Exeter University Penryn Campus

[doglover]

My dd has visited some universities prior to applying (for English) in the autumn but is struggling to see herself at the majority we have seen eg. Bristol, Nottingham, Sussex, UCL. Her aspirational choice is Oxford but she's realistic about her chances there! She really liked Royal Holloway too: she's drawn to smaller, more traditional establishments ..... but they must have an orchestra! She initially dismissed Durham because of the 7 hour journey from home but is now seriously considering it because of the collegiate system. She has also mentioned Exeter Uni Penryn Campus at Falmouth .... any knowledge of this place? Would the English course there be as excellent as Exeter? She's a quiet, conscientious girl who felt overwhelmed at the large, busy unis and I'm not sure what to advise ............

Thanks in advance.

No. I meant Van Mildert. Just too far away and separate. A long way from her Department. She was gutted! Hild/Bede would have been fine. Her school encouraged her to apply to a particular college due to her choral singing. A friend from school did get into this college who had never sung a note in her life so DD was not happy she was rejected. It just was not meant to be.

Regarding course, I don't see how you can ever know beforehand if lecturers are dull and the course is not inspiring. Info not on the web site! Even an open day is not informative on that front as you just do not know who will end up teaching you! Or what options might be available when your turn comes around. My DD found the professors dull but the younger staff inspiring! However they go on research leave, maternity leave and get new jobs elsewhere. Whatever course you choose, you just cannot tell what quality of lecturers you will get in Y3 or Y4. By the time young people are at university, they tend to know the attributes of a good teacher!

One of DDs lecturers has just acted as an academic referee for her professional registration 2 years after graduation so forging good relations is useful.

Just to add. I don't think everyone at Oxbridge is super confident, but to get in, applicants have been interviewed and everyone knows this is stressful and suits confident people best. It is reasonable to assume, lots of students at Oxbridge are confident or they would not have put themselves through the process in the first place! People who would find the process overwhelming and daunting and who really cannot converse in an interview would naturally shrink away from Oxbridge. It is not a stereotype to say interviews are perceived as very difficult and off putting by young people who lack confidence. This is one of the reasons why Oxbridge struggle to recruit from enough ordinary state schools. The research is out there! However, that is not to say any suitable candidate should not apply.

I think she must have just taken against that particular college bojo, because it's right in a cluster of the six original hill colleges so very, very unexceptional in terms of location and not in any way 'separate,' except in the sense that the hill colleges are in a separate cluster from the peninsula colleges of whom there are five. I'm sure she had very good reasons of her own but location would be a weak one to choose. Perhaps she was miffed at not getting a peninsula college because there's still a notion (incorrect) that indie kids go to peninsula colleges and northern chemists go to the rest. Rhoda asked for comments so it's fair to pick that one up. Colleges aren't colleges in the sense of Oxbridge colleges in any event so college shouldn't be a massive deal for Durham applicants and it's certainly true that the system is now fairly random, for good reasons - it ensures a far better mix of students in each college. Where you end up at Oxbridge is not set in stone either, for any subject, so setting your heart on one particular place is a big mistake - even if you're top of the pops at your school you can't be sure that you won't end up elsewhere, although the stronger your academics the more likely you are to end up at your chosen college at Oxbridge whereas the more striking your extra curriculars the more likely you are to end up at your chosen college in Durham, provided you don't leave your application too late in the cycle. Grim 1960s residential buildings are a feature at several Oxford colleges too Rhoda, although mysteriously they're usually listed and claimed to be 'iconic' whereas I don't believe the Durham ones are, though I might be wrong! I'm not sure how much comfort the iconic status is to the students however, with the drippy double glazing and heating which only seems to work at extremes!

Van Mildert is newish and virtually on its own. We walked to it and it is some distance away! Way past Collingwood. It is definitely not on any hill! Nor is it an original cluster of 6 colleges. I don't know which one you are thinking of, goodbye, but your description is not Van Mildert! It did seem full of science students though. When we visited, she was not keen on that college, so when she was offered it, she immediately rejected Durham. It can matter to some students where they end up living and the culture of the college. Some people get lucky and others are used to provide a "mix". She never cared about shared rooms and bathrooms, shabby halls or old kitchens. She just didn't wanted to be in the centre where the university is located.

DD did get a place at her choice of Oxford College. It is less of a lottery there and it is just students who are considered excellent, but have applied to a college full of excellent applicants, that get interviewed at another one who may be able to offer them a place. Durham is way more random.

Should read .... She just wanted....

As DD was choral scholar at Oxford, Van Mildert made no sense on extra curricular either. Forgot to mention that random fact!

Van Mildert is not new at all bojo; your DD must have been allocated to the newish self-catering college (John Snow) and you've simply muddled the names.

In another thread I believe you advocated applying to the least popular Oxford colleges and that that's what your DD did. That will increase your chance of being accepted at your first choice college but perhaps not increase your chances of getting a place, with increasing centralisation. If you apply to Magdalen or Worcester then your chances of being re-allocated increase markedly. I agree that the new Durham is far more random but in both cases, and at Cambridge too, bank on nothing!

