Leicester uni - top choice for DS but school pushing back

[Backflips]

DS (year 13) and I went to open day at Leicester earlier this month and he loved the campus and exploring the city. We were both smitten after spending two days there. The course is perfect.

Leicester now top choice of DS over other unis he’s also applying to (Birmingham, Nottingham etc). School saying he can apply but should regard Leicester as insurance choice not first choice (grades the same ABB as at other unis). We disagree but don’t know enough to challenge. DS really loved Leicester! My DH says that schools are judged on how many students go to Russell Group unis and, as Leicester isn’t one, that’s why they are not being v supportive. Is that a thing?

Ds had RG offers and choose Nottingham Trent as it was highly rated for his course. He has a great time and is now doing a Masters there. They need to go where they will be happy.

When DD was looking at universities during her gap year she declined an offer from a top 10 (CUG) university complete with scholarship offer for the one she went to (top 30 RG) because it was the one she preferred. She walked into a job straight after graduating with a first.

I would suggest that if he liked Leicester best to go for it. He has to spend 3 years there, without family or friends so needs to feel comfortable and want to be there on a course he likes the sound of. DS is in his second year and loves it, they seem really well organised, good pastoral care, his course is great, there are many opportunities to meet people and make friends and accommodation is plentiful and good value.

The only time I’ve heard about RG unis definitely being better to attend than those which are not is when studying Law. Here university attended by top employees is looked at and RG prioritised, other than that it seems to be not as much of an issue.

If if the future he felt he desperately needed a RG experience, he could always do a masters.

@gegs73 agree about the accommodation - compared with friends’ kids in other cities, it’s very reasonable - my ds also just gone into second year and is in halls this year again, cheaper than last year’s halls too

I think many people would assume Leicester is already RG due to the name - it sounds RG like

There's nothing wrong with Leicester.

If the school did actually say this then they are overstepping here. The choice is made by your DS, not them.

I don't think I would even grace it with a response to the school. Just tell DS to follow his gut instinct. He liked Leicester. He felt it was right for him. So he should apply to it as his first choice and have some other "insurance" choice if that's what he feels is right for him.

You only need to challenge or push back against the school if they simply won't let it drop and start unduly stressing DS over it. Otherwise ignore them and tell DS to stick to his guns.

Back in the early 1980s when I was applying to universities (to study Modern Foreign Languages) one particular schoolteacher was desperate for me to apply to Oxbridge. I knew that I didn't want to do that though as I am not really that type of academic. I was far more interested in the more practical, down to earth courses offered by some other unis and also the then Polytechnics, which seemed very good to me. Said teacher was horrified and almost wouldn't leave it alone until my parents (themselves a headmaster and a teacher) attended Parents' Evening and, when she tried pushing it with them, told her firmly to back off. I was so glad they did that. That was the end of it, thankfully.

I chose the Polytechnic. It wasn't as an insurance policy either. I greatly preferred their course. I got a great degree and had a lovely four years there. I'm sure said teacher probably keeled over backwards but I didn't care. It was my choice to make, not hers.

Birmingham and Nottingham are more highly regarded but most important thing is that he’s happy and supported. He won’t do well otherwise. You could ask the school for reasons but really it’s none of their business!

Probably, but ask them.

It may be the course isn’t great. Just find out why then DS can dismiss or not.

But has he spent as much time at the schools suggested choices? Or other universities who offer the course he's interested in? When my DD was applying we visited 5 and so her enthusiasms changed as she saw other places. She was more in favour of city universities, my DS preferred campus.

Personally I'd check out Nottingham - it's a great campus university and a nicer city than Leicester. Check out lots of options don't just go with the first you saw.

@Bouledeneige i wouldn’t agree that Nottingham is nicer than Leicester currently - and I come from Nottingham! It’s certainly bigger but the city centre isn’t great at the moment.

DD1 is just starting her 2nd year at Leicester and absolutely loves it. It's an incredibly supportive environment and suits her down to the ground.

