Exeter or Southampton

[ExetervSouthampton]

Trying to choose between Exeter and Southampton. Overall uni rankings are v similar (13th and 16th in Sunday Times Guide); student experience and teaching quality similarly ranked; subject rankings within two places of each other. We haven't visited either (for reasons I won't bore you with). Which would you recommend please? Will be insurance

Uni is a massive place so I’m not sure I’d agree with this. DD eg goes to a state grammar and has always wanted to be with people “like me”.

We went to see a uni I won’t name last year and the lecturer talked about how the course had no international students and 95% of students came from the Home Counties and surrounds. It completely put DD off “What’s the point of going to uni if you’re just surrounded by people like that? Surely Uni is about mixing with people you’d not usually meet.”

She knows she can find people like her wherever she goes. She wants a wider experience though where she has the option to socialise with different people, to widen her horizons and learn in so many more ways.

My DD didn’t make comments about poor students with parents on benefits!

You must be so proud…

@RandomExpletive Its a bit class war though isn’t it. Can only associate with his own tribe! There’s so many halls where Dc will be able to do this, or even grow up and mix. What would posters say if anyone dared to say they avoided X university due to poor people? By the way, Bristol has a generous open policy for welcoming students from less high achieving schools. What a shame Dc cannot see beyond their own self imposed limits and perceived class. In a job, you might have to work with anyone!

Sorry not sure what you mean @TizerorFizz . DS and DD for that matter wanted to attend unis where there were a broad spectrum of people, not one overpopulated by one group be that rahs or whoever.

@RandomExpletive that was exactly my point. Some do, some don't. Good for your daughter wanting to widen her experiences but not everyone does. Either is completely understandable

I've lived in both cities, and depending on where you live you might want to look at transport links. Exeter is much more remote but with beautiful coast and countryside nearby. It is more expensive but I found it much friendlier, on the other hand Southampton is still cheaper to live in and easier to get to places but very congested. If the first choice is Lancaster then arguably Exeter is more similar, though I never understood how EVERYTHING in the city was at the top of a hill....

I have reported your post @TizerorFizz as a personal attack.

lol @ the rant - no idea where you get the idea DC don’t want to be with international students - quite the opposite

Exeter is 35% private school students and less than 20% international. So not a great mix.

Thank you.

When I went to a university that still is supposedly characterised by toffs, my close friendship group included someone who had a parent who had been to prison and another from an overseas royal family with a background of extraordinary wealth. I was somewhere in the middle although I never really thought about it. We are all still close today. The friend whose parent had been to prison has been hugely successful in life and their own children have now grown up in phenomenal wealth. Still lovely kids though. Background was never the basis of our friendship although I'm sure values played a significant part.

Exeter

If Exeter is roughly 20% international, then that’s 5000 students from 130 different countries milling about. Plenty of scope to move beyond bubbles if people want to. My niece is at UCL where they have more international students. She tends to hang out with people from a similar background to herself; that’s how she feels comfortable. Proportions of different demographics don’t necessarily make much difference to the lived experience.

Exeter has a branch of INTO which lays on foundation years for students to learn the language before joining an undergraduate course. The intake is mainly Chinese, so they will be the core of the overseas students. However, there are students are from all over the world on other courses. To put it into context on wealth and privilege - quite a few of the Chinese and Hong Kong students are phenomenally wealthy, probably much more than any from public schools here, but you would probably never come to appreciate it unless you got to know them, and they do tend to stick together. Overall, I found most students there absolutely lovely. They would always be selling cakes or something in The Queens building to raise money for charities. Exeter itself is a strong Labour constituency, and has been since 1997. The city is down to earth and welcoming. Lovely cathedral. Fantastic coastline and real estuary gems like Topsham. I used to teach at Exeter (not foreign languages, though).