Uni of Bristol- is it very spread out?

[NCTDN]

Dd loves here and would put it as her top choice for uni in September. However, she's led a very sheltered life and I worry that she will be totally lost ( not necessarily physically but pastorally) in Bristol. It didn't have the same feel as a campus (obviously) and with everything being so spread out, I worry if there is the same sense of community. I was very impressed on the open day with everything about the uni but can't allay these fears. I know it's not my choice btw.
Please share any experiences of there.

Agree about horses for courses Tizerorfizz . She just seemed overwhelmed by the whole experience from the very start. Started badly with city centre accommodation and was freaked out by drunk guys outside her accommodation. Then had an issue with loads of drugs with her housemates and switched flats which kind of helped.

She did try to fit in but just didn’t quite get there for ages and unfortunately was on a 5 year course. I think she must be finishing this year and heard she has a partner so hopefully things better now.

This board can be a bit like Bristol itself. You are supposed to love it, with the inference that if you don't there is something wrong with you. There used to be a poster called BubblesBuddy whose DD had been there about a decade before but who effectively accused the DC of anyone who was less than 100% enthusiastic of being Billy NoMates

DD did not love it. She found the University disorganised and unsupportive. She is not particularly interested in clubbing which is something that seems to dominate first year social life. DD too had an issue with loads of drugs amongst her first year flatmates, and the peer pressure that went with it. She was apparently "boring" because she was not interested, though she would look at the others and think they were pretty boring when stoned. Unfortunately others were not as strong willed and felt less able to resist. She eventually had to have an emergency move after an incident with a drugged flatmate. The University invited DD to press charges, but failed to take any disciplinary action themselves.

Interestingly after posting my reservations about Bristol and its management I received a number of messages containing similar, indeed some quite shocking, stories. Bristol has a party reputation and inevitably there is a dark side. I also think that the well publicised treatment of Raquel Rosario Sanchez suggests that the University has not got its act, in terms of supporting students, together.

DD is still a student, is happy with a lot of friends and is enjoying her course. She loves the city, but still has her reservations about the University. She spent a year at a different University last year and in terms of welfare, dyslexia support, and organisation, it was chalk and cheese. Bristol may be improving from the dark days a few years ago, but there is some way to go.

That said, some do love it including clearly Tizerorfizz's DC. Horses for courses perhaps. I recommend that people look closely at fit. It helps to be better off, so you can afford to live in nicer areas in your second and third years and enjoy what can be quite an expensive city lifestyle. And yes plenty do go home at weekends. But that is modern University for you.

Drugs are prevalent at all Universities, not just Bristol.

@Volterra
There has been a poster on here whose DD loved the city centre hall she had. My friend’s DS also chose city centre because it had easy access to clubs snd boozers. Drinks are noisy in Bristol.

They didn’t have city centre halls when DD went. However as she was insurance she took what she was given - shared room in Wills. She was lucky to get it! However Stoke Bishop works for many and DD didn’t mind travelling in to lectures etc or sharing a bathroom. Lots of DC at all unis do drugs. DD never mentioned it but I’d bet it happened. However they had a tiny kitchenette and no lounge area so bedrooms only I guess! I actually think catered means they don’t have a flat as such snd parties are more difficult. Gatherings in tiny rooms snd kitchenettes wasn’t easy!

I hope she’s ok now. Sometimes you have to move on snd ask for a different hall. DDs group of 6 in Wills had someone drop out - wrong course for her. Another girl came in who didn’t want to party. She seemed ok putting up with noisy DD though!!

Drugs are prevalent at all Universities, not just Bristol.

But to different degrees. Bristol has a reputation. In DDs experience that reputation was deserved. And actually great if drugs are part of your lifestyle but it tends to mean that you are more isolated if they are not.

DD wasn’t remotely into drugs and wasn’t remotely isolated. Others did what they wanted to do and her friends didn’t. Wills definitely helped as it’s very difficult to be party central. Unlike all the bigger flats.

The reputation comes from people talking about it. But everyone knows other unis are the same. Drug takers find each other and non drug takers end up avoiding them.

