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).

Lots of great replies and comments from everyone. I’ve got a replying and commenting to do. I will do my best to read through it all over the next few hours so apologies, replies and comments might be a bit sporadic.

I always like your posts here.

They always have a good balance between recognising some unis are more prestigious than others (and will confer a benefit accordingly) without suggesting that going to less exalted unis is a waste of time!

Bit off topic slightly but I’ll start with the easiest - the trips. Yeah, it’s a strange one which we are very fortunate to have. Some of the trips are run by the school and they are on school days. I think school (during the week) took Y12 to Newcastle for one and to Cumbria for the other (and DS went on the Oxbridge one which was just for those interested in Oxbridge).

The others are run by one of the school governors who owns a bus/coach company. The story goes that about 10-15 years ago they had kids in the school who were looking at unis and then offered it out to anyone else who wanted to go for the day so they parked a bus outside of school, told everyone what time to be on it if they were interested in going to X university and charged everyone £5 to go. It proved to be quite popular so school naturally encouraged this and over the years they have developed some sort of agreement. Now this governor arranges for day trips to unis in northern England and southern/central Scotland where there are weekend dates. It’s open to Y12 and Y13. Not sure how it’s done but the school gives out the dates that the trip will run, the 6formers sign up with the school, parents sign a form and everyone pays £5-10 depending on where they are going. They turn up to school at 7am and go to the uni for the day. They’ve taken 70 odd kids on most days. Usually a couple of governors and a teacher goes as well but they just let them loose for the day in small groups. I can’t fault it. It’s really good.

@poetryandwine thank you for the information about insurance being 2 grades less, that’s useful to know - I didn’t know that, just knew it should be less. We can also certainly dig into why he likes Lincoln. I too think it’s important that he goes somewhere he is happy, but I also think it’s a strange one for him to include.

@TizerorFizz - “For 2 “easier” choices, look at clearing. That will indicate what higher ranked universities have spaces and will be likely to offer next year.”
This is spot on, I think someone else has mentioned something similar earlier on, but this is a really good point that will probably help a lot.

There was something about funding for undergrad masters. It’s worth mentioning that everything he is looking at is MChem/MSci or Msomething-or-other.

@boys3 interesting you mention Keele. That has come up in conversation with DS earlier today when I came in from work. I will make a note to do some asking about that.

@theysayimthespitofyou good luck to your DC and I’ll have my fingers crossed on Thursday that they are heading for Durham.

Theres some other really important and interesting comment made from various people - I will get round to thinking about those I just need to let them go around my head a little bit first. I am likely to come back asking questions.

When dc have views about a university it’s somewhat narrow because they are only 17. They are not considering everything. It’s up to advising adults to fill in the gaps.

I 100% agree with this, but it is extremely hard trying to give advice when you haven’t got a clue yourself. I have a general idea of good and bad universities and have the ability to read and ask questions on places like mumsnet, so I know what he should be aiming for. But in reality, some of us just don’t have a clue how to advise our children with things like this. DS will be the first in the family ever to go to university and I want to suport him the best I can and that does include helping him make the best decision for him even if I have to spend all night on Google, university websites, reading up on how university works and asking questions on mumsnet. I am taking on board all comments and advice posted here. It is extremely helpful and informative.

Having been to a Lincoln open day I can see its appeal because it comes across more like a cosy 6th form college. All buildings look low key and are very close to each other. The waterfront setting is beautiful and calming and it's just a side step to the small but pretty city centre. But agree it's not going to be full of students with the top A level grades outside of their medicine degree (which doesn't matter for many who go there)

I was at St Andrews and disagree that it's "full of privately educated students." I was grammar school educated as were most of my uni friends. The others were either privately educated or students from oversees (mostly from America.)
Unfortunately, I'm not able to comment on your son's subjects as I was in a different faculty.
St.A. though is a tiny, quirky city with ancient architecture, ancient traditions, a lovely beach and some great places to eat and drink. Also, when the Open Championship is on - the next one is July 2027 - there's a real buzz to the place and you see professional golfers and famous people walking about, (I worked in bars and restaurants during the summer.)

definitely. Dd chose the integrated masters at Bath for this very reason.

Just wondering if he had considered York? Chemistry has historically been strong, they do MChem with a year in industry. Similar, smallish historical city to Lincoln but higher entry requirements for the course which should reassure him re content. Student satisfaction for York is good, school of Nat Sci placed 5th in UK and 2nd in Russel Group in 2024.

Someone may have already mentioned this but the problem with the lower ranked unis such as Lincoln is that it can be harder to secure a place on top grad schemes or competitive MSc programmes with a degree from them compared to a RG or higher ranked uni. They may get gold TEF but it’s usually because they are less well ranked for research and they have to put everything into their teaching to stay afloat. It can give students a good experience (in some ways, not all) but then it can come at the cost of having a degree from a less than prestigious institution. Not all employers will care about that but some will, particularly if he ends up going into something more general like finance.

