Uni is just over-sold and disappointing

[Greedybilly]

My lovely 19 year old has just finished Yr 1 of uni ( when did the courses end at Easter? What happened to term 3?)
She was unlucky with her flatmates who were awful to her and her course mates mostly commute.
Part time jobs are none existent and she's done umpteen trial cafe shifts only to be ghosted.
She had such high hopes and seems like a shadow of her former self. It does all feel like a massively over marketed business.
Anyone got any words of wisdom/happy endings??
Gutted for her and angry at all the hype and nonsense.

DS moved flat in halls after a couple of months as his flatmates were so disruptive. Of course there is no guarantee about the new flat - DS was content as his new flatmates were ok but he didn’t become friends with them. He had to pay a small admin fee to move if I remember correctly and they only offered one room (they only had a couple of empty rooms).

When I mentioned this to a few friends they were shocked it was possible as their DC would have done so too. it seems flat issues are very common which isn’t really a surprise given they are thrown together at random. But I think a lot of students leave home thinking living in halls will be marvellous constant fun. I actually know very few people who really hit it off with their flatmates in first year.

Socially, Uni was the hardest time of my life. I had some horrible flatmates in Yr1 and then whilst it improved in Years 2 & 3 it wasn't amazing. Most of my friends commuted in and so outside of "school hours" my social life was dire and it was lonely.

That said, my degree did open doors and enabled me to have the career I have (degree adjacent rather than direct relation) and so I don't regret it for a second. Moving away was probably the best thing I could've done for myself in terms of growth, even if it was hard.

Not sure why people think no one's allowed to criticise uni's, very odd. I agree they've gone to shit, they've got no money because they over spent on building accommodation for foreign students that now won't be coming. Now there's big debts and no one to pay them. Only 10 - 15 hours a week and finish in April/May, is just ridiculous.

DS is doing a degree apprenticeship and i couldn't recommend them enough(obviously not enough to go round and not every area of work though). His experience of working as part of a team at work is nothing like the crap group work you are forced to do at uni - he has to do that too. His job doesn't require him to present either. He loves his job but the uni part is awful - 4 course leads in a year and a half, not really learning anything he didn't already know, having to do all sorts of 'reflective practise' that he can't wait to put behind him and doesn't help in his job where things either work or they don't.

OP I'd say get her to focus on after uni, what does she want to do and how is she going to make herself competitive? She needs to be thinking beyond getting a 2.1. What is she going to fill a CV with? What will she have to talk about beyond her final dissertation at interview? Ideally she should get really involved in societies and be looking to have a lead role, is there any part time work she can do at uni - at open days etc, any voluntary work at uni - mentoring other students perhaps. She will probably be asked questions about team working and leadership skills at interviews - how can she get experience of those? I'd get her just to try and focus on the end goal OP, especially when finding a job as a graduate isn't easy either. I really hope Yr 2 is better for her.

I agree graduate apprenticeships are good. But one thing rarely talked about with them is you are working for a business operating within a business environment and over four years that business environment can change dramatically. I was recently speaking to a careers professional who regularly has to try to ‘rescue’ graduate apprentices where the company has gone bust/moved/downsized/been bought out. A friend’s son has nearly completed his and he is in a brilliant position now for further employment, but he was incredibly lucky when his company moved most of their operations in his third year and he ended up in a good department that was remaining. Other apprentices were not so lucky.

I agree they've gone to shit, they've got no money because they over spent on building accommodation for foreign students that now won't be coming.

Err, nope. It is harder to attract international students post Covid and Brexit and such students actually pay enough to cover the cost of their courses. The home tuition fee payment was frozen for many years and the recent increase has been more than outweighed by national insurance increases etc.

The issue is largely income being below running costs, not overspend on capital costs.

Home students also (usually) need accommodation and I haven’t heard of halls being underutilised. Many aren’t built and owned by the uni anyway, they are built by a private firm and badged with the uni crest.

DD’s friend went to a “top” RG university and had a horrible time. Dd visited and said the halls were soulless and that her friend had barely any work - little contact time and one essay a term. A young man I know went to a similar university and said he was disappointed that it didn’t provide the academic rigour he had envisaged.

However a hundred years ago in the 80s I found the same! I went from a grammar school and found the university academics were not impressive. Plus I was in a hall full of third years and medics and struggled and failed to find friends. I joined societies but clearly they were the wrong ones!

I do think the very short terms but paying extortionate often year round rent is making people question things more.
My dc is at a 2 semester uni. Lectures started 22/9 and finished 27/3. Only 1 exam is in person. This is at a high ranking uni.
Living at home and commuting makes a lot of financial sense.
The uni puts on lots of activities freshers week not alcohol related, I honestly can’t see what else they could offer and lots of societies are not alcohol related. But posts from parents of students struggling they seem