Small course sizes (STEM)

[ColouringPencils]

Is there a way to find out which courses at which universities have small course sizes? I looked up the Integrated Natural Sciences course at Warwick (mentioned on another thread) and there are only 25 people on the course! Amazing. I think this would be so perfect for my bright but very shy DD who really thrives on small groups and consistency. I am wondering what else similar is out there. When I have looked at other Natural Sciences courses they seem to have a choice of modules across different departments and I think she'd find that quite hard. I don't know she wants to do Natural Sciences, by the way, but she is leaning towards STEM with no particular career in mind at the moment. She is Y11 and is trying to decide her A Level choices.

At my Russell Group university I was in a cohort of hundreds on an arts degree and because we only had 8 hours teaching a week it would be really easy for someone like her to just drift along not speaking to anyone. At least STEM generally has a lot more contact hours, so I would hope it is easier to get to know people.

Whilst there may be very few people on a course, modules will be shared with students from many different courses so don't assume small is best - small also means risk of course closure! (Ds is one of only two doing his particular course, but has a module with 100 other students.)

NatSci particularly will share modules with other courses I'm afraid - that's the nature of it.

It sounds like the Warwick course is designed so the 25 students are together for the first year. Maybe I am imagining it to be better than it is.

@ColouringPencils If this course interests your DD, she can email the admissions tutor or attend an Open Day to ask about the module structure. I am a former admissions tutor and we are very happy with these queries, but they are much better coming from DC than from fond parents.

As a campus university in the middle of nowhere, Warwick tends to generate strong reactions pro and con in prospective applicants so an early visit is a good idea anyway. When I visit I always think the UGs look happy and engaged on the whole. I like the vibe of the place

My undergraduate degree in STEM had a cohort of 12, but in my first year we did no modules which were only for our course, so the first year the department did have us in regularly for lunch/ bonding type things whilst we were eg doing biochem in lectures of 300. You would definitely need to double check about that as probably not at all clear on the prospectus.

Dd is doing an integrated chemistry course which *looks small on paper. In practice the lectures are shared by all doing that module. Probs 100 at a time in the lectures including Nat sci students

Thanks all, TBH it did sound a bit too good to be true!

@poetryandwine don't worry I won't be contacting any universities on my daughter's behalf! Good to know students there seem happy. I nearly went there myself, though a long time ago.

My DS I doing an MSC at a uni with small sizes (15) but they are mixed with BSC and other MSC courses

Maybe a better option for her would be a collegiate university so it is easier to get to know people that way.

My DS is quiet/introverted and thought the same, so went to a collegiate Uni. Unfortunately, he still found it hard to meet people because he said the "college" events seemed to be dominated by the "out there" people who already knew each other from team sports or drinking/parties from Fresher's week, so he found it difficult to "break in" to the events/actitivies he was interested in. He isn't the kind of person who'd try to muscle in to groups of people already "together" in the common room, etc, so he ended up not actually doing anything with his college after all. He at least thought he'd be able to go into the common room to watch football matches etc., but all the sofa's tables were occupied by small groups, and once when he went in early to "bag" a table, a group came and asked him to move as he was "on his own", so he ended up standing in a corner! Not wishing to be pessimistic, but just saying that the domination of the "sporty" and "partying" groups of extraverts can take over colleges too, leaving others isolated.

I am sorry this happened to your DS, @Badbadbunny - it sounds really tough and just what I worry about with my DD. Has he finished university now? Did it get any better?

I started a course years ago called Maths, stats and operational research at UMIST now Manchester. There were only six students who went to every lecture together, most of which were from other courses but obviously we stuck together and had all tutorials together. There was one day of the week with 5 lectures in a row and no break as we were gathering from other bigger courses which engendered quite a sense of camaraderie! Anyway, just saying that the bigger lectures aren’t a problem I think - your instinct sounds good that a small course would suit your daughter.

If she's only in Year 11 now, she could change a lot before she starts university. If she's not moving for 6th form - which can be a chance to practice social skills before university -encourage her out of her comfort zone other ways, part-time job, volunteering etc...

If she's going to opt for a STEM degree which includes labs, they do tend to find course friends more easily as they spend a lot of time together very early on. Courses with frequent small group tutorials are good for meeting people too. As others have said, even students on courses with small cohorts will find themselves in huge lectures, as there is overlap between different courses with lectures in common.

If she does eventually choose Warwick, she will be allocated a personal tutor and introduced to her fellow first year tutees in her first week and meet weekly after that. The tutor groups are normally around six students. It will be difficult not to speak to anyone.