Exeter uni reassurance please!

[seymour]

Hi there, my daughter just got into Exeter uni through clearing but while she liked it when she visited ahead of the application process, she didn’t plump for it as her first choice as she felt it was quite “posh” and wasn’t sure if she would fit in. We are from a big city and she went to a comprehensive. Not trying to cause offence to anyone from a privileged background btw, we very much take every person as we find them, as does my daughter but just wondered if anyone could share their kids’ experiences? Thanks so much.

My stance is that the OP was looking for encouragement and what was in her DD’s best interest. We can argue about ideology and social and economic systems, but that is not that the OP requested.

Also, it’s perfectly rational to give an individual functional advice for the world they are facing now, while voting for a different world.

You can avoid a uni that’s 30% private (quite why that’s necessary when it’s 70% state I’m not sure) but if you go into a professions such as medicine, dentistry, law, finance, civil service, politics etc - you will encounter a similar or bigger % of private school students.

Unless you let your terror of private school rule your entire life, you will have to face them at some point.

It’s laughable to regard those who went to public school are “bog standard” people.

Is it? They’re just ordinary bogstandard people - they may have more money or more privilege but so what? That doesn’t make them special.

OP It is worth pointing out to your DC that the private school contingent at Exeter and most likely 'failed' Oxford, Cambridge and Durham aspirants and are likely to be less bright than they are since they got there without the private school leg up. That's not to say some of them might not be perfectly decent DC that your DC might want to hang out with if they start with an open mind. Just no need to feel inferior at all.

This thread has turned really toxic.

Unsurprisingly, there is a close correlation between the top 20 universities in the UK and the universities with the highest percentage of privately educated students.
Given that many (most?) private schools have selective intakes, small class sizes, less pupils with special needs, and I suspect, less stressed teachers, it’s not surprising the pupils achieve well academically and so gain places at the top universities.

My DD is at Exeter, and has friends from across the UK and from different types of schools. Her advice would be to go with an open mind, be willing to join in and to look for the interests you have in common, rather than the differences.
Exeter is known as a sporty university and is easy travel to Bath, Bristol and Cardiff for away matches. Plus they have a fierce rivalry with Loughborough!

Whatever your DD decides, I hope she enjoys her course wherever she chooses to study.

Source:
The tab quoting The Times University Guide - universities with highest percentage of private school pupils (2022)

Top 20 universities from the The Conplete University Guide.
Around 15 universities appear in both lists.

I guess some people avoid unis for various reasons including a preference for a particular demographic make-up, just as some people make similar decisions about schools. Choosing private school, for instance, is choosing an even longer period of segregation from the majority of society when you will have to face them at some point.

I think that some PP are incredibly naive about privately educated children. Most are now educated in day schools not boarding schools so are not socially segregated. DS attended a city centre private school ( the majority are in cities or large towns) when he goes out they don’t have a special area in the pubs or nightclubs for posh kids. The local sports clubs don’t segregate. There is not some weird sort of posh apartheid.
They may prefer a particular uni but it is likely that the uni prefers them. DS’s school sends a lot to Exeter but I suspect it is because the uni know that they will be what they say they are on the packet.
As an academically selective school that discourages home tutoring and actively weeds out those who struggle because it is unfair to try and stretch a child that isn’t able, they have built up a reputation in the same way some of the top selective state/grammar schools have.
My DS might have posh friends but he is just as comfortable with his state educated friends.

You’ve avoided commenting on the main point of my post.

What is this segregation you speak of? Do you really think private and state school kids don’t socialise? What a weird idea you seem to have of the world.

They may prefer a particular uni but it is likely that the uni prefers them. DS’s school sends a lot to Exeter but I suspect it is because the uni know that they will be what they say they are on the packet.

Exeter's offer rate is pretty high, they are not particularly choosy for most courses. I doubt their high percentage of privately educated students is because they sift through applications, approving particular schools and rejecting others. I hope not anyway - it's not at all what they say they are trying to achieve with their WP policies.

Do you really think private and state school kids don’t socialise?

