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?

Indeed. Went to an open day recently and loved the feel of the place. Didn't feel rushed or overwhelmed with people. Subject talks and events (and lunch) were delivered perfectly to time over both campuses.

We loved York and really liked the slightly more expensive accommodation but then we had visited Bath where the accommodation is on the whole much grimmer and more expensive.
We did notice that some of Lancaster's shiny new buildings are just skin deep, some seem like shells over old ones.
And we liked the ducks and geese - but I went to Birmingham which also has geese

@Trebs @sw10krg

Agree we loved York. East campus was so spacious feeling. My dd course would be based there as well as the halls. She loved the feeling of nature - we saw a wild rabbit hop across in front of us.

Student reps were all friendly - very organised.

Durham in contrast last weekend just felt a little more unwelcoming, we could not view the actual rooms in the halls we went to and there was no mention of that on the open day guide. Having got up at 4am we were too tired to try and find a halls that had rooms open- the guide couldn't tell us if any did.

@ineedteanownotlater

My DD didn't love West campus, east is completely different.

Weirdly my DS hated East campus at York. On the open day it was virtually empty of people with no "buzz" and we wandered around searching for signs of life. His least favourite so far. Which was a shame as we both love York town.

I actually can't recall anything about the department we visited either, whereas there is something I recall from every other uni.

Lancaster is coming out tops for him so far - again a surprise as it felt a bit like a giant boarding school to me (I went to one!).

Are offer holder days held during normal term time? DDs planning on going to these to get a better feel for the unis in a 'normal' day. ( assuming she gets any offers..)

Economics and maths at Lancaster requires AAB, so is possible? My eldest DC had friends that did economics at Lancaster, they both enjoyed it there and are now working in London (one went on to do a Masters).

Yes In our experience; ones DD went to were in February, tho on a Saturday as far as I recall, so no students in classes, but students "around". That's true of autumn open days too tho surely.

@clary- thanks. Yes, I suppose it must be true of Autumn days as well but we went to them all in March, June and a couple of weeks ago so students were very thin on the ground!

Reading, Hull and Exeter are all lovely campuses

Lancaster is a bit like a giant boarding school. I think it's because literally everything is there on one large leafy green site so it feels like a very protective environment (and is indeed very safe). They have barbers, hairdressers, beauty salon, restaurants, coffee shops, nine bars, noodle bars, burger bar, greggs (busiest in the country!), costa, starbuck, pizza place, chinese, indian, various supermarkets, doctors surgery, car garage and petrol station, post office, nursery, recycling/second hand shop etc etc all on campus.

I go to many, many universities in connection with work and have also been dragged round various open days for various children. Lancaster has the best general facilities out of any I've been to.

Yes, Lancaster's vibe is very much 'Hogwarts but built in the 1970s'. I really liked it (and certainly would have made my life a lot easier for DS not to be so far away, although I also really like Aberdeen, which is even further).

@Piggywaspushed i agree entirely with the east campus accommodation being fab!

I’ve heard differing reports on subjects at York - very positive things about Chemistry and PPE but Biology failed to impress at all. So I’d agree most people love the uni and the city but much depends on the course.