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.)

Firstly he needs to work out what specialties within his subject he is drawn to because courses will differ. Then he needs to realistically consider what grades he’s likely to get remembering this is a popular course so less wiggle room than niche hard to fill ones. He needs to consider if he’s drawn to city universities (with buildings spread about) campus universities with everything onsite or something in between. How far from home does he want to consider and finally how deep are your pockets! Unfortunately the loan (except London) is fixed so goes much further in some locations than others.

only personal experience I have of computer science is Southampton which apparently is good (DD’s friend)

As far as value for money accommodation is concerned I can personally say Leicester and Cardiff are both ok, particularly useful for students who struggle in shared accommodation, ours had bedsits in latter years which suited them (neurodiverse)

Also Computer Science is a very wide title. What exactly is of most interest. Where do they want to end up working? What has attracted them? Then look at the modules.
Is extra finance a consideration?
Any extra curricular activities?

@Hoppinggreen I think my Dads just wanted a good department. No specialisms. Dc don’t always get on the popular modules either. We know a maths student at Warwick who had module issues. But a well run friendly day is good.

Yeh Leicester (I do go on about this uni haha) has very good value accomm if that’s what’s needed. Plenty available at less than £100 pw which is a lot cheaper than some unis. Obvs that is shared facilities but if ££ is a concern then it}s worth considering. DD's private rented house when she was there was also cheap, less than £100 pw (this was five years ago tbf).

https://discoveruni.gov.uk/

This is the official government website to help students compare courses.

Completely agree, its more of a vibe
As for specialism DD's is certainly NOT one of the more popular ones luckily

@Hoppinggreen Yes DD1 worked that out too!

This is good advice.

DS wanted to be no more than 2 hours from home via train so still had very good choice of lots of excellent Uni’s but that did help to cut down the list.

As a PP said, look at a Uni that has excellent links to industry and then look at the modules on the course.

Accommodation is another factor too. Is the accommodation affordable avd there is plenty of it?

If he’s considering a campus, is he also looking at Uni’s like Nottingham and Sheffield where there’s a campus feel but they’re right by the city so great for nightlife?

Depends where you live regarding trains. London ok but in the middle of the countryside with trains only going to London, it’s always a long journey by train and car to get to a station!

The journey home is a bit of a red herring. How often do students come home - Christmas, Easter, Summer? Even a couple of more times, doesn't really make anywhere in the UK untenable.

2 hrs max train ride? They will happily stand in a queue at Thorpe Park for that length of time!

The thing is, it does depend.

DD wanted to be no more than two hours from home (which eliminated a lot of places, obvs) – in the end she came home quite a bit in the first term for reasons to do with an extra-curricular activity; after that she quite often asked me to go and meet her there for a coffee/lunch at a weekend (maybe once every few weeks) as she needed that support. She also liked being able to come home easily.

DS2 is nearer than he likes tbh but what it does mean is that I can go and watch all his matches (well his home matches anyway and some of his away ones); if he were in Aberdeen I doubt I would go to any. That’s important to him (and me! not that I would have allowed that to sway his decision).

But for sure, for some DC it would not be a factor. Just as for some, closeness or not to the sea, or to a good theatre, or to the Peak District for climbing, may be a consideration.

@CraftyGin For most dc we know, journey home has been irrelevant. We have seen very protected dc living at home (much nearer to London than we are) and commuting to London universities but hating it. Overall 2 hours would limit choice. For some subjects it would be hopeless.

Does sort of depend where you live though.

We can get to an awful lot of Unis within 2 hours.

yes same. Strongly suspect from your user name that you live not a million miles away from me :)

@BunnyRuddington My DD did MFLs. There’s not much choice within 2 hours and she didn’t want London. Only 1 uni she applied to was within 2 hours. 2 more could have been Oxford or Cambridge. After one of those, 4 more would have been a struggle. Subject will matter too. Plus the level of university needed.

One size doesn’t fit all, obviously - for some distance matters, and there’s appropriate choices near (or far away!) enough, for some distance doesn’t matter and for some they’ll have to compromise.🤷‍♀️

I think ease of travel (not necessarily just distance) is worth thinking about. I wouldn't put it as top priority or say it was a deal breaker if a young person's dream University was a long way away, but having had DC at Universities with very different journeys I'd say it does make life smoother to have an easy journey so I'd certainly give it some consideration.
My elder DS was at a University which was a nightmare journey from us, either by road or rail. The train journey involved multiple changes and I don't think there was a single time he travelled by train in the whole 3 years when something didn't go wrong. And the drive wasn't a lot better - no direct route from where we live and every possible route seemed continually plagued by roadworks. It usually took us 5-6 hours to drive. By contrast my younger DS is a very straightforward motorway drive or a direct train journey away and we can be door to door in under 3 hours. Being within easy reach of home doesn't mean they have to come home any more often but it's quite nice to know that it's not likely to be an issue if they want or need to. They may not plan to come home much but you never know what life is going to throw at you. We've had a wedding and a funeral in our immediate family during term time this year for example, and in the event that the student gets ill or injured being able to get home relatively easily (or parents able to get there) would be helpful. Plus if they have to clear their rooms in the holidays or don't want to leave valuable stuff unattended for weeks it's rather nice not to have such a long journey to pick up/drop off. My boys bring things like computers, bikes, musical instruments and bulky sports gear home in the holidays so it's not really practical for them to come back by train. Picking DS1 up meant either a very long day with 10-12 hours of driving in one day or an overnight stay whereas collecting DS2 is an easy day trip.
Obviously if a distant University is best for a young person for other reasons then you just have to deal with the logistics but if the choice is between two otherwise similar and equally suitable institutions and one is a much easier journey I'd encourage the potential student to bear that in mind. Why make life more difficult for yourself if you don't have to? And from the parents' perspective, those miles do mount up over the years, especially if you have more than one DC at University simultaneously.
It wouldn't be at the top of my list of criteria when looking at potential Universities but I wouldn't totally ignore ease of travel either.

Thanks again, everyone - I am reading all replies and taking it all in. Greatly appreciate everyone's advice!

Just a thought. When you are looking at city v campus some unis have more than one campus or are in more than one town / city.

It does tend to be the ex polys but it's worth looking at where the accommodation is and where the lectures are.

Yes - parts of the University of Cumbria are in Lancaster, and Anglia Ruskin has half a dozen sites scattered around. It’d be a bit sad if someone liked a particular campus but didn’t realise their subject was taught somewhere completely different! Hopefully that never happens in reality.

Indeed! We were looking at Bangor University, which looked great...to discover the particular course we were looking at is actually taught in Wrexham. Bit disappointed.

MMU used to have a site in Crewe. I think there was more than one student who hadn’t done some checking when applying through clearing, thought they’d be in Manchester for 3 years and ended up on the edge of Crewe.

100% this

Many top employers recruit from a small number of Universities. Rankings (based on job prospects and future earnings) are important!