Anyone with experience of: Exeter, Nottingham, St Andrews, Edinburgh Unis?

[Frodont]

Dd has good offers from Exeter, Bristol and Nottingham. She's visited Exeter and Bristol and likes both, but for obvious reasons we can't visit Nottingham, Edinburgh or St Andrews yet. I've been to Nottingham a few years ago with another dc and liked it..

Sorry I realise this is a how long is a piece of string question, but any info will help! We live in England, so the Scottish unis will be a very long way away

She's studying Theology/Philosophy if that helps anyone!

I think she'll want St Andrews to offer. They will probably be very high, which will be a dilemma- Exeter is BBB if she firms them.

A Scottish MA is the equivalent of an English BA. It is not the equivalent of a Masters degree. A MLitt is a Masters degree in Scotland.

Scots have one less year at school and start university younger (in general) so the first year could be viewed as replacing last year of sixth form, hence why English students are often offered entry into second year.

Dd is at Edinburgh (or would be if/when her course starts f2f teaching again) . She likes the opportunity to study modules from other courses including a language and loves the city. The students are a very international mix. Dance and drama are not offered as degrees so the many societies seem more inclusive and have "family" groups (although again quite limited socialising so far) .

Exeter is lovely but 1/3 private school kids so think about whether she'll fit into that environment.

St Andrews similar, and a tiny town next to the North Sea and COLD. I don't see the attraction at all.

I've not been to Nottingham but it has a great reputation and I am sure like any big city has loads going on.

Of the four I'd choose Edinburgh. Capital city, amazingly beautiful cityscape and fantastic reputation. Much more interesting than St Andrews, though probably just as cold.

My comments are based purely on the cities as I don't know about the courses. I can't imagine Edinburgh or Nottingham being fusty though.

Exeter is probably the best university in the world (Google this if you don’t get it)

I had the best years of my life there, and fitted in just fine coming from an average comprehensive school

I went to Edinburgh in the mid-90s. It's a big uni, but I'm guessing she'd be at the George Square campus for philosophy/theology, which is good, because that's the main one with the library, two of the student unions and it's an easy walk into the city centre.

On the plus side, I loved it and made lots of friends and unlike some of the Scottish unis there are lots of English students. Edinburgh is a great city with good shops, bars, nightlife, amazing museums, theatre, and it's on the East Coast mainline for trains. There is a good housing stock with plenty of places for students to live.

On the minus side, I found the tutors rather hands-off and more interested in their own research than in teaching, but that may well have improved with online student reviews making unis much more accountable nowadays. And as someone from the south of England I found it very cold and dark in the middle of winter. Not everyone is bothered by this, but if your DD feels the cold she may not want to head quite so far north!

Thank you this is all really helpful and we both appreciate you all sharing your thoughts 🙏

One other thing about Scottish unis - a lot of the students will be 17-18 in first year. I'd taken a year out and was 19-20 and that 2-year age difference felt like a lot. I started out in halls and absolutely hated it, so transferred to a student flat, which was much better. This is worth bearing in mind.

Some clarifications regarding St Andrews and the Scottish system.
Its not a four year degree because pupils come straight from Highers, its a four year degree because that's the usual standard length for a degree course around the world! Only a minority of students go to uni straight from Highers (especially higher ranked unis for high tariff courses) and this has been the case since my school days.
If they stayed for sixth year they will be at most 6 months younger.
Direct entry to second year is not avaliable for humanities subjects at St Andrews but module choice is big enough that it's easy to avoid repeating A level material, it is still a stretch from a level or advanced Higher anyway due to different essay styles etc. At least DS2 found it fairly challenging and he had top notch Advanced Highers.
Student numbers are roughly one third Scottish, one third RUK and one third international (a lot of Americans).
It has a very busy student societies and events /perfomance scene but nightlife is less about clubbing and more about pubs and activities.
Its small but lively.

I studied at Edinburgh 20+ years ago, and echo what a lot of people have already said about how great the city is - big but not too big, beautiful, lots going on etc. Also that the Scottish system allows a real breadth of subjects in first two years (which I loved).

You mention that your daughter is into drama etc and a big thing at Edinburgh was (and I think still is) the Bedlam theatre which loads of arts students are involved in. I studied English lit and think I was in the minority of students who weren’t involved in some way.

