How on Earth do you choose a uni?!

[OuiOuiMonAmi]

It was easy for DD when she went to uni because her subject was quite niche so there were only a handful of unis that offered the course. But DS wants to do Computer Science, so of course every uni in the UK does that. There are SO many and we can't possibly visit them all (especially because we've left it quite late, gulp). We can narrow a few things down (eg. he wants a campus uni) but there are still loads of them... or SHOULD we be visiting all of them somehow?!

Plan was to use a ranking list to see what are the best unis for his subject amongst the ones he's likely to get grades for. But the lists are all so different! One uni can be Top 10 in one list, but then in the 30s in another list. And a uni that is towards the bottom of the list for subjects overall has one of the highest ratings for teaching quality and student satisfaction so how does that happen?! (obviously they take several factors into account with general rankings but I don't understand such a big discrepancy.)

What kind of campus does he want? City centre and spread out or enclosed?

What area of the UK would he like to live in? Central London (way more expensive), Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool? Transport links to home? Near the coast? Landlocked?

What is his budget for accommodation? Tends to be far cheaper to live in northern England than the southern areas.

What hobbies / sports / clubs / societies does he fancy? Look at student unions for societies https://nusu.co.uk/activities/societies/a-z and sports options ie https://nusu.co.uk/activities/clubs/a-z.

University is about so much more than the course. Help narrow it down with other things!

My dd knew that she wanted a campus in or very near a city and wanted it within 4 hours of home.

She started at the top of the rankings and read the course description at each uni. She didn’t study CS but knew that she wanted a general course and not one where you had to specialise early.

Once she added employability rankings and ease of getting home, there was a clear winner. She couldn’t take her car with her so the ability to travel home on her own easily and reasonably quickly was a consideration that helped in the end as she’s not the biggest fan of public transport (hence picking a campus)

I'd look at ones that have plenty of cheap accommodation options and think about where you would be living in years 2 and 3 (availability and price). Also if catered or self catered is a preference. Mine did all her research online then just went to the offer holder days to decide. If it's any help, the ones she chose between were Southampton, Bath, Loughborough, York and Essex. Her criteria apart from campus was accommodation and course content (wanted mostly programming and not too much ethics and law etc).

My cousin went to Heriot Watt (Edinburgh) which is very well regarded for IT and robotics, he is now disgustingly well paid after only graduating a few years ago. Most students live in the city for the nightlife and bus in as it is a campus uni.

Narrow it down by looking at the course details - they're not all the same.
Does it matter if its a collegiate University or campus based.
Finally visit as many as you can and ask, can I see myself living her for 3/4years?

Course content and teaching/learning methods first, surely? I don't know anything about Computer Science, but maybe things like are there any modules which especially appeal, or don't appeal (bearing in mind these can change) will there be a lot of group work, will there be an opportunity to do an extended project in the third year. If there are reading lists, she can find these by Googling, which will give her an idea of the topics covered. Or look at the academic staff who will be teaching the course; their individual pages on the department website should state their interests and publications, if any.

It's daunting a first. Decide on distance from home. Then campus or city. Then look at predicted grades and then a list of those universities where he will be accepted. Then look at the course. You can have 1-2 aspirational, 2-3 on grades and 1 below grade option.

Lots of factors:

campus v town
city v smaller town
course covers what he’s interested in
distance from home
reputation
what uni he’ll get into with his grades

Comp Science is such a broad church these days tbh.
I'd look at what courses are offering.
Town v City, living costs, campus, distance to home.
It must be your sons choice not yours though.
Presume for entry next year rather than this?

There’ll be factors you can use to narrow down the choices.
Desirability of location
Does he want to live there in halls or commute from home?
If he’s commuting, relatively straightforward/quick public transport links will be a factor.
Where are his friends going?
If he’s living there he might want to choose somewhere he’s more likely to get a job if he also wants to or needs to work.

And the obvious stuff like what’s the nightlife like, local amenities, what are other students saying about the university and their experience there?
Does a small or a larger university appeal to him?

Of course, for CS, he might want to also look at degree apprenticeships....

I don't think you can really beat the "feeling" you get when you walk around the university and the surrounding area/town/city.

When our son was looking, he did all the online research, created a spreadsheet table of ratings/rankings, entry requirements, etc., compared the courses/module options for his shortlisted ones, and came down to a very short list of five with one his out and out favourite.

We visited open days for all five, and then went to offer holder days for four of them. At the Open Day, he absolutely hated his first choice - he hated the Uni campus, hated the city, but as it was the first choice, we went back again for the offer holder day "just in case" he saw something different. He didn't, still hated it! He could never really articulate just why he hated it - on paper it ticked all his boxes, but he said he just got the "wrong" feeling throughout.

