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.

@PerpetualOptimist nearer 54% (state non-selective) 😀

Erm how can a city be rural? I mean possibly st.Davids might be considered semi-rural, but Exeter isn't bloody rural!

and the wider breakdown, in order of grammar and indie percentage

As @TizerorFizz noted a fairy heavy southern bias for unis with a higher indie %.

@boys3 I don’t think that’s surprising though. Although your list differs from one I saw. Odd that Exeter and Bristol are not labelled “west”.

@TizerorFizz more bizarre statements. First of all in university terms, you don't actually get much further north than Edinburgh, only Aberdeen. Second, you weren't excluding Scotland as you included St Andrews. Third, I think you will find with Bristol's current high contextual targets its actual entrance 'rates' (presume you mean tariffs) are now lower than Newcastle's in many cases. Fourth, Bristol has every bit as much of a party reputation as Newcastle, although to be more precise, probably more of a druggy one than just a fun city. I myself went 'up' to Oxford all the way from the frozen North and from personal experience of actually studying there, it is a very well trodden path.

My DD is going to Exeter too. We are from similar background to you I suspect. Comp school, large city etc...

It was her first choice and I think it was the vibe that swung it for her. I had kinda fallen for Bristol but she didn't like the vibe there.

Yes, just a smallish town with nowhere of any size nearby, and not a lot happening outside of student life.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is a particular flavour.

It’s about the size of kings Lynn or Ipswich ie the size of a town. There’s nothing happening really outside the university and it’s surrounded by countryside. No big lively cities nearby, Plymouth is an hour or so and not super exciting, Bristol which is lively is an hour and a half

If the OP lives in Manchester / Leeds / Sheffield / Liverpool etc, Exeter is going to feel flipping rural. There’s nothing wrong with that, long as she knows.

Only Aberdeen is north of Edinburgh?

Essentially Exeter is campus. It’s close enough to the City of Exeter to make it walkable. Students move into Exeter after y1 so it’s not a smallish town. It’s a university city but obviously is not one of the big ones. That’s why it’s popular. Trains to London are ok. Bath is similar. Bristol is bigger and the city is more varied and diverse with more going on outside of the uni. Bristol used to be over 40% private school so they have changed a lot.

Theres no recorded drug use about Bristol. Just people thinking they know. You could say that as more privately educated Dc are at Durham and St Andrews they must have the biggest problems. No evidence but being a wrong un must follow money - surely? Clearly rubbish but it’s yet another attribute laid at the door of the better off.

I went there! Had friends from all backgrounds and had such a great time.
What’s she going to study?

There are loads of theatres, cinemas, concerts, outdoor sports down by the quay, clubs etc in Exeter. There are lots of lovely pubs and restaurants. Bristol is one hour on the train, if a bigger city needed from time to time. It's only a couple of hours to London and one hour from Plymouth. There's loads going on outside of the uni.

@ReallyNoNeed I don't know how the Sunday times have dreamed up your figures or measure 'social inclusion' but the official HESA show the unis with thelowest percentage of state school students are
1 Durham
2 Edinbugh
3 Exeter
Which is quite widely known.The full list is in the diagram attached.
I think you are,quite right to be concerned, 2 of went to Durham and nearly everyone went to private or selective school.private school kids are disproportionately selfish , arrogant and entitled

I don’t understand your tone towards me. ‘Dreamed up your figures’?

I am personally pretty unaffected by the OP’s issue but I have sympathy for those with concerns.

Thanks @continentallentil Understood! It will definitely feel quite different I think but she has visited and liked the course and campus etc so fingers crossed. I think a big part of the problem is that once she finally made her mind up to plump for her first choice over Exeter when applying, she then justified it to herself by coming up with negatives about Exeter!

Thanks @Mariposista that’s great to hear! She is studying sports science so might attract more of a mix given it’s not a traditional subject like Classics?

Thanks @Annasoror I think it sounds lovely!

@Jewel1968 Oh brilliant! Yes, sounds very similar. Good luck to her.

