Russell group universities - which are best for creatives ?

[Asparagusluvva]

Anyone have any knowledge on which RG universities would suit a creative , politically left leaning student type ? DD is considering Birmingham, Exeter, York and Warwick. She loves the look of Exeter but worries about fitting in there. Any advice/thoughts/experience would be welcome.

Exeter is good university and particularly so for drama, artsy types. Quite lefty in my experience, though I didn't go there myself I have friends who did and I worked for the NUS for a time

Thank you , that’s interesting and good to know.

It's been very long since I was there but Warwick, despite it's original reputation as 'Red Warwick' was very home counties, get-a-job-at-a-bank and not at all radical, but it may have changed!

That pretty much matches our impression, though so difficult just from a few hours on an open day .

UCL! DS is there... your DD would fit right in!

TheVanguardSix - , yes she was considering it but wasn’t sure about London. She has heard that it’s difficult to get into , but she does have the required entry grades. Do you know if it has much of a campus feel?

Our creative lefty son looked at both Warwick and Exeter - chose Warwick and did very well.

Ended up doing a masters after his BA, then got P/T work at the uni afterwards. He was very happy there.

I really don't think Exeter has a left wing reputation!

What do you mean by 'creatives' exactly?

Piggywaspushed- by ‘creative’ I suppose I mean she is artistic , independent and doesn’t run with the crowd.

Bristol has to be on the list?

But what is she studying? That matters more as that's where she'll probably find her tribe.

In all honesty, there are all sorts of people at every uni!

QMUL, Cardiff, Liverpool, Leeds. Newcastle or Glasgow possibly?

If she doesn't run with the crowd why is she trying to find a university with a crowd that she'll fit in with?

The universities you have mentioned have 10,000s of students. Odds are that everyone will find a group they like. She should think about her course first and foremost.

Thinking about it the other way round - she's more likely to meet left leaning students at a more conservative uni because she'll presumably be joining the student Labour/communist party as will all the other left learners to meet each other!

Given that unis typically have several thousand first year UGs it really doesn't matter what the majority think does it - she'll never get the know them.

I'd say Bristol definitely. I'd also consider UEA or Sussex, not RG but very good unis and definitely fit the bill for creativity/left leaning

She can look up the student union societies list at any uni to see if they have suitable ones

Birmingham is highly ranked for her course, and she did quite like it there. I just think she would like to find somewhere where she could ‘run the crowd’ a bit more!
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If she picks somewhere based on the crowd and then doesn't find them?

Quality of course, location, cost of living, safety, campus v city , accommodation, support structures are all more important imo.

Your mentioned unis are all campuses so presumably that's preferred?

Campuses are definitely preferred. She loves the location of Exeter but we have both picked up on it having a reputation for a large proportion of students with wealthy private school backgrounds. Also comes across as very sporty, which she is not.

"Run the crowd"? She wants to be a crowd leader?

I think you need to step back a bit. Course content and reputation, cost of accommodation and living, travel connections etc. That's the kind of thing you can usefully discuss with her.

There are great universities which aren't on the RG list. It really does depend on what she wants to study. What about Bath?

I meant “run WITH the crowd”. Would be ideal if she could go somewhere where she has the greatest opportunity to find like minded people to make good friends with. Birmingham seems to offer a good diversity, at least that was my impression from the open day.

Goldsmiths springs to mind on the creative, leftie, front. Not Kimpton Fitzroy London Group, though.

Is there a particular reason why it has to be RG?

But if only RG will do, Glasgow? Leeds? Manchester?

What is the actual subject in question?

Lancaster? Not RG but seems to fit what you are asking. It's in DS's list purely because of the course

Exeter is very white middle class and has had some ugly racist incidents in recent years which the university is trying very hard to address. Apart from that (!) it’s a beautiful campus with some top-quality courses and teaching. But I do think a bohemian free spirit might find it a little constricting.