My only word of warning about Edinburgh - and this may not be a thing for you or your daughter at all - is the prevalence of very confident, very loud rich SE English students who often already knew each other from private and/or boarding schools, and so had strong pre-existing friend networks. Being surrounded by these students meant that it took me a long time to find my feet and not be intimidated by them.

@weebarra I also took classical literature around the same time as you!

@HerculesMuligan, I was sad it was only a one year course. I was there 95-99.
I remember being quite intimidated by the private school educated people. Although I also remember them being a bit unimpressed when I and the only other state educated Scot in our tutorial group got higher marks in our first essays.
I was also in the only halls with shared rooms. My room mate was fine, but now-DH was roomed with a very posh old Etonian. They were pleasant to each other but had nothing at all in common.

@redsquirrelfan

Exeter is lovely but 1/3 private school kids so think about whether she'll fit into that environment.

St Andrews similar, and a tiny town next to the North Sea and COLD. I don't see the attraction at all.

I've not been to Nottingham but it has a great reputation and I am sure like any big city has loads going on.

Of the four I'd choose Edinburgh. Capital city, amazingly beautiful cityscape and fantastic reputation. Much more interesting than St Andrews, though probably just as cold.

My comments are based purely on the cities as I don't know about the courses. I can't imagine Edinburgh or Nottingham being fusty though.

My dd would completely agree with your assessment of St Andrews, @redsquirrelfan, even though she’s applied there (hasn’t received an offer).

I went to St Andrews in the late eighties and loved every minute, but it had an excellent reputation for my subject and I also came from a remote-ish place with very little public transport, miles from the nearest shop and my school, so going to St Andrews was a revelation to me. It was pretty international, even then, with lots of American and European students. I loved being able to walk everywhere, and it is a truly stunning place with two great beaches and great countryside and coastline within very easy reach. St Andrews does have a lively (small) theatre, the Byrne, but we went to Edinburgh and Dundee (easy on public transport) for theatre, shopping, day trips. I loved the system of studying three subjects in equal depth in first and second year, and there was huge choice. I picked some subjects I would never have dreamed of being able to do, and ended up doing joint honours although I’d applied for single. Yes, lots of privately educated and fairly well heeled English students, particularly for some subjects, like English and Art History. St Andrews is certainly cold and often windy - but much drier than the West coast IME.

@Aurea

A Scottish MA is the equivalent of an English BA. It is not the equivalent of a Masters degree. A MLitt is a Masters degree in Scotland.

Scots have one less year at school and start university younger (in general) so the first year could be viewed as replacing last year of sixth form, hence why English students are often offered entry into second year.

This one less year at school thing is not really true. Most Scottish students going to University stay on for the Advanced Higher year, but get their unconditional offers based on their Highers which they already have in hand. Both my kids and all their friends did anyway. None chose to skip first year and go straight into 2nd at University but it wouldn't be desirable anyway if they haven't studied the exact same subjects at school anyway. I think it does depend on the student which they would prefer of Edinburgh of St Andrews - for most Scottish students St Andrews is harder to get into than Edinburgh...it is often ranked higher as well... Edinburgh has quite low student satisfaction ratings and I think it relates to it being rather big and students feeling a bit like a number. St Andrews definitely offers something cosier based on its 9k student size alone.

I'm afraid I don't know about the course but the adults I know who went to Exeter always talk about it very fondly and have good and interesting jobs now and are well adjusted people. Every single current student I know who goes there is straining to go back and loves everything about it from the courses, other students, campus and town life to the general location e.g.proximity to beaches at Exmouth & Dawlish, Dartmoor etc. Pastoral care seems good and their stance on several issues relating to lockdown has been very good. Having said that, all the unis you mention have good reputations and we loved Edinburgh in particular when we visited. I hear great things about Bristol too. St. Andrew's is SO far away is something I hear a lot. Good luck.

These are all similar universities to those my children considered / went to. In the end 3 chose Bristol (over Durham in all 3 cases - that was their final choice), 1 chose Nottingham as did not get a Bristol or Durham offer ( you can see the pattern here as a family we put Bristol and Durham above the others). Most of them have Exeter on the list. It is a bit far for us (Exeter and Durham) which is actually why they chose Bristol over Durham even though I am from NE England and my father and uncle read medicine at Durham.

