Birmingham Uni - opinions on 'vibe'?

[Gobimanchurian]

Absolutely loved the campus, but worried it's a bit of a bubble as so far out. Someone also mentioned it's mostly private school kids (Durham felt a bit like that too).

We are from the suburbs of a large city so don't want / need something as self contained as it seems to be, and probably prefer a bit more diversity? (no shade on private schools at all, but if there's a 'type' and my kid isn't it they might feel a fish out of water...).

Finding it really hard from open days to get a feel for what life there (outside of study) might look like for them...

Anyone any insight on Birmingham?

Also looking at Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool, York and possibly Bristol..

@Gobimanchurian if you go to the widening participation section at www.hesa.ac.uk you can see the actual stats, plus those going back over a number of years.

Birmingham Uni does not have an overly large representation of privately educated. certainly nowhere near a Durham or StA ~ both around the 38% mark

from the most recent published data Brum just under 16% A bit less than Leeds (just under 18%)

newcastle 23%, Bristol has fallen a lot over the past 10 or so years to around 27% (same as % as Bath)

York, Liverpool, Sheffield different again 15% down to 11%

Lancaster 11%

Leicester just over 6%

Boys3 often is able to provide data on private school entrants. Birmingham does OK on this compared to other top flight/ RG universities. It sir also far more ethnically diverse than many,

My DS (state ) is there and , yes, he did have a culture shock because of the wealth of some of his fellow students. This is, in part, because he stayed in Aitken in the shadow of the most expensive accommodation, Chamberlain (Tory Towers!) , where the wealthy do congregate.

Those students in the end were not his type (horrible bullies as it goes). But he finds all sort of folk at the uni itself.

The uni is not 'far out' at all. There is a bit of a Selly Oak bubble in years 2 and 3 but it is extremely well connected to the city centre.

I haven't read other post but will do and may return.

I went there OP and it’s not elite at all!

It’s an excellent uni and I made friends for life. Cab into town is ten mins. It’s the best combo of a leafy campus close to a city.

Oh, so I see boys already posted!!

I was slightly surprised by the comment upthread about York attracting private school students. York is famously egalitarian compared to eg Durham and prides itself on this. Boys stats do back this up.

My daughter has just graduated from Birmingham - she had a blast and made some really good friends - most went to state schools like her. It's fabulous if you're into sport and it's got it's own train station - straight into New Street station in minutes

If that was me I meant historically to be fair (as in, when I was at uni - same as Bristol) My up-to-date intel is not wide-ranging. Apols if that wasn't clear.

Agree @boys3 stats are very interesting. Can deffo agree wrt Leicester - very diverse student body in terms of wealth and also ethnicity.

Hi clary. It wasn't posh when I was there in 1902 (slight exaggeration for effect! At least relatively speaking. Unless you hung out with people from Derwent...

I don't think you can choose colleges at York in the same way anymore. In theory you couldn't back then either but Derwent was like people from Saltburn.

Ah well your knowledge is superior to mine @Piggywaspushed - I wasn't there, just knew a few ppl who were.

This was in 1888 mind

I think we can all be confident that a positive aspect of the fact that universities have many many more students than they did when I went (Bristol was average at about 8,000, now almost 30,000; Manchester was breathtakingly enormous at 20,000, now twice that number) is the increased diversity, both in socio-economic and ethnicity terms.

DS is about to go into his fourth year at Birmingham - gorgeous campus (dare I say it the most beautiful part of Brum) but still very accessible for city centre. It's very diverse, but not particularly international - DS says he feels like a lot of his cohort are from the midlands (which he notices because we live in France and therefore can't easily pop home for the weekend as some others do). Not private school heavy at all. One great advantage is that accommodation is relatively cheap (we are paying £425 a month for his shared house in Selly next year). Life there for him has involved lots of sport - there are great facilities and a fabulous gym - with all the associated socialising. It's a big uni so there's just about any kind of society you can think of. He also (and this is astonishing to me) speaks very highly of the library! I wouldn't say he's in love with Brum - he's in Berlin for his year abroad which he says beats it hands down every time - but he's happy to be there for terms at a time without coming home (or visits from us) and has happily made his life there which speaks volumes to me.

DS - from large London comp and having lived in London all his life until going to Birmingham - finds it very diverse, very enjoyable and hasn't a private school person amongst his group of friends. I think on the open days you see the campus, which is lovely, but you don't really realise how the accommodation is right in the heart of incredibly diverse Selly Oak with more international food shops than we had in our part of London, and with easy connections in to the centre. Certainly didn't seem to cramp anyone's clubbing style in the first two years - it's really not that much of a bubble. He's been abroad this year, but is coming back in September and going in to halls in The Vale and taking his bike with him for the journey to campus.

Second the PP who said it has a great gym, and funnily, @LillianGish, mine rates the library too. Does all his work there rather than in his room as he finds that easier.

He's had a great time - some ups and downs, but that's student life, I think. Nothing is ever totally seamlessly smooth.

@mimbleandlittlemy how did your DS find Birmingham safety wise? Especially Selly Oak.

I've read that students get mugged in Selly Oak and are targeted. How true is that statement?

Birmingham is great- DS has just finished first year and really enjoyed it. I would say it’s pretty diverse - just as much if not more so than Bristol, York, Nottingham.

He has found it completely fine - he's 6'4" and a power lifter so people might think twice before taking him on - but no one else in his friendship group has had a problem either. He says the likelihood of being mugged is the same as in any big city whether it's London, Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham. The nearest he has come to being mugged (touch wood) was in Germany in the first part of his year abroad.