Exeter: uni de jour ! Why ? Everyone we know wants it ?

[PaperTyger]

My DD is high achieving and has offers from all she wants but she's thinking of Exeter.,it was the most popular place at her school last year and everyone else I'm chatting to says their DC want it.
We didn't visit but I can see it's in a beautiful place. Any thoughts ?

I hope she goes somewhere she really wants not becsuee it's the fashion.

@Ritasueandbobtoo9 It’s not remotely about connections. Turns out the Oxbridge candidates for good careers pass the assessment tests more readily. This idea that connections are built at Oxbridge is for the birds. It’s meaningless for the majority. The comp pupils don’t make job connections but they do ace selection tests. And they always did. If others have equivalent talent, they will ace them too. The bigger barrier is not wanting to try.

I wonder if the people who have a blanket hatred of every private school student will ever realise that there’s a massive difference between the big name public schools and the small local private schools, and every school in between? Some of us aren’t remotely wealthy and don’t have any connections at all. My child is educated privately for very specific reasons which have nothing whatsoever to do with buying grades or making connections. If my son gets an offer for Exeter, he is eligible for a contextual offer. Not all of us live a life of luxury. It worries me greatly that there are so many grown adults out there who have a blanket, preconceived hatred of everyone who went to private school when they have no idea whatsoever of their personal circumstances or why they go there. And they plonk them all in as ‘Old Etonians’.

Similar preconceptions about state schools though. People think they're all like the fictional Grange Hill. Even programmes like Educating Yorkshire are showing the most difficult days with the most difficult students.

There is a vast difference between the two examples above and the school in which I work, for example.

Thank you for your fair and balanced reply, which I appreciate - I was expecting nothing but spiteful responses. You make an extremely good point about the massive difference in state schools as well as in private.

Exeter has been swamped by uni students in general, many of them of the posh variety. BTW Exeter has a decent football team in League 1 which is situated in the same area as most of the student housing which has been bought by posh parents and landlords, pushing up house prices in Exeter in general. Don't get me started on the amount of private student flats that have been built on any bit of brown land that is remotely close to the Uni, supposedly allowed to put student houses back to be available to local families (this has not happened!).

Interesting thread. My State school DD has an unconditional offer from Exeter (Also Durham and York) and we are going next month for the holding day.
My Mum is taking her to York on Tuesday which is so much easier for us to get too on the train line and my exH is taking her to Durham.
She had her A Level results in August last year and chose Exeter independently. She wasn't going to uni so until October last year so we have never been a part of the "it's really popular world".
I believe the private school discussion has come up with a few people (her step mum works for a very selective public school) but she doesn't seem fazed by it and has lots of friends in private schools due to where she works part time which happens to be equestrian jobs in competition yards. Personally I love York but looking forward to seeing Exeter.

@RetiredGranny the students spend money locally. You maybe need to think of the benefits. Look at the employment opportunities at the university. You cannot have it all.

@CatkinToadflax Both my DDs know Etonian’s and Harrovians. They have found them to be pleasant nice people. Lasting friendships over many years now. It’s not remotely fair to think all these young men are like Boris Johnson. In fact it’s bonkers! They are clever, funny, engaging and kind.

I don’t doubt that. I just used that example because Eton is poles apart from the school my DS goes to. I was making the point that too many people who have an irrational blanket hatred of every young person at a private school, seems to think that all private schools are Eton and all students who attend private schools are similarly privileged.

I don’t think people have a hatred of people that go to public schools. It’s just that they don’t want to be wildly outnumbered and surrounded by people who have ££££’s to spare when they have 0.5 pence that they have been saving since they started there pot wash job at 14. Surely people can empathise with that????

They’re not there. Argghhh

Their, it keeps changing it

@Ritasueandbobtoo9? If they spent just 5 minutes looking at the stats regarding which universities have higher percentages of private school dc they would find hardly anywhere has more than 33%. It’s not remotely possible that they will be “wildly outnumbered” and it’s a huge disservice if anyone tells them they will be! Why do you think better off dc don’t work? That’s also odd. No, I cannot empathize with people who are not willing to embrace that they will have to meet people not like them. Get over it. Many of us did it successfully.

The alternative is to use the stats and find the universities with the lowest private school intake if it’s that much of an issue.

It’s not an issue for me or my kids so need for the agressive tone. I don’t need to get over anything. There is a world of difference between young people who have to work rather than have a part time job for experience or extra spends. Surely people can understand that? It’s something my young person has talked about, how he has found people at university who have nothing to back them up, at all. Exeter open day was the only open day where there was quite a marked and obvious difference between parents looking at the expensive halls and the cheaper halls. The purpose of conversations are to explore issues rather than pretend they don’t exist.

