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.

How did it go after all?

Also interested to hear how its all going as I'm also one of those evil private school parents and considering it for middle child. Ironically, I'm worried Exeter might not be diverse enough for him as he goes to a very mixed S london private school with lots of non white kids, kids from all demographic backgrounds as nearly 50pc supported by bursaries etc and he's more musical than sporty and has quite an academic friendship group. How does it suit the less sporty not quite so partyish types?

Have you visited at all? We went to an Open Day a few months ago and were shown round by lots of really lovely confident students. They all spoke extremely well.

One that was a Y3 said he had only met one person from oop North the whole time. Unless Hertfordshire counted 😂

We didn’t experience it as diverse at all.

Hello both! Definitely try an open day. My daughter is really enjoying it and has a lovely group of friends but I do think she might have fitted in a bit better elsewhere to be honest and maybe attended more clubs etc. The ones she was interested in were quite snooty. And she did stick them out for a few sessions. But Exeter is lovely and I actually think it’s quite nice to be somewhere opposite to our rough bit of north London! Ha ha. But yes, very different demographic from her old comprehensive secondary school. That’s probably uni all over to a degree. She is sporty but not a huge party person and still plenty to do. She’s happy overall. Good luck!

It is so nice when someone reports back on an old thread. Thank you @Seymour .

That’s wonderful to hear. So glad she’s happy. We are booked into the open day on May 31st. Can’t wait to see it. Campus is beautiful too I hear,

It is, she is based at the smaller St Luke’s campus which is also very nice. Lovely in summer as lots of students go down to Exmouth for the beach.

no not yet, due to this summer.

TBH though his older sibling is at Southampton Uni and its the same there. Everyone he has met is from London or the home counties, or China.

I think maybe distance is a factor here. he didn't want to go to Leeds/Lancaster/Manchester etc as wanted to be able to get back for the weekend etc. So I think maybe the Southern unis naturally attract more southern-based kids, and vice versa.

You’re right, I don’t think my DD has met many northerners. Quite a few are fairly local ie Cornwall, Bristol. She’s the furthest afield being from London.

Sure, although not really the case that eg Durham and Edinburgh aren’t stuffed with southerners….

Sure, but I went to Edinburgh (not recently of course) and I met plenty of Scottish people as well. Am married to one in fact.

You're right though, my impression is that Northern unis are mixed with local/Southerners but the Northern kids don't come down to the Southern ones as much, for some reason (London unis? dunno).

Exeter has many students from the South West, which in many ways is more deprived than the North. We hope our dd will go to Exeter Uni and commute from home. Like many students in Devon and Cornwall, few of her friends have gone to 6 form as it's so far away. E.g. the whole of Middevon has no single state 6 form, so it's normal for kids in many areas to spend 3 to 4 hours each day on a bus to get to Exeter's FE College. The South West, especially Exeter and surrounding area, are really quite rough and deprived areas, with teenagers facing great hurdles with regards to further education. I genuinely wouldn't consider Exeter posh.

@NellyBarney I just found this thanks to google

"Only 6.5% of children in the UK attend a private school, yet they make up 31.5% of Exeter University students."

This still leaves 68.5% of state school kids, loads of the being from the South West, which is a very deprived area overall. As I said, there are very few state 6 forms in the South West, so quite a few local kids/future Exeter Uni kids are on scholarships/bursaries at private 6 forms.

7,500 international students out of a total 30,000. Which is 25%

Only 37% of 18 year olds go to uni though and a higher % of state school leavers don’t go to uni.

Not quite the case that they are totally stuffed either though. Reasonably well represented perhaps.

this is for undergrads

Durham 35% from London or South East.

Edinburgh 23% from London or South East

then Exeter 44% from London or South East, plus another 26% from the South West. Just 0.5% from the North East.

Taking a couple of other Unis in North of England

Leeds. 25% from London or South East, 37% from North West and Yorks and Humber

Lancaster 17% from London or South East, 50% from Yorks and Humber

all this of course needs to be seen in the context of a quite considerably higher percentage of DC from London and to a slightly lesser extent the South East going to uni in the first place.

plus the simple size of London’s population. There are almost as many undergrads in the UK from London as for the combined total for North East, North West and Yorkshire & Humber.

Yes fair point. But it does mean that Exeter feels less diverse.

Totally agree @Notreallythatbad . Whilst it’s verging on the extreme for me to label it a white middle class enclave compared to very many UK unis that’s what it is.

It remains a very good Uni still, just not terribly diverse, part of which is down to simply where it is.

Though it more like 40% at postgrad and just under 20% at undergrad - with a lot of variety again within subjects.

it’s undergrad percentage is about par for the course.

Yes that's true. But it shows that the other poster claiming 68% state school kids was slightly misjudging her numbers.

When I was at a different RG university, Exeter and Durham were always the "poshest of the posh" and I'd never have applied to either. I'm glad that has diluted somewhat, but it doesn't completely rehabilitate the image.

@JesusWeptLady in some respects nothing has changed that much. A real cynic might almost say accommodation is priced to deter, more so for Durham perhaps.

the near 70% state for UK undergrads at Exeter is about right. But it does not identify type of state; eg grammar percentage.

It was 68% in 2015-2016
Its actually now dropped to 65%

I’m sure that’s true due to socio-economic reasons, I am just speaking anecdotally based on my daughter’s experience. And of course Exeter is in the south (west).

But the numbers are such that there is plenty of scope for anyone to hang out with state school friends, independent school friends, home undergraduates or international undergraduates. If there are 7500 international students and you want to meet them, that's a lot of people. If 65 or 68 or whatever percentage of student are state-school educated, that's a lot of state school kids - anybody can meet them. I don't see why it's automatically better for a student experience to be in a university with a higher intake of state school kids or international students. My niece is at UCL - 40% international student intake and she barely knows any of them. She's hanging out with people on her course which is not especially popular with the international student community.