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.

It’s not that they choose them over state schools. Most state have the same data that can be accessed. My example was from a period of time when it would have helped A level students to have had that back up data.
It is true that well established schools state and private that have a good track record assisting pupils with the application process will do well. A school where only one or two students go on to higher education may not have the experience. The UCAS form is changing this year. The reference section is now three parts. The first part is for the school to describe their position, the second is to describe mitigating circumstances and the third will be a reference that encourages the student to engage and contribute. This is aimed to give more of background of the students educational experience, events that may have affected their experience and a reference that the student can see and contribute to. Many teachers who provide a reference only have the students school life to reference, the new reference will include extracurricular experience.
The personal statement will stay for another year or so to be eventually be replaced by a standardised questionnaire. Universities don’t like personal statements and rarely use them.

You don't need to worry about this - Exeter has a high offer rate. They will not be poring over applications and figuring out which predicted grades are most trustworthy, neither will they be rejecting DC because they don't go to the right school. For most courses, if your predicted grades match or exceed the published requirements, you will get an offer.

Exeter would actively seek out the state school educated student with 3 As. That is exactly the sort of student they want to recruit, and the Admissions team do look closely at applications. There are a lot of privately educated students but dar more state school. Also there ‘s a big difference between the smaller independent schhols such as RGS Worcester, for instance, as opposed to Lancing, Cheltenham Ladies etc. the really wealthy lot are a minority in Exeter as elsewhere.

Exeter could go a long way towards fixing their private school sominana e if they located accommodation more randomly, like Durham is trying to do.

I'm curious at to what you're referring to here.

Are private school pupils being allocated to certain halls favourably over non-private ?

@seymour - DD is heading to Exeter in September too. It was her first choice.
She didn’t go to private school either. In fact she was at a selective state school where (from an ethnic background perspective) she was in a minority. She did well there, and she’s delighted to be heading off to Exeter. Every school, Uni or workplace you’re at will be a different mix based on so many factors, and it’s great to be able to do your best in any environment.
She’s pretty sporty too, so maybe she’ll bump into your DD at some point!
I’m sure they’ll have a blast!

Sorry - typos. Exeter, like many unis, have a range of accommodation at different prices. The richest will be selecting the catering ensuite most expensive at Exeter in a hope to be alongside others like them.

Their admissions are also skewed towards private schools as they operate a tier system whereby those predicted the highest grades get offers first, before they consider lower tiers. So private schools have a tendency to predict higher grades. In reality, it's a university that admits on comparatively lower grades, but you've got to have made an application and got an offer to be in the running.

Ultimately, it's not about private vs state, it's about Exeter having a higher percentage of Uber wealthy students who spend money on or enjoy pursuits beyond the reach of the average student. The fact that there's more of them, allows them not to have to change to fit in.

DC went to an independent rural town day school with plenty of regular inclusive students. But there were a certain percentage who revelled in their superior status, were exclusive, and trended towards Edinburgh, Durham and Exeter. The type who wear a smart 'city dad' shirt with their school PE shorts to a music festival.

Still, I don't think anyone has a right to dominate a university and I'd encourage all students to apply where they want and find the people who they like there.

Wherever you go in life there will always be a bunch of rich people showing off somewhere. It’s can be as big or small a deal as you want to make of it.

@Promface - there's a good YouTube tour of Exeter video where the "guide" gently takes the p*ss out of those who live in Holland Hall studios with catering - "you too can live there if daddy will shell out nine and a bit grand"

What an ugly comment

What’s the evidence that Exeter allocates places according to highest grades first?

@blackpear - see the 'how we tier applications' section in www.exeter.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/applying/afteryouapply/

Yes, fair enough.

My DS has been at Exeter for 2 years and I can tell you that he has NO IDEA who went to which school/ who is super-wealthy etc. There are a few clubs and sports which attract the more 'rah' types (we used to call them Hooray Henrys in my day...) but this is the same in Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham etc.
The majority of students are friendly, grounded, easy-going and more interested in hobbies, music, socialising than social background!

To be honest I'd be congratulating your daughter on her achievement - a place at a great university - and reminding her that there's a lot of mindless tattle and myths around and she shouldn't believe everything she reads on The Tab!

When my DD was at boarding school, Exeter was the most popular UK university destination. However at her school (which was considered one of the most elite in the UK), flaunting wealth and privilege was frankly frowned upon. Many pupils (not my DD) came from some of the wealthiest families in the world but would still look for clothes in the local charity shop.

My DD did think though that boarding made students more confident because they had lived away from home and learnt to cope without their parents. That didn’t mean they were deliberately arrogant but I can see how that would intimidate a student coping away from home for the first time.

