Help us narrow this down please. (Uni choices).

[MouldyFridge]

DS needs to narrow the short list down to 5 courses. (Currently has 8 from 6 unis).
Looking for experiences of the courses or the places (or anything really) that can help narrow this down.

Cambridge and St Andrews are definitely going down.
He likes Lancaster but can’t decide between the courses.
He likes Loughborough but can’t decide between the courses.
He likes Lincoln but not sure on the course.
He likes the sound of the course Durham but wasn’t so keen on Durham itself.

Cambridge - NatSci
St Andrews - Chemistry and Physics
Lancaster - NatSci or Chemistry
Loughborough - NatSci or Chemistry
Lincoln - Chemistry
Durham - Chemistry and Physics

Some context:
We are from a rural part of the North West (don’t know whether that makes a difference).
He’s at a state school (always has been).
Predicted grades A stars and As in Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Further Maths + EPQ.
GCSEs - 8x9s, 1x8 and 1x7. (8 and 7 were English Lang and lit).
He has a ton of work experience and career wise thinking something so do with energetics/energetic chemistry
He is out of year (should have left now but only going in Y13) because of issues earlier in secondary school (he re-did Y9 when he started a new school).

What does he want to do for a career? Does he think he would like to study beyond a degree?

I struggle with Lincoln and Cambridge / St A being on the same student's ucas form. I know a very safe choice is advised, but unless Lincoln is something special for Chemistry, it's further down than is necessary.

Durham and St Andrews are full of privately educated students. Both very small cities (more like towns). Durham has major issues with housing these days.....it's basically a university theme park and the town v gown sentiment I think has got worse because of this, but it's a beautiful city and good links train wise.

Durham is a college system so he should look at that and consider it that's for him.

Cambridge will be a choice outside of UCAS and he needs to swot up on the application system. There is likely an entrance test too for science but it's not my subject, so don't quote me!

Can't speak for Loughborough exactly. Good university on a campus...small town which is unremarkable.

Has he done visits?

If he is struggling to decide between courses at Lancaster and Loughborough, why doesn't he try and arrange a call with the course leader?

He's got plenty of time. The autumn semester will be key recruitment time for unis (apart from Cambridge who usually have an early October deadline).

DD really liked Lancaster, they were so nice and helpful as she wasn't originally doing the correct A Levels for her chosen course and on Open Day the Head of Dept spent time talking to her and gave her really good advice.
When she properly applied a year later (having taken his advice) he remembered her and came to speak to her on Offer Holders Day. Everyone we met there was so kind and helpful (stark contrast to Bristol)
Ultimately she decided on another Uni but only because one of the course Tutors there is well known in a field she wants to specialise in.
It wasn't NatSci she was going to do but very similar.

Visits have been done to all places mentioned and questions about courses ect asked. (This is the very short list, the original one had about lot more on it!)

He likes all of the towns/cities with the exception of Durham, but was drawn to the course and the college system.

He just can’t decide with a couple of the courses - I think it’s a good shout from a PP that he needs to contact them again and discuss. I will get him to do that.

He’s in the Oxbridge support track at school so has good support for the Cambridge application. School are on the ball keeping him right with entering for tests he needs to do, personal statements etc. I’m not worried about that. He volunteered himself for the Oxbridge support track with no influence from home. He wants to give it a go so I’m happy to let him.

I also think Lincoln is a strange one to include as I personally think Lancaster would be a good safe choice. (But im not the one who has to survive 3/4 years there). And he really did like Lincoln, the stats for student satisfaction and support are high and the content wasn’t too different from anywhere else. I think the main concern from his point of view is because they have lower entry requirements, does that mean the course is worse/he won’t learn as much.

I can’t comment on the courses but I can recommend Loughborough uni. My son went there and loved it. The campus is just like a small town and has shops/nightclub, shuttle bus around the campus and into the actual town etc. Loughborough town is ok.