My DD looked at CUG, The Times and The Guardian SUBJECT league tables. If a uni made the top ten in each it went on a list (she already had three A stars). Then she considered location, course modules, possible year abroad etc. Then we visited a few. Some got rejected immediately even if they looked good on paper (Exeter, Bristol). Some she just didn’t like the look of the campus but applied anyway (Bath). Some she couldn’t visit as too far away so went by the uni’s own and YouTube videos. Two she got into but hadn’t visited she went to offer holder days (Glasgow, Durham, both required overnight stays). She decided on Durham.

DS starts at Uni of Surrey doing Comp Sci in 2 weeks.
We looked at the employment after statistics and ignored the more general stats.
There are huge differences in the content of Comp Sci degrees so that's a really important thing to look at

As did my DS and my nephew. They both achieved firsts in Computer Science.

Check out the employment statistics for new graduates. What I know about Newcastle is that the 'Big Four' firms were sniffing around the students early in first year, forging connections right from the start.

My method was reading the prospectus for every university in the top 50 for several subjects along the line of my degree (there were highlighters, post its, and a filing system involved).

I then visited the top few.

I then applied to some and picked before realising I didn't actual like any of them and spending several months worrying about it.

Finally, I missed my grades and went for the one that had a space in clearing that had a nice feel to it. It was really helpful as it cut the choices right down and there was time pressure.

With hindsight I'd pick a max travel distance then look round as many in the grade boundary as possible. Some you will love and some hate.

you said campus, I would suggest

Cambridge
Imperial (campus is debatable)
Exeter
Loughborough
Leeds

Thanks everyone, lots of great ideas! Yes, I know it's his choice of course, but I'm not sure he really knows how to choose (eg. he says all the courses are basically the same) so I just want to present him with some decent information to help him decide. And yes, this is for 2026.

You or rather he needs to look at several aspects and he may find it narrows down very quickly. It did for my DC and they both did subjects that are widely offered.

Obviously the course is a big factor and he should consider methods of assessment, modules offered, facilities. Also does he want a placement year? Which unis have success with these?

Rankings – look at lots of lists as no one list is "correct" – consider if they are based on employer views or student satisfaction.

PGs - this is a biggie – what is he actually likely to get and where will it take him? If he will get AAA then he probably doesn't need to look at Lincoln or Kent. But if he is more of a BBC kind of student then he might consider Leicester or NTU or Sheffield Hallam or Leeds Beckett or Man Met.

Then consider:

Campus or city-based?
Big city campus (Nottingham) or small town (Aber, lboro)?
Close to home or really not or midway?
A new area he doesn't know or familiar territory?
Sports - is he sporty? Where is big for his sports? (I only know the answer to that for a few sports but it would be easy to find out)
Music? does he play and where has lots of ensembles? Does he like gigs and need to be in or near a big big city?
London???
Scotland? N Ireland?

It seems to me that someone who would enjoy Birmingham or Leeds or Newcastle or Manchester would probably not love it at Warwick or Lboro or Aberystwyth or Lancaster or Bath. If you want to be at uni in London, I doubt if you would enjoy Edge Hill.

<reads thread> I see others have said much the same.

A good further point is accommodation actually. I do bang on about this but uni is becoming more and more £££ and excluding less well off. The threshold for the minimum loan is now so low (as you will be aware @OuiOuiMonAmi ) that just about any family with two parents working will be past it. So I think how much is the accommodation is a good question. Some unis have halls starting from about £100 pw (Leicester, Lboro, Brum) or around £150 (Newcastle, Sheffield) but some have only or mainly catered halls or en-suite rooms that are £££. If this is not a factor of course then happy days.

Lots of great advice on here. Another place that’s really helpful is the facebook page ‘What I wish I knew about university’
They have lots of experienced parents and professionals. They also have a website with loads of information.

www.facebook.com/share/g/1EpNVDWx5U/?mibextid=wwXIfr

What grades is he predicted?
DS chose his on Open Day after he was inspired by one of the lectures he attended. He was down to two at that time.

Did anyone mention using the QS World University Rankings? Enlightening to get a global overview. Be serious about cost of accommodation and cost of travel. And use the staff profiles on each department's web page, to check to see where they went to uni themselves: always interesting!

Sorry, I can't figure out how to only quote part of a message! Can I ask why you say that if you enjoy Birmingham or Leeds, you won't enjoy Warwick etc.?

Birmingham and Leeds are on his list, as well as Warwick and Bath, so I'm curirous. I don't think he will get the grades for Warwick/Bath, but I'm just wondering why you list them as being polar opposites. Thanks!

Some universities are in city centres (Leeds, Manchester et al) and some (Warwick, Lancaster et al) have a self contained campus that’s not in the city.

Sorry just realised that it's your DS not DD so ignore my point about gender balance!