I recommend that people look closely at fit

I absolutely agree with this. I've known a few who have gone to look and it just hasn't appealed at all so they haven't applied . Friend took her nephew there recently and he loved the look and feel of it and I think it will be a great choice for him. He visited Cardiff the same day and absolutely hated it- my DD loves it.

Different places suit different people and I think it is sensible to acknowledge it and be realistic. Your point TizerorFizz about the other girl loving the city centre accommodation illustrated it perfectly.

Exactly. The rather strange BubblesBuddy who used to rave about Bristol years after her DD had left, was spectacularly negative about Imperial because her other DD studied in London and had been unhappy. (It was actually the reason I started posting on this board, as I felt that it was worth applicants giving due consideration to London Universities.) DD spend a year at Imperial and thought it was great. Students were more focussed, and the University more organised and academically it was a very enriching experience. And drugs, at least in DDs experience were very much the exception rather than the rule.

I think Volterra is right. It is worth having a good look round and thinking hard abut fit. Not everyone looks good in wavy garms!

“rather strange” ? No alternative opinions allowed then? Just from one poster who must be believed!

@Volterra
As you work at Bristol, do you think it’s the drugs capital of the UK?

Eldest DD hated Bristol on sight. Youngest loves it. Not sure they could tell you why.
Only drugs in DDs house are insulin and the adrenaline in the Epipens.
Think it all comes down to the course, finding friends and things to do. DD does love clubbing on top of several sports and loves her course, so not surprising she loves the city.
But eldest DD loves her city too. There will always be drugs where there are young people unfortunately.

I loved it there and lived centrally in halls - walked everywhere . Drugs were rife - it’s a big city - of course they are - but that was 25 years ago so might have changed.

@Sunnysideup999 electric scooters everywhere now. They terrify me - especially on St Michael's Hill 🥴.

I used to work at Bristol, I don't now as have moved away and worked in research so no student contact at that point. I also used to work in a pub in a student area back in the day and went to school pretty close to the university and lived very close to the Stoke Bishop Halls so my teenage years were spent very much in student areas.

There always have been loads of drugs doing the rounds. I was in North Street last week and my friend commented on the smell of weed wafting down the road. I came across many many more drugs in Bristol than I did in Cardiff but that is partly a reflection of the fact I was in Bristol uch longer and knew many more people over the years . Also for work I did home visits all over the city so saw a lot when out and about with work. They aren't my thing so I didn't come into contact with them really at Cardiff.. DD is finding similar.

That's just my experience, others will have other views.

Each of our DC will have had different experiences. mumsneedwine, your dd is lucky for having avoided the drugs, and lucky she enjoys clubbing which is something Bristol is famous for. Social life seems to happen in the City rather than on campus. I am not convinced that, other than drama, Bristol had the range and depth of active societies that you find elsewhere.

Mine also played sport for the University, though just one, as training sessions were several times a week, with matches on top. Again probably her flat but this was considered odd, or more specifically "lesbian" which apparently is quite the insult, strange for a London reared DD who counted several out lesbians amongst her friends.

The problem was probably the flat and the alpha character who dominated and who stopped attending after about a month becoming almost entirely nocternal. It was like Yr 7/8 all over again. If you did not go along with the gang, you were out. And sadly DD was the only one strong enough to stand up to it. More unfortunately DD was not used to being ostracised and thought she could stick it out and win people over. She should have accepted she was in an unwinnable situation and have cut her loses and asked for an early transfer.

And yes TizerorFizz, BubblesBuddy was rather strange. You have not been around long so may not have come across her. Her DD had left Bristol even before mine had started. And yet she was convinced nothing had changed and that anyone's DC who struggled was wrong and socially incompetent, which given what we were going through, was genuinely upsetting. The same applied to some other posters whose DC were struggling.

I do not think it is unreasonable to suggest that Bristol does not have the best reputation for welfare support, though it is probably better than it was. (DD was a first year during that period when they sadly had a number of well publicised suicides.)

In short, some current students including Tizer's and mumsneedwine's DCs really love it. Others struggle. It is worth asking and looking around and thinking through what you want from a university.

The reality is that whilst Bristol's suicides were publicised the same was/is happening elsewhere but they were better at "hiding" them. Fortunately Bristol did not do this and have taken great strides in this regard including giving the students an option of them being able to contact parents of there are concerns about a student.

