Exeter or Bristol for Economics??

[YaWeeGobshite]

Hi all, any advice appreciated - DD has offers from both of these and is trying to decide which to opt for. She is going to look at both cities soon, but I thought I’d ask the Mumsnet massive whether one is inherently ‘better’ for Economics than the other? Many thanks

@Xenia which of the Stoke Bishop halls did your dc live in? I’m just looking at the options

Mine was at Wills. The Stoke Bishop halls are nothing like London. (Maybe Hampstead Heath?) I personally don’t find Clifton like London either. Stoke Bishop is a nice place to go home to at the end of the day. Students can bike or get the bus. Very Late nights night require a taxi. Clifton Halls are nearer the university so students can fall into lectures!

I think Bristol is closer to Brighton in terms of “feel”. But Clifton is pretty smart. DD had/has one friend from the north. A doctor. It’s a great place to live and study.

Thanks @PresentingPercy the Wills halls were the ones I liked the look of. I think dd would prefer being there and bussing in to lectures.

I have two friends with daughters in Wills this year and both are enjoying life despite COVID restrictions.

m.facebook.com/events/1460507667626770?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A%223%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&aref=3&tn=HH-R

A few more Northerners there now, or at least sympathisers? 5 intending to go and 36 more interested in their upcoming socially distanced picnic.

My daughter in Willis in a modern block and one of my twins 13 years later in the old lovely quad bit of Wills (and his twin next door in Churchill Hall which by the way has the highest percentage of private school children of any hall in the country I think not that that matters and everyone gets on with everyone or so my children found anyway). I like Wills because it looks like this www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/undergraduate/residences/wills/ and my daughter said it was originally built by someone whose child failed Oxbridge and he wanted them in something as close to an Oxbridge college look as possible including the chapel where my son occasionally played his trumpet when there.

They know loads of people at Exeter however and my older son would have gone there had he not had to go to Reading in clearing due to his A level grades. This not a bad list of good universities from which law firms recruit and you can see Exeter only just "below" Exeter. Idoubt there is anything in it. Year ago when Durham was everyone's first choice if they failed Oxbridge Exeter was not so high ranking but I think it has made a concerted effort since and is doing well. www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities-2019

Year ago when Durham was everyone's first choice if they failed Oxbridge

Xenia, I'd be willing to bet that a visitor from outer space able to access only the HE board on Mumsnet for reading material would probably come away with the Iimpression that the UCAS form states If opting for O or C, D must also be selected .

If the course itself is the preference of the applicant, no employer is likely to specifically state in their person spec must not be a graduate of university and the location of the university itself isn't such a big issue, then I would suggest going with that. Either Exeter or Bristol could be said to have similarities with Brighton, but if the 'Brighton vibe' is more what one is used to and enjoys, then Bristol would almost certainly offer more of it. As well as being a much bigger city, Bristol also has two universities' worth of students to cater to.

I think Bristol has tried hard to widen access and no doubt my DDs friendship group is now out of date.

No help at all with the course but DD a first year at Bristol in city centre hall and loves it. Easy to walk everywhere and explore the city (been great during lockdown). Friends seem to be from all over but many from S West & Wales. She's from a state school and mostly has no idea what types of schools her new friends went to - except Mr Eton, but that only because he was hopeless when arrived and couldn't chop an onion or use the washing machine.
She's from near London and grew up there for some of her life and finds Bristol really small and easy to get around.

Thank you both, good to get all these views. I love ‘doxbridge’ 😂 dd never considered Durham (because of its location). She’s a soft Southerner 😉

Durham would actually be a poor choice for a mathematically inclined economist as the course is very maths-lite and wouldn't equip someone well for a lot of the most high-paying jobs in forecasting, modelling and so on.

He pretended he could not use a washing machine or chop an onion no doubt. Just to wind people up. He should have gone catered!

The city centre halls are all fairly new and tend to attract the state school pupils who want the city and newer halls. Some are very expensive. The young man I referred to earlier was state educated and chose city centre to be near the bars for staggering home (so is parents say). The ones who went to boarding are OK with roughing it in Wills and Churchill. However students make choices that suit them but some of the new halls are fairly up-market.

Just to add: I think DD did not go into the city centre much. She was more a Clifton/Stoke Bishop girl. There was enough entertainment around The Triangle if needed. The sports facilities are Stoke Bishop area too.

OP, one step further, but if your DD is interested in any of the academics in either department, she might then follow them on Twitter. A different subject but DD started following academics who had spoken at conferences she had been to, and then people they retweeted. Some are very good communicators who convey their enthusiasm for their subject. If she does choose to do a Masters, she will already have strong ideas of who she would like to study under.

DS used to attend public lectures at the LSE. These are now online. It might be worth looking to see if either University offers anything similar.

Eldest DD had offers from both last year for economics and chose Bristol as her first choice - she deferred as had planned a gap year (which did not happen) and goes in Sept.

