Suggestions required for which uni to visit

[ineedteanownotlater]

My son is looking to start uni Sept 2025. He has been to a uni fair where lots of uni reps were all together so he got to speak to a few. From that he wanted to visit York and Southampton. I also suggested we visit Loughborough as it is local.
He hated York so that is a no. He loved Loughborough. Southampton we visit first weekend in October but since we have seen Loughborough he doesn't seem keen to want Southampton anymore. Problem with Loughborough is we live 25 minutes away and we both feel that he needs the independence of living away so would like to find a uni that has a similar vibe and modern facilities like Loughborough but is further away from us.
He wants to study maths with economics or something similar. Does anyone have any suggestions of Unis that fit the above we can look at?

Even if he's 25 minutes away, he can still get in halls and immerse himself in the uni experience.

Honestly, he should go to the university he prefers. I speak from experience that it will make all the difference.

Definitely encourage him to still visit others. He needs more than one option to apply to.

My DH didn't get offered his first choice, but ended up happy somewhere else.

What did he hate about York and love about Loughborough? That might help to pinpoint. Both are campuses so it must be something else! What are his ballpark grades.

There are lots of unis aside from those that will have turned up to his fair.

Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh and University of Bath are both highly regarded for maths/econ - maybe worth a visit? HW has been very popular with friends’ DC - all of their teens/young adults have adored their time there. High quality facilities + teaching with great night life. They also give a £1800 bursary to every student, no questions asked in order to cover travel costs from elsewhere in the UK. If DD wanted to study something maths/econ/business related it definitely would’ve been her first choice.

Dd2 has chosen Loughborough (though she liked York too, so might have slightly different tastes) but for what it's worth she also applied to:
York
Southampton
Bath
and Essex

Others that might be worth looking for your ds are Lancaster and Exeter (both seem to get good reviews). Dd2 also considered Birmingham and Warwick, but they might be too close to you.

Does he want campus or town uni? City or town? It’s usually best to visit a few to gauge what you want.

Nottingham
Birmingham
Manchester
Surrey
University of East Anglia (UEA)

Lancaster University? Very highly rated in the league tables. It's a green, modern, campus uni very close to city of Lancaster and the coast and Lake District. Also about an hour away from bigger cities Liverpool and Manchester.

Another vote for lancaster. It’s very similar to Loughborough in terms of the feel of the campus but much much prettier than Loughborough and more bars etc in Lancaster itself as well as many more social venues on campus ;Loughborough only has the SU which isn’t that big but lancaster has a bar and junior common room in each of the nine colleges plus the SU nightclub. You can literally see the sea from campus and it’s close to the Lake District and within east reach of Preston and Manchester. It’s highly rated and very safe.
if he hated York even better! Lancaster and york have the war of the roses every year which is a massive sporting tournament with practically every sport you can think of competing (also a nice time for parents to visit).

Well as my daughter loved York and wasn't impressed by Loughborough. She hated Warwick, so maybe your son would like it?

Although Warwick would be very competitive for a maths based course.
Agree though, Warwick is rather soulless (and Coventry in general isn’t very nice)

Usually people pick universities to look at based on both price of accommodation and university rankings.

So for example London universities mean very high accommodation costs and done parents rule them out in those grounds alone.

Some students/some parents can't afford accommodation away from home so look at unis within commuting distance.

Beyond that, if you are happy to pay for accommodations/etc then it's usual to look at your predicted grades and work from there.

So places like Warwick, Oxbridge, Durham etc will want high grades and you to do their entrance test.

University rankings for maths are here:

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/mathematics

My DD is at a Uni about 25 min away, it's worked really well (in fact many of her flatmates/housemates have proved to be similar distances from home). She lives away, has still had to find her way around the local area and we maybe see her once a month but have the option to pop over if needed and she can come home easily if she wants. She loves the Uni and course so it's worked really well.

Maybe he is feeling less confident about leaving home and living independently. He can still stay in halls and live in student accommodation but if it doesn't work out then he can live at home in later years. Much easier than dealing with a homesick child who is miles away.

I don't know about the maths/economics courses, as ds is applying for a humanities course, but ds likes Loughborough and has also applied to Warwick, Sheffield, Nottingham and Keele. I don't know if they are still too close to you either, as ds doesn't want to be too far away

A friend's son visited York and Southampton a couple of weeks ago, looking at maths for 2025. He didn't like York, loved Southampton. Definitely worth a look.

However if he does prefer Loughborough as the other posters have said, nothing stops him from having the live out experience.

He can always live in for the first year? Where does Loughborough sit in the league tables?

If the 'vibe' in question was sportiness (awaiting more input from OP!) then the obvious campus choices which ask for similar grades to Loughborough are Bath and Birmingham which are also both very good for maths. Nottingham also quite similar and maybe a comfortable distance from home , eg you are 25 mins form Loughborough. Birmingham would also be a comfortable distance and has excellent transport links.

polaroid, Loughborough v high in league tables.

Both Loughborough and York are campus universities. Does he know what it was he loved about Loughborough but hated about York? York is quite “concretey” and not very pretty as a university - is he into aesthetics? Loughborough is very sporty.

Southampton, Warwick, Lancaster, Birmingham, Leeds are all campus universities.

We live about 25 mins from Loughborough and DS is there (see my many posts haha) – we never see him; I can safely say he is truly immersed in the uni experience.

He does say he wishes it was a bit further away tbf, but it's handy that I can go and see him play (sporty) and easily pick him up if needed.

Agree with other suggestions of
Bath
Birmingham
Nottingham
Lancaster
Warwick (tho that would require high A level grades for maths and econ - which of course he may be expecting)
All campus unis or pretty much

polaroid, Loughborough v high in league tables

That's good, is that for Maths & Economics too?

Yes, all round big hitter.

We don't know OP's DS's grades, of course.

Leeds isn't a campus!

UEA and Surrey both campus in smallish towns/cities. Would have thought Birmingham was quite different in terms of size of both university and city.

It is but it's very very campus focused and very attractive. And sporty. If that's the required 'vibe'.

DC has just started Uni 2 days ago. He is about 1hr 15 away. I've been hanging out on the FB groups for parents. The number of kids on there having problems settling in is worrying. I honestly think going to a local uni and living out is a great solution. So they have the choice to pop back if needed. I wish mine was closer, so does he but he hated his course at local uni.

We seem to have this thing in this country that kids must move out at 18/19 to be independent. I have family in European cities and people there tend to go to the nearest Uni they can and either stay home or with family.

Often people do still describe leeds as a campus. I guess everywhere is technically a campus if it has a cluster of buildings together. It isn't what I would describe as a campus since it has nothing separating it from other buildings/houses etc in the city.