Incidentally bojo all the colleges not located on the peninsula, except for Hild/Bede, are collectively known as the hill colleges. You will have walked up a hill initially (where the original hill colleges are, including Van Mildert) and then gone along a more level road to reach John Snow. I think a lot of people were disappointed to be allocated John Snow, as it really is quite some way out.

That should read the new Durham system etc.

At the open day last month, we were categorically told that the college allocation is random. They are specifically not allowed to give any weighting to extra curricular stuff, eg sports or music, in order to prevent the more popular colleges dominating the sports field etc. Some colleges you have a pretty good chance of getting in but others are oversubscribed and it varies year on year.

Yes muddiboots there's a slight conflict between what the departments say they're after (solely academic prowess and interest) and the idea behind the 'substitute personal statement' which is intended to allow Oxbridge applicants to submit an alternative statement outlining how they'll contribute massively to Durham college life. If it's random, it's random after the first sift, I think you'll find.

bojo my DC had have their old tutors refereeing for them for all sorts of reasons several years after graduation - two is nothing! One DD also had her old Ho6 vouching for her character for a scholarship for the Bar, five years after she left school. It's very standard (provided those people liked you!).

have had!

I know someone similar to OP's DD. She wanted a particular course so there were only so many places she could apply to. This quiet, conscientious violin-player didn't end up at Oxbridge (? she was too quiet?) but went to Manchester instead - can't get much bigger than that!
But she enjoyed it. Didn't get into the party scene (obvs) but did get into orchestra and other various societies.

The bigger the place, the more likelihood of finding similar-souls. It's just that they take a little finding, in amongst the brash ones. Tell her to look at what societies are on offer. DD didn't join a 'serious' choir at University but did join a fun (but still fairly ambitious) choir.

Manchester has the added advantage, for an English student, of the BBC and Media City nearby at Salford?

There is Salford University though so not sure how much benefit Manchester students get and it is a Huge university as you say senua! My DD had several friends who went to Manchester and two did English. They were lovely girls and not brash at all. I think brash students really are not the norm anywhere. Brash is very different to confident. I would say both my DDs are confident, but definitely not brash.That is a bit of a boy thing! I think you can meet similar people at a biggish institution. There is often more going on and something will suit the quieter ones.

I did not mean to imply that 2 years was exceptional regarding being in contact with tutors, goodbyestranger. It is just an added bonus! DD just had her tutor vouch for her when applying for her Call to the Bar! Do our two know each other?

I think they may have gone to different providers for the BPTC bojo, but they do seem to be contemporaries :)

Not so sure, goodbyestranger. Have you name changed by any chance?

Goodbyestranger, that was one of the things dd didn't like. The head of department gave a talk in which he stressed the importance of the extra personal statement , but for general admission. Saying that he preferred someone with 3 A grades predictions to someone with 3 A , as they would be more rounded ( as though you can't possibly be rounded if you are aiming for A) , in really quite an unpleasant way, at which point he must have alienated half his audience !

Hello, OP here again. We've been away for a couple of days and it's been great to return to such an illuminating thread! It's thrown up some really thought=provoking issues which I'll show to our dd.

I like the way people have differentiated between 'brash' and confident: dd is quietly confident and has a large, like-minded group of friends. I agree, like tend to gravitate towards like.

muddiboots Durham sends out a lot of mixed messages and has been changing it's various policies on admissions to the departments and colleges with alarming frequency since my eldest DD applied eight years ago, it's quite hard to know what to take at face value and what not - especially since some interesting minutes of the admissions policy making committee appeared on the internet a few years ago containing things which I doubt were intended for public consumption.

You really need to try try try to stop her going to the "lesser" places like Royal H and the Falmouth place. Empoyers recruit by institution. It will be blight her life if she goes mediocre and the orchestras etc will be much much worse. Shy children do very well at the very best universities - no need to settle for second tier if you're bright. Durham would be very good for her. We have a good few family members who went there of all personality types.

You really can't make sweeping generalisations about "mediocre" - it depends on the subject.

And Falmouth is a different institution from Exeter - they share a campus at Penryn.

OP - If your DD wants English (I think you said) really do go for the best institution she can get into. There are lots and lots of English graduates. Think carefully about what work she may want in the future because competition from "arts" graduates will be fierce. It will make not a jot of difference to someone who does nursing, vet or medicine, but in English, institution does matter, simply because early everywhere offers it and the huge numbers that graduate, will all want jobs at some point. None of my DDs friends have found gaining employment easy in the fields they have chosen alied to their degrees and have been in and out of work for several years now, and that includes a Cambridge English graduate who is very personable and utterly employable.

2016Blyton Why is RHUL 'lesser', given that it is RG, and has the largest dept for ds's subject of the University of London colleges? Dh went to a redbrick in the 80s for his degree, and I wouldn't say that it 'blighted' his life, what a stupid comment.