University snobbery

[nysw]

Just wondering if anyone has come across this from adults/parents?

That is all

As a sector driven by league table position are you really surprised?

I have friends who have three kids, at Cambridge, Durham and Exeter, and yes they look down on everyone else’s kids!!

Nope.only on mm

You need higher grades to get into some universities than others, and some courses are known to be preferred by employers. It's unrealistic to pretend that all universities are exactly equal.

I think most people with two brain cells to rub together grasp that the important thing is the specific degree course, not the institution, and that a highly-regarded programme can be at a not-particularly-highly-regarded university.

It tended to be the less intellectually well-endowed who got exercised about me going to Oxford, for instance.

At least they haven’t disowned the one at Exeter.

Yes, but more a combination of course and university. I think it’s quite normal, tbh.

@Prawncow Apparently it’s “theeee best place for her course”

This. And only from one or two posters.
Well, two really.
Neither of whom has had children at uni for god knows how long but jeez don't we know they used to. 😂

I bet she gets the smallest stocking at Christmas.

Oh massively! DS1's friends mum is very snobby over unis, her son goes to a Russell group Uni (and don't I know it!), which I agree sounds fab, but it actually scores lower on the league tables than DS's lower class Uni..

It's inevitable when some are better than others.

Only on MN and amongst international students 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Prawncow 🤣🤣🤣, you’re probably right. The poor child, bringing up the rear, always has been…..

@ASighMadeOfStone 🤣 I don’t know who you mean?

We get sympathetic looks from one family that one of our kids goes to Bristol and not Oxbridge ;-)

International students who get in with much lower grades?!
I honestly don't give a bugger about people who judge unis. It's about the course.

Yes of course, since I was doing my own A levels years ago until now when all our kids are doing them. Its inherent in British culture.

Maybe that's true for extremely specialised subjects, but for mainstream subjects there is definitely a "Top Ten" that high paying employers recruit from

I know my daughter's friend is snobby about Bath 'it only does Bachelor of Science degrees'

Apparently she feels this is better than the Universities everyone else goes to😂

The IFS has research that shows it’s not just “the course”. Its course content and where the best is available. Salaries achieved by grads studying economics vary hugely according to where the degree is from. So research shows university matters but the middle ground is quite wide.

Wait what? Bath isn't bad. But would she say it's better than Oxford, Cambridge?

I agree.
My DS has just turned down his offer at what is probably the first University most people would think of for his intended subject and I've had a selection of pitying and confused looks and comments from people who are clearly assuming he's picked somewhere else because he doesn't think he'll make the grades. However anyone who we know who actually has any knowledge/experience of the subject thinks he's made a perfectly reasonable decision as there's little to choose between the courses and he preferred the location/lifestyle of the less obvious place.
And his insurance choice is a post 1992 University which has had some people's heads practically spinning! We were hugely impressed with the department and links with the relevant industry however and it was actually a close call. If he does end up going there I will be neither worried nor embarrassed.

Universities are elitist though. Some are better than others - in grades required to get in, in teaching, in value of the degree to employers.

The university is often more important than the course.

Bloody hell. We are not all as capable, as academic, as clever as everyone else. Some universities are better than others. They take the brighter students. It's a fact. We do not live in some fantasy land where all universities are equal. Yes of course outliers exist - exceptional students come from all universities - but in the main, a student going to Durham is on the balance of probabilities more academic, and likely to have a better career, than a student going to Bath Spa.