Exeter is known as a sporty university and is easy travel to Bath, Bristol and Cardiff for away matches

Apologies to the OP who has already clarified that this isn't relevant to her DD, but just in case people don't know, top-level university sport is not regionalised. It's a national league so Exeter's first teams (in most sports) would typically have matches against the likes of Nottingham, Loughborough, Durham and Edinburgh. And various other universities depending on the sport.

Obviously this doesn't affect huge numbers of students, but it is worth bearing in mind if your DC is good enough to be competing at that level. So being in Exeter as opposed to, say, somewhere in the Midlands is going to increase the travelling, of which there is a lot.

This thread shows lots of parents having real issues about background. I guess the thing it suggests to me, is that lots of people simply haven’t mixed with people from a range of backgrounds…..because if they had, a lot of these stereotypes and myths would be far less likely to exist…and to be passed o to our kids.

The vast majority of teens are simply interested in meeting people and making friends and finding people they get on with…..for most, as has been mentioned frequently, it doesn’t occur to them to ask where they went to school or type of school or job their parents do. Perhaps it’s more the parents when kids go home in the holidays, who ask where their friends live or type of school they went to.

All of these kids at the most competitive universities are bright and capable kids. They are going to get good degrees and enter the world with lots of opportunities. They are mixing with each other…all capable young people, who will access to lots of opportunities. It must be remembered this isn’t those from highly privileged backgrounds suddenly mixing with those who have come out of school without any qualifications or aspirations. Often the families who send their kids to private schools and those who don’t who have high achieving kids, have far more similarities than people might imagine. Many of the state educated kids going to the most competitive universities have educated parents in professional jobs, who live in the nicer areas of wherever they live. They often have very similar values and life experiences. Whether their kids are privately educated or not, really doesn’t make much difference and most if these parents could and will happily meet each other and chat when dropping off and picking up….they will have more in common than which separates them in most cases.

As has been said upthread, people forget that most who go to private schools don’t go to big names or boarding schools. Yes, some families are extremely affluent and living a luxurious jet-setting lifestyle…but many aren’t too. Parents developing the idea (and passing it into their kids) that lots of people are uni will be ‘other’ is just so unhelpful and often borne of inverse snobbery. But there are a number of examples on this thread.

In the end, Exeter is a good uni. It however does make offers to most people who apply and who have the predicted grades. It also often takes those who miss by a grade or two, so has plenty of students who are not straight. Grade students. It is achievable for lots of students who aren’t top-notch and there will be kids from lots of types of schools.

For kids who have had narrow life experiences (and it is many) and only ever spent much time with people from similar backgrounds….yes they will spend time with people from a wider range of backgrounds at uni. And most of the time it won’t be very relevant or considered and they absolutely find they have more in common that they might have imagined, as they meet real people and find out about them and not just a stereotyped background that they might have imagined before.

I guess the thing it suggests to me, is that lots of people simply haven’t mixed with people from a range of backgrounds…..because if they had, a lot of these stereotypes and myths would be far less likely to exist

Got it in one - the argument for getting rid of private schools and fully comprehensive education for all 👏👏

Well put @WombatChocolate .

@pintery , I think you missed the point. If you want to debate the merits of comprehensive education, why not start a thread rather than hijack this one?

What is clear from this thread is that it’s the state school students who need to mix more.

I don’t think private school students are intimidated by state school students in the same way, or if they are they don’t make such a fuss about it.

Ironically it’s actually the privately educated students in the minority at Exeter - you’d think they’d be the ones worrying!

And if you think that’s challenging try being an ethnic minority student!

What is clear from this thread is that it’s the state school students who need to mix more.

Well they mix with a much more socially diverse group at school. It would be great if DC who are currently privately educated could also be included, I agree.

Getting rid of private schools (or at least depleting them to the level of a very niche eccentricity as in more successful countries than the UK) would be a fantastic start in terms of encouraging mixing, no?

Out of interest, how or why do you think the 30% are setting the tone? what are the 70% not doing? I'm asking because I find it strange such a large majority cannot set the tone.

Very interested in this argument that it's state school students who should be mixing more, when private school parents have chosen to have their children educated separately from everyone else.

I don’t think it would make the blindest bit of difference. The insecurities are rooted in class not school.

I look at this from an outsider perspective - been to state and private schools, part French and spent time in France, where they really don’t go in for this kind of bollocks, and I’m a poc - thus can’t be pigeon-holed in simplistic way people are determined to on this thread, but I am of a genuine minority in a way most people on the thread have no experience of.

Growing up - state and private school mixed with no concern, and I see the same patterns in kids around me as an adult. The apartheid created on this thread is false imo and rooted in fear rather than practical reality.