No, I don't think that.

I do think it's a bit odd to criticise people who avoid a university with a particular demographic, telling them that everyone should be happy to mix with everyone else and they'll have to face them at some point, when the whole point of private education is that the majority are excluded from it.

The point of private education surely is to find a good education appropriate for a particular child, nothing to do with avoiding mixing. The families of the students will be a varied bunch in terms of race, culture and socio-economic background anyway. State schools exclude based on catchment location, (although some take students from outside the borough/county.)

I would advise state and private students equally not to choose a uni purely based on a minority demographic.

It’s not about being “happy to mix”, it’s about being able to tolerate it, if it’s in one’s best interest.

Going to the best uni you can, accepting the most prestigious job offer, etc. may be in a person’s best interest. (Depending upon their goals and objectives.) Typically, these spaces will have a large minority of the privately educated.

They may prefer a particular uni but it is likely that the uni prefers them. DS’s school sends a lot to Exeter but I suspect it is because the uni know that they will be what they say they are on the packet.

It's probably that a lot perhaps slavishly apply there. Exeter is really not that difficult to get into for most courses.

Thank you @EmpressoftheMundane Spot on. Interesting debate and I have my views on private schools as a system but as I’ve said previously, treat as you find. I work for a company that has a high number of employees who were privately educated and some of my closest colleagues are from this background.

Thanks so much @Em2ds1dd She definitely has an open mind and she’s very sporty so looking good! She’s not very happy with the accommodation she has been allocated but I’m sure it will be fine once she gets there or she can try to move if needs be.

@pintery I hope not too!

They deserve no special reverence, but it’s completely naive to claim they are the same (my reading of “bog standard) as anyone else, not least in terms of the privilege they enjoy.

The point of private education is allow the wealthier members of society to purchase unearned privilege for their children

No one mentioned “terror” lolz.

I’ve studied and worked with scores of privately educated people in professions skewed towards them. On the whole I found their over-representation in these areas completely unjustified in terms of intellect and talent. What they did have however, were contacts, parental cash to fund living during low-paid internships, and that empty “confidence” private schools imbue. This lead me to conclude private schools are just a gaming of the system, a pernicious barrier to meritocracy.

Yes, the privately schooled need to be “faced” at some point (ideally faced down), but if I was state schooled I wouldn’t waste my university years somewhere where they were in significant numbers if my goal was to maximise my chances of meeting like minded people.

The posh can’t see their own oddness.

NorthRunReady I would agree with you. It’s not a case of the uni sifting through but that it is a preferred uni for students at school where their results are consistent and predicted grades accurate so securing an offer is often easy.
My DN attended a 6th form that had just opened and was due to take her Alevels in 2020. Because the college had no previous sets of results the students were downgraded and left to go through clearing on their own. Fortunately they were able to use GCSE grades to support their applications. DN managed to secure a place at Cardiff on a course she wouldn’t have been considered for if it hadn’t been for Covid, she graduates next year and will walk straight into a job. It would have been a much smoother ride if the Unis had a good historical performance from the 6th form. She sorted it all out herself and despite the pandemic has had a good Uni experience.
Going to Uni is often a natural progression for privately educated students. DS and his cousins are third generation Uni educated, not because we are posh or from money but because we are bright and able. As a result of our education we are able to choose how to educate our children.

GodessOfThunder why so much vitriol. There are some gross generalisations in your last post.

@NorthRunReady I feel very naive having read these posts about unis choosing schools with a good track record on results. Pretty dispiriting if your children go to a non-selective comp like mine. It’s also a waste of talent. If you have a state school kid who gets 3 As without any tutoring, surely a uni would prefer to take them over a privately educated one who gets the same grades with all the advantages of their education?

‘surely a uni would prefer to take them over a privately educated one who gets the same grades with all the advantages of their education’

Increasingly they do. I wouldn’t worry too much. Things are definitely changing in many ‘top’ places.

OP these days universities are paying a lot more attention to that disparity and looking at grades with that in mind. It is encouraging rather than dispiriting.