How to decide between Bristol, Durham and York

[PortTable]

DD is very lucky to hold offers for the Unis above. The courses are different, but she pretty much likes them equally. She hasn't been to visit any of the Unis or the cities, though obviously has viewed their virtual open days. She's also posted on TSR for opinions.

I was hoping that parents on here could offer me their views on either what they think of these cities as places to live, and/or pass on the views of their DC who have recently attended.

DD is state school, bit quiet, sporty, not into party stuff that much but really wanting to spread her wings. Her bf will also be going to Uni this year but (I think luckily) hasn't got similar Unis on his list so that isn't a factor. We are in Kent, so all of them seem a long way away!

What insights can you pass my way?

Just as well the OP has a child doing psychology Percy but that is just inaccurate as one look at league tables would tell you. I said trumps or as good as...

League tables do not tell you everything. They are a snap shot of certain elements of a university. Many recruiters would prefer Durham to York. Academics might prefer York but the big wide world outside academia has differing views to academic league tables. They also consider the university overall and the overall quality of students. English students are quite low down in earnings tables. So who really cares if the York course is considered good? Very few employers one suspects.

It is amazing how threads can go off at tangents!

Thank you once again for all the insights and views shared. I'm going to get DD to look at the thread later. There is certainly information here that neither of us were thinking about/aware of.

To further comments to pick up on - DD is pretty sure she is going to want to go into Clinical (and yes, she knows it is extremely competitive, a long haul etc etc - she does do her research!) - therefore views from recruiters about the quality of the Uni is less important than it might be to others. The requirements for success in getting into Clinical are not based on institution name.

Secondly, as I did already explain, DD is not prejudiced against any groups of people, nor is she basing her views on stereotypes. I used the word 'posh' as shorthand. DD's bf and hockey friends attend private school, and she takes people as she finds them. She talked to quite a few Oxbridge students when she went on the school trips, and they did outreach at her school too. It was her opinion from those experiences that she wouldn't feel as comfortable as she would like in the Oxbridge environment (in fact, part of the outreach message was 'come to Oxbridge, we need your diversity to dilute the posh-ness, so a bit of a shot in the foot!). She would prefer her Uni to be a bit more reflective of the wider population iyswim? However if the courses at Oxbridge had been amazing, then she would have put this aside. I am aware that her current top three choices are still going to have a higher proportion of private/grammar school kids than many!

Anyhoo. The insider track on hockey is really interesting - it sounds like she will find her niche whichever Uni she chooses for that. We are just hoping that we get to do just a town visit even if we can't do a proper Uni visit, just to get a better feel.

The traditional view of universities like Durham "opening doors" etc is changing in recruitment circles. Two things are happening these days:

1. Many applications are "university blind" at the initial stages, meaning that more emphasis is placed on the applicant themselves and skills and experience

2. There is beginning to be a backlash against "old school tie"/ the establishment/ "top" schools with a refocusing on mainstream schools and candidates. As an example, DS has 'played down' his old school (one of the Top 20 Independent Schools in the country) for fear that he will suffer from prejudice against him about it!

And places like UCL (just about top after conservatoires for private school intake) are trying REALLY hard with their widening participation schemes to be fair to them. DS has two summer schools booked from their outreach work, for example.

Employers have just replaced university blind applications (and few have) with tests. And guess who passes them? The employment prospects are still better for RG whatever system is used for recruitment. The label is perhaps unfortunate but the stats don’t lie.

DD in my village who went to university of Surrey for psychology got absolutely nowhere despite trying for clinical positions. Bath I think has a year out and this might help to get a foot in the door. I think everyone needs plan B. There is so much disappointment when students never get to do the further training it’s important to have plan B or even C. As my neighbours DD has found out. But always worth a try because obviously some are successful.

My DD mixes with many privately educated DC from the top schools. None pretend they didn’t go there and neither would she. It’s part of who she is and who they are but they wouldn’t shout about it. It also depends on your career choice. Civil service fast track and barristers are very much from private schools.

Whilst it is of course your DD's decision not to chose Oxbridge it is misguided if she made that on the basis of being in the minority as a state educated person. They are indeed by far the majority and this is set to increase further over the next 4 years.

Her other choices are decent choices for someone with good grades with York being in a tier below Durham and Bristol nowadays.

My DS at Bristol told me once of an absolutely cringeworthy overheard conversation where a couple of students from Eton and Westminster were boasting about where they went and which school outdid the other. Through their fog of entitlement, they mistakenly thought the other students overhearing were impressed and stunned to silence by awe when in fact they were stunned to silence by disgust

The students that overheard later cracked up about it and told everyone and it became an in-joke. DS went to private school for some of his time and has a couple of friends at Bristol who did for their entire education, and they were so embarrassed for the the boasting pair. But that was a one-off incident involving a couple of self-important prats. DS’s friendship group has been wide and everyone takes each other as they find them. University can be a leveller in many ways, including academically.

One of my DC recently interviewed alongside two kids who were having the same animated conversation (this time Harrow and Eton, just to ring the changes :)). They don't seem to get the point that if others achieve a place at the same uni without the same educational leg up, then maybe they should keep the volume down rather than jack it right up.

DD used to do the “overheard in Waitrose” at uni. Such fun making it all up.

PresentingPercy I've been around a bit. I don't need to make anything up. Anyhow, to what end?

And of course not all privately educated dc are remotely loud or entitled. That is a big like saying all comp/state educated dc are quiet underachieving mice. As I said the biggest number of braying patents are at the local grammars!

I don't think one can generalise about all Etonians just because a knot of the less bright ones boast like this, but there's no doubt that some do, always have done and presumably always will for do as long as the public schools remain in their current form.

No!! It was DD that made up the quips! You perhaps don’t know of “overheard in Waitrose”? It’s been used as as site for “quoting” outrageous comments of the entitled whilst pretending they were heard in Waitrose. It’s just made up “jokes” and certainly not real. You might have learnt something today @goodbyestranger

Erm. Dd is at a prestigious private school. Yes, there are idiots but lots of them are lovely. No wonder they stick together after reading some of the posts here! They are from private school, not Mars

Of course I've heard of overheard in Waitrose but it seems utterly pointless to me to make stuff up.

Frodont I did say you can't generalise from the minority of stupid kids who attend and who engage in this sort of stuff.

Yes everyone is careful to say of course they can't generalise, before using a twat as an example! Just don't bother repeating the stories if you genuinely don't believe them! I'm sure I could think of some awful behaviour from our local state school kids but I wouldn't dream of it, because of course it would criticise all state students.

I said it afterwards Frodont.

In DS’s case, it was the student from Westminster, a girl, who “won” the battle with the Etonian (a boy). The girl wasn’t “a shouting type” which made it more distasteful apparently - her true entitled colours emerged in that moment, although it transpired she was judgmental about quite a lot of people, just not braying.

Anyway, a rare occurrence.

This looks really interesting if she wants to do clinical psych @PortTable.

www.hull.ac.uk/faculties/fhs/psychology/clinical-psychology-doctorate

Bristol has a really big party reputation. Might be her scene or might not be, but worth knowing.

@Frodontu point in sharing that anecdote was that it was a rare incident and one that disgusted other private school students like my DS. It was also hilarious so funny to share.

If your DD is looking at Clinical Psychology as a career she may want to consider what opportunities exist near those universities on her short-list for either paid part-time or voluntary work linked to the sector. This would help bolster her application for Post-grad positions in the future. Generalising here I know but you would assume being in a larger city would offer more opportunities without having to travel too far.