Durham v Exeter v St Andrew’s Unis - which would you recommend for a student from London?

[zaeem1]

Hello - would anyone have any advice regarding the above unis please? DS applying to LSE and Cambridge (loves the town), but obviously there are no guarantees at either of these. I know people obviously rave about the three unis above, It’s difficult to gauge the atmosphere at a uni though when there’s nobody there.

St A’s is sooo far - so not sure about that one. Probably you would make friends easily there, but it could all get a bit claustrophobic maybe? Plus not sure there’s any need to spend 4 years getting a degree, when you could do it in 3. A little worried about the cold too and the fact he would need to fly sometimes. There seem lots of traditions there and lots of waltzing around in red gowns, which could be fun, but also, is it a little OTT?

Durham - looks like a nice town, but could it get claustrophobic. Is it very “rah?” Sorry to put it like that, but hopefully you might know what I mean?

Exeter - we have visited this campus a while ago, but not on a tour. Town was ok - would it get boring after three years though? Also, is it full of what he would call “Jack Wills” types?”

Again, apologies for any ridiculous stereotyping here, but we are genuinely trying to weigh up if any of these are worth applying to. Any experiences welcome!

I didn’t enjoy St As. It’s so rah (or yah as we said), it’s miles away and you have to get a bus from the station to the town. It’s tiny with very little to do. I wasn’t the right person for it.

Durham and St Andrews are tiny towns that are really just the universities (and in the case of St Andrews, a golf course).

I'd choose Exeter of those three, definitely. Durham as second choice (but I'd rather go to Newcastle, Leeds or York if I were going to that part of the country).

If I were going to Scotland I'd go to Stirling, Edinburgh or Glasgow.

But it depends what you want. Some people go to St Andrews and rave about it. I don't get the attraction at all.

Oh yeah, and I was fed up doing four years too. I did a postgraduate somewhere else after so spent five years at university.

Whichever has the course he'd most like to do.

St As, Durham and Exeter - it’s difficult to think of three more ‘rah’ (as you call it) universities!

If that’s what worries you, avoid all of them

Yes, he wouldn’t mind doing a 4-year degree if there was an overseas year. Exeter offer this option for his course, as do UCL (which he’s also thinking of). But 4 years actually staying put there, just to get the same degree? Not sure. Also, it’s the added expense.

York could be good. Thanks

I went to Durham, really enjoyed it. It splits into the hill colleges and the town (the hill Colleges are not far away though). The town colleges can be a bit rah, especially one or two, but not the hill colleges.

Go back 20 years and I really struggled to choose between offers for Durham and Exeter. Ultimately I chose Durham because I liked the college system and thoroughly enjoyed my time there, but people who I know went to Exeter say the same!

I was concerned that it might feel small, but knew Newcastle is just up the road. I probably went four times in three years! Durham was plenty big enough and any time spent elsewhere was time missing out on something in Durham.

Some colleges are more rah than others, Hill colleges less so, if this is a concern.

No first hand experience of St Andrew's but know plenty of people who went there.

The nature of the course specifics is important in the consideration.

Tons of people from London go to each of them.

My husband and I both went to Durham, and our son is looking at Durham and Exeter. We walked around Exeter a couple of weeks ago - it's a really nice campus but, as you say, not the largest town.

Durham is also on the small side but there are quite a few shops and restaurants and it's beautiful around the river. For what it's worth, the size of the city really didn't make a difference to our time there as the social and sports scene was so college-based (for those that wish to partake...). Most of our nights out were at our college bar, particularly as I lived in college for all three years. We would go into town during the day, but not often at night except for sports socials and the odd dinner. We went out occasionally in Newcastle on the train.

That said, if you're not into the college scene so much and/or love clubbing, you might find Durham a bit limiting compared to some of the bigger cities like Bristol and Manchester. When we were there, there were plenty of "rahs" but everyone mixed well together and it wasn't an issue what type of school you'd been to or how well off your parents were. Durham is also freezing in the winter ;)

What subject? This makes a big difference.

Was coming here to say exactly what @TonTonMacoute said re them being the three most "rah" universities I can think of!

Durham would probably be less so at one of the hill colleges.

Thankyou. I think, on balance, St A is out. If he’s going to do a 4-year course, he might as well have a year abroad or in a placement.

It’s geography, by the way,

Warwick don’t offer it, for some reason.
Bristol course doesn’t appeal so much.

Durham. It’s ranked higher than the others. 3rd. Exeter 9th. York is 26th so insurance if others don’t work out? Durham has enough going on. It’s in the town and not away on a campus. Loads of London DC go. Part of going to university is to grow up and take all experiences in your stride. That also means getting on with other students who are not like you. Would you criticise rich foreign black students in the same way and avoid them? Be inclusive!