It's less then two hours on the train from Reading to Exeter St David. It's also about two hours on a direct train from London.

Yeh I was talking about driving which I agree often takes longer. I didn't initially talk about Reading or London as such.

My point was a general one I guess – most of us do not live in Reading or even in London. Approx two-thirds of the UK's population is in the north and midlands; taking Northampton as a southern place in that area, it takes 3.5 hours to drive from there to Exeter. I was just flagging that (obvs depending where you live) it can be quite a drive which parents may want to ask their DC to bear in mind.

thats great about your son but the comprehensives around where we live won't take kids for A level with less then 7s in their chosen subjects for the kid's sake due to the pressure. A 5 is a foundation level grade, so below average.
Did you son go to private school? Private schools do let kids with lower gcses go for A levels but they have smaller classes and more support.

Out of both my son's different state schools, Exeter was the number one choice. We are based in Dorset so proximity is a factor. However, it's always been a popular uni.

One of my comp educated DC went to Exeter. They are very academic. Yes there are lots of wealthy people there and they have become very good friends with a number of them (we are not wealthy). I think Exeter has a lovely vibe - the city and the uni but I am just a visitor. Perhaps my DD was lucky but they have made very strong friendships there. Academic offer seems spot on too but I am not an expert in their subject but it seems challenging but achievable..

Ah, people who live on the real world have joined the chat, how refreshing 😀

All this parental uni stereotyping is just silly, and out of date. And clearly the reality is somewhere in the grey areas where certain unis will for sure have a vibe, but all will have more state schools educated kids than privately educated kids, by definition, and there will be plenty of different background kids for everyone that goes there to 'find their tribe'. And the stats are there for anyone that has a particular chip on their shoulder and want to avoid a particular demographic, for whatever bigited and self-limiting reason. But there are none that are over ran with private school / white / black / male / female kids as that would be illegal and is not what the unis want and they put a lot of effort into trying to achieve a diverse student mix, within the confines of who applies where and geography.

Also, lots of privately educated kids at uni have to work. Lots of parents have to stop paying fees after school for a start so many are on minimum maintenance loans and need to work to makeup the shortfall and pay rent, just like anyone else. There will be the seriously rich parents who pay for everything of course and all unis (many who have paid to get into grammar school catchments) but a) they won't be the majority (esp with VAT on school fees and cost of living blah blah) and b) so what?

obviously must vary from county to county then as dd largely got 5s in her GCSEs (4 in maths and 7 in Biology). She is currently at our local state 6th form in her first year of A levels and is flying. She just hated school, except her Biology teacher who she thought was ace! Quite a few of her friends got 5s and are doing A levels. Some kids just need a bit longer before they ‘get it’ and really start to fly. A levels require a deep depth of understanding, but ultimately by A levels you are doing subjects you are interested in and generally only do 3. It’s very different to having to drag yourself into school, doing several subjects you HAVE to do and don’t particularly enjoy. I’m glad our local college isn’t wanky about having to get 7,8, or 9s for GCSEs!

@Ritasueandbobtoo9 Very few dc have to work at 16/17 whilst doing A levels. They won’t get much money and certainly won’t get enough to pay bills. Most work for saving and fun money. Also a sense of achievement and doing something for themselves. Obviously others leave school and work.

I would try really hard to stop looking at other people negatively. So what if people look at different halls? We look at different houses too. Why not encourage dc to accept differences are normal but don’t interfere with learning or who dc might be friends with? Dc find things in common if they go in free from prejudice. As I said, look at the university admission stats - but you will still find expensive halls!

@OhDear111I’m not sure where you live, but ‘very few 16/17 year olds have to work’ is certainly not the case where I live. All my DC’s friends have jobs and work really hard - my eldest saved literally thousands before uni from working from 16. An awful lot of children need to do this to help pay towards their uni fee. Also round here yes you can do A levels on grades 5 and 6, not a problem. I wonder if you live in a very privileged bubble perhaps…

@keffotine Most do not around here but we are in the country. There just aren’t the jobs! No buses either. No idea where a 16 year old could earn £thousands at the weekends. The idea seemed to be that the dc were so poor, their money was needed for household expenses. That’s not the same as saving for university. It’s a luxury to get a job now, unfortunately.

Mine worked weekends and 2 shifts after school - 16 hours a week adds up, with more in the holidays. So it can be done - lots of their friends do it too. Maybe it’s area dependent, but it’s very much a common thing around here.