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Higher education

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Original poster

Best university for a chemistry degree?

32 replies

3littlefrogs · 04/05/2008 15:16

Ds2 has decided he won't "fit in" at Oxford or Cambridge. Where should he look at next? We know a couple of people with connections at Imperial college, who have said he would have no problem gtting in there, but he wants to go away from home for his degree(we live in London). He would be very happy to come back home for post graduate studies.

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Blandmum · 04/05/2008 15:21

Just out of interest, why does he think he wouldn't fit in?

And the answer to the question is 'what sort of chemistry, and chemistry degree is he interested in?'

Good to have a shufti at the Russell Group Unis to start

wayfarerror · 04/05/2008 15:24

Has he been to visit any?

Agree re Russell Group.

Lilymaid · 04/05/2008 15:26

Times list for Chemistry. Your DS should also consider where he would like to live for 3 years - large city/smaller town, campus university/city institution. He should also reconsider Oxford and Cambridge - has he visited and seen what they are like?

MrsMattie · 04/05/2008 15:27

One of my greatest regrets is not applying for Oxford because I thought I wouldn't fit in.

CombustibleLemon · 04/05/2008 15:37

Try to get him to have a look at St. Catherine's, Oxford.

Blandmum · 04/05/2008 15:39

because there are lot of stateschool kids who go to Oxbridge. My dad worked in a factory (and was the union rep! and mum worked in a sweet shop. I went to a state comp. I met dh there, another state comp graduate, and his mother was a single parent.

Lots of my mates came from stste schools, from all sorts of places.

If it really isn't for him, then it isn't, and there are other fantastic places to go and great degrees to get, but I'd hate him to think that Oxbridge is all 'Brideshead Revisited' because it isn't

yurt1 · 04/05/2008 15:40

If he's worried about fitting in get him to look at the colleges on the outskirts or those that are newer (i.e. since 1900 ). Perhaps get him to go and stay overnight at an open day.

Some of the top tier universities can be as public schooly as Oxbridge.

yurt1 · 04/05/2008 15:40

And yes agree with MB.

CombustibleLemon · 04/05/2008 15:40

Link here.

Indith · 04/05/2008 15:49

Not the end of the world if he doesn't want to go to Oxbridge though is it Plenty of other great universities. From the list Lily linked to, I am at Durham, if he isn't keen on Oxbridge then he may be a bit about us but it is different. The academic side of things it separate from the college side so you mix as a whole university and are as involved in your college (or not) as you want to be. The newer colleges or Hill colleges are bigger and less "old boy-ish" and the newest college, Josephine Butler is even self catering .

Had friends at York, Nottingham, Leeds, Manchester, Loughborough, Newcastle, Northumbria, Edinburgh. All had a great time at uni. I'm from Hull and the students seem to think it is a good place to live as a university city.

The main thing is just to visit places, as long as the course is decently rated then it doesn't matter, what he should be looking for is somewhere he wants to live for 3 or 4 years.

Original poster
3littlefrogs · 04/05/2008 15:51

Hello Mb. I posted on this a while back. He has been to a couple of open days, and I think he just thinks that the other students will be different from him - I suspect he means posh, rich etc. I don't want to fight with him. He is predicted straight As. His chemistry teacher says he is "very talented" and a pleasure to teach.

I think he would be interested in industrial chemistry rather than pharmacy IYSWIM. I know nothing BTW, and didn't go to university. He writes very well and is very interested in philosophy and ethics as well as science.

OP posts:
Original poster
3littlefrogs · 04/05/2008 15:53

sorry - wasn't ignoring everybody else BTW. i have just come back to this after doing the washing up .

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Blandmum · 04/05/2008 15:56

The thing is, no matter where he goes he'll find people who are different to him, and that is one of the great joys of any university life....it shkes you out of the ideads that you have just accepted for years as you grew up!

Fully agree that there are other fantastic places to go, but Oxbridge really isn;'t simply for the rich, otherwise I'd have never got in

Indith · 04/05/2008 15:59

Very true MB!

The ideals that is, not your getting in.

