Campus universities

[PinaColadaBaby]

I know most universities have a campus of sorts but DD is looking for a traditional campus university - where all the teaching, 1st year accommodation and sport are in one place. So, by this criterion, Leicester and Leeds for example are not campus, whereas Nottingham is.

Traditional campus universities that occur to me: Nottingham, Birmingham, Exeter, Warwick, Essex, York. Do you know of any others please?

Birmingham isn't all on site, 15 minutes walk. I went there

Sussex
Kent at Canterbury

Just a tip, do think about life beyond first year halls. Some places are significantly more expensive than others, but it's not just the money, it's availability - Bath for instance is a bit of a nightmare, every year on the news there's stories of youngsters unable to get housing. Bigger cities obviously have more options, whereas towns like Loughborough can feel like you are trapped pretty quickly- they spend a lot of time and money going to Nottingham and Leicester for nights out in my personal experience.

Yes this is what I am thinking too!

If yr 2 and 3 you end up a long way from anything and everything is on campus you can feel quite differently about it!

Good point gogohmm. At the Lancaster open day they said they help students sort out their accomodation after the first year. I was reassured by this as in my day at Manchester Poly you were left to sort it out on your own.

Most universities have lists of 2nd year accommodation. Landlords can list properties with them. However I doubt they will find you mates and do the looking for you.

DS has accepted Lancaster for PPE (AAB - ABB if first choice) and then Aberdeen BBB as insurance. He wanted a college based university and is happy with his choice.

He really enjoyed the open day and follow-up offer holder day. Accommodation after the first year isn't too badly priced either. It's not too far from home for us, which is good for me, not sure DS would agree...

I didn’t say the girls didn’t do well! I said fewe studied it.

@TizerorFizz
You said that the choices of boys and girls are informed by what they like and what they are good at.

Which does imply that girls do not choose STEM subjects because they are not good at them, no?

@SoTedious
Girls clearly don’t feel they are good enough to do Stem degrees in equivalent numbers to boys. What other reason can there be? Most people choose subjects they are good at. Girls must feel they are better at English and MFL.

MN always says do what you like and what you are good at. Clearly the girls listen. My DD got all top grade GCSEs in maths and science. DH is an engineer. She didn’t like stem as much as other subjects. I think that’s not unusual - snd she went to a girls’ school. The Chinese girls excelled at stem. DD felt she wasn’t like them. So, in her mind, not as good. She really wasn’t alone and it didn’t appeal for A levels or university.

She's applied for chemistry, how about your DD? 😊

Another Lancaster graduate here. I loved it up there and when I visited (having already seen UEA and Southampton) the campus just felt 'right'

DS applied to universities without discussing it with me and has had an offer from there. I am very much looking forward to taking him up to a familiarisation day although I daresay a lot will have changed in the 30 years since I left!

Because of DMU timetabling basically having it in for us - we had a fair few lecture changeovers at opposite ends of the campus (Bede House over to Edith Murphy levels of fun) and I can confirm that a middle aged, creaky kneed, fat and unfit student can do one side to the other in 10 minutes! I'd put it as much more of a campus situation than somewhere like Newcastle - once you're in the middle of the uni buildings you're not generally dodging much in the way of traffic or roads (but the Uber Eats/Deliveroo bikes are a fucking pest - to the point they broke one of our lecturer's arms the other year flying around campus high speed) and it's pretty much solid uni buildings.

Nottingham's campus feeling gets broken up a bit by the fact there's usually multiple external events at the sports centre on weekends if that's something to consider - plus swimming lessons all weekend mean you lose a bit of that university bubble feeling. Bonkers squirrels all over the place though.

@TizerorFizz
Hmm you said they choose based on what they are good at (because brains are different), not what they feel they are good at. I was pointing out that girls are just as good as boys at STEM subjects.

There are lots of complicated reasons:

• gendered notions of intelligence which girls pick up very early
• the pressure to conform to these negative stereotypes
• lack of role models and representation (hardly any women scientists mentioned in the GCSE syllabus, for example)
• social expectations
• parental / family expectations
• unconscious bias and gender stereotyping in schools
• girls feeling that they don't belong in STEM, not wanting to be different (girls in single-sex schools are more likely to do science A levels)
• girls wanting to study the same subjects as their friends and to have people that they know in their classes
• girls not wanting to be a minority in their career

Lots of external factors, but the problem is not a lack of ability in STEM subjects. Some countries do much better than us, Poland for example - half of their scientists and engineers are women. It's not inevitable or anything to do with brains being different.

Mine hopes to read ‘Business’. Has she been to an offer holder day yet? DDs is Wed 29th March so pretty soon!

