Any thoughts on Reading?

[ReddyBrekk]

Didn't get chance to visit for Open Day but DC has been offered BBC if they firm with them.

Other offers are AAB or ABB.

@ReddyBrekk ACC is not good enough for History at RG. Or St Andrews and a few others. Reading is flexible and others don’t need to be. So don’t he misled by other courses. Also employers test. They went a raft of info. It’s not all about university but it’s still best to go to the best!

Best is a slippery word.

ACC is not good enough for History at RG. Or St Andrews and a few others
Not sure why you're name checking me on that. I didn't mention ACC.

My son has an offer from Reading and is going to a offers visit day next month. He has also done a offers visit day at Portsmouth and is now trying to decide between the two.

I went to LSE in the 1980s and carried on my connection with the place through membership of the choir until after DS1 was born a dozen years after I graduated. I enjoyed my time there and later on, occasionally walking through Houghton St / Lincoln's Inn Fields to vary my route from tube station to workplace when the DC were still too young to consider university seriously, I would sometimes think it would be nice if at least one of them went there.

Only DD eventually decided on a relevant subject to study (initially Law, then changed her mind and settled on IR). In the meantime, I had been following LSE threads on TSR - initially from nostalgia but increasingly out of a sort of morbid fascination; it was obvious that her experoence, were she to apply, let alone actually go there, was likely to be very different from mine, but I went along with her to an open day.

If she had said, Wow, it's great, I really want to come here, I would have pointed her towards the TSR threads, but then sat back snd left her to make her own decision. But I can safely say that when we came away, I was not at all unhappy when she said that although she had enjoyed the taster lecture, she really didn't want to apply there; we both agreed that the 'admissions' talk in particular had been totally off-putting. Very sad.

A contemporary of my DD is in first year at Reading and loving it. Needed AAB (Business and Marketing), got A*AA. Plenty of bright students at Reading.

Offers usually reflect demand and History & French is not as popular as some subjects so national demand for places isn't as high. Doesn't mean it isn't a good course. I'd encourage your DD to choose the Uni she most wants to go to 'firm' then have Reading as an insurance - unless of course it is her first choice. It is also natural at this stage to be nervous about achieving predicted A Level results. She sounds well motivated and bright.

Entry tariff reflects the market price for the uni and the course. Reading is not RG but it's not bums on seats either. Which courses does she actually like best?

I bet Reading is bums on seats for French. Many universities are. History is very competitive as some universities. French at a few. These will be the best for these subjects. Reading might well be flexible. Portsmouth probably very flexible - but both will depend on course. With grade inflation all As are pretty common. An A* in French less so if you are not a native speaker.

DS2 is at Reading studying Ancient History. He suffers from anxiety and they have been amazing. They have set up so much to support him. The course seems excellent and he has a good variety of options to choose from. Lecturers are engaged and engaging.

It was his insurance offer. We were really impressed on the offer holders day. I'm pleased he ended up there as I think it suits him much better than his firm would have done.

My DD went to Reading after she din't get into her first choice (Birmingham). She ended up loving it there and did a semester abroad - one of the reasons she chose Reading was that they offered the option to study abroad. She got a first for her undergrad degree and then did a masters at LSE. She is now working as a research analyst for a well know real estate company (her masters was in Real Estate Economics and Finance). I know Reading hasn't got the best reputation but she has done well.

DD1 studied History at Reading. She loved it and still lives there now. She's also studying for her masters part time at the moment - due to finish this year. The campus is lovely. DS2 also lives in the town after going to Sussex. It's convenient for London and the public transport is excellent in the town.

Actually going by the league tables (and regular posters in the education section of MN will know that I am far from a fan!), Reading is pretty comparable to the other universities OP's DD is looking at.

For French, Newcastle is very highly thought of and is top 10. The other 4 range from 16 to 26, with Reading ranked above Liverpool. For History, there's a wider spread but again Reading isn't bottom of the 5 mentioned – it's ranked a considerable way above Newcastle.

A very small number of employers prioritise RG universities for their perceived 'snob' value, but large numbers of them won't give a shit if your degree is from Reading v Southampton v Liverpool. Particularly if you get a First and/or go onto take higher degrees.

Employers tend to have a lot of applications if the salaries are very high so they might target eg Oxbridge for nice dinners that might entice students with high A level grades etc to that employer and might not bother with Sunderland University or London Met. It is simply because there are so many applications that they have to have some kind of filter. For bigger law firms it tends to be AAB grades+, 2/1 and you have to pass all the psych and other tests.

However I don't agree with a comment above that it is discrimination if you have filters eg based on likely A level grades based on where someone goes. If the A star people at Oxbridge, LSE, Durham Bristol etc it is not unwise to recruit from there rather than spend a lot of time trying to find a one person who has similar academics from a university hardly anyone goes to if they have decent grades.

I agree, DS had a friend who went to a London Uni last year, better grades etc, yet for the subject (they are both studying the same) Reading scored higher in league tables than the London Uni

Be careful which league tables you look at and ensure subject specific as @thing47 has done.
@ReddyBrekk is she going to do a post grad law conversion? As @Xenia has mentioned law firms will probs be snobby about the uni.

Reading is rated 37 for History and 22 for French. Nottingham, Liverpool and Southampton are higher in the CUG for History. Bizarrely Newcastle is 48th! It’s higher for French though - 7th. Therefore it’s a mixed bag.

Employers do filter by university when loads apply. It really depends on sector and job though. They won’t care much about a MA in history or French. Unless it’s academia! What would stand out is time abroad and work/volunteering experience.

This is the latest survey of universities attended by law trainees. Oxbridge 15%. Reading is in the list but Nottingham would be a way better bet for this career.

Just to point out that @ReddyBrekk hasn't even mentioned law in any of her posts, it was only Xenia who brought that up – as she always does 😁

There are a whole raft of professions out there that do not filter by university, it depends completely on the sector, and the job. A lot of my family work in the creative industries – writing, comms, marketing, music, etc and those are almost always more interested in degree classification than university attended. But if OP's DD is interested in law, or even if they have no idea what they want to do after university, then I would agree with @TizerorFizz's advice

I can confirm that DD has no interest in law and I doubt she'll gain one in the next few years 🙂

Thanks for all the positive stories about Reading.

If you read my post correctly @Xenia you would see I said no employer would *explicitly filter/target specific universities in graduate job specifications.

What their internal policies are is a different matter, as most of us are aware of.

Explicitly targeting specific minimum A'Level grades and Degree classifications is, of course, acceptable.

Mine didn't end up going there but we did note that they were generous with contextual offers, an automatic 2 grade reduction in offer if you met the criteria which were broader than many others we looked at. Perhaps she might have had an offer based on one of these (postcode, disability etc?). We were very impressed with it at Open Day.

Not a contextual offer.