Excellent sport facilities, although I know that’s not what your son is after but they have a great STEM facility from what I’ve heard.
They do tours (can’t remember when) and offer all different types of accommodation. Hope that helps 🙂

Lincoln is in clearing this year for BSC chemistry at 48 UCAS points. If he really decides he wants to go there he will have no problem picking up a place in clearing next year I reckon.

This is helpful to know. I have mentioned it to him and he’s taken to Google and his note books to have a think.

To me, it depends how much maths he wants to do. I’d advise keeping it up to a large degree because of the AI revolution coming. The combination of excellent maths and science will be a great one. I admit I’m biased on this point so feel free to disregard it.

The easy ones: I’d ignore Lincs and Lancaster with that profile. The former is easily available in clearing, the latter is better for humanities according to my young relative studying there with 3B level results.

To me the Scottish universities are problematic for students who want maths to be included as further maths is significantly ahead of Scottish Highers and the first year content is just about level setting to basic maths level. But if he’s not into keeping maths going, then fair enough.

The good Nat science courses anywhere offer a lot of maths which is I think a great option for your son.

Durham is not the private school haven that people say it is, at least not for maths, sciences or computer science and the colleges other than castle and Hatfield are a real mix. The college system means it offers a real community from the off. So I’d probe why he didn’t like it a bit more.

So I’d recommend in order:
Cambridge - NatSci (with the maths modules)
Durham - NatSci (with the maths modules)
St Andrews - Chemistry and Physics
Loughborough - NatSci or Chemistry

I think in general he’s quite keen on the small city vibe. He discounted a lot of the bigger cities early on after a visit.

Great to hear positive things/ experience about Lancaster and Loughborough.

The issues mentioned above with Durham are some of his concerns, I’m slightly saddened to hear them from someone else as I was hoping that was just his thinking and not something that was actually happening. I think this needs some more digging into as he did like the course.

I would discount Lincoln straight away. There’s no point going somewhere for three years and studying a course you’re not keen on. I would perhaps revisit Durham again to see if a second visit improves his impression of the place. If not, discount it. AgainNo point living somewhere you don’t want to be.

I truly must disagree with the comments above about St Andrews and Durham being “full” of private school kids.

Oxbridge and Durham still offer a lot of humanities - including the ones that are less frequently chosen by state school kids like Classics, niche variants of History and languages. This is why private schools can seem to have such high acceptance rates to some Oxbridge courses - how many schools offer classics as an A level? The entry grades reflect the fact that 50% applicants get an offer.

But in the STEM type subjects, it’s predominantly state school kids.

Our background is truly mixed so I’m not pushing any agenda.

Definitely drop Lincoln. The content may appear similar but I’d guess given their entry requirement it will not be anywhere near as rigorous as the others.

Remember this time next year he will only be able to hold two - other than Cam he will get offers from everywhere. So did he have any definite choices?

Ignoring Cambridge for now as that’s extremely unpredictable.

Andrews is the clear favourite - for the town, university and the course. Pretty much for everything which is why it’s the only one (apart from Cambridge) which is definitely going on the UCAS form.

Course wise his preference is
St Andrews
Durham
Lancaster/Loughborough*
Lincoln

*he really can’t figure this out at the minute

Location preference
St Andrews
Lancaster
Lincoln
Loughborough
Durham

It's a few years since mine were at uni but I might be able to add something useful.
DS2 had a very long shortlist. Having decided on a list of places he would be happy to go to I did a blind analysis of the courses. Contents, options etc. He chose again from that list and surprisingly found that one he had been hesitant about came to the top.

The second thing is offer days. This is a second chance to decide after you've put your five choices in. DS1 got 5 offers for maths including Cambridge and Durham. The offer day for Durham was an overnight stay (might be different now). He wanted to put that as his insurance as the offer was lower than Warwick. We live in rural Yorkshire and he went to a village school and bog standard comp. He hated Durham with a passion because of the private school vibe. Your DS might love it, that offer day is important.