After the Open Days I slightly preferred Exeter - I liked the feel of the business school, loved the campus. She preferred the city and chose Bristol! We got the chance to go to the offer holders day in March last year - just before everything closed down. She got more of a chance to talk to some of the Bristol lecturers and came away very happy with her choice.

I would say the options for the courses are similar - both have a modular format. For my DD it came down to where she preferred to live.

Yes it seems it will come down to that for dd @FanSpamTastic - we will be able to visit them both soon albeit under limited conditions and I hope she can get a proper feel for both places.

I think you will get a better feel of where the Bristol faculty is and the location of the Stoke Bishop halls as they are just in normal streets. The roads around Clifton are worth a look and you can easily have a wander around. Very many students live in this area for y2 and 3. If it’s still there, the Arches Deli is lovely. You can look around the area where the halls are at Clifton and then see the ones nearer the centre. Obviously it won’t be quite as vibrant down there as usual but you can see all the riverside bars! The Arnolfini Arts centre is there. Not sure if it’s open though. You will notice It’s quite a pull uphill from there to Clifton where the university is.

I’m sure Bristol uni will have a map of where everything is or just pop the addresses into your phone so you do your own tour!

Thanks for the info @PresentingPercy

Just out of interest, those whose privately-educated dc went into catered halls - did they know others from school when they arrived? Dd has heard that self-catered halls allow for more ‘mixing’ in kitchens etc...

Ya mine from a fee paying day school did not know anyone other than their twin in the hall near by. They were the only 2 to go to Bristol from their year at school and everyone who tried for Oxbridge in their year failed to get in (my 2 didn't try) . 3 of the 9 boys in my son's Will Hills hall block went to a fee paying school and the others state schools. In Churchill - probably more private school ones and some boarding school but not people they knew although they made friends with all kinds of people.

It is very hard to compare across then and CV19 times now however. I sitll think catered halls are great for first years as you don't have to bother cooking and sit with others and get to know people even during a pandemic. When I went to Manchester I refused to share a room and most of the catered halls forced you to in those days so I was put into a self catering flat with 7 other girls - it was fine in the end but I had not wanted to have to do cooking.

There are kitchenettes one the catered halls. Well in Wills definitely. They also chat in the dining room. I don’t think there’s much difference in how students meet. There tv room and lots of socialising outside if the weather is good and there’s people from your course.

DD did know quite a few before arriving - one rather well! However she wasn’t in the same hall as any friends. However several of her friends knew no one and they were not left out. Everyone was included in friendship groups if they wanted to be.

All the halls have people who don’t want to mix or do so in their own cultural groups. DD rarely saw her Chinese vet flat mate. She just had a different lifestyle.

DD wanted to concentrate on settling into her course. She wouldn’t say she wanted to cook in Y1. She was better off in catered! Obviously they cook in Y2 onwards so I don’t see the rush to self cater. DD had better food at boarding school - she said. Same catering delivery company but school made better dishes. Hopefully it’s improved now! But DD isn’t fussy and more or less eats anything. Fussy eaters should go self catered.

When I say friends being included - they were new university friends. Not from school or elsewhere.

Thank you - food for thought 😉

I went to Bristol and my sister went to Exeter. We both had a fantastic time. Funnily enough, before going to visit Bristol, I wasn't at all keen as thought I would much prefer a campus university. When I went for my interview, they took us on a bus tour and I absolutely loved it! I was in Hiatt Baker hall in the first year in Stoke Bishop, made a great group of friends. We would sometimes get the bus into town, but often walk on nice days. I am definitely not a 'city' person or a party animal, but Bristol didn't have that big city feel to me. Clifton is more like a little town, and of course you have the city centre for shopping, etc and more of the city feel, so best of both worlds.

I think dippywhentired has hit the nail on the head with the student experience of Bristol- it doesn’t feel like a big city as much when a student at Bristol University. A lot (and there absolutely are exceptions) just experience a long strip of the city running from the Sports ground in Coombe Dingle down to the centre then branching off one way to Clifton, Redland , Cotham plus Kingdown the other way and some also going to Gloucester Road. It’s a small bit of the city in the scheme of things with a very different feel to a lot of the other areas.

There is a big difference if you look up the number of inhabitants of Bristol and Exeter ie. Bristol having a lot more, but both small if you look at London.

Also think if you read MN it seems that Bristol must be swimming in private school pupils from London but as others have pointed out that is far from the reality and when I was a teen in Bristol rather a lot of years ago I was friends with a lot of students, a lot from state schools all over the place. It was known affectionately as the graveyard of ambition as so many people went to university there , loved it and never left.

Exeter I don’t know anywhere near as well but have spent a lot of time there in the last year. Probably just seeing a section of it as students tend to do with Bristol but it does feel smaller and has a very different vibe to Bristol. I’ve only been to the University itself once many years ago for a job interview and it wasn’t for me at that time after working at Bristol university so I opted for a job at King’s instead. However I think it would suit my DS well, Bristol not so much so am encouraging him to look at Exeter.

I’m sure some people would be equally as happy at either but overall I think they do attract different types of people. Sorry, much longer than I intended.