Blandmum · 04/05/2008 16:01

I must have filled the college 'Guttersnipe' quota for many a year

Indith · 04/05/2008 16:08

I love looking at the admissions lists they publish in the magazine each year. You can play "guess that year's target" state school? I was state 6th form and there were several of us from the Hull area my fresher year. Black? You don't get many around here, they stand out. Local? Yup this year a lot of the freshers are local.

Oh god I'm being so unfair and making it seem terrible. Tis very nice really!

Rather more amusing is when the Master goes up to the orchestra and asks what instruments they need for the coming year as he admissions to do.

yoyo · 04/05/2008 16:23

I glanced through a Chemistry prospectus for Oxford the other week and thought how fantastic the course sounds. There have been significant changes since I read Chemistry there and it really does look interesting.

It is rather different because of the College system and I don't think everyone does fit in. I didn't get involved with many things partly through a lack of confidence and also because I was seeing DH at the time so was experiencing lots of other stuff. I wish I had joined the Union/gone to balls/rowed now but at the time it mattered not a jot.

I think he should try and visit as many as possible and he will know how he feels about each place fairly quickly. I visited Bath and Sussex when I was applying and liked both very much even though they were very different places. What interests does he have?

2fedup · 04/05/2008 16:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
3littlefrogs · 04/05/2008 17:02

Just come back to look at this again. Yoyo, he is musical (piano and keyboard), favourite activities: rugby, squash, tennis, basketball, cycling and martial arts. Sports are very important to him. He is very laid back, friendly and sociable. I think he would fit in anywhere, but he is at that age where he thinks I know nothing, so I am trying to be supportive, but encourage him to make his own choices.

I just feel sorry that he is not keen on Oxbridge, because I think it would suit him very well.

He absolutely loves chemistry.

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popsycal · 04/05/2008 17:03

I know nothing about chemistry degrees but wanted to pick up on his worries about oxbridge.

I was offered a place at Cambridge to read English. I come from a very working class background, went to a rough comprehensive school (on my first day there, our form teacher said 'such and such will not be here for 6 more weeks until he is finished at borstal'....that pretty much sets the scene), was the first person in my extended family to get qualifications at all, much less even contemplate university!

I was unsure about Cambridge and took a year off and defered my place and worked for a year on a pre-university scheme. Met great people, had fun, travelled, etc. Most of them had places at Oxford or Cambridge.

I ended up NOT going to Cambridge but not because I chose to. A family situation dictated that I felt I needed to be nearer home.

I still had a great time at uni and did very well (

Ellbell · 04/05/2008 17:17

Was going to say Imperial... but have just seen that he doesn't want to be in London. I posted a link to the most recent 'Good University Guide' in a thread called something like 'FAO Milliways and anyone else applying to University' the other day... there's a link there.

Original poster
3littlefrogs · 04/05/2008 17:19

Thank you all for the advice. I think he might well take a gap year and travel and work. He is one of the youngest in his year, so it might do him good. Is it an advantage or disadvantage to take a gap year?

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popsycal · 04/05/2008 17:21

I loved it. I needed it to be honest, Helped me grow up.

mumeeee · 04/05/2008 17:39

hi 3littlefrogs D1 is just finishing her final year at Cardiff and has really enjoyed it.
When she first started she found she was sharing halls with students from a variety of backgrounds and very differnt personalities from her, She thought she wouldn't make friends with anyone. But she did and her 2 best friends are two of those people who she didn't think she'e get on with.
It is the same in all universities.
DD2 18 didn't get into her first choice universities this year,so she has now decided to take a gap year and apply again for September 20009.
She wants to do musical theatre so she is going to try and get a lot more musical theartre experiance over the next year.
One of her downfalls is that she looks very young and the advice given by some of the universities was to take a year out.

wobbegong · 04/05/2008 18:48

I'd recommend he has a look at the results for chemistry on: www.unistats.com/

(including a student satisfaction survey)

and also that he pays close attention to the different kinds of syllabi (sp) as they will differ from uni to uni. Don't necessarily rule out universities on reputation as some of the newer universities may have great industrial links, innovative courses etc. - worth considering each on their merits.