Essex university

[DinkyDaisy]

Well, we are painfully reaching the end of the UCAS form experience.
4000, character personal statement has been so hard for ds to do as a wordy boy!
Now for last option on choices and we have stumbled upon Essex University.
It looks good for politics/ International Relations.
Anyone have experience of the university? There is a mini open day on Saturday we might attend.
Thanks all.

Essex is rated 37th by the complete university guide for politics. So solidly mid division. What eventual career might Dc want? What are his predicted grades? I found Essex soulless when I visited years ago. What sort of person is DS? If he’s lively he might prefer a city university a bit higher up the league tables? Essex is campus. I cannot really agree that it’s a great choice for this subject but it might be worth shortlisting if his grades won’t get him a university higher up.

Ah...Will look again...I think ds had looked at a more positive league table...
Also, quite a lot of course choice he said.

25th for politics in The Times.
Guardian lower but seems at odds on many universities with league tables.
Looking at 5th choice. His grade predictions A star, A, and a pesky B ( which is on the up with latest results...).
Already has a subject related A star in his EPQ.
The B if stays as ucas prediction scuppers some aspirational choices he thinks...
Has meeting to discuss Ucas form today...5th slot not filled yet...

Has range of entry grades from A star, A , B to BBB. Essex is ABB.
His favourite so far is the BBB university on his gut feeling after visit...
Will get him to discuss universities at school today ( well suggest he does anyway!).

My DD is at Essex, she is studying Economics . She is really enjoying it, she loves the campus living. I was impressed during the open day as there is a-lot on offer. We too fell upon Essex, wasn’t a uni we had considered but the Economics course is excellent.

Oh that is so good your dd liking Essex.
Is she on the Colchester Campus?
If we go Saturday that is the one we shall visit.

My eldest dd had 4 unconditional offers as she already had her A levels before she decided to go to Uni. She chose Essex.

Reasons for her decision, open spaces and close to home. She did not want to live away.

she was awarded a first class honours degree in England Language and Linguistics.

Not the same subject as your son wants to study. However I would point out that Essex is a very supportive Uni if life deals a rotten blow. In her second year she was physically ill ended up in hospital on IV antibiotics and missed so much that she decided to retake the second year. So a 3 year course took 4 years. Her last year wasn’t great either. Lots a family trauma with younger sister impacted on her mental health and there were assignments she had to re do in the summer on extenuating circumstances. Means she hasn’t had her graduation ceremony yet.

I think we shall visit. Shame we missed the main open day but mini one looks well organised.
So glad the university supported your daughter fortifiedwithtea.

Yes she is on the Colchester campus.

I thought Essex was particularly known for Politics - my sister, who’s husband did Politics at Liverpool, mentioned that Essex is one of the top unis for the subject, despite being generally more mid ranking. A bit like Hull and Aberystwyth, for international relations. Other than that I know nothing about Essex!

@crazycrofter
Its always been known as a bit left wing but it’s not up there with aspirational choices.

OP: Sheffield might be ok with a B. If you had not heard of Essex how can you suddenly think it’s great? Also what do students do afterwards? This is becoming a real issue even masters holders cannot get anywhere near a political job. He would need to plan his job campaign and RG looks better.

Staff member here...

The Politics and International Relations dept is very well regarded in terms of the staff and their output but the standing in the league tables doesn't reflect that at the moment.

The campus itself is lovely - beautiful green spaces around the main brutalist campus. Plenty of accommodation and it feels very safe. Incredibly diverse student body and a real commitment to widening participation and encouraging non traditional communities into Higher Education. The entry tariff metrics used in the league tables does impact on the position that Essex finds itself because of that commitment.

The university has rapidly expanded over the past few years and the academic staffing, space and infrastructure is struggling to keep up with student numbers - but that's not unique to Essex.

What's the BBB that is the favourite?

I agree Essex is well known for politics. It did turn out Priti Patel mind...

The mid range (grades wise and rankings wise) unis that are outliers for having truly excellent reps for politics are named above - Aberystwyth and Hull.

Thank you for your comments.
He was very impressed with Surrey.

Priti Patel, eh?
Well, when my parents turn their noses up at Essex -for no good reason but lack of knowledge- I will tell them that. They are somewhat conservative and rather like Priti!

Ah well, who knew that would be a USP!

John Bercow is a Politics graduate from Essex !

Ooh, parents not so keen on him!
Anyway, we shall visit Essex Saturday.
The lower offer ds interested in is Surrey. Previous favourite had been Bath but he was blown away by Surrey.

Virginia Bottomly also alumni of Essex...

Bath is a way better choice. Surrey is solid. Why would Essex be better than Bath? Both campus. When people say a department is well regarded - by whom? Other universities? Most politics grads don’t get political jobs. So who else really cares? It’s not as well regarded as a top 15 RG university and, when it comes down to employment, that may well matter if the uk employment situation is rough in 3/4 years time. Assuming he wants a job of course. Even masters holders find it difficult after politics from some of the best universities. So aim as high as he can and, unless he wants to teach, “well regarded” politics departments mean little to standard employers who are not looking for a political education. Their needs are much broader.

Essex would be a better choice than Bath for someone who was very interested in the quantitative side of politics. They are probably the leading institution in the UK for work with administrative data and have a QStep track within their politics degree that enables students to focus on developing quantitative skills. As far as I know, this is quite rare in politics degrees and there is generally greater demand for quantitative skills. So it depends what he is interested in.

Q step centres are on this websiteQ step

My ds has mentioned the quantitative path. I have forwarded that link to him, Thank you. He is doing maths as an A level which I would imagine would be useful if took this path.

Maths grads have great quantitative skills.

But if they don't have the knowledge of politics to understand why and how they should deploy those skills or to properly interpret the results they achieve from using those skills, all they are doing is playing games with numbers.

At a very basic but fundamental level, it is being able to understand why it matters whether you are counting beans or people.