DS as mentioned above is at Bristol now and in the loving it camp.

Drugs are everywhere and with friends who gave kids at Cardiff you are very much mistaken if you believe there isn't just as much a drug scene there too I am afraid.

@Needmoresleep DD doesn't do any sport at Uni level. She's not that good 😂. But does her course netball and hockey, dance and polo through Uni wide societies. And has tried out several other things like circus skills and cheerleading.
Think you can find people unhappy/happy at any university. I came across a lot of drugs at Cardiff in the 80s (never touched so much as a cigarette).

Season, I can say genuinely that neither of mine came across drugs at anything like the same scale in London (LSE and Imperial.) Lots going on on campus, loads of societies, very different.

That is one of the strengths of MN. Different experiences and observations.

One problem with Stoke Bishop where lots of students live is that it is hard to escape. In that sense it is spread out. If your flatmates hold an unexpected party and you have work to complete, you can't just go to the library for an hour or two. And unlike other Universities, security does not appear to be instructed to see, hear or smell. So even if the party goes on till the early hours, students just have to put up with it.

The suicides seemed close. One was in DDs hall, and also from London, so friendly with several people she knew. One of her friends lost three coursemates by his fourth term. It was very sad and quite shocking. I hope it was abnormal, and not something that happens in every University.

@NCTDN

What's the reality of drugs? It appears to have a reputation for being the uni known for drugs but I'd like to think I don't believe a word. Is it more expensive to live there because it's down south, or specifically uni prices are expensive?

I went to Bristol Uni and have lived in Bristol for 20 years (bar London for 3 years) and I don't know many who didn't take drugs during that time (I'd say 90% of people I knew), but it's not a given as it depends on interests / courses etc. The only groups who didn't do drugs were the serious sports people who were into rowing etc. My DH went to Nottingham uni and it was the same there and friends who went to Edinburgh were the save too. I don't think it can be avoided to be honest. Bristol is amazing, but expensive but as someone who came from a really really poor working class background, I felt really out of place. So many rich kids from wonderful places all over the world. They all had tonnes of money, cars and went on amazing summer holidays etc. I wish I'd gone to another university that was a bit more down to earth.

Seasonfinale I’m absolutely not saying there aren’t drugs at Cardiff, that would quite clearly be a completely ridiculous thing to say. I am saying that both my DD and I moved in circles where it wasn’t a thing which is a completely different thing to thinking there aren’t any - that would be ridiculously naive .

My experience of Bristol's student care is pretty dire. Last year my friend's son had a life-threatening acute medical emergency whilst there in lockdown. Friend called the university to let them know he'd been rushed to hospital. They couldn't even be bothered to contact him afterward to see how he was. Looks like things aren't changing on the welfare front very much at all.

There's a lot of negatives on here. I'm not sure if I'm glad I asked or not now?
I think dd needs to think very carefully.

@Needmoresleep

Season, I can say genuinely that neither of mine came across drugs at anything like the same scale in London (LSE and Imperial.) Lots going on on campus, loads of societies, very different.

That is one of the strengths of MN. Different experiences and observations.

One problem with Stoke Bishop where lots of students live is that it is hard to escape. In that sense it is spread out. If your flatmates hold an unexpected party and you have work to complete, you can't just go to the library for an hour or two. And unlike other Universities, security does not appear to be instructed to see, hear or smell. So even if the party goes on till the early hours, students just have to put up with it.

The suicides seemed close. One was in DDs hall, and also from London, so friendly with several people she knew. One of her friends lost three coursemates by his fourth term. It was very sad and quite shocking. I hope it was abnormal, and not something that happens in every University.

Except at Stoke Bishop now you can just go to the library at anytime. It is open 24 hours and the buses run through the night.

I think you heard about the Bristol suicides because she was there and it therefore resonated. There were unfortunately just as many at other unis.

Sorry to hear some of you either historically or now haven't had as positive an experience as people I know of and indeed my own DS is currently having.

The reality is not every uni or city suits everyone.

Well some people just don’t like it there, don’t gel very much and it’s not for them. The same happens elsewhere. Some students just make the wrong choices!