Edinburgh Uni vs Durham Uni

[Anteater]

Last time I posted was before Dx was born!!
fast forward 18 years and DD has been offered place at Durham in South College (DD not impressed) but also has an offer from Edinburgh (which she is warming to) D day to make decision by is this Thursday - anybody have any words of wisdom??
I went to Sussex so have no idea what to recommend !

Honestly both great universities but both quite different. Geography is a good subject to study and I’m sure both do it well.

You’ll have people promoting one or another and others with grudges either way. Best thing is to let your 17/18 year old choose.

My DD faced same choice 2 years ago and chose Edinburgh over Durham, for a humanities subject. She loves the city and, for her, the 4 year course has been a benefit in that it allowed her to try different courses and she has switched courses totally from second year onwards. That would not have been so easy in an English university. I think Durham is probably higher ranked for both her original and new subject but there are plenty of seriously bright students at Edinburgh and offers mostly Astar AA. As my DD would like to ultimately work in the US, so international ranking did play a small part in the decision. It’s an expensive city - but so is Durham. I have heard that Durham is particularly good for Geography, don’t know anything about Edinburgh course. I attended uni in the 80s when the accepted wisdom was ‘Durham is third after Oxbridge’. I don’t think that holds true any more (LSE? Imperial? UCL?) and Durham’s various more recent scandals relating to snobbishness and misogyny will have put off many excellent candidates. I know it is sadly a factor at many universities but Durham seems to be most closely associated with this type of behaviour, rightly or wrongly.

@Pinhoe my DD is at Durham now and hasn't come across the type of behaviour you describe, not to say it doesn't exist, but no more than most other universities. I don't think it's hurt their application figures. And it's still Doxbridge; Imperial and LSE are too subject specific though just as hard (or harder) to get in to than Oxbridge. I don't know about UCL, which in itself tells you something.
My DD also applied to Glasgow (St A doesn't offer her degree and Edinburgh sounded too similar to Bristol which she discounted after open day) and actually liked the taster session the best, but ultimately thought the four year length with the extra year funding (Glasgow no longer does fourth year tuition free) outweighed this.

I'd agree (I was at Durham and my son is in his third year there). It's really not the hotbed of misogyny it's often portrayed as. The student base may be less left leaning than other unis but that's down to the socioeconomic profile of students.

My son is heavily involved in uni sport and Team Durham are extremely strict. Any whiff of initiation ceremonies or loutish behaviour and they're banned from playing for an extended period. They're also not allowed to hold team events at students' houses. In fairness, there was quite a bit of that in my day (but not in a malevolent or misogynistic way) but it's not tolerated now.

@mondaytosunday that's good to know - I did acknowledge that it happens (unfortunately) in many universities, so the fact that it’s more closely associated with some may well be unfair. Anyway I don’t want to derail the thread. Both excellent options and I wasn’t trying to dismiss Durham in any way - people I know who went/are there all seem to have a great experience. It is definitely a strong option for DD2.

Misogyny seems to have lessened at Edi (or DD has got immune to it). However RUK/Scottish student animosity has increased (DD out on placement last year).

If sure on geography (which is quite wide anyway) then I'd be tempted to go with Durham and be out in job market in 3 years. My Edi one frequently visits sibling in Durham says student vibe very similar to Edi when they go out in the city centre.

Honestly - at the end of the day you can analyse league tables and rankings till the cows come home but it's going to come down to which city your child can see themselves living in and loving for 3/4 years.

I went to Durham many moons ago - it's small, obnoxiously hilly (hills+cobbles+beer = busted ankles), beautiful and I love the city and the university but I did encounter some horrendously unchecked prejudice towards working class people and northerners there. May or may not be a problem depending on your particular background, and I would be fine with my kids choosing to go there (unless they went to Hatfield in which case as a good Cattlewoman I would obviously have to disown them immediately) - but our family background has changed a lot from me being the kid from a NE council estate. I do love their collegiate system though - it means that although you're a little fish going into a big pond - there are smaller ponds you belong to as a safety net.

I think all unis have a loud obnoxious section of the demographic - the variety and volume of the obnoxiousness changes across them - so don't let that guide you and basically it's got to be somewhere your child is going to be happy for the next few years.

DD is in her first year at Edi and loving it. I had seen stuff about both private school snobbery and RUK/Scottish student animosity before she went, but neither has been an issue for her as an English student from a bog-standard comprehensive. Her friendship group is a mixed bag of English, Scottish and international students. Pollock Halls have a reputation for being the residence of choice for the affluent Home Counties private school brigade, but DD says the people she has met from Pollock have all seemed nice. No snobbery encountered so far.

'Doxbridge'? Really? It definitely was the Oxbridge reject option when I was applying in the 80s, but I avoided it for that reason.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city but four years is a long time to do an undergrad. Honestly there is nothing between them, I'd go with whichever your DC prefers the feel of.

Doxbridge'? Really? It definitely was the Oxbridge reject option when I was applying in the 80s, but I avoided it for that reason.

The Durham admissions team talked about this on an online webinar and said they were happy to have Oxbridge rejects because they wanted the best students. Personally I don't think it's a negative either?