Nottingham University - what is going on with the League tables?

[BobtheFrog]

Like a few others in this forum, my young adult has just finished their Year 13 mocks and didn't get the grades they had hoped for. Firm and Insurance choices remain unchanged but we have been considering some more modest alternatives

• digging around was surprised with Nottingham data, it had the biggest drop in applications in 2024 of any uni (-3600) is sitting around 60 with the Guardian and even #30ish with CUG and Times. Not long ago I would have expected mid 20s

Anyone know what's going on?

My DC are great cooks but for the first year it was a nice way to be social. There was always a vegetarian option and the food was fine. Not having to cook freed up a lot of time for them. My younger DC is at a university with no catered halls and as i say he’s a great cook, but with so much else going on in the first year I think it would be nice not to have shopping and cooking to think about. There’s plenty of time for that in the following years.

The pantries are not big enough to be a social space.

Having to be back at halls for certain times for meals is such a faff. DD had a couple of friends in catered at her university and they had to dash off after late lectures to get back in time to eat.

Also, cooking is her "thing". She would far rather cook with friends than go out clubbing. Eating food that is "fine" is OK for people who just want to refuel before going out, but DD preferred to make an evening of eating excellent food with the friends she had made on her course and in her flat.

But they’re not a private space either.

Not entirely sure why we’ve ended up engaging like this. It really doesn’t matter. 🤷‍♀️ Dd wanted a toaster and some kitchen bits for her room, that’s absolutely fine. I don’t have to explain why. I’m just saying she didn’t enjoy the catered hall and wish she had gone self catered for many reasons.

If it's anything like the pantry in my college, 30 years ago, said toaster would quickly have become a health hazard as others tried to use it for cheese on toast, egg on toast etc etc - without ever thinking to clean it afterwards

When DS was in A-levels Nottingham was a very popular choice for UG because the "campus is nice" and there's a good social life.

DS did his masters at Nottingham and didn't enjoy it at all. After a while, the clubbing got a bit boring and he found it lacking academically. After speaking to UGs and people on his course who had done their UG at Nottingham, teaching and resources is more directed towards the undergraduate. DS found his teaching very bad and unstructured.

I was just answering your post about your DD needing to have a toaster in her room which you thought she wasn’t allowed. I wondered why she had to do this when there is a pantry. You’ve explained it now.

It's interesting because ds is looking at Sheffield and I wish they did have a catered option!

It is a shame if the dreadful events on Ilkeston Road have impacted on applications.

Nottingham was the right place for me. An academic cohort but a good social scene as well. When I would walk onto campus from West Entrance there was a sign that referred to Nottingham being a top 75 university according to some international league table. That is good enough for me. Personally, I think that is better to be among the top students at somewhere like Nottingham than in the bottom quartile of a cohort at Oxbridge. Nottingham was somewhere I could excel academically.

I also had a real sense of belonging that I am not sure it is possible to replicate at a non-campus university.

DD is in her 2nd year at UoN and loves it. The course, the societies, the campus, (though she avoided halls), the sports facilities, the city, the night life. It's a great city to be a student in.

As for drugs, if a student wants to do them, they can find them anywhere. DD and her friends aren't interested.

@RampantIvy :

"catering at Nottingham isn't great..... to eat mass produced, unimaginative indifferent food".

I ate at Rutland a few times when visiting ds1 and I thought the food was fine.

My DN is at NTU and loves Nottingham . UoN is resting in its Laurels a bit but stunning campus and great sporting favourites

I ate at Rutland a few times when visiting ds1 and I thought the food was fine.

Fine or excellent?
What were the vegetarian options?

DD in Yr 2 at Nottingham. I think the cost might be an issue - as all the halls on campus are catered, it makes it expensive (on that debate, DD wasn't overly impressed by the food in catered halls but even then, would recommend catered every time because of how social it is).

The campus is gorgeous, DD enjoying it, hasn't ever felt unsafe. But the city centre is pretty grim. Having said that, my (17 yr old) DS was propositioned by a very drunk / high prostitute on an open day at Leeds looking around Hyde Park, so there are very rough parts of most city centres!!

@Africa2go What's wrong with the city centre? My DS found it fine.

DD got an offer last year. The offer holder day was the worst event we've ever been to. Disorganised, boring talks, unhelpful volunteers, disinterested staff. They just didn't seem bothered whether we chose them or not.

I think it's run down, dirty - like I say, not dissimilar from other major city centres but Manchester / Leeds say have really some quite cosmopolitan parts of the city centre - haven't seen that in Notts.

And this is relevant how?

Dd applied for a place at Broadgate Park in first year - self-catering halls, across the road from campus. A five-minute walk. They worked well for her.

She has had a good experience at UoN. Problems with not getting her first choice modules, but maybe that happens everywhere.

She is living in a town centre flat with her bf for third year, and is loving that.

My DS found it small, but found the student clubs very fun

My understanding of UoN is that's it's party university and good social life. When DS met the UGs there they said they chose the university because of the social life.

@AndySamberg students say this at loads of unis. However ones turning up for open days to help are usually decent people. Also what is wrong with a social life? They are not 68, they are 18? It’s so boring to expect students to all be nose to the grindstone and only have a wholesome game of rounders or tiddlywinks. Life is for living.

DD's close friends went to Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester (Uni of and ManMet) and they're all happy with their choices.

They're hardworking, sociable young women who would make a go of wherever they went. You can go clubbing and play board games or do neither - it's what you choose to make it.

I think what you think of a city is all relative to where you come from. We come from possibly the most boring and run down market town in the UK (I know there will be competition for this title!). When DS1 went to an Open Day at NTU his eyes lit up just at the sight of bustle and Pizza Expresses and pubs. It was like the Land of Oz to him. If you come from somewhere in itself lovely to live or another city you are going to be more fussy and competitive about it. I did my PGCE at Nottingham and was impressed in fact by how much the centre has been cleaned up and improved since the 90s.

FWIW I agree with tizer that students should absolutely be allowed to want to have fun and also that any uni can be whatever people want it to be. However, it is definitely true that the Nottingham Unis (most specifically NTU actually) have a paaaaarty reputation - this partying was abundantly clear at the Open Day where students were already bedecked in their fancy dress at midday. Many ex students of mine have given one of their reasons for selecting NTU as the party scene : but it's not the only reasons (usually). They sometimes even select the accommodation that is directly above the nightclub! Likewise some unis have 'quiet' reputations on MN (wholly unearned in the case of a couple!) and some people seem to fret about this where others might seek it out.

I think what you think of a city is all relative to where you come from

I agree. We are rural with one train/bus an hour to the nearest town. We looked at a few campus universities (I needed to go with DD because at the time Northern Rail were on strike every Saturday, so I drove).

DD disliked the campus universities as they felt so isolated. She also disliked Manchester because it felt too big and settled on a smaller city university that she loved. It has a party reputation, but partying is always optional.