unchallenged advice, than for people to talk about what's actually true.

I don't understand why MrsB won't let anyone question her views. Someone just now pointed out to me I'm generalizing unacceptably about science - and I thought that was fine.

Admittedly, I'm very junior to her and don't have much sense that what I say deserves some kind of special respect, because it doesn't. But many of the other academics commenting on here have years and years of experience. And they're the people who're going to be sifting through admissions applications this winter, so surely it would be useful to know what they think?

JeanneDeMontbaston · 23/04/2015 09:44

little - it'd be great.

I know Cambridge had someone posting in TheStudentRoom, and I think other places did too.

ZeroFunDame · 23/04/2015 09:46

TBH I liked the old MN where someone asked a question / raised a point and everyone piled in with their opinion.

Is this the new model? An "expert" arriving in a golden carriage and everyone obliged to curtsey on the way in and out and a thorough telling off if the curtesy isn't low enough?

It's not much fun ...

Littleham · 23/04/2015 10:02

Surely you can have both?

An official representative could provide specific factual answers for particular universities. People could debate the answers & the university rep. would only have to step in with the facts for that particular institution.

UptheChimney · 23/04/2015 10:05

30 years ago the situation was very different. This is something where I have recent experience - these days it is hard to get funding for postgrad work, and bursaries are practically non-existent. It is a really tough situation. If someone wanted a career teaching in universities, advising them to ignore league tables when they apply to university is absurd

I second this observation/experience, from the PoV of a senior academic very involved in appointing academics, and selecting PhD students. All degrees undergrad & postgrad are not equal, although they should be. But pragmatically, they aren't.

spinoa · 23/04/2015 10:08

An official representative could provide specific factual answers for particular universities.

The problem is that such a representative could only provide answers to very general questions, such as whether both insurance and firm are guaranteed accommodation. One person would not be able to answer subject specific questions or questions for which the answers depend strongly on the subject (many of the questions on this thread are of this type). The representative would have to pass the questions along to the relevant admissions tutors, but it is easier for students/parents to contact them directly.

UptheChimney · 23/04/2015 10:09

Sorry, spinoa, that was my generalisation, and you're right to pull me up on it

Although what I note is on this thread and other more specific ones in this section of MN how common the experience of those of us working as academics involved in these matters is - across the arts & sciences. There are differences, of course, but the similarities strike me.

JeanneDeMontbaston · 23/04/2015 10:11

Yes, you could have both. When I've seen someone do it, though, they've been much more general than MrsB has here - or, they've been specific but very narrow.

I don't think you can do both of those things. You can, of course, have a wider debate that's not so much to do with expertise, and I think those are useful. Or they have been to me.

Upthe - yes, that's true, I think. But I think one of the things that strikes me is how ready you have to be to say ah, ok, my experience isn't representative. Because no one's ever will be perfectly.

ZeroFunDame · 23/04/2015 10:15

Littleham if I want the facts about a particular institution I'd go to that institution's own website and other sources of accredited info. I would never rely on some random off the internet.

I come to MN for opinions - which are in themselves tremendously helpful in weighing up pros and cons. (Even the nonsense.) But it's frankly ridiculous for anyone to take offence because they receive insufficient genuflection here.

UptheChimney · 23/04/2015 10:19

The problem with the premise of this thread is that one person sets herself/himself up as an expert and invites questions.

As if quite a few of us (as working academics, in a range of career positions, universities & disciplines) who work in the system, are or have been Admissions Tutors, and deal with students all the time, have not been doing this for ages in this section of MN!

I suppose I shouldn't expect gratitude from posters here whose questions I and others have patiently answered, but some recognition that a number of us have been doing it for some time might not go amiss. RAther than accusations of snark.

I'm passionate about pupils thinking through & choosing what might be the best courses (plural) for them. And parents helping them do this -- but also parents realising when they need to back off. That's why I post here. But if all I'm accused of is snark, I wonder why I bother?

coffeewith1sugar · 23/04/2015 10:19

Thanks Mrs bright for all your help, you started this thread with good intentions. So sorry its ended like this. Please come back. I don't understand why people shoot the OP down as almost being incompetent to give any helpful advice just because she has a differring opinion to their own, its so sad. Can't indifferences be discussed in more diplomatic waySad

Littleham · 23/04/2015 10:21

This is the sort of thing I mean...

www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2930437&page=32

ZeroFunDame · 23/04/2015 10:29

I'm labouring the point I know - but if MN introduces a named individual from a named institution who makes themselves available to give advice on a MNHQ thread that's abdolutely fine. But if you start a perfectly ordinary anonymous thread you have no greater status than any other poster. Who do I complain to if I follow your advice and it's wrong?

