Aberystwyth

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Has anyone got recent experience of Aberystwyth Uni? DS has a conditional place there for International Politics. I do know that Aber has a very good reputation in this area.
DS is a funny old fish and utterly demotivated ... but he does like the sound of the modules. He has a lowered (contextual ) offer of BBC already. he sits a scholarship exam next week and if he does OK, that could drop to CCD.

So far, so good. However, we live 200 miles away , and it isn't the easiest place to get to. DGPs live in Wales , but in the Valleys , so not all that near. DH thinks it is too far away and is steering DS towards Lincoln, Hull or NTU.

Because of distance, we haven't even visited most unis : most we have visited DS hasn't then applied to!

I have never lived near home. My DF is 400 miles away, my DM thousands! I live 500 miles from where I grew up and went to uni 200 miles away from where I lived. But DS is so unlike me, I wonder if he was swapped at birth!

I have all the info about league tables and so on, so don't need that kind of info. My concerns about Aberystwyth are more about the place, and how out of place someone from a boring town a hundred miles from the sea, somewhere in the east of England, might feel there!

It is, so there are lots of history graduates who want to teach it. It is the only secondary subject where there are not enough vacancies to go round for new entrants to the profession.

I actually saw an art vacancy in our city recently. I nearly fainted. But never history. No one leaves (though we have a SCITT trainee at the moment who is great - I hope he gets a job at the end).

Danglingmod. I think your post grad analysis is what I was alluding to. If you want to stay in your university location, there needs to be grad jobs. The bigger the place, the more grad jobs.

Of course there are careers in local government, police, various government departments which deliver services locally and the NHS. However if too many want to stay, competition is fierce. These jobs are great and have excellent pensions but they don’t create wealth. Therefore those who see themselves as wealth creators have fewer opportunities in out of the way places. It’s just the way it is.

Also there are History grads from nearly every university. Too many?

Well, surely if you see yourself as a wealth creator, there's only London or bust (abroad!)?

Nothing wrong with local govt, police, govt depts, large manufacturing and tech firms and there's plenty of those in medium sized cities.

Yes. Of course. But are there many tech and manufacturing grad opportunities in Aberystwyth, Hull or Lincoln? The public service is available everywhere but not the whole breadth of opportunities for grads. Hence many have to move out and move on.

Yes, in Lincoln and Hull for sure. Loads of big engineering firms.

Loads in Sheffield. The university owns most of the AMRC anyway.

Doesn't bubbles attitude sum whats wrong with Britain in the last 40 years.
In Hull there are BP chemicals, Crown paints, Croda oils, British Aerospace, P&0 ferries, Ideal Standard boilers, Smith and Nephews, lots of small engineering companies plus Siemens of course.
Lincoln has Siemens, massive food industry, huge tourism.
Humber ports are the 3 biggest trading ports in UK.
Hull university is now the GB olympic partner.
Lincoln is linked to Siemens and agriculture, plus health industries.
Lincoln university was the first to have nurse associates to graduate.
GCHQ and Flyingdale EWS have links to UCScarborough, Hull and Lincoln.

All universities are at the heart of improving the regions future. Because our area is sick of watching locals disappearing to the SE and London.

Finally yes it easy to get entry level police officers, but highly educated high ranking officers, not so.
Humbrside, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire and Cleveland police have all had to try at least twice to get CC and deputy CC's.
Also we struggle for child protection specialists and probation officers and social workers.
Not mention teachers, nurses and doctors etc.
Because so many people have the same attitude to bubbles.
Sad and depressing really.

Can I also add on growth figures, from admittely small numbers, Hull and Lincoln have some of the fastest growing digital industries in UK.

More praise for Aber here.

DS graduated in MFL a few years ago and went on to do his post grad at Oxford. He loved his time there. It is very isolated though and it used to take 4 hours plus for us to drive up there and about 5 for him to get home by train with several changes. He lived in halls in the first year, a flat in the town in the 2nd, 3rd year abroad and then back into the swanky new college flats for his final year. It was such a safe town, I never worried about him in the way I might have done if he'd been at some other universities.

We had lived rurally abroad so although he wanted the 'full university experience' he wasnt up for bright lights, big city so Aber suited him well. He always found plenty to do, joined societies I wouldn't have expected and generally had a good time. He was an extra in an early Hinterland episode, the one partly set in the University, blink and you miss him!
Just a suggestion, why don't you let him do the Offers Day trip on his own to let him see what he thinks about the travelling aspect without you being there to ferry him around. If he can't hack it then you and he will know it's not the place for him.

Good luck to him, whatever he decides.

Well, 2Boys, great firms but that does not always equal grad opportunities for the thousands who graduate from Lincon and Hull universities.