Small minded or not it wasn’t exactly a helpful response to an OP who’s daughter is definitely going and was specifically asking for reassurance. J Bo ti whatever 🙄

I come from just out London and Exeter didn't feel particularly rural to me. The city is large enough and I preferred it to London as wasn't huge but still had decent night life, lots of shops and restaurants and lots going on in it. Yes when you leave the city there is more countryside etc but I personally liked that - we could get to the beach in 10 mins!

I went to Exeter from a comp background and loved my time there. There is lots going on, Exeter is a thriving town/city and not just for students, I know lots of people who live there as adults and there’s plenty going on.

On a completely irrelevant point of order , Dundee is further north than Edinburgh (as is St Andrew's as it happens). And Inverness, home to UHI, is further north than Aberdeen.

Somewhat bemused by RG Newcastle, with its medical school being compared with OBU because it's allegedly simply a party uni of choice for less able students with means who want to party! You say we shouldn't make generalisations about 'posh' students or whatever and then you offer up that sweeping generalisation...

FWIW, it is worth noting state educated students are perfectly capable in and of themselves of being affluent, well heeled , well spoken, and privileged. The private state dichotomy is not that binary. The social inclusion data breaks all of the down a bit more finely.

I have noticed over the past six or seven years that ore students from my school are applying to Bristol and Exeter, partly because of the subject I teach being part of Exeter's offer, and Bristol and Exeter having good reputations for the literary subjects. I would add the caveat , though, that the students who have ended up going there are definitely not from disadvantaged families.

I wouldn't ever discourage anyone from going there , though. It seems an excellent uni, in a lovely part of the world. It was really only ease of access to transport home that put my north of London DC (both my own DS and students form my school) off considering it. The pastoral care and teaching are meant to be good. These unis are only going to become more diverse if fewer comprehensive school students from less well off backgrounds feel they want to go there. Many universities deploy various strategies to encourage this (Bristol is most well known for this, I'd say). The current cost of living crisis is having an impact on choices - especially for those form the least affluent backgrounds. There have been some well documented issues of problems in the recent past for state educated, especially Northern, students at Durham - I've never really heard of any similar issue or incident at Exeter.

We've been through this before , but one of the major reasons London students spread themselves out more geographically is their excellent transport links to just about everywhere. Draw lines on maps of where students come form to attend unis and you will find trainlines (cf Aberystwyth's large number of students from the West Midlands).

more diverse if fewer comprehensive school students from less well off backgrounds

Slight grammar/word choice fail there!!

Obviously I got in a muddle over my fewer/more/less .

Rearrange to make sense!

I didn't study there (though would have loved to!), but think it's a great city: enough going on while small enough to be "comfy", yet direct trains to many cities and an international airport. And Cornwall down the road!
All very secondary to the syllabus/campus feel, of course, but can't imagine it being any less than lovely, with a wonderful reputation to boot.

I was discussing this thread with my son who has finished his second year at Bristol. He is mixed race and private-school educated for context and has had a great time.

I asked if he thought UoB was diverse. He immediately said no. He said his hall in the first year was full of private school kids and even the smaller flats in the centre seemed to have largely ‘middle class’ students. Re ethnic diversity he said it was nothing like London. There were lots of international students yes, largely East Asian, and also some kids from the Indian subcontinent. He said however that he had seen a max of five black students on his course and probably a max of 10-20 as a whole. Also he said his friends have said Exeter is similar.

He has no reason to lie, and is very interested in politics and socioeconomic factors so notices this stuff.

But the crucial thing is he has said he has noticed very little snobbery or elitism if at all. Students are welcoming and friendly and don’t act remotely ‘posh’. So kids from other backgrounds should not be put off by thinking they will be excluded as they very likely won’t be. But they may need to be prepared at the lack of diversity if they are from a bigger city.

I don’t see any reason to deny that Bristol and Exeter might feel different to say Manchester or Liverpool (picking random names). It’s disingenuous to pretend all universities are the same. Like I understand Glasgow and Edinburgh universities have a different feel.

When my kids were applying they didn’t want to travel too far from home. But did bemoan that so many great universities were up north! I know we have a N/S divide but re universities, I reckon there is a far bigger and better choice of institutions the further north you go! I am originally from Liverpool and sometimes wonder if I should have stayed there!