Her college suggested Russell Group universities too but she felt at home in Leicester. Your DS is the one that has to live there, not his college.

If if the future he felt he desperately needed a RG experience, he could always do a masters.

There is no RG experience. I’ve studied at 7 different universities inc two RG ones. My second undergraduate degree was at an RG. I didn’t know until after I graduated it was RG. I hadn’t heard of RG until I was at a different RG uni. The best most organised course with the best teaching I’ve had was at an ex poly.

This.

Totally agree, and I work in admissions in an RG university!

@Backflips What subject? This usually makes a difference. What career does he have in mind? Obviously he’s staying local so where else is he considering?

I think Leicester is a bit marmite. Most ethnically diverse outside London according to them and low private school intake. Great for some subjects, lower ranked for others.

Be careful about law degree figures. Employment covers para legal jobs. Not just solicitors snd barristers. If it’s not law, not relevant.

I agree with others that getting more information on why they think this way could be useful, but in the end, it's up to the person going and some schools really have a thing about pushing certain unis they think look it.

Side note: Has the school given any support or information on degree apprenticeships? They're meant to, but a lot of schools still aren't. It's somehow still looked down upon even though they're like gold dust - doing well enough that an employer will pay for and a salary is a major boost for a lot of young people. It may be useful to pass on to your DS the apprenticeship pages for the uni he's interested in as those pop up throughout the year and are applied for separately from UCAS.

Updating to say that DS - supported by us -has had a number of very frank conversations with his sixth form. They said it is in their interest to advocate Russell Group as it is a school performance measure that is reported. That aside, they agree with DS that Leicester uni course best suits our son

Good for your DS! And you, for supporting him

It says something when an educational establishment would rather advocate based on what makes them look good, rather than support what's best course-wise for your son. This nonsense comes from above the school of course and is driven by educational departments hungry for larger budgets, which in turn comes down to poor government policy in allocation reducing pots of money. It's easy, apparently, to forget the reason for schools existing.

I hope you son enjoys Leicester if indeed that's where he ends up. I grew up in Leicester and it's a beautiful and surprisingly leafy city, with a good reputation academically.

DS had an offer from Durham and an offer from Lancaster. School was not happy when he picked Lancaster but for him it felt right and he loved it (still dies now he’s there). It’s a top ten university just not part of the Russell group so the fact that they would have preferred him to pick Newcastle (sitting at 30 something in the rankings) is quite frankly bonkers and only to do with their messaging to new parents (private school). Russell group means very little (I’d go so far as to say nothing) at undergraduate level. Undergraduates don’t do academic research.

It does mean something in most league tables. Clearly you can pick a few non RG, Lancaster, Loughborough, Bath and St A but it’s a stretch to say Durham is not better than Hertfordshire or Bucks New. Newcastle is an odd one right now regarding league tables but Durham is sought after.

Totally depends what you want after uni too. Employers care very little about what history you studied. They just want to
know if you will be the employee they want. Not everyone needs further degrees either. Many train for professions so first degree matters. Very much in some areas of work.

My daughter choose her uni over a top London one purely because she felt more comfortable there. She did her degree, got a top placement while doing it and was asked to come to them to work full time. She basically ended up in her dream job straight out of uni. That wouldn’t have happened if she had gone to the ‘higher’ level uni and she would have been in much more debt ( left uni with just student loan debt nothing else).
Its not up to the school..he is the one who is going to be studying there not the school. Smile and nod and let him do what he wants.

Good on your DS. I hope everything goes smoothly for him from now on and that he gets his grades for Leicester (and thoroughly enjoys it).

Newcastle is an odd one right now regarding league tables

In what way?

I notice that they have climbed several places for 2024, especially for the course DD did.

That’s really good to hear. Just to reiterate my earlier point, my son is in his second year at Leicester and is very happy there for so many reasons

Thank you for the update, it's really good to hear of a young person who really knows what they want and how to go about getting it.

Ultimately the 'best' university is the one that is right for your DD. I wish him every success in the future.