Campus universities with beautiful old buildings

[Trewser]

I know, i know. But dd2 is reluctant to go to any open days, and this is her (childish and silly i know) requirement. I thought if we could at least do ONE she will start to be more open minded!

[Trewser]

Royal Holloway! 45 minutes from London, a lovely campus uni with loads of lovely new buildings. The main building is stunning, based on a French Chateau and you can live in it in your first year in Halls. Amazing place good shoit

[MaidofKent78]

Would she consider Hull? The university has some lovely old buildings alongside the newer builds. We were there for 18 months whilst my husband was on a teaching fellowship and had a great time.

[Fifthtimelucky]

I came on to say Royal Holloway, but others have beaten me to it. Also Birmingham.

[Herocomplex]

A collegiate uni might be a good idea then.

[runoutofnamechanges]

Why doesn't she want to go to open days? Is she not feeling excited to be looking at universities? Is she feeling overwhelmed? Is she not sure what she wants to study or whether she wants to go to university? Why do you want her to go open days? What are you hoping it will achieve? I would address those questions first.

To be honest, DS didn't want to go to open days. He did but I'm not sure it made that much of a difference, although he already knew he wanted to study in London and he knew the city. As he pointed out, he could find out everything he needed to know online or ask questions by email or on TSR. It did fire him up a bit and it was useful for meeting students on his course and the department speeches did give some hints for interview but nothing he couldn't have looked up online.

I would suggest she looks at league tables etc to see where the best place to study her subject is and student satisfaction, look at course content to see if it fits her interests, and pick the best places where her predicted grades fit the course requirements. Then she can narrow it down by looking online at photos to see which ones fit her pretty campus requirement.

[RavenLG]

With all respect to your DD, she needs to be looking at universities that will actually give her a chance of securing a graduate job, not which ones will fulfil her Harry Potter fantasies for 3 years.

League Tables, TEF ratings, graduate employment rates etc. This is what she needs to be looking at. I’d encourage her to think more logically about this in your position.

[MrsPellegrinoPetrichor]

Spot on RavenLG

Not Harry Potter enough, seriously?

[Trewser]

With all respect to your DD, she needs to be looking at universities that will actually give her a chance of securing a graduate job, not which ones will fulfil her Harry Potter fantasies for 3 years Funnily enough, the Harry Potterish ones are probably the ones that will help her 'secure a job'

I did try and explain that this was just an opener, but it's mumsnet so i should have realised I'd get this kind of po faced comment.

She's bright, she's driven, she's likely to be very successful in life, but she's also a homebody who finds the concept of leaving home scary. She could be very different in 2 or 3 years.

[BikeRunSki]

Aberdeen and Stirling are pretty. No side of their ranking for studying English.

[Trewser]

Just checked at royal hollway is ABB with a reduction for epq, so could be a good contender for insurance.

[MrsPellegrinoPetrichor]

I did try and explain that this was just an opener, but it's mumsnet so i should have realised I'd get this kind of po faced comment

It really isn't a po faced comment. Having just seen ds off to uni,if she's not even keen on going to an open day or looking at courses then she doesn't sound very 'driven' she sounds like she's not ready yet. Doesn't mean she won't be later but it all needs to come from her including finding the course that she wants and then choosing the location.

[thenorthernluce]

@soulrider snap!!!! The reality never lived up to that halcyon day. Three years of disappointment!

[kmammamalto]

University of Gloucestershire has lovely old campus called Francis close hall. It's beautiful

[Trewser]

She's not ready! She's 16! Dd1 wasn't ready at 16 but has just started her first week at uni and joined tons of clubs, done an essay, signed up for a campus jib and is bloody lovkng it.

[hopelesschildren]

Just going to a uni because of the old buildings is not completely useless. It will give an idea what an open days is, hear about various subjects. We (dc and ) went for the first one just to the local uni with no intentions of ever going there. Made dc help decide he defintely did not want to do law. It also made (I think/I hope) it easier for him to go to the other open days on his own, as he knew better what to do.

[Trewser]

Thank you hopeless that's exactly what I am planning

[GrimalkinsCrone]

It’s not childish and silly IMO, I feel much more comfortable and ready to try challenges if I’m somewhere I like, and old buildings make me happy.
It’s why I turned down a Masters in Birmingham and it’s one of the criteria I use for choosing an area to live in. She needs to find the right course, but being in a place that she likes is also a good idea. Mental health has a huge impact on ability to study and live independently.

[wigglybeezer]

At Andrews isn't a campus uni but all the buildings are so close together in town ( for humanities anyway) that it might as well be. Very safe and cosy, my country bumpkin unstreetwise 17 year old felt at home right from the start and the older halls in town are very nice and have live in wardens. Might feel a bit far away if you're down south but train links are good.

[MrsPellegrinoPetrichor]

She's not ready! She's 16! Dd1 wasn't ready at 16 but has just started her first week at uni and joined tons of clubs, done an essay, signed up for a campus jib and is bloody lovkng it

I've just recognised your name from the other thread OP 😊

I dunno, I still wouldn't go just on buildings alone. I'm not sure I have it in me to get another one off to uni

[topology444]

The Russell Group Universities are traditionally the big universities (with a medic school). They contain famous and very good universities like Oxford and Cambridge (with beautiful buildings) but many smaller universities are as good if not better than Russel Group Universities.

Royal Holloway has a beautiful campus and is world-class in cyber security for example. I don't know about English Literature but it is not hard to find out.

[WorkingItOutAsIGo]

Royal Holloway is not only beautiful, but is an excellent university with an excellent English department so definitely worth considering. Open day on Saturday!

[ExCwmbranDweller]

Bangor uni? I'm always teasing DS1 that he went to Hogworts. It's a lovely, small, friendly uni, with stunning mountains to one side and the sea on the other. When we looked round I wanted to move there! Plus DS1 has flourished and at the start of year 12 the thought of going away was overwhelming.

I stole the picture from their FB page so I hope that's ok.

[HippyChickMama]

I came on to say Bangor too, absolutely beautiful campus.

[sashh]

Leicester? I wouldn't say nice old buildings.

For a nicc campus Keele is nice, but again not really old.

I think for old beautiful buildings you would be looking at the likes of Oxford, but not a campus.