Helping ds in lower 6th choose open days

[tobee]

After doing mock as levels my ds asked me about universities to apply to. He's not sure what course to do. I'm trying to help him but don't want to prejudice his thinking. There are just so many different places, courses and combinations that he could try for. My dd knew exactly which 5 unis to apply to so my input wasn't required. I wish there was some sort of quiz he could do that you put in the sort of things you were keen on for uni e.g quiet, loads of nightlife, campus, city etc, etc and grade variables and then, voila, try these! Any suggestions as to how to narrow things down? Or is it just a question of ploughing through ucas website and uni websites?

The 40 minutes was the worst-case scenario of crawling across town in the nonrush-hour traffic on the BrookesBus. I don't know if things have improved since then.

Some of Exeters Unis courses are in Penryn which is geographically close to Falmouth but, sort of, a million miles away too.

I'd have a look on opendays.com and choose some Oprn days that fall on convenient dates.

Some of the 'lower' ranked Unis open days are much less of a zoo than the higher ranked Unis. For example at Keele my DC were able to spend ages chatting to lectures and current staff but at Bristol you could barely move because it was so busy.

If you are close to London you could look at The LONDON taster days and see if there is anything that interests your DS. If they are booked up you can go on wait lists. My DCs went on a few of them.

It really hard to judge Universities without visiting. Everyone is looking for different things. We were surprised at the difference between departments within the same Uni came across.

I've four DC at Uni and out of the 'back up' Unis that they looked at they liked Swansea, Keele (despite the fact it's a bit nowhere's-ville) Brunel (really surprised at that one) and Lincoln. Lincoln is low ranking but looked like it has a lot to offer. None of my DC ended up at these Uni's so the impression was just from the open days.

A good tip Is to set up a unique email for all open day related things. I've realised that Unis aren't adverse to spamming sending lots of unwanted emails even when you've not requested it. We also used almost the same password for all Uni open day passwords.

I endorse what Senua said, about the newer universities often being an amalgamation of several further ed colleges, straggled about a city - quite different from most 'traditional' or purpose built universities (although some of them have additional sites too).

We found www.push.co.uk a REALLY useful site when ds was looking - you can add (and take away) ALL SORTS of filters - from the grades you are predicted, to the cost of a pint . You have to register, but you don't get spammed with e-mails, just a very occasional one reminding you it's time to write your personal statement or something. Parents can regiaster too.

He sounds like a perfect fit for Edinburgh to me!

None of my DCs go to Edinburgh but I've always thought it would be a fab place to be a student.

I liked (me not my DC) Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Cardiff and Lancaster

Edinburgh would be great imo too but ds worried about distance which I think is a shame. Hadn't seen that opendays website. I was really looking forward to open day visits with dd (she wanted me to go to all) but found all the talks to be incredibly similar at different unis with lots of pressure to go to the dull speech by the head honcho and a lot of slagging off of the competition. It didn't help that the weather was dreadful which was probably why she ended up at Exeter whose open day was sunny!

Just looked at Edinburgh whose entry requirements look a bit hopeful.

• as in difficult!

I reckon he needs to look at the actual course content at different unis, so to spend some time on their websites. Make a short list of places where he likes the sound of the course modules available. Then knock out any which are too far away/too close/too big a town/too small a town/bad reputation and then go and see some.

Going to the boring talks for the parents is a rookie error.

We actually used spreadsheets when my DC were deciding where to go.

My dd got a 3 B offer for Philosophy at Edinburgh..............surely with his mock grades that would be a walk in the park?

Good grief I avoided those talks like the plague. Why do people think it's good pr to get some old guy droning on for 1/2 an hour in some packed hall? But when the open day helpers see you head fast in the opposite direction (for a strong coffee) they look shocked.

Bertrand I saw three As for politics and used it as a rough guide based on other uni comparisons. Will look again. (being superstitious walk in the park seems tempting fate!)

Yeah, just went back to Edinburgh website, ignoring fact that Google says Pippa Middleton is alumni, and philosophy definitely says three As. Maybe your ds had a super good ucas form or things have really changed? My (much brainier) best friend went to Edinburgh many years ago.

He needs to choose a course and go from there. Has he not done a screening test at school?

Our strategy has been to group universities running the course by entrance grades, with an eye to choosing two matching predicted grades, two slightly below and one well below.

Within each group, decide on campus vs city, distance from home, assessment criteria.

