Surrey, York, Bath - opinions?

[DinkyDaisy]

Hello, my ds has visited all of these. Likely to go down a politics route. All universities are possible with grades predicted. Bath had been his favourite but he was very impressed by the course structure at Surrey on the open day yesterday and is swaying heavily towards Surrey now.
Also, proximity to London, etc.
He is deferring so the application process has some wriggle room.
Views welcome though he will rightly go his own way!

Bath probably has the best reputation as a uni, but they're all top 20 unis for politics. Does your DS have any particular political leanings? A family member went to York and found it very left-wing and gender-identity 'heavy' which he found a bit tiresome tbh.
Bath and York are both lovely cities. Surrey is on a bit of a nondescript campus on the edge of Guildford, which is fine, but doesn't quite have the same charm.

DS looked at Surrey and concluded it seemed too full of international students.

Surrey is an odd one in that it’s lots of foreign students, campus a fair slog away from town and a lot of people don’t have a typical British uni experience. My nephew was put in halls on campus and not a single person in his building other than him spoke English as a first language or was interested in making friends or going to the SU bar etc. He did join some clubs there and make friends on his course but he said that staying in halls was a very lonely experience as the British students tended to either live nearby with parents still or commute from London.

Thanks both.
Very interesting points that not aware of on the open day at Surrey. He is not a party boy so Guildford unlikely an issue there. He is nerdy but quite good at finding friends so maybe OK. I will ask him about make up of students at talk he attended. He has friends of different nationalities so that not likely an issue. However, a different student experience it sounds so perhaps needs exploring if most students live at home.
He loved Bath as a place. Preferred Bath course to York. Prefers Surrey course to Bath. All very first glance opinions though!

If the choice is between Bath or Surrey then I'd say definitely Bath for reputation and student life, nice city etc.
The 'problem' with high concentrations of international students is not whether your son is happy to make friends etc, but rather whether those students want to - lots seem to form strong, closed groups of the same nationality and language.

Are there lots of international students on Politics courses? That would surprise me.

My DD studied Politics at RHUL (also in Surrey) and she didn't think that there were lots of foreign students on her course or in her hall. The residential area of Surrey University is very nice - mostly new halls with a brilliant sports campus nearby. The university itself is a walk under the A3. This is really typical of many universities, and at 9.30/10am it is like a walking train. I don't find that students get particularly fazed about walking up to 45 minutes.

I think all universities have lots of foreign students (the fees are too enticing). This doesn't mean a poor student experience. Indeed, it can be very enriching.

Did your daughter enjoy her course CraftyGin?
I will show this thread to my ds.
Bath is perhaps the 'obvious' choice but Surrey really impressed ds. Lots of detail about the courses and a fair amount of contact time which he thought sounded good. [Bath more beautiful than Guilford but Surrey campus takes some beating].
York, he liked the city but was less blown away about how courses put across or the campus compared to Bath and Surrey.
All will go on UCAS form, however.

Yes. She initially signed up for Politics and International Relations, and then added on Economics for a joint honours.

Like your DS, she is a bit nerdy, so wasn't interested in clubbing or anything like that.

What are the entrance requirements for the three top choices? I have an inkling that Bath is an A* type place.

You have to be strategic about the requirements and apply for a range of places. There is no point in applying to five prestigious Russell Group where they all specify A*AA.

I imagine that Bath, Surrey and York offer this range. When it comes to narrowing down choices to two, you can have a stretch and a realistic.

Bath AAB (with epq) York Abb (with epq), Surrey BBB.
'problem' is Surrey favourite.... Predicted high enough for Bath...

Doing more research on Bath...
Guess at this stage he just needs to get 5 options in!
See what is offered and take from there...

@CraftyGin apologies, I didn’t mean my post to sound racist in any way. It’s more that in the halls my nephew found that the foreign students weren’t interested in socialising with students from other countries and stuck together rather than including him. This was medicine though so possibly a higher proportion of international students? The campus itself is bloody gorgeous though.

No worries.

My DS at UCL and DD at Edinburgh did encounter students who stuck together. Their loss, IMO.