One of my twins who finished Bristol last year had Edinburgh as his back up in case he did not get his Bristol grades although I am not very pro Scottish ones as sometimes you need to do a 4th year so more expense for parents and students although perhaps not always and long distance for us. St Andrews was also considered but none applied there of my 5. My older son went to Reading as he missed his grades for Exeter.

Of the 3 your daughter has offers from the order of which is best career wise in my view is Bristol, Exeter, Nottingham. A good list of where employers not just for law but other higher paid jobs recruit from is here www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities-2019

I would also advise potential students to consider covid 19 restrictions and the risks of being in a different nation of the UK as rules end up differing a bit so staying within England might be a good idea.

Anyway any of those named in the original post are fine. All good places.

My daughter who went to Nottingham who like her Bristol sister is a London lawyer now loved it. I was not as keen on it as Bristol but she didn't get into Bristol and it was fine in the end , campus university, gun crime or murder capital of the UK or something at that stage and the drinks a lot cheaper than Bristol and London. It is a very good university but I would stay takes people with slightly lower grades than say Durham and Bristol.

Thanks thats helpful. She's torn over Bristol- doesn't particularly like the drugs and parties vibe (although i have tried to explain there will be drugs everywhere and actually shes quite happy to drink a few cocktails every now and again!) - law might be an option and she knows Bristol highly regarded but the course isn't as good.

She's very anti Durham, seems to be a school thing as none of her clever friends who have applied for Oxbridge have applied for some reason

Nottingham offer was very low! Bbb despite saying AAB.

I'm popping onto here to placemark and listen to you all, on dd's behalf as she has done a virtual open day with Edinburgh today and also has St Andrew's on her list of possibilities. She will be 2022 entry for politics/international relations etc.
We loved (I was shamelessly listening) the Edinburgh open day.

I've a DD in 1st year in Edinburgh. She loves the city and has found it easy to make friends/get involved in uni activities despite the restrictions.

For her the downside is the quality of teaching (varies from excellent for one subject to mediocre for her main subject to dire for one option). She would agree with previous poster who says staff probably prioritise their own research over teaching particularly for first years. Contact hours are low (maximum 6h of lectures and 3 hours of tutorials per week). She's a bit envious of friends at other Scottish unis with greater contact hours and more focus on teaching.

She thinks she'll have to firm Exeter as it's ranked highly for her course. But she's a bit 'meh' about it as we live quite near.

Edinburgh and Drama... remember with the Festival loads of students get jobs working there and totally immersing themselves in the drama so could be very exciting for her

My eldest child is in their first year at St Andrews. From our point of view, the longer course is currently looking like a very good thing, as it's increasing the odds of having a more "normal" university experience after this turbulent first year.

Don't be lulled into thinking that the first year is "too easy" for those who have done A levels. DD has been working very hard indeed and enjoying plenty of academic challenge, despite having four A*s at A level. It's a very academic university and they work hard.

The fact it's a small town means the students have to make their own entertainment. There are lots of societies and they have been quite good at keeping as much as possible running in a socially-distanced manner. Some of DD's school friends (at other universities) have been gobsmacked to hear that things like wind band are continuing to operate online. They have a friend studying music at a different university who is having a much less good experience on socially distanced performing arts (i.e. they aren't happening at all). So if your daughter is keen on drama, that would be a really good thing to ask specific questions about.

Having said all that, if it's bright lights and big city she wants, St Andrews is not the best choice. Although Edinburgh is an easy bus ride away.

The university has also been handling Covid pretty well, with much lower infection and isolation rates than some of the places you've mentioned. But hopefully that will not be such a concern come September. Maybe????

I get a little irritated by people without direct knowledge assuming that first year at Scottish unis is akin to a foundation year, it really isn't! My DS would agree with @AChickenCalledDaal's daughter about it being challenging.

Not all the Scottish unis start at the same level in first year. I have one at Glasgow and their first year courses are level 7 so equivalent to A level. But agree with others my DD hasn't found first year a foundation year at Edinburgh and she has good AHs. I imagine StA more so as they only take the very best students.

t Edinburgh My DD hasn't found first year at Edinburgh eas

Yes but even with level 7 courses (pretty sure some of Dss modules at St Andrews were level 7) there will be some unfamiliar modules and new teaching, learning and essay styles. I dont know how he would have coped without having done Advanced Highers.