I do not think I have any attitude. I am not particularly parochial and would have moved anwhere had I needed to. People make individual choices about where their degree will take them. If there is difficulty in recruiting in certain areas, then clearly grads do not want the jobs on offer! You cannot make people stay in an area if they see greater opportunity elsewhere and feel they would fit in. Not everyone wants to work where they grew up. If they did there would be no Scots in England, Irish in Liverpool etc. You might not like people moving but you cannot stop them. Getting arsy about it won't encourage anyone to stay!

No one has enough social workers or teachers or doctors. This is hardly just an East of England problem. With the high cost of housing in London and the SE, nurses, police, doctors and teachers etc would be mad to choose areas of high housing costs over low housing cost, all things being equal. Earnings go much further in areas of low housing costs. Maybe people do not like the attitude of people in Lincolnshire? I am cetainly put off!

Mid Wales Manufacturing Group - slap bang in the middle.

Reeco Automaton Ltd - half an hour from Aber, accessible by train.

Faber Technology

Sony UK Tech Centre - Pencoed. Close enough to draw links from Aber.

Aerospace Wales - Similar to above.

35 Tech Firms in Wales - many of them accessible from Aber as a grad.

...those are just the first few hits on a tech manufacturing search of Wales.

Aren't Sony moving? However, will many Politics grads get into these companies as a grad trainee? Aerospace recruits from Bristol. The thread was really about Politics grads. That is very different to Engineers and Tech grads.

The thing about Aber is that you have to be prepared to either learn to drive or hop on a train and travel if you want to stay very local after graduating, because the area suits you, or you move on. This might be a little further afield, still in Wales, or away totally.

In short, if all the post-grad opportunities were in Aberystwyth too, the town would no longer be what it is for the undergrad experience. You can't have a compact, steady-paced, stone's-throw town AND a wide-spread, ever-changing industrial hub.

I agree. However 2Boys (who has an active dislike of me!) was bemoaning the fact that people like me stop areas developing. I do not think that is the case and I have no influence ! I do not really care where people work but it is inevitable that some people will have to leave a more deprived or rural area to get the work they want. Travel is not for everyone after a long day at work and cars just add to congestion and expense - so not for everyone.

A wave to Bestiswest I remember when our pair were embarking on the road to university. Glad to hear your DD is doing well.

Bubbles I have no problem with you.
Its just whenever I see a thread about lower league universities or kids like mine or op who are at or applying to lower ranked universities you seem to appear.

You always post similar that the university involved arent good enough, have poor graduate jobs and the kids involved should go else where.
How does that help?
These kids research what universities they can apply to and which courses are best.
Yes I know these universities wont match Oxbridge.
But they do a great job.

I never post on boarding, private schools or brilliant state schools.
I only can advise on our poor state school and what Lincoln, Hull and UCScarborough can offer and how Lincoln is living up to in RL.
It is negative to see someone ask about Abersyswyth and see people slag it off and then attack Hull, Lincoln NTU and Portsmouth.
Why?
Why not leave people to post postitive posts I mean it not like there is 100 of threads on them.

You also asked what was in Hull and Lincoln, in a very dismissive way. I replied just in case someone thinks we live in a wasteland

2Boys: I didn’t say the OPs DC should go to a high flying university because she made it clear what her DSs results might be. Therefore choices are limited. I did suggest another non RG university asking for similar grades because I wondered if it had been considered and it was a bit nearer to home.

The OP was not overly happy with Lincoln or Hull but preferred Aberystwyth. Other posters agreed with this so maybe you should read the whole thread instead of banging your particular drum about me.

A lot of opinion is based on subject and what a student wants from their degree. Not all universities offer the best experience for all subjects. Therefore floating a few ideas never harms anyone. However a blinkered belief that two universities that are middling are going to suit because a student should stay local isn’t good advice. Having an enquiring mind and an openness to consider all options is a good thing and, 2Boys, I recommend it to you.

Hellooooo... didn't mean to start a fight

Ok Piggy. I’m not fighting but I am being assertive!

Aberystwyth is nowhere near the Valleys. The nearest valley is over 50 miles away.

Just to stick my oar in, none of the unis in discussion are low ranked. Despite fairly pedestrian grades , we played a good game, targeted middle ranking unis (all are top 40) and got offers from them all. In fact , Lincoln and NTU are high in many rankings and Aber is a recent University of the Year.As is Lincooln and possibly NTU. I am actually quite pleased with this as at one point I thought we might be looking at genuinely low ranked institutions, for better or for worse.

One thing to consider for Aberystwyth is transport. AFAIK, the railway line is from Shrewsbury, and roads will be single carriageway A-roads.
I haven't RTFT but it's about 2 hours from Shrewsbury on the train and about the same by car. From London, you'd be looking at about 5 hrs for the journey.

DH is Welsh and we have been there before. I know the journey is arduous but, honestly, I can look beyond it. It is a 6 hr train journey but that's sleep time! It's actually over 5 hours on the train to Hull from us so it's not appreciably easier by train.