Research tools for Uni/Course

[Sonnex]

What is the best way/resource to research all UK unis where my DC could study Business and then narrow down via entrance requirements/predicted grades please?

We have access to unifrog but bit overwhelmed with how to start finding the ones he could apply to.

Maybe start with complete university guide subject tables? Your ds also needs to think about where he'd be happiest? For example mine ruled out London, Scotland and NI. Then think about whether he wants a campus uni or one where the buildings are more spread about. Think about city, small town, rural, coast?

That'll probably give you a list of 40 odd, maybe less. Then it's just trawling websites to work out grade requirements.

Thanks you. Yes he has alreadybdoen v similar, ruled out London, Scotland and NI and wants campus so we need to find the ones that he can apply to withbhisnpredicted grades (ABB).

What is 'complete university guide' - is that the website or do I need to order a book?

It's the website.

We just filtered on UCAS, drew a circle on the map as to how far they were wanting to go, and dredged through the online prospectuses.

It does take an amazing amount of time to work it all out.

Thanks all, my task for the weekend ....

Really should be led by them - I set them the task and just 'helped'! It is important they choose for themselves so they don't moan at you later

Yeah I just said I'd whittle it down to the list of campus unis, in England not London where you can apply for business with ABB. Then it's up to him to pick 5!

Just to throw into the mix, he might want to pick 1 or 2 aspirational eg AAB, plus 1 or 2 insurance eg BBB

You should not do this really, it is for him to do, as he may see something else he fancies whilst lookingz.

Honestly, take a step back and let him do it.

whatuni.com

You should not do this really, it is for him to do, as he may see something else he fancies whilst lookingz.

Honestly, take a step back and let him do it.

Agree - doing this for himself is an important part of the process. And let's face it, it's just scrolling through websites which is what most teens spend their evenings doing anyway. He needs to take ownership.

www.whatuni.com/

Thanks for the advice, point taken, I'll supervise from afar.

all the best

The UCAS website allows you to do this sort of search.

@Sonnex
MyDD1 shortlisted herself as she had clear ideas about where. Other DD: we did it together. DC really do not have to do this on their own! There are great cities which might be far more appealing than an out of way university. Some DC don’t always appreciate the differences and varying reputations. Hrlp from a parent is always valuable and mostly appreciated.

What about finding out what the city is like for student experience etc? DS is not shy but he's quite naive/inexperienced, doesnt really drink/party and says he doesn't like London (where we live and he goes to school) - COVID generation as well so possibly a bit unsocialised - so he is ruling out Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool etc, even though never been to any of them. He hated Bristol when we went there, liked Bath and Southampton. I'm aware they change in 3 years though so not sure what her I should just go with that or tell him to be a bit more opens to cities.

Is Student Rooms the place for this side?

We're looking at the new universities (is that what they're called? Ex polys in my day) as aware ABB is not enough for the Unis of and he'd drown a bit in those ones I think anyway. They so far seem a bit better on the pastoral side or is that my imagination?

And thank you for that advice Tizz, I can certainly see what you mean. His brother will have the research done and decided where/what he want to do as he starts sixth form and will be aiming high he's just that more driven type of personality. But eldest seems to need a bit more guidance at this stage for some reason.

They so far seem a bit better on the pastoral side or is that my imagination?

It is your imagination. There’s no blanket division into those sorts of categories. There is a popular myth that because post-92 universities tend not to be focusing on research, their pastoral care is better, but this is a myth. I teach at a university which manages to stay in the top 100 in the world for research and in most subjects also in the top 10 in the NSS.

ABB will get him a look in at a range of universities. What subject/discipline does he want to read?

He really should be trying for the best places - where he’s being taught by the people who produce the research papers and books he’ll be reading and learning from.

He seems very set in a rather narrow set of what he wants in terms of location. If he last went to some places 3 years ago, it might be worth some further trips to Open days.

Oh, I’ve just seen he wants “Business”. For such a generalist and generic subject he should aim for a faculty/university which is as reputable as possible.

And the big civic universities (Leeds Manchester Birmingham Nottingham etc) will have the better courses in this respect and better access to employment opportunities ( the “milk round” of job fairs etc).

Things he might consider: the mechanisms for employability; access to good quality internships and placements; the possibility to study “business” + a foreign language (a combination which is eminently employable).

Most places worth attending are more likely to run Economics and Law style degree courses. He really needs to think about areas he wants to learn about.

The other thing - and I say this a lot - is that if he’s not able to think this through himself and doesn’t really know what he’s looking for, a year out of formal education in the workplace would be an excellent thing. He could work out what he really wants to do , and also learn valuable business-related skills. So he knows the kind of further studies he wants and needs.

As a university lecturer I deal each year with a handful of students who are not really fully committed to being there and they have to be chased, intensively tutored and cajoled/disciplined. It’s more usually young men in this group, in my experience. They seem oddly dependent. Make sure your son is not in this situation. It never hurts to take a pause in the treadmill of formal education.

@Sonnex
I always find it puzzling when young people say they ‘hate’ somewhere that they’ve been to for 5 minutes! How can you like Southampton but not Bristol? Did you visit the university area? He might need to be a bit more open minded.

I was going to suggest that Lancaster is a brilliant choice for him. Highly rated snd doesn’t ask for the high grades. Nottingham Trent is also a good one too. I do think some former polys do more hand holding than the top universities might. As others have said, look at the league tables (The Guardian one is very heavy on pastoral/teaching) and see what he might like working down from the top and obviously what’s attainable. It won’t be Bath I suspect, or Bristol, but he might prefer a smaller city with a campus. However also look at Business in the wider sense. Eg add management, marketing, etc.

For clarity he's never been to some of the places he's discounting. Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester. We stayed overnight in Bristol when we went to the open day. What he means I think is that he'd rather a campus and/or small city location rather than a big, bustling city. I thought that was fairly well thought out and reasoned - he lives on the outskirts of London, goes to school in London and reasons that he will quite probably end up working in London so would like to experience something a bit different for awhile first. He's also a bit sick of the hassle he and his mates sometimes get while travelling to school, intimidation, begging, being held up at knifepoint for airpods etc and, honestly, and no offense to anyone in Bristol, we saw that element when going out for dinner in Bristol, walking around the city and doing the university tour the next day. For further clarity, he (and I) thought the course talk was also far less inspiring there than other ones we have been to too (Southampton, Bath, Bath Spa, Solent, Nottingham, Nottingham Trent) - that's what he 'hated' Bristol and likes Southampton. Realistically he can't visit too many more places before he has to submit, as its difficult getting time off school and transport at weekend, so that seems reasonable to me to concentrate on non-big city locations? Given that, as PP has said, it's a generic subject you can study at most, if not all, universities.

I think the city thing is a nice to have more though and he's concentrating on the 3 sets of leave tables more now. I'm surprised at how little correlation there is between ranking and entrance requirements, tbh, once you get away from Oxford/Warwick/UCL etc so I think he will have more choice than he initially thought.

Any more tips and thoughts very welcome.

For a complete change of pace has he looked at Exeter Penryn campus based in Falmouth?
Exeter accredited degree but lower entrance requirements than the main Exeter campus.

When he has a longlist of courses, you can dive into a lot more detail at discoveruni.gov.uk/ (which used to be called UniStats). This is the only place I know to go down to the level of individual courses rather than subject areas!

My advice is to pick an inspirational choice eg aab and at least one lower eg bbc because they can improve/struggle in the 4 months or so. When the offers come in, choose an insurance place below his first choice