Agree no point having Lincoln on that list and with those likely predictions. If he wants a good science uni in a nice smaller city (with a much cosier feel than the likes of Leeds and Manchester for example) and with sky-high student satisfaction, has he considered Sheffield? Excellent accommodation, excellent student union, beautiful countryside 20mins away, highest no of students staying in area after graduation they love it so much.

I would certainly remove Lincoln from your list – from his PGs he won’t need an insurance at that level.

Loughborough might make a better insurance based on DS who is studying science there (not chem tho) – his offer was AAB which would be a good insurance level for your DS.

If he wasn't keen on Durham itself then that might give pause; it’s a very specific sort of place and not for everyone.

L'boro is a uni I really rate and students seem to like it (they never want to leave if the ones I know are anything to go by!) but it is a small town with not much going on. That said, none of his choices are exactly bustling metropolises (Lancaster, Durham, St A) so that is clearly not what he is looking for, which is fine ofc.

In terms of which course at specific unis, yes I suggest a call with the course leaders or something specific like that. Has he spoken to depts at open days? That really helped DD decide.

Is £££ a factor at all? It might be worth thinking about how much accomm will cost (it might not be an issue for you of course). Lboro as a PP says has a range of accomm on campus, and private houses are OK (DS paying £550 pm inc bills next year). I believe Durham and St A can cost a lot more (no personal exp tho). I think Lancaster is said to be good for accomm but again no personal exp.

So if he gets a Cam offer, he’ll firm that with St A as insurance. If he doesn’t get Cam he’ll firm St A, and it looks as if the insurance would be between Lanc and Durham. With Lough also on the list. I wouldn’t sweat it at this point. If he gets C and St A great, if he gets St A he can visit again at offer holder days.

DS has loved his first year at Durham studying maths and physics. Excellent teaching, good social life, great opportunities for college sport and music. He's a state school pupil and he had no problem sorting out accommodation for next year. I think the poster above may be a bit out of date.

The Durham offer would probably be 2xAstar, 1xA (DS offer for physics this year) so not really an insurance level offer. Important to have a lower insurance offer, I’d have thought, unless you’re just relying on universities being desperate for bums on seats and accepting lower grades.

Deadline for Cambridge is early, you can apply for then with just 2 or 3 choices and add extra down the line if Cambridge is rejected tailoring to where in the grade spectrum he’s feeling. Loughborough is a small town and very campus oriented consequently (though bus or short train to Leicester for full city services, shops and rather excellent food) by Loughborough consequently is a bit marmite, Lancaster too suits those who prefer a smaller setting living wise, again know someone who loved it and another who wished they had gone elsewhere. Durham is full of those who didn’t make Cambridge in my personal experience (see also Exeter and Bath)

I would give at least equal waiting to the place as the course - a great course is pointless if you hate where you are living. If he didn't like Durham, drop it. If Lincoln is so far down the league tables, drop it. Pick another sound RG uni instead that offers a typical AAB enntry point. Once he gets his offers, he has to decide to go for one first choice and a back up. Lancaster might be a good back up - good rep but not on same level as St A's or Camb. -so hopefully at that typical RG offer point.

My son is also a physics/maths/chemistry student. Currently waiting for his A-level results! He ended up applying to Cambridge (firm), Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, and Nottingham (insurance). I know this doesn't help narrow down choices, but has your DS looked at the Nottingham NatSci course?

St Andrews will be very different course to the others.
Scottish unis do 4 years as standard (unless he gets accepted into 2nd year) and first year is more like
doing Alevels again with several subjects taken from
across the faculty. Good if you’re not sure what you want to specialise in but less so if you just want to get on with your chosen subject. He could also find the curriculum doesn’t build on Alevels in quite the same way that an English uni would. Also bear in mind that his Scottish counterparts won’t be paying their tuition fees so could seem better off! it’s also bloody miles from anywhere!!
what didn’t he like about Durham city! as students I don’t think we had much to do with the city as most socialising was focused around college life.
Lincoln isn’t in the same league as his other options.