Yes she went over half term and really enjoyed the day, it made her even more sure it was the right university for her. I hope you DD enjoys her offer holder day too 😊

@SoTedious
I think a lot of what you list is a bit over stated. For example: DD did MFL. What role models were there for MFL? Virtually no one took MFLs at school. She went to a girls school. Some excelled at stem. Loved it. But not everyone is the same. Her Dad is a Chartered Engineer with his own company. She was exposed to a family link to engineering but not to MFL. She’s now a barrister and, guess what, no one in the family is a lawyer. DH would have loved her to be an engineer.

Quite frankly, girls can think for themselves. They can make their own minds up and they do have the information to do just that. It’s what we brought ours up to do. If they are not confident about stem, fair enough. If girls are confident doing something else, fair enough. You cannot push girls where they don’t want to go by saying they would make better choices if only they knew X y z. Or had different gcse books. That’s truly odd. Others actively choose stem and I truly believe they make an informed choice too. It’s also about time we stopped saying women are ill-informed and stupidly making poor choices. They are not. They make choices that suit them, not choices based on someone else’s agenda.

Agree, it’s not necessarily ill-informed or stupid choices but it’s rather naive of you @TizerorFizz to think that there’s no gender bias at play for a lot of girls. As a family maybe you took that on board and introduced a whole raft of opportunities to her. Indeed an all girls school will have helped and your motivations for that choice will have helped too. It does suggest you are/were aware of the gendered stereotyping in school perhaps at a subconscious level. But not all girls have these chances. There’s an awful lot at play as @SoTedious points out. I don’t think anything she’s said is over stated. It’s certainly nothing to do with them ‘having different brains’.

I don’t think anything she’s said is over stated. It’s certainly nothing to do with them ‘having different brains’.
I agree. The stark statistical difference between girls schools and many mixed sex schools outweighs individual anecdotes.
I wonder if there are any differences (though probably not as marked) in the take up of MFLs and other non STEM subjects by boys in single sec v mixed schools?

In this day and age, girls really do know about stem. @ErrolTheDragon You dd did stem. What were the numbers in your DDs school? Why did your Dd choose it? You are a scientist so maybe it’s not surprising DD takes after you? That’s one explanation as to why she was good at it and loved it maybe? It’s the same thought process everyone else goes through. You cannot make girls love stem if they don’t. To continually suggest that girls don’t have info about stem careers is wrong. So many want to be doctors. With the best will in the world, badgering girls to do something doesn’t work. Try badgering the boys to do MFL and English!

By the way, you use anecdotes of your DD and her Cambridge Engineering degree all the time when it suits you! And your background. You cannot really believe girls don’t do Stem because of gcse text books and lack of info. They simply aren’t as keen on the subjects! Just like boys aren’t keen on MFL. What’s your explanation for that?

To come back to earlier conversation and side stepping STEM debate, my DS is at Birmingham. Most of the accommodation is indeed a 15 minute walk form teaching. Thsi is also these days true at York, depending on accommodation and subject. The accommodation is definitely part of the campus though and not separate.

DS is not at all streetwise and has never felt unsafe in Birmingham. Touch wood.

And just to pick up on the fresh air and exercise point (all people are different obviously!) DS likes campus living as he can go out for a traffic free, flat and safe run round the lake on the campus and sees walking to lectures as daily exercise.

I used to love walking round the lake at York.

DS1 - non campus uni- missed having land to even just kick a football around on and green space. He was the one that piled on the weight...

ps Lancaster has an excellent reputation for MFL.

I think a lot of what you list is a bit over stated.

Ok, there is a lot of research in this area but of course you are entitled to disagree with its findings based on your sample of 1.

My ds is probably going to firm Birmingham. Is your ds at The Vale? How has he found the accommodation? Is he on the meal plan?

He is on the Meal Plan! He can't cook at all so it seemed a good idea. the admin around it is a bit of a shambles, to be honest.

Birmingham is on a semester system. They pay for accommodation and meal plan for a lot lot longer than they are there. It rolls over from term to term but at the end of the year what isn't spent is lost. he is due to finish mid May. So, it is a rip off. I know the uni keep claiming they are looking into imploring it. He finds the food fine and - importantly- met friends in the first few weeks over the dinner table. These are his main friends - he didn't really gel with flatmates or coursemates, other than one who also does meal plan.

He likes The Vale, although I think he would like it more if the bar area etc was actually lively. He goes down into Selly Oak to watch football on telly.

He's in Aitken which is basic but fine . He has played for the Aitken footy team. It's not as convivial as York, Lancaster or Durham with their colleges.