The bonus of doing a degree at St A's ( and in fact most Scottish Unis) is that you get chance to study subjects you would not normally get chance to try...their courses are very flexible. I started in Science faculty studying Geology but hated it ( and Chemistry) and swapped to Arts faculty and got MA in totally different subject! It's a beautiful, (safe ) town with a fabulous location.....so it doesn't have the nightclubs and shops/restaurants of Exeter or London, but not all students go to Uni for those in any case! .....just pack some woolly jumpers and thick coat and you'll be fine
Also extremely well placed for Geography field trips to coast and mountains and Edinburgh is less than 1 hr by train

Re York - it had a virtual open day today. Not sure whether you can register retrospectively (sorry, would have posted this asap if I'd seen your post at the time you posted it, as the pm session was from 3 - 5). But then, your DS may already have discounted York, if as MyOMy says, it is so way down the rankings for his subject. (DS2 loved the campus and some of the colleges we 'toured' and 'his' course, as offered, overall - if not wildly enthused by any of the individual modules on offer - but he's looking at History of Art, not Geography and is rather more driven by what he will learn and the general ambience of a place, not what others think of it).

As others hhave suggested, if you had actually typed 'rah university' in as a search term, those three (by reputation at least) would almost certainly have topped the results, although I have to day I know some really quite normal and certainly nice local DC who have gone to Exeter or Durham this year, plus someone whose DC decided on St Andrews in the end because they live quite close to.Stansted and it's actually one of the easiest of the 'far off' universities to get to.

I can't help often wonder whether it would be so much simpler if Durham Uni just relocated to London - perhaps Surbiton or somewhere :) Huge time saving for the majority of its students and just think of the emission savings!

Seriously DB loved Durham, several of the DCs' friend loved / are loving it; in my social and business circles all who went there loved it. Anecdotally at least it seems everyone who goes has overwhelmingly positive views.

Much more seriously having lived in the North East for a while I would suggest that when the wind whips of the Fens Cambridge is far more bone chillingly cold than Durham could ever be.

Durham is better than Exeter - better regarded and better to go to. However both are good. St A is a bit small and also is the extra year and a bit isolated.

I am from NE England and my father and uncle both went to Durham but I didn't. Traditionally years ago after Oxbridge Durham came next. I tihnk all 5 of my children all had Durham as one of their 5 and the twins and my daughter picked Bristol over Durham and could have gone to either - it was a hard decision but we live in London and Bristol was closer etc. I am sure they would have been happy in either however.

Those that are talking about York, does it do Geography? It didn't back in the mid-90s when I was there.

I had a friend at York who left Exeter as it was full of posh types, apparently. I was surprised at how many Oxbridge "rejects" I met during my time there.

Those that are talking about York, does it do Geography?

www.york.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/search?q=Geography&level=undergraduate

The human and environmental varieties, anyway.

I suspect that there are far more Oxbridge 'rejects' at Durham than at Exeter, though obviously they will be present in both. And indeed present in all RG universities.

My younger daughter is at Exeter (about to go into her 3rd year) and loves it. The campus is lovely and close enough to the city centre to be walkable and Exeter itself is a good size for someone like her who is used to living in a small town. smaller. I can see that it could be considered boring by those used to living in London though. But then i imagine the same is even more true of Durham and St Andrews!

I'd agree with Xenia that Durham is generally better regarded. Younger daughter didn't apply as she didn't think she'd get in. I visited it with my older one, who was offered a place. She was put off it because everyone she knew who as applying or who she met there was applying as a back up to Oxbridge (as indeed she was). She didn't like the idea that so many people there would rather have been somewhere else, and made her Birmingham her reserve option which she thought had a better course and facilities.

Durham like Cambridge has the University woven about the town - although there’s a science campus, other departmental buildings and lecture theatres stand next to commercial buildings.

Exeter (although I know it less well) is a campus university, with everything on a site (don’t know about halls of residences though).

For me the campus vs town thing was a big distinction to make, after a spectacularly wet open day at Nottingham where 30 minutes walk, I was still on campus, and soaked (Nottingham is a huge campus thoigh and it’s possible I got lost...). At least I’d have escaped campus in that time...

Southampton, Newcastle, Manchester - all less rah than those three and worth a look at.

Yes, I agree with Fifth. By the way my Bristol geographer really enjoyed his course (he just finished) and he and his twin rejected Durham in favour of Bristol although Durham is probably historically better regarded (slightly). However it sounds like the boy here does not like the Bristol geography course. I don't know much about my son's course other than from some of his long calls enthusiastically debating issues arising from it with me - in fact of my 5 graduate children he is probably the one I felt was most into his course and did lots of wider reading just because it was so interesting. [ I am not being paid by Bristol here... laughing.... I am from NE England and would have been happy that the 3 of mine who had Durham offers had taken them]

So a DD didn’t like Durham because everyone she met was using it as a back up for Oxbridge - as she herself was! You couldn’t make it up could you!? So why is this so awful? Surely being at a university among very talented people is a bonus? They might not be at Oxbridge but they will still be great people to know and study with. It’s also pretty poor to label fellow students as not being worthy of your friendship. What a peculiar stance to take. She didn’t t even like people in the exact image of herself!

Having overheard two admissions talks by Durham staff in the last couple of weeks as part of their virtual open days, they were at pains to say that they don't mind if students have applied to Oxbridge, in fact they see it as a positive as they want to attract the best students (their words, not mine).

There were a fair few Oxbridge applicants at Durham, but not the majority I'd say. Most of us had chosen Durham as our first choice, and, either way, there wasn't a vibe of people not wanting to be there.

Bristol might also be worth looking at, particularly if you're looking for a larger city experience.