Lincoln is very out of keeping with the rest of the group. If he gets near his predictions he would be unlikely to pick Lincoln surely Which makes it a pointless choice

Footnote: I've just read the "in the middle of nowhere" comment. Bloody hell!
I travelled to/from St Andrews from Yorkshire by train, getting a taxi to/from Leuchars station which is just 5 miles away. It's hardly remote. 😂

Re Lancaster chemistry being not very highly ranked, I’m pretty sure that at some point in its history it closed and then reopened in 2012. Maybe that’s affected its research/career progression for its academics in some way?

Pity, because it’s a nice place if you don’t like large cities and presumably not a vast distance from your home, op.

Keele are in clearing for MChem with 'at least 2 A Levels including A Level Chemistry at grade D and above', so not sure that moves you on from Lincoln really. As a place it might suit though.

I agree with this - my dd is going into her 3rd year and paid £150 pw last year in the viaduct.

Shes state educated and at a Bailey college and loves it . Yes there are some people (a minority ) in the college you would guess which fulfil the old stereotype but Durham is working hard to change this.

dd has not encountered any town v gown animosity.

The gulf between Cambridge/St Andrews and Lincoln is huge! Their typical offer is BCC at A Level. Sounds like it would be a completely wasted choice for him.

I meant to add I wouldn’t waste a choice on Lincoln. If he ends up doing much worse then expected he’ll still be able to get a decent place in clearing or he could defer a year and retake.

I would look at course quality/standings first then location second. If he likes small city vibe like St Andrews has he looked at York or Bath?

Also I've never heard of anyone going to Lincoln for chemistry (I'm sure they do but I'm in that field at a top uni and not come across it)

Haven’t quite processed everything yet (Mondays are notoriously busy days) I just wanted to provide a quick update.

• DS has decided to come on a day trip with me to Durham on Wednesday. We will explore the city just see whether his opinion changes without the pressure of a uni open day.
• He hadn’t considered Bath. Bath is currently being considered, he’s having a read about the course and the city. Don’t know whether that’ll lead anywhere but we shall see.
• York was considered. He crossed it off. When I asked him why he replied with “I can’t remember, I think it was when I was looking at Chemical Physics and then I forgot about it, but I do remember you took me, it was a good day, I liked the city”. So I said it might be good to take another quick look to see what he thinks now his subject choice is a bit clearer (in the hope that he might consider it again). Also, chemical physics has been completely ruled out as a subject.
• I asked why he’s interested in Lincoln. I didn’t get a straight answer out of him so I left it, we will revisit this at some point.

@MouldyFridge Has he got friends going to Lincoln? If he cannot articulate how great it is my guess is that it’s driven by some other reason he’s not happy to disclose. I’d be bigging up everywhere else!

OP do you wonder if he’s feeling a bit of pressure (from himself, from school, elsewhere?) to get these pretty high grades? And he’s - either consciously or unconsciously- feeling interest in Lincoln because he knows it’s way below the others and would be an almost guaranteed safety net? If you think that might be the case then I’d encourage him to look at all the places in clearing this week and reassure him that middle ranked chemistry departments up and down the country will have a number of places available in clearing as it is a chronically under-recruiting subject. I think he should choose somewhere around AAA or AAA* for first choice then maybe AAB or ABB second. If he gets lower then he can go into clearing.

I’m not sure why you’d bother going back to Durham if he didn’t like it there and is trying to eliminate places? Surely it’s a win to cross one off? There’s no point including somewhere that he wouldn’t want to live. Cambridge, St Andrews, Lancaster, Loughborough make a good foursome. I’d look at Bath, Sheffield, Nottingham, maybe Cardiff for no.5. Or apply for both courses at either Lancaster or Loughborough.

I would imagine Chemistry degrees get hit by the increasing numbers becoming doctors and maybe dc looking for more vocational courses? There’s only so many getting high grades at Chemistry.

I actually would go back to Durham. Some dc get fixated on one silly half irrelevant thing (my DD did!) and then don’t make a rational judgement. You see it on MN all the time. One little thing that happens on open day and they dismiss a whole university. These young people are not fully formed adults and having another look makes sense - it’s a city not dissimilar to Lincoln in many ways.

I think it makes sense to go and see Durham again since he likes the course and the idea of the college system. If something about the city itself was off putting to him he might have a better experience seeing it again. Liking the course is very important.

I'm also surprised York isn't in his list. I thought it was high up the league tables for chemistry and also is a smaller historic city, and a university that has a reputation for being supportive and student centric like Loughborough, Lancaster etc...