University applications for September 2025 - let's go!

[hornetgirl]

Hello to all you on the forum.

Having gone through this all in 2022/23 with my eldest ( just completing year 1 Southampton), I am back again with my daughter - just finishing year 12.

She is looking at Vet med or vet nursing

We have been to several open days: RVC, Chester, Nottingham Trent, Bristol and we have Surrey this Saturday and Nottingham in 2 weeks.

What a stressful process this is even for a second time mum (and expensive on the travel and hotel stays!)

What are you doing with your year 12s so far?

Have a look at lancaster. They operate slightly differently in that for most courses you can do up to three subjects in the first year (so history and economics is possible) and then you can either carry on with one of them or any combination. It's a really good system. In addition the first year doesn't count at all towards your final grade and so that helps given that Lancaster is very sociable (collegiate university so loads going on -with 9 bars on campus plus a university owned nightclub). Plus its top 10 in the rankings.

I'll join you all. DD wants to study Law.
Loved Exeter, liked Winchester. Didn't like Portsmouth or Bristol. Going to look at UEA and Kent.

Thanks - that’s really helpful. Have heard good things about Lancaster so will encourage her to look at that too.

Hello All

Just popping on to let anyone who is travelling perhaps to Birmingham Open Day , or anyone reliant on the M1 from the south : the M1 is closed northbound at Crick (Northants). The traffic is already very backed up. The diversion hops you off and back on in theory but in practice it has become a car park.

We are doing Manchester and York this weekend too.

In other words, it's like most degrees at Scottish unis, so look at those as well. 😁

Dd and I have been to Sheffield today which was lovely. It's a beautiful city and the accommodation and facilities were really nice.

She wants to do economics but came to that realisation late and hasn't done maths A level which is an issue. She can do economics at Sheffield and some others (Loughborough, Lancaster, Notts) and combined courses like PPE at other places.

We've also been to Exeter (also lovely can only do PPE there) and Warwick (again PPE) which neither of us liked very much. The accommodation seems very mixed at Warwick and some of it was not very nice at all for such a prestigious university with a proper prisoner cell block H vibe. Plus the commuting in from Leamington in the 2/3rd year seems odd.

Got Nottingham and Loughborough lined up next weekend.

Have you considered Birmingham?

Birmingham is on the list but it's our nearest city so very close to home/ familiar for DD and therefore less interesting to her.

Fair enough! It fits the criteria , otherwise, for economics degrees with no maths requirement.

dd1 in year 12, it’s our first time. It’s been difficult to get to open days as I can’t do Fridays due to work and 2 of the popular Saturdays I have also had to work.

We went to Bristol which we both really liked and she went to Liverpool with her dad - also a hit! Top of her list, on paper, is Exeter but we will have to do that in the autumn along with Manchester and one other tbc.

Train prices have been astronomical, can’t quite believe how expensive for a 2-3 hour journey!

Dd and I were at Birmingham yesterday. She has her heart set on it although, while I think it's an excellent choice, she'll still need a back up.

She wants to go to a campus uni, with good transport links and not too long a travel from London.

Not interested in Warwick ( I went there and indeed some of the accommodation has cell block H vibe as it is based on the design of a Swedish women's prison), Exeter too far. Not interested in Sussex. I'm trying to persuade her to at least look at Kent and Lancaster.

The trouble with Warwick was that the shared bathroom accommodation was so much worse than the en suite and as there is not enough en suite for everyone you may wind up with the prison cell block even if you didn't choose it. At Sheffieldand Exeter all of the accommodation was decent even the cheaper ones.

Ds went to Keele on Friday with dh and really liked it. Beautiful campus and impressive business school.

We also went to keele yesterday, it was our first visit anywhere. My son was impressed with the business school and the campus was lovely. We likened it to an all inclusive holiday.

@ThePure are you seeing two on one day?

We looked at Warwick - they have a weird obsession with baths!

No we're seeing two over a weekend
Loughborough next Friday and Nottingham next Saturday. We're staying in a Premier Inn to avoid travelling up and down.

She's also going to Kings on her own on the train as she can stay with family in London.

Definitely also want to see Leeds and Manchester and maybe Lancaster but those will have to be Autumn.

Probably seeing too many but it's our first time at this game and seems such an important decision plus I don't mind the excuse to spend time with DD.

@ThePure ahh I see. We can't get to any on a Friday. Keele recommended seeing as many as possible as such a big decision and it is nice to get out and about especially at this time of year. Not looking forward to October ones in the rain!

@Era yes the business building at keele was impressive. Have you been to any other to compare? Keele was our first one?

Agree about Warwick's bath obsession. In the prison block accommodation there was a rather unpleasant shared bathroom (no window no ventilation) between 8 mixed sex with 2 shower cubicles and one bath and I just could not imagine who would fancy taking a leisurely bath in a grotty, dark cubicle in a shared room

Ds went to Keele on Friday with dh and really liked it. Beautiful campus and impressive business school.

We went to Keele yesterday, DD absolutely loved it, it offers just the course she wants, allows her to carry on learning Spanish (and have it acknowledged in her degree title), can do a year abroad, lovely calm peaceful vibe. So many trees (and squirrels).

We visited Warwick last week and whilst the facilities were fantastic, she said that she just didn't like the atmosphere, so many obviously private school kids and some very pushy parents whereas at Keele she said she felt she fitted right in, parents were chatting to each other, free drinks, doughnuts and popcorn (!).

My dilemma is that she's predicted high grades and on MN, nobody seems to mention Keele, it's all RG and how it's important which Uni you go to. I need to get it straight in my head that a) MN is not reflective of real life, on here the secondary board is absolutely crammed with private school threads when as we know, only about 7% of kids actually go to private school and b) it's important for DD to go where she will be happy and actually, it's up to her to make the most of every opportunity, if she's talented and determined, she'll be fine even if she doesn't do Maths at Imperial.

Anyway, Lancaster next week.

Oh gosh, I remember the baths at Warwick! I was in the prison block accommodation 30 years ago. I thought it was quite luxurious - sink in your room, right next to campus, large communal area. Tiny kitchen which no-one complained about.

It's interesting how much expectations have changed.

If it's any consolation sweetpeas DD and I felt the same about Warwick. There were a lot of people asking stupid questions in the example lecture just to get their voice heard and actually being quite rude to the female lecturer. Gave me flash backs to my own Oxbridge experience in the late 90s.

DD is also predicted A*s and I confess I was hoping she might apply to Warwick/ Kings maybe even St Andrews but it's been good to go on the Open Days and realise that actually Sheffield was the nicest experience so far (free ice cream) and they seemed to actually want students to come, have a good experience and be employable and I started to think maybe having a great time at a less 'well regarded' university but getting work experience etc is the way to go.

@Sweetpeasaremadeforbees I’m going to take a look at Keele now, it’s good to hear you liked it. I know what you mean about some unis not being mentioned and worrying that we like some of the non-RG unis which never get mentioned. We loved Essex and Leicester which don’t seem to get much of a mention on here. Our DD is bright too and predicted high grades, so I too wonder how important choice of uni is down the line when job hunting, as opposed to being really happy with the uni you go to even if it is not one of the top ones. I guess a determined attitude plays a big part in life, so hopefully they will all do well.