At decision time, firm one of the two "predicted grades" and insure one of the "just missing".

As a teacher, I like whatuni.com.

My DD is studying Politics and Economics and she really couldn't find that many courses so it was not to hard to find five for UCAS. Her five were Sheffield (AAB), Newcastle (AAB), Royal Holloway (ABB), Manchester (ABB) and Stirling (BCC).

Lots of good advice on here but just adding another vote for looking at course details. It's probably hard when the options at this point are so open but once they start to narrow down its a huge differentiator

My DD is hoping to do English and Spanish and the breadth of options available varied a lot.

And do go to visit places even those you feel sure about. We were both convinced Manchester would be the place and both hated it at the open day. Cocky, arrogant and focused on the sciences was our impression.

I took DS to a Manchester open day for Philosophy. The moment we stepped out of the station, he declared that he wouldn't be going there. So much for my fuss and encouragement with first class rail, fancy lunch etc :sigh:.

I think you get a feel of where universities rank themselves, even within the Russell Group. Just look at the grades they want. For his "likely" universities, Edinburgh is not really on the list. Also the op did not ask for Philosophy which often requires lower grades than English, Politics or History. These subjects are often very oversubscribed at the highest ranked universities.

I know Uxbridge pretty well. It is pretty ugh! as a university destination. Fine if you stay on campus but little else to make the pulse race! It is as dull as Staffordshire but a bit closer to London. Keele is not really comparable with Bristol as far as "sought after" goes. It should not make much difference whether an open day sparsely populated other than to tell you the university may be glad to get you.

The older, traditional universities are frequently able to ask for higher grades than the 1960s universities. Exeter and Bath are exceptions. The former polys are yet another group. This is why parents need to know their young people and have some idea regarding how universities/courses rank. The people going to Keele and Brunel are rather different from those choosing Bristol or Durham for example. The 1960s universities are possibly offering courses within the likely bracket. That is why you need to look at middle ranking rather then near the top and be realistic.

Royal Holloway is another that is a bit remote and in a pretty but less than lively location. Comedy and music could be problematic.

DD discounted Edinburgh for politics as it was heavy on Scottish politics/Holyrood. She only put down Stirling as it was the only low offer she could find.

She is actually at Royal Holloway and enjoying it. I don't think many students are fazed at the 40 minutes from town. Egham has a lot to offer ;). And it's close to Westminster.

"Also the op did not ask for Philosophy"

Yes,she did.
Sorry that Edinburgh didn't cut it for your ds. Oh well, at least that leaves more places for lesser mortals!

Also look at the student room website for details of course satisfaction for each course. No good going to a respected uni if 95% of courses give it a good rep but he wants to do one of the other 5% with terrible tutors/lectures.

Good grief I avoided those talks like the plague. Why do people think it's good pr to get some old guy droning on for 1/2 an hour in some packed hall?

Hearing the same old 'this is how student finance works' lecture several times over is yawnsome. I forgive the Universities though because they mean well: it is a subtle way of wrenching the applicants away from their helicopters. It's like the toddler distraction-technique.

My kids have always had the student finance talks at school, so open days were for department talks and an accommodation tour.

When OB was a poly, it's only campus was at Wheatley. Now there are buildings and courses in Headington which is much closer to the city centre.

Completely OT (but since when does that matter on MN!) but I'm procrastinating over an essay and was mildly intrigued as I've been to a couple of OU classes at the Brookes Headington campus and it seemed pretty well-established.

Anyway, the above isn't true They did have loads of little schools all over the place, moved to Headington in 1949, became Oxford Poly in 1970, and acquired Wheatley in 1976 by taking over a teacher training college.

Re choosing universities -
I think subject has to come first, before course specifics, or the location/character of the uni. It's up to the individual which is more important to them, the nitty gritty of the course, or what their university's like. But surely not many people pick a uni then look for subjects offered at that university?

If the OP's ds has no real idea at this stage what subject he's interested in, then I would suggest either looking at Scottish universities where you can do 3 subjects in the first year, wide-ranging courses (except I think that e.g. the Liberal Arts courses have quite high entry requirements), joint honours courses, or a gap year.

A lot can change in 6 months though, if he's keen enough to start looking and reading. There are open days in June/July (and some do get booked up quickly, but most will be ok. And then nearly everywhere will also be having open days in September/October too - for most people there is actually a lot of time left before next January.

Right, back to the essay I'm supposed to be writing!