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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Which uni do you wish you’d gone to and why?

60 replies

Oldhandhere · 22/05/2023 12:44

Just that really. I enjoyed Leeds but if I had my time again I’d go to Swansea - friends there had such a great time on the beach!

OP posts:
Mummypete · 22/05/2023 16:54

Anywhere but London. Stupidly expensive to go out and anyone I met on my course just commuted in so no one had much interest in going out after lectures. It wasn’t central London either so not much excitement about.
I think I’d have had a totally different experience if I’d gone to a campus uni and was very envious of my friends who did and all the friends they seemed to make in halls.

thesugarbumfairy · 22/05/2023 17:01

I wish I'd gone to Leeds. Purely based on a visit to a friend there one weekend and having an amazing time 😂
I didn't really 'choose' a Uni because I made a last minute decision not to go my original degree route, and I therefore just stayed in the town I was already living in (was living independently and attending the art college there) and picked a course there. It didn't occur to me to pick somewhere else - I just took the path of least resistance, which I have a tendency to do.
I did stray further afield the second time (for my masters) and went to Aston, but I didn't think there was anything particularly appealing about that too. Probably because I messed up that year pining over some bloke. I am in fact pathetic 😂

illiterato · 22/05/2023 17:14

Would choose Cambridge again- the small city and collegiate system really suited me and encouraged me to get involved in a lot of new experiences/ sports. My back up was Kings and I think I’d have struggled as a student in London even though I moved there straight after Uni and loved it then.

hopelessbuthopeful · 22/05/2023 17:30

Boxbedbank · 22/05/2023 14:15

I stayed in my home town because my parents thought it best for me. It wasn't I got accepted at three different unis and wish I'd gone to any of these. My friend from uni was saying last week she listened to her parents and wished she'd gone to Leeds where she'd had an offer. I will never let my dc know where I think they should study, I may give them things to think about/research if necessary but won't put my dc in the situation I was in. I do worry I won't be seen as supportive enough sometimes.
Dc2 has asd and very high achieving and could probably get in to most unis but wants to stay at home and go local /online. I don't think this will be best for their independence but have just suggested they keep their options open for now.

@Boxbedbank I had the same problem with my DS1. He has nearly finished his first year at University of Birmingham but he really wanted to go to Warwick to do maths but decided to stay at home hence why he chose Birmingham. It wasn't until November just after starting university that he was diagnosed as being Autistic. It all made sense after that and it was probably the best for him although he is still having regrets now.

Katiecan · 22/05/2023 21:01

I wish I’d gone to Swansea tbh. Such a lovely uni

Longtimenewsee · 22/05/2023 23:07

I went to Leeds but I wish I’d gone to Sussex or UEA

benfoldsfivefan · 22/05/2023 23:24

MMU (could never have got the grades to have gone to UoM). Manchester has such a generally friendly vibe, transport links are good, it was (still is?) fairly cheap to live, and I like the idea of mixing with students from another university as well as my own i.e. potentially more friends and shags.

SoCalLiving · 22/05/2023 23:42

I had a full ride scholarship to a great (but not Ivy League) college in New England in the US and declined it to go to a top university in London. At the time I thought I had to go to the 'better' university for my career. Reader, I did not. It was a very stupid decision and I do regret not having gone to the American university instead. I ended up in the US for a PhD later on anyway, but I wish I'd gone for my undergraduate degree for the experience.

Plateglass · 22/05/2023 23:47

oh this is fun. If I had my time again, I’d pick Aberystwyth. Stunning location. The student community feeling there is out of this world as no one goes home at weekends - always scores highly for student satisfaction. TEF Gold teaching. Lower entry standards purely because so many DC (parents?) short-sightedly insist on a uni within a 2-3 hour radius of home….

HarrietSchulenberg · 22/05/2023 23:54

I also went to Leeds, and loved it. It felt right from the minute I stepped off the National Express bus at Wellington Street bus station when I went for my interview. It was home from day 1.
But, I was in the Oxbridge stream at school, was sent to the open days and was heavily encouraged to apply. I hated Cambridge so would never have gone there but liked Oxford as a city. What put me off applying? I felt that I couldn't possibly belong there, that "someone like me" (first and pretty much only member of my entire family to go to university) could never fit in, could never be a part of such academic history and tradition. So I didn't do it.
I don't regret my time in Leeds for one second but I've often wished I'd applied to Oxford just to see if I could have got in.

Original poster
Oldhandhere · 23/05/2023 01:12

Thanks for all your responses - so interesting. My parents heavily influenced my uni choice (I still resent 30 yrs later) and I am determined that my Y12 DC must choose and own their decision. I am still a RG snob but my child (predicted A star, A, A) wants to firm Aberystwyth and I am coming round to that even though Mumsnet says you should aim high

OP posts:
off · 23/05/2023 01:44

When I was doing applications, a very close relative of mine who had studied and worked at several UK universities (including a few I was considering) said to me, "Go to Cambridge, it'll suit you much better than the others." That's where I ended up, and I think my relative was right — the teaching and assessment style, the college community, the small walkable city, the focussed atmosphere, the pastoral and mental health support, it all just seemed to fit pretty well. I don't wish I'd gone anywhere else — but it's entirely possible I'd feel the same about another university if I'd gone there instead, and would feel glad I got to experience that university.

