Which universities are great at supporting emotional wellbeing of students?

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DD is looking at studying economics or data science. She has good predicted grades (A*, AA.) and a decent applicant profile. She is autistic, dyslexic and has had some difficulties around her metal health that mean finding a university that is best for her emotional well-being will be much more important than finding the ‘best’ university for her predicted grades. At the moment, she does not want to travel too far from our hometown (Cambridge, she says up to 3 hours away) but would like to try living away in halls (maybe halls for all three years?) She enjoys several hobbies- choral singing, martial arts and is a Christian and would like to keep these up through clubs, Christian union etc. Knowing her, I strongly suspect these activities will provide her social outlet, rather than structured social mingling, at least at first.

I would love to hear about any universities that have been great at supporting young people’s emotional well-being and neurodivergence, either through formal support or just how the university is structured. And also anything else we might need to consider in supporting her or that she might want to think about.

Royal Holloway near Windsor. It has a very active pastoral care department and numerous chaplains all attached to the chapel. It also has a renowned choir. A friend’s DD has thrived there after a terrible time at another northern uni.

Royal Holloway. Lovely campus.

Definitely Royal Holloway, part of University of London.

Son graduated from there this summer. The support offered was phenomenal.

Small campus uni. With most activities taking place on campus.

It helps that it’s stunning too!

I've not read everything so this may have been mentioned.

I think St. Mary's university, Twickenham is often overlooked.

It seems to have a gentle background Christian ethos, and strong pastoral care.
It's really worth looking at their website.

I really liked the idea of it for my daughter a few years ago, though she didn't go there in the end.

Sussex has constant high scores for student satisfaction/pastoral care. Very strong on ND support.
Beautiful campus but Brighton is expensive.

Oh yes, @ApparentlyIsMyCircusAndMyMonkeys has mentioned St Mary's! I think it looks really friendly.

Id not worry about the 3 years in halls. If she joins the Christian union and a local church with lots of students, she will easily find other students to share with in 2nd and 3rd year.

Nottingham ? My DS studied economics and econometrics there with an A* AA offer.

was in halls all three years as he’s not the sort to house share (and there are enough halls there to do that). Halls right near the uni and the tram into town . Lots of industry links for internships etc. worth a look maybe.

Lincoln can offer 3 years in halls to all students as well. Good wellbeing service.

they also do a week in the summer before starting year 1 for any ND students who want to attend for a week’s “camp”. Fully structured (non course based) week, evening activities, etc.

https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/studywithus/equalityofopportunity/wowsummerschool/

Any near you?

Worth keeping Cambridge in mind if there’s a course that suits.

One of the smaller colleges with a good tutor set up. Perfectly possible to do Cambridge student life in total isolation from home life.

@LeafyMcLeafFace i think upstream were recommending uni of Sheffield but I know that hallam are very good for additional support. In fact i suspect that they give better support as the teaching is designed to be inclusive in the way it is delivered in the first place and so inclusivity is sort of built into the degrees from the ground up.

I’m surprised at the number of posters suggesting that universities aren’t ‘proactive’. My experience is that more and more institutions are actually being very proactive when it comes to student support. They’re monitoring attendance and engagement, and reaching out to students where certain metrics are met (e.g low overall attendance/engagement or a drop in attendance/engagement). Their communications are signposting to internal and external support, and if they don’t hear back they look to find other means to establish communication.

I’m aware of some institutions that automatically give reasonable adjustments to all students who have declared a disability, without making them jump through hoops and ask for them.

If I’m honest I’d say the best tell that you’ll find of how supportive a university is would be to get in touch with their disability service as a prospective student. All the ones I’ve had dealings with are more than happy to share what support you’d expect.

Gloucestershire might be too far but they have strong ND support/networks and even do a separate induction week for these students a week earlier so they can settle in first.

They’re not proactive in the sense that schools are though. They’re chase attendance due to the risk of failure of the course. University students are considered to be adults who will seek out the support they need. If a student isn’t the type who will do that but the parent has significant concerns about their ability to cope with change and stress then the best thing to do is likely to be to keep them at home and they commute to a local university or study online.

I came here to suggest Royal Holloway which has a fantastic choir and good pastoral support but others beat me to it!

Maybe not a high enough ranking Uni but look at Chichester. Small, safe Uni has a good Christian social club and is very high ranking with regards student satisfaction. Really worth a look.

Thanks so much to everyone who offered advice about university options. DD is fortunate that several of the places suggested here offer economics and data science degrees, which isn’t super common, and a few are close to home and well within her target grades.

We have drawn up a shortlist to visit: UEA (she’s already been to one open day with college and loved it), Southampton, Sussex, Essex and RHUL.

A big question will be about year 2/3 accommodation options as DD is worried about not gelling with people to live with. She wants to know halls would be an option. We will also be exploring what the learning support and well-being services can offer, and her college wellbeing mentor has helped her make a list of questions to ask. We will definitely be exploring how active the Christian union, martial arts and choral societies are, as I think these places are where she might well find her people.

We both feel much more positive that a transition to uni can be a success.

Staying in halls is definitely possible at UEA.

RHUL did choral scholarships back in my day and scholars were allowed to stay in halls for all 3 years - not sure if that is still the case though!

Bristol is awful so don’t apply there.

We visited Sheffield and were very impressed but we were looking at a different course. One thing we really liked was that you could request single sex or quiet accommodation.

DC ended up at Nottingham where this isn’t an option but accommodation is plentiful and you can stay in Uni Halls for the full 3 years if you want to.

DC has weekly mentoring sessions through DSA which really helps them to keep on track.

When we looking we looked at what clubs each Uni offered, particularly those aimed at ND students. These should be on their websites. Also ask at Open Days what Freshers Activities are on offer for quieter students. Nottingham seemed to have a lot of things like this on but it’s up to the student to seek them out.

I would also discuss having a year out and working or volunteering to help her mature and build some coping skills.

Have you started applying for DSA? If you have that in place when she starts it will make all the difference. She will be able to have the specialist mentoring from the start ( which is when you need it the most).

My son is at Reading and has found it a really caring and supportive uni. He has some mental health / ND needs and he's had a lot of support - he did have to sort it himself by going to the wellbeing / disability support team but they've been brilliant.
He lived in halls for the first 2 years until he had secure friendships and found friends to live with in his final year (this year). He has a couple of friends who lived in halls all 3 years.

Sussex is great for student support and she will be able to stay in halls for all three years if she wants to.