Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Higher education

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

Original poster

Where are the best unis to row (not Oxbridge)

39 replies

Figmentofmyimagination · 28/06/2015 21:19

My DD2 (just finishing y10) takes her rowing v seriously and is determined to continue at university. Where are the best rowing unis in the uk? At the moment she wants to study vetinerary sciences or zoology, although in reality I think it's quite early days for degree subject choice. I'm just interested in a general steer as to where rowing is properly supported.

OP posts:
Millymollymama · 28/06/2015 22:50

Well there are only about 6 vet schools (I think) so look at them. Durham is good for rowing but no vet school. Royal Veterinary College good for vet med but not near a river. You can look at Bristol, Nottingham and Liverpool for vet med. Not sure what they offer on the Avon, the Trent and the Mersey. Then there's Cambridge. Problem solved.

Millymollymama · 28/06/2015 22:51

Oops. Sorry. You didn't want Oxbridge.

Molio · 28/06/2015 22:52

Durham + zoology.

homebythesea · 28/06/2015 22:54

Guildford for rowing and Surrey Uni new vet school

homebythesea · 28/06/2015 22:54

Also nottingham

TheFallenMadonna · 28/06/2015 22:54

Imperial does rowing scholarships.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 28/06/2015 22:59

UCL has a rowing club and what I would imagine is a very good zoology department.

zazas · 28/06/2015 23:00

This was my daughter's request as well for her university - no rowing = not a contender! She is looking at Economics so perhaps has a little wider availability than vet/zoology but the ones we have found that have good facilities are; Durham, Bath, Bristol especially. Warwick has a rowing club but it seemed a little less part of the whole sport's programme. Ruled out Surrey and St Andrews because of their lack of rowing...

annandale · 28/06/2015 23:01

I would lean towards Nottingham. Google British rowing and look at the Start programme. There's a list of the dozen universities involved on there, any of those would make sense but I'd be inclined to Nottingham because of the national centre.

Fififififi · 28/06/2015 23:02

Durham - the rowing tank is awesome!

southeastastra · 28/06/2015 23:05

why is rowing so important to these elite universities?

annandale · 28/06/2015 23:19

Southeast, in the past because it was a manly classical sport that would stop the softening of the male elite from too much studying. Now, lottery funding.

Chchchchanging · 29/06/2015 00:39

Warwick

DoctorDonnaNoble · 29/06/2015 05:34

Reading is also good for rowing, possible insurance choice? They have (had) a variety of zoology type courses.

TurnOverTheTv · 29/06/2015 05:53

Durham is fab

Candycoco · 29/06/2015 06:12

Where do Warwick row? Because Warwick uni is actually in Coventry and there's no river there

gonegrey56 · 29/06/2015 06:17

Oxford Brookes is outstanding for rowing, and offer scholarships. No idea about academic courses though, something you need to check . The men's 8 ( students) won Henley last year .

Decorhate · 29/06/2015 06:22

Zazas why do you say there is no rowing at Surrey? Friends dd is there & seems to be spending most of summer at Henley with her rowing team!

Kez100 · 29/06/2015 06:26

Loughborough having rowing but I think they go to Nottingham to do it?

catslife · 29/06/2015 08:05

Bristol university do offer rowing (have male and female teams) as well as a vet school (also have Zoology degrees too).
Annual public events e.g. Bristol boat race at the harbourside (Bristol uni versus UWE).

homebythesea · 29/06/2015 08:19

There us definitely rowing in Guildford - I used to live next to the river. It may be Guildford RC rather than a purely student club?

senua · 29/06/2015 09:00

My DD2 (just finishing y10) takes her rowing v seriously and is determined to continue at university.

A word of warning.
At a similar age I would have said similar things about DS: he was very keen on and very good at his sport. Scroll on a few years and he hardly plays now. He was fed up with getting up at 6:30 for training but, more to the point, he has realised that the competition is immense. His University has about 24,000 undergraduates: take out half of them (the opposite sex), take out 99% who aren't interested and that still leaves you competing against 119 other people for that spot in the team. He didn't fancy paying hundreds of pounds and missing out on partying to possibly play Thirds or Fourths.
He works out at the gym instead these days.

zazas · 29/06/2015 14:22

Decorhate - I stand corrected. Although in fairness we did request the prospectus where we didn't find any specific information on it nor did we find it easy to locate on the website. With my DD being adamant that rowing had to be a main part of her university life, she just felt that other universities were offering more to her in this area (rightly or wrongly). She is pretty involved in the sport and would like to be training up to 6 days a week - so probably a bit overly concerned about the extent of university rowing :)

HaleMary · 29/06/2015 14:24

Does she specifically want to row in university boats? Because if she's not fussed, there are of course lots of good non-university rowing clubs, too. When I was at Oxford, several friends rowed for a town club rather than within the university.

Millymollymama · 29/06/2015 15:48

Also do be aware that rowing and vet med can be a toxic mix. Rowers are dedicated and spend a lot of time training. Likewise vets. There are often not enough hours in the day to do both. A keen rower friend of ours failed 1st year vet med course - too much time spent rowing and training in the gym. Best to decide what you want most.