TheWordFactory · 23/04/2015 10:31

'Ladies' ' yummy mummy' ??

What's with the sexist shite ?

ragged · 23/04/2015 10:32

And again Emphasis Of Thread harps back to choice of course not what to expect from general procedure. Principles of process is jolly useful for degree-free parents or those from foreign lands so we just need ballpark ideas of what happens & how.

Still shocks me, if it's true, that 30 yrs ago UK parents had little or no input to DC's Uni choices & application procedure. Not normal in my culture since 1890s, unless mature student or financially independent.

SourdoughBread · 23/04/2015 10:33

Is this the new model? An "expert" arriving in a golden carriage and everyone obliged to curtsey on the way in and out and a thorough telling off if the curtesy isn't low enough?

Precisely. This whole thread smacked of narcissism.

TheWordFactory · 23/04/2015 10:38

I think part of the problem is that people expect admissions procedure to be standard.

Because state education is very centralised and the UCAS system appears to be a centralised mechanism, it's easy to forget that universities are entirely separate entities.

Sure they follow some rules/guidelines and sure there are some common experiences but other than that, each sets its own game.

coffeewith1sugar · 23/04/2015 10:43

word I think it was spoken out of being peeved off , think we can all get like that sometimes, when things get too much.

UptheChimney · 23/04/2015 10:50

Still shocks me, if it's true, that 30 yrs ago UK parents had little or no input to DC's Uni choices & application procedure

And I'm shocked at how interventionist some parents expect to be -- I found this one of the culture shocks when teaching in the USA !

My experience of dealing with "difficult" students is that a fair proportion of them were not engaging with their course because they'd been pushed into it by their parents, so I don't tend to regard close parental involvement in choices always as a necessarily good thing.

But I understand it's tricky! My DS used me as a sounding board, and I could nudge, but had to back off quite a lot (probably because I'm in the business and so he needed to do more to prove independence Grin).

JeanneDeMontbaston · 23/04/2015 10:55

I don't understand why people shoot the OP down as almost being incompetent to give any helpful advice just because she has a differring opinion to their own, its so sad.

But no one is saying that.

Personally, I've said (repeatedly) that the OP clearly has more experience than I do.

But, I and others don't agree with her on a couple of points.

There should be nothing wrong with saying that.

I agree with zero that it would be very different if someone were speaking as a named individual from their university - as people often do on TheStudentRoom. But, such a person would only be able to speak about the specifics of their university (or, often, their course). And I've seen people make that point.

They don't start threads claiming to provide general advice, and it's fair to question whether any one person can know enough to do that in a way that isn't unintentionally misleading in places.

TheWordFactory · 23/04/2015 10:55

UTC I kinda see it from both sides as I work in academia but I also have two kids who will soon be applying to university.

The costs and stakes are just so much higher than they were for DH and I.

Plus the expansion has led to just so many dreadful courses on offer IMVHO.

The choice for applicants is far more difficult and far reaching today.

ItsNotTrueThough · 23/04/2015 10:59

The problem is not that posters disagree with each other it's the way in which they do it. I don't think some posters realise how pompous and snippy they sound Sad BTW I'm not directing that at anyone in particular.

As a parent of 4 uni age DC I consider myself fairly well versed in the university application process but I have found the threads in the Further Education topic really useful. I definitely don't agree with everything that's written but it helps me think about things I wouldn't have considered otherwise. For example my DC4 has recently firmed up her UCAS choices and based on the kind advice of a mumsnetter (sorry I forgot the name Blush ) she realised she hadn't properly researched some aspects of the courses. That advice had a direct influence on my DD ruling out a university she was previously considering. We really thought we had looked at everything but this impartial expert advice was invaluable.

As I said earlier , I don't agree with everything that MrsBright has said but I still think it was a good idea for a thread. It's a shame it hasn't worked out.

ZeroFunDame · 23/04/2015 11:11

It isn't a good idea for a thread.

A MN thread is a democracy. Everyone has the same degree of annonymity and, crucially, the same lack of accountability. The multi-degreed Professor of all they survey owns no more credibility than the imaginative indigent making it all up from a library computer. (They could even be the same person.)

If the OP wants to be helpful they should contact MNHQ and arrange something formal.