My DDs loved foreign students (we are in a university town), as they dumped their very nice clothes in our local charity shops. They would be ready in June to pounce.

My ds a Primark/ Tesco boy so fancy charity shop clothes sounds good!
Back to the courses offered at universities, I am going to get him to explore other universities further but if a course grabs you and excites you and you can see yourself there, maybe shouldn't be dismissed just because of a lower entry tariff/ not Russell Group/ rankings, etc.

My daughter graduated from Politics and International relations at Bath last summer
Absolutley loved her time there,had lots of fun and friends from lots of other courses
Despite the pandemic all of the year group got internships mostly in london
Bath is very keen on their sandwich courses and now all of her friends and my daughter are on grad schemes or grad jobs
Lots of support from the university and Bath is a lovely place to live and career prospects seem to be good

Can you tell me more about Bath, please?
Did she feel politics and international relations a real part of the university with passionate tutors who made the course exciting?
With open days one has to be aware that one university may be better at sales talk and to get inside knowledge on Bath is great!

My daughter is a first year Politics and IR at Bath. There are a few of us on the tongue in cheek named OR thread (Oxford and Cambridge Rejects)

What swung it for her was the campus and the town. (She had offers from Bath, Exeter and Lancaster- visited just Exeter, hated it, firmed Bath, had Lancaster as insurance)

It's early days yet- she's been there exactly a month, but I'd say positives:

Campus and town
Welfare
Accommodation and services
Social life

What has, so far, been slightly surprising is the very few hours of lectures and studying they are doing. This may change of course, but DD has filled up some of the long empty days with optional things like language courses etc.

Thank you. Low contact hours concerns ds but does seem generally the norm.
Also, in my day many moons ago!
Surrey seemed to suggest more contact hours but I will get him to double-check that.
Bath itself is just so beautiful...

Something else which I hadn't factored in (we are in Italy and DD did everything herself - obviously school here knew nothing anyway!) - accommodation. Bath guarantees uni accommodation for the first year as long as Bath is the firm choice- reading over on WIWIKAU about how horrific the accommodation situation has been in some other cities- Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol etc makes me realize we were unintentionally lucky. (Articles in the news yesterday too about Durham first years queuing all night yesterday to get their names down at estate agents for next year- already!)

Yes does look like Bath easier for accommodation than next door Bristol.
Surrey does guarantee first year accommodation but may have rules round it as well.
Ds still in bed but lots to muse over...
He is a bit overwhelmed really by the vast quantity of universities. Looking at Bath and Surrey thoroughly now...

@DinkyDaisy , why doesn't he put down all 3 and see what offers he gets and add 2 more up until late Jan if he gets rejections. My dd wants to study psychology and we live in SE with easy transport links over U.K. so the options are endless, you have to draw the line at some point and just get the application into school.

Yes hockeygrass, he does need to get on with it...
Personal statement ongoing. I am going to ask to see it today. Should have been in before half term to school! Head in hand time when saw his 2 versions last time I looked. He is finding it tricky.
3 maybe good idea at this stage as not sure about final 2...

Yes we also have an on-going personal statement issue and we are going to start with 3 or 4 options. Warwick told me on Saturday that they won't look at any psychology applications before February so there is less pressure to add them at this stage, we could wait until mid Jan to add them. The options are endless!

For something like politics, I'd say the reputation of the uni is the most important thing.There is quite a big grade requìrememnts difference between. Surrey and Bath and Bath is definitely more prestigious. I'd say hands down that Bath would be there better option of the 2. I think Surrey is quite nondescript. York is also good but has quite a liberal reputation so may be difficult doing politics there if he doesnt have the same leanings

Interesting really as far more impressed by Surrey. He liked the course structure.
Both going on ucas form though.

With a degree like politics (with no specified career to follow) you unfortunately still need to get a degree from the best universities to get the best graduate jobs. It's not fair but it's true. I don't know what your son may want to go into career wise but I know a lot of lawyers, lobbyists, accountants, management consultants and investment bankers etc with a degree from Bath (and York). Literally none from Surrey. I do hope things change but as it stands I would take the safer option and go for Bath. Plus it's an amazing city (my birthplace!). Good luck to your son whatever he chooses.