MsJuniper · 23/05/2023 06:58

I had an offer from Edinburgh but I didn't take it up because my best friend had been rejected by them and I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

I was going to apply to Oxford but either self confidence or general procrastination meant I didn't.

Looking back, I should have applied for Cambridge instead anyway.

But

I had a great time and met my lovely DH at Leeds so I can't say I regret it and for lots of reasons it was a good choice for me.

Cola2534 · 23/05/2023 07:15

Oldhandhere · 23/05/2023 01:12

Thanks for all your responses - so interesting. My parents heavily influenced my uni choice (I still resent 30 yrs later) and I am determined that my Y12 DC must choose and own their decision. I am still a RG snob but my child (predicted A star, A, A) wants to firm Aberystwyth and I am coming round to that even though Mumsnet says you should aim high

Take note of how many times a tiny university like Aberystwyth has come up on this thread, OP.

Dontfuckingsaycheese · 23/05/2023 07:27

I’m very happy with my choice of the Open University ❤️ I was 40 though. At 18… it would have been anywhere ‘away’. But seeing as my grand leaving home and going away at 18 lasted a grand total of 9 weeks (very homesick of all things!) I suspect if I had gone away to uni at that time it would not have gone well!

Phos · 23/05/2023 08:43

benfoldsfivefan · 22/05/2023 23:24

MMU (could never have got the grades to have gone to UoM). Manchester has such a generally friendly vibe, transport links are good, it was (still is?) fairly cheap to live, and I like the idea of mixing with students from another university as well as my own i.e. potentially more friends and shags.

Honestly I went to UoM and the two don’t mix that much.

SeaPink · 23/05/2023 08:54

Op, if you've made a previous thread about Aberystwyth, then I was on that thread and looked it up and thought it looked nice. Never been there. Same for Keele. Never been there but thought it looked nice. So not very solid reasons, just daydreaming!

mummyinbeds · 23/05/2023 11:21

I loved my time at Keele. It really is/was a special place. DD has firmed Aberystwyth with Keele as her insurance. Having visited both recently, Aber felt like Keele did 30 years ago but with the sea and mountains thrown in for good measure. I can understand why they have popped up on this thread so much.
DS is at Nottingham which is where the 18 year old me wanted to go. I'd have loved it there too.

mdh2020 · 23/05/2023 11:30

I had a place at Sheffield but got married instead and finally studied at university when my two children were both at school. That was completely a different experience as I took no part in any social or extra curricula events and activities. So basically, I wish I had gone to uni straight from school and, given a choice, it would have been Oxbridge. I was so jealous of DS!

HuntingoftheSnark · 23/05/2023 11:34

Oldhandhere · 23/05/2023 01:12

Thanks for all your responses - so interesting. My parents heavily influenced my uni choice (I still resent 30 yrs later) and I am determined that my Y12 DC must choose and own their decision. I am still a RG snob but my child (predicted A star, A, A) wants to firm Aberystwyth and I am coming round to that even though Mumsnet says you should aim high

Admittedly it was a few years ago, but Aberystwyth was my first choice and I had decent grades. I left there and (via the milk round) joined one of the big four in London (big eight then I think) along with several others on my course. My DD was insistent that she had to go to a RG university, which was obviously fine, but I'm not convinced it would have opened any more doors for me.

AnnaMagnani · 23/05/2023 11:35

Cambridge because I could have met my DH 15 years earlier than I did.

BumpyaDaisyevna · 23/05/2023 11:37

I went to cambridge which was amazing in am the ways you'd expect.

But the other day I was out in the student part of Leeds and it felt so cool. I hand wished I had had a more cool city student experience.

BreakfastGold · 23/05/2023 11:41

I moved to London from the north for uni. It was a big experience and I have no regrets, but I felt very poor next to most of my much better off fellow students and I think perhaps post-uni when I was earning would have been a better time to live there.

I'd go for Liverpool, I just think student life looks fabulous there.

DogandMog · 23/05/2023 12:05

Royal Holloway for Zoology. I had a chance to do a foundation year in a local sixth form college (windsor or maidenhead or somewhere), but the trains were indirect and I didn't drive, so I didn't take the opportunity.

Cambridge for Anglo-saxon, Norse & Celtic. Met a girl there showing us round on open day. She'd flunked her A Levels first time round, then got in after teaching herself Greek and Latin from scratch to grades AA at A Level in one year. Would have loved to have done a fascinating combo of ancient languages and history.

In the end I did a social science degree in a 1960's concrete uni (but beautiful campus), but I wish I'd gone somewhere more "Hogwartsy".

xelous · 23/05/2023 12:05

University of Nottingham! Such a stunning campus and the course was amazing. I still sometimes think about how I wish I went there