Southampton or Bath or Kings College London for Chemistry

[JulietOnTheMoon]

DS needs one or two backups for his university application. He is thinking of Southampton or Bath or Kings College London. He hasn't visited Southampton and Bath but lots of his friends apply for Southampton and he heard many good things about Bath so he feels familiar with them. Currently, he is leaning towards Bath but we live in London so it is the furthest university among them. Kings would be his home town. He needs to submit his choice to school by the end of this month ... He likes to do Chemistry. Any opinion? Please...

KCL and Bath are vastly more competitive than Southampton. If he is looking for a safe back up, the first two are probably not ideal choices.

This.

Southampton is towards the bottom of most league tables and is definitely one of the easiest Russell groups to get into as a result. The other two are not safety choices

Why doesn’t he submit for his other choices and add another if necessary once he’s had chance to visit?

Southampton is not at the bottom of most league tables- number 20 out of 120+ institutions in complete university guide!
However, I would agree that Bath and KCL are more competitive than Southampton.

Subject wise, Bath ranks #9, KCL #31 and Southampton #16 for Chemistry

DS seems to have chosen Bath as his backup. Of course, I like to support his choice, but I also need to double-check if he is being too optimistic. So I contacted the school and asked if I could get any advice on DS's choice. The head of Y12/13 is going to call me tomorrow...

Just be aware that Bath is notorious for not offering accommodation to insurance choice applicants.

We need context to help you, OP.

I write as someone who thinks very highly of Bath for STEM in general but it only works as Insurance for certain profiles

PS The good news is that there is no bad option here

Thank you, everyone, for sharing your thoughts. In the end, DS picked Kings as his backup, and he got an offer today. So, at least he has somewhere to go now.

He has also been invited to an interview with Imperial. That's great but he has not prepared for the interview at all. Should we arrange for someone to give him some practice runs? Unfortunately, I can't help as I didn't go to university. DH did a master's degree but doesn't get involved in DS's university application...

DS said he should be OK but what do people normally do? Is it OK to leave it to the DC? I don't want to place him at a disadvantage just because of my ignorance...

By the way, DS has one more university to pick from and seems to be thinking of Bristol, instead of Southampton/Bath. He hasn't visited the university and I know nothing about Bristol.

I studied Chemistry at Southampton over 25 years ago! It was very highly regarded then. The department and labs are very modern as they were rebuilt after a fire quite a few years ago. A couple of the same people are still teaching there who taught when I was there. Funny to think they're now teaching people a whole generation younger!

It's a great city to be a student in (according to friends' kids who are there now).

Bristol is a very different kind of uni than Southampton or Bath. Much more city centre rather than campus.

I thought Soton was in the top 20?

Southampton is a great campus university.

Only in one league table which uses different metrics. In every other table it’s much lower down and generally one of the lower rated RGs

I just checked. It seems to have excellent ratings. It is an original RGU.

Anyway, I am biased 😉

I prefer campus to city centre types of uni for DS... He visited all four universities he had already applied. I think he should visit Bristol/Southampton/Bath before finalising his choice for the fifth university...

He's got until late January to add the final one as an on time application, so plenty of time to visit and do a self-guided campus tour /sound out current students on TSR etc.

You say that <you> prefer a particular setting for your DS, but what are his preferences? Bearing in mind that unless he's got a specific medical need, he's unlikely to be living on campus for all of his years of study, so a campus university without much accommodation in the surrounding area may be less desirable in the long term. Has he considered e.g. Leeds or Birmingham, both campus, but (especially the latter) plenty of post-first year accommodation close by.

Bristol is highly regarded for Chemistry.

If he is trying for Imperial I assume his predicted grades are high?

Check the various entry requirements, allowing some leeway for the back up.

My Dc got into Bristol for Chemistry with AAA in Chemistry, Maths and Physics.

It’s a wonderful city, Dc loves it.

Expensive accommodation.

Whether it's on campus or not doesn't seem to be a big factor for DS. So far, he has applied to four, and all of them are off campus. He never mentioned Birmingham/Leeds. He seems less interested in the north so maybe not Leeds but I will mention them anyway. I know Birmingham well, as I once lived on the campus (not as a student). It's a lovely university.

Now he has secured King, which let him be bold for the fifth choice.

Re the interview, surely his school should be helping him with this?

Yes, DS just told me they would run a mock interview.

@JulietOnTheMoon how did your son get on!!

Hi, thank you for asking! DS chose Bristol as his fifth choice and received an offer from all the universities he applied to. He chose Imperial as his first choice and UCL as his backup. He found the first paper of FM a bit tricky; otherwise, he feels he did alright. Anyway, he'll enjoy the carefree summer until the 15th of August😁

Great news, OP! Congratulations to DS

Thank you!😊