Bristol or York for Politics & International Relations?

[MilouSnowy]

Bristol or York for Politics & International Relations?

London state school DN cannot make up her mind. Bristol (the city) would be the easier choice as it’s just London-lite, her words, not mine.
But she doesn’t want to make an important decision on the basis of just
lifestyle, at the same time she knows next to nothing about York, or how competitive the course is in Uni of York.

Not visited York.

She is very independent. Has quite an impressive CV already, for a 17 year old student.

She is desperate for an offer from LSE but that’s their most competitive course so she is trying to psych herself up to leave London.

Sost (apologies for derailing slightly) Clifton is beautiful but it is high end Bristol! She will be able to rent a room more cheaply elsewhere in 2nd or 3rd year if she doesn't mind a bit of a bus ride.

Hoghgyni

That's why she is keen on York, not to save it from anything but to see how they do things there. She really is openminded and thinks she could learn more by going to York instead of Bristol, which as I said earlier, she sees as just a London-lite. She is also interested in the natural history of a particular place in Yorkshire after she read "The Plot, by Madelene Bunting".

And btw, the impression she has of York the city is that it's an affluent city. So definitely no pre-conceived ideas about having to save some kids in York. Where she may have got things wrong is with respect to student make up at Uni of York.

I think some posters have overlooked the fact that she will be a Politics student - trying to understand the community you live is part of that territory. It's nothing personal or arrogance. She would do this no matter where she ended up at, including London. Or even another country.

She will not go into politics, she wants to work in a developmental role of some sort.

I really don't get why this has upset some people. If you are a computer science student, you might want to do some IT work in the city you are in. You may even found a company which goes on to become the largest and most successful search engine in the world. Possibly you'd recruit fellow students to help you with your effort at the beginning of the project. You don't see anybody scoff at that.

Opps! Madeleine Bunting.

LillianGish

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my query.

Yes, my DH and I both have told her she absolutely needs to visit Uni of York and chat to the students there. She shouldn't make decisions on the strength of what she reads on TSR. I have also told her this is the overwhelming response I have received on mumsnet on her behalf. She will visit York.

I studied in York many moons ago. I loved it, beautiful campus university, not too big. Great teaching and in a beautiful city. I think I went to Leeds once whilst I was there.
But, it was overwhelmingly white and middle class. Not a problem but quite a shock for me having coming from where I did. I certainly wouldn't call it "diverse".
York itself has some pockets real poverty.
I'm not entirely sure what your DN really wants to do when she gets there, to me it seems a bit odd that she has an academic research study planned that it outside of her degree course remit but each to their own I suppose. It also sound more like a sociological / anthropological or social policy subject area than political.

To understand a community, any community it is best to wipe clean out of your mind any preconceptions about that community before you begin to understand it.

I think OP you just need to re explain the reasons for choosing York. My understanding is that your DN thought it would be full of 'nice but dim' privately educated types but from the regions, rather than London :and that these students would be easier to recruit to her 'projects'?

I still haven't quite unravelled the reasons for Bristol, but that seems to be based on her thinking the city needs help more?

But if your DN thinks she is somehow 'normal' because of being state educated, everything else you tell us about her suggests she is far from underprivileged. It is not wrong for those with privilege to support others and engage in social projects, although there is certainly a debate about the intentions of some.

By the way, York is certainly quite affluent but, as I said, before, there are pockets of real poverty. It's quite tough being disadvantaged in York because no one believes you really are because York is 'posh'!

Curious now to know what is said on TSR!

Thanks Hob for good advice and hope you and your kin are in good health and well being!

The Humberside Poly transferred to Lincoln, Piggy. See attached.

My understanding is that your DN thought it would be full of 'nice but dim' privately educated types but from the regions, rather than London :and that these students would be easier to recruit to her 'projects'?

Oh dear, Piggywaspushed, Absolutely not. Possible I missed out a word or two which changed the meaning. Re York I said she would like to meet students who are not from large urban centres and that there might be more in York than in Bristol. In any case pp have pointed out this might not be the case at all.

I would never direct "Nice-but-dim" at anyone. Not my style. Some of the students we have met in London Unis who are privately educated are and near genius level sharp. So no.

What I said was some (not all) private school kids are more keen on volunteering because they don't have to worry about money. Case in point the Russians in Imperial who teach chess really are clever, privately educated and very rich. There are plenty of state and private educated students who are also super sharp but don't have the time or the interest. She is just trying to figure out which place would be best from this perspective if she were to go outside London for uni.

I went to school in Cornwall with a lad who was (at the time) the world's youngest grand master. I knew chess has made it as far up country as Dorset, but now I find it's got as far as London as well. I knew it would finally catch on in the big cities, but it would take time for them to pick it on it.

I think she might be overthinking this a bit Milou, I know plenty of state educated DC who are keen on volunteering who live outside London and there are many more state educated DC than privately. I’d get her to drop that as part of her criteria sharpish, she only has experience of her own limited life experience and the reality is actually very different.

Bristol is a very diverse city and her experience if she chooses to go there can be whatever she makes it, it absolutely London Lite unless she decides to make it like that. No experience of York so can’t comment on it.

...Pick up on it.

So she wants rich kids with lots of spare time on their hands rather than poor kids she can patronise? I don't think either Bristol or York fits the bill TBH. Perhaps she should just go to university, see what schemes are already in place instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, build her self awareness, focus on getting a good degree and making friends.

Bubbles , this thread is not the place for that argument and you can surely see I posted in mild jest. But the actual Lincoln Uni was part of a mere HE college originally. Humberside Poly transferred at a slightly later point. They are actually pretty proud of their history and their rise up various league tables. But I know full well the OP's DN is not headed there.

I know an awful lot of state school/ deprived DC that are also genius or potential genius. Didn't think genius was Pacific to one social group🤔

Hoghgyni

You make too many assumptions and they are all wrong unfortunately.

Grateful for any constructive input and not here to argue with anyone.

What your dn needs to do is actually look at both Unis on her own and try to dismiss her preconceived ideas about the people attending them and concentrate on the courses she's applied for and whether they are what she wants. Concentrating too much on projects that may not be relevant to her course and whether there will be suitable ' subjects' for her ' project' is a badly thought out way of choosing a suitable uni. After all studying for a degree should be her No 1 priority surely?

A few posters have gone off on a tangent. Yes, Sost you seem intent on a staccato interpretation of everything I have posted so far. Thanks all the same.

And thank you to all those who have shared their experience of the two regional cities and who actually studied in those unis, have or have had DC there or who call those cities their home towns. I defer to you.

I've offered constructive input on several pages but you seem to genuinely believe that the provinces have been waiting all this time to be rescued in some bizarre social experiment by a teenager who appears to have picked tgd wrong degree. My suggestion of switching to social anthropology was not made in jest.

You've managed to raise the hackles of those with children at both ends of the educational divide and many if us in between. Your DN appears to be incredibly naive with little understanding of university life or people of her own age. Did she actually attend any open days or simply pluck a few course codes out of thin air in case LSE didn't play ball?

Once she starts uni I think your dn will find that the workload may restrict any ideas of other ' projects' as uni workload is not A levels or gcses. The amount of independent research and study needed for a first or indeed a 2.1, 2.2 or 3.3 is more than perhaps she is allowing for. And there will be those there much more brighter whatever their social class and keeping up with all the bright young things will be very difficult for all. Unless if course she's a genius......