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.)

Not the poster, but I have DC at both Birmingham and Bath... Both are great universities but they are very different.

Birmingham is a huge university which means loads of different societies etc, but also lots of people. It's busy. The city centre is also busy, but it has all the shops and night life you could ever want. The crime rate locally is what you'd expect in a big city.

Bath is a very small city with very little crime. It's very quiet and you're more likely to be going for a picnic on a National Trust owned hill than clubbing until 4am.

Both my DC love their universities, but I think the one who is happy at Birmingham would be bored stiff in Bath and the one who is happy at Bath would be overwhelmed in Birmingham.

Yes as others say – Bath, Aber, Lboro and Warwick are self-contained unis in small or smallish places. Bath is a very small, very lovely city. Lboro is a very big campus that is very student focused (DS is there and I rate it) but a vibrant metropolis it is not, and if that's what you want, you may be better looking at Leeds or Brum.

If you want a big city with clubs and gigs and big shops, Aber will not suit I suspect. It’s along way away from a lot of the UK and hard to get to. Lovely on the seaside but not everyone wants that.

Actually ds also had Leeds on his list and it's a great place, but the nature of his social life (very sport focused) is better suited to a big campus/small town.

That's all I meant; great unis with lots to offer but not the same lots.

At first glance the CS courses may look the same but that’s not what we’ve found as we’ve visited and dug deeper. Some are very vocational, others more theoretical. Some are very mathsy, others downplay the maths side. Some are huge intakes with minimal contact time, others more intensive and demanding. You have to visit some to start getting a sense for what really suits the kind of CS he’s drawn to and then factor in the more general stuff like campus, location etc. And ofc entry requirements are a big factor. We’ve gone from a longlist with several that looked promising but were ruled out after visiting as weren’t up his alley after all and others that were outliers coming into play when they exceeded expectations and seemed a good fit. You can only get so much from the websites but even if you can’t visit enough now, there’s still a lot of intell online if he does his research and knows what he wants from a CS degree.

Lots of good tips above. A few other things I would suggest:

Have a look at The Student Room website for the student perspective on specific universities and courses. There is a sub-forum dedicated to CS.

Look at the course content, specifically the proportion of coding. Some courses are much more theoretical/maths heavy. Sometimes students who already have an interest in coding are disappointed by how little coding there can be at uni.

CS is rapidly becoming a very over saturated subject. Job prospects are not as good as a few years ago for a variety of reasons so look for courses where there is a proven track record of post-course employment, internships and other work placements.

You get a large sheet of paper and list the top unis for compsci that they have a chance of getting into (top 30 is fine)

Cross out any that are too impractical distance wise. Score them all out of ten based on different criteria that are important to your dc (eg. Campus v city, cost of accommodation, cost of getting home, sports facilities etc)

Whittle it down that way then arrange to visit open days.

Ds studied Compsci. He ruled out London early doors. I’m afraid I did the first version of the spreadsheet which was just the top ten courses as per a range of different publications, with their predicted grades. (I didn’t use the Guardian ratings as for me they weight student satisfaction much too heavily, and as I’ve retrained within living memory I know just how shonky I thought those ratings were). We went top ten because ds was ambitious but you could go broader. Ds was keen to include St Andrews, he couldn’t articulate why, but I showed him the nine hour drive involved and basically left it up to him, and it never got back onto the list. He wasn’t keen on pure campus so we looked more at city unis, plus a couple that came highly recommended for teaching.

At this point we had a group of about 8 that looked about right for either just above, at or a little below his predictions. We went to visit 6 - it was still late Covid so the visits were quite light touch. From that he felt confident to pick 5.

In actual fact he was then influenced by a couple of lads in the year above and what they said about their uni experiences - eg we both loved Birmingham and I thought it would be his insurance choice but someone in the year above had a bad experience there and he bumped it down the list.

I will be honest - I pulled out all the stops for visits to unis I thought were really good, and put much less effort into unis I thought weren’t right for him. I’m only human…

I love that a climbing wall was part of the search.

OP I agree with links to industry but also have a loot and the modules / units - called different things at different unis.

What does he imagine he will do with the degree? So if he wants to do programming look for modules teaching coding.

Personally I loved Human Computer Interaction but a lot of the more 'techy' students couldn't get their heads around it.

My DS is in n the same position. Wants to do Politics which is done everywhere. We've been to 4 open days and 2 campus tours so far and we have 2 open days to go. He's ruled out the 2 places we visited in Wales during our holiday as they really are too far from us and he doesn't want to go to Liverpool because he got a ' bad vibe' from the city!? He's also ruled out places in the South West as they are too far from us.
My DS has and always has had massive FOMO which isn't helping, so after being determined he wanted a city University and London in particular he decided against after some of my friends andcthe internet warned against it, decided he wanted a campus then now he's saying what if he hates everyone he's like to be able to escape from them so London is back in the pack! Because I know what he's like I've told him that most people enjoy where they go so look at course outline and employment opportunities/ internships etc. His best friend has decided he just wants to go to Leeds ' because he has a feeling about it' without even visiting!

I can't help you with the specific course but the things we talked to our kids were.....

Distance...that we could get them there and back in one evening, if we needed to. I liked to think, when I was their age, that I'd never be in a difficult spot and need my parents!
Cost of accommodation ....one rejected Bath and Bristol based on this.
Transport home...cost and distance

My DS applied for CS.
First filters were
Not London (so expensive!)
< 4 hours travel from home (driving or train)
Then we started sorting them by tariff, prestige or type of environment.

Bath is a very small city with very little crime. It's very quiet and you're more likely to be going for a picnic on a National Trust owned hill than clubbing until 4am.

DD just graduated from Bath and I can say she was far more likely to be in a club at 4am than on a NT site!

Both DD BF and his best friend did CS at Bath, both did placement years and both have come out with really well paid roles. Bath works them hard, they tend to academically focused and DD loved her time there campus life suited her well.

Warwick is a very big uni with its main campus on a huge site in Coventry (despite the name!) After the first year, lots of students live in parts of Coventry or in Warwick/kenilworth. Coventry nightlife - not the best!! But short, easy train ride to Birmingham. Nothing like Bath!!

Warwick uni is indeed very big – as is Lboro. But it is not actually in Coventry, it’s in the countryside, and very nice too, with a gorgeous (IMO) campus. It’s a great uni, I am not denying that.

Students IME tend to live in Leamington Spa or yes Coventry. Coventry I would not describe as a big bustling city with lots of gigs, theatres etc. Yes I agree it’s not like Bath (Bath is much nicer) but the point I was making was lack of big-city vibe.

So my point was – if you want a uni in a big city with gigs, culture, shops, eating out – Warwick is not your best shout. Yes you can get the train to Brum. You can get the train to Bristol from Bath. You can get the train to Nottingham from Lboro. But yunno, why not actually go to uni in these places if you want a big city. That’s what I am saying.

I am emphatically not dissing unis on campuses in smaller places. My DS is at one as I have mentioned (many times lol). I am simply saying, some students will be looking for a big-city experience on their doorstep (I know I was at 18yo) and sorry, but they won't get that on a lovely campus near Coventry. Lots of other wonderful things but not that.

My friend's son has just got into Loughborough for computer science. His other option was Nottingham, although that's where his brother is studying.
As others have said it depends on what grades he thinks he will get. James needed 3 As, but he already had one as his school did maths in 1 year then further maths the next.

When you say he'd prefer campus, has he visited campus and city options? My son did a complete 360. Edit - or do I mean 180? He completely changed his mind.

I'd also recommend visiting one or two insurance options. It feels like lower priority but it is important to realise that unis offering a grade or two lower can still offer much of the same experience and it really isn't the end of the world to take an insurance offer. This was really helpful to my son during all the stress of exams.

@OuiOuiMonAmi Regarding ratings - the Complete University Guide is pretty reliable. Look at employment rates too. They cover these. Plus discount The Guardian. Very odd tables for many subjects.

Then decide on city, campus near a lively city or campus not near anywhere much. Dc have to know what sort of person they are. Many clubs have closed by the way. Drinking carries on everywhere. If a hobby matters, where can that be accommodated? How far from home? Definitely match with A level predictions and 2 choices for insurance. Visit around 6. Any more and you’ll need a mortgage and a lot of free time. Editing is a skill!

DD looked for (in order)
Good reputation for her course
Campus
Links to Industry
Possibility of travel during course
2 hours or less from home
Recommendations of people she knew

That narrowed it down to 5 and then we visited and she determined how friendly the staff were and how she felt about the Uni and City in general

So the initial criteria were "Head" based and the final bit was "Heart" based

Yes as others say – Bath, Aber, Lboro and Warwick are self-contained unis in small or smallish places

Warwick is on the perimeter of Coventry. Fifteen minutes from the city centre. I have heard Coventry called a lot of things but never small or smallish.

Edit Ignore this. I hadn’t read the full thread when I posted.

When you say he'd prefer campus, has he visited campus and city options?

Also consider variables such as how far from city is the campus, is it walkable, how good is the public transport, what amenities such as shops, pharmacy etc are available on or close to campus, or do they have to go into the city for everything.

@Hoppinggreen Neither of my DDs met a single person who taught them on an open day. The staff on the day might not teach the options dc choose or the core. I’d say be careful about latching on to staff personalities. A well run day helps but the number of options matter and their availability but they might not be taught by who you meet on an open day.

My DD did Computer Science at Swansea. She put down Nottingham, Southampton, Queen Mary's, Swansea and Dundee on her UCAS form. The idea was to put down two higher places, two middling and one complete safety net. I think she just went down a list and picked two that were AAA, two that were ABB - BBB, and one that was CCC. She only visited Nottingham (with me) and QMU (with her brother). She's the fifth child, so we have been through this so many times to know what is important, and what is over-egged.

She wasn't fussed about geographical location, or campus/city. TBH, the only real city one was QMU - all the others were campuses within a city.

One thing to check for Computer Science is the male: female ratio. This is the type of course where the odds and good, but the goods are odd. She lucked out at Swansea in thas about 20% female for CS.

DD met quite a few of her prospective Lecturers at Uni open Days and one HOD who was incredibly helpful. She has a particular specialism in mind so sought out the Lecturers with that specialism where possible and is now taught by one of them
It was more the overall friendliness and helpfulness though

Birmingham can be the best of both worlds for some. It’s a nice self contained campus , one side (including the main halls site) in ‘leafy edgbaston’, the other in Selly oak. Its own local train station means it’s very easy to get into the centre.

Yes actually I agree with that. DD was a big campus fan and loved Brum. It is a lovely leafy campus, but also easy access to a big big city.

I want to make clear that I think Warwick is a great uni. Coventry is not so much a great city but I agree Warwick is nearer a city than Aber or Lboro.

Tbh @OuiOuiMonAmi the difference between some of these unis is maybe not a massive issue. Tho I still maintain that someone looking for clubs and shops and gigs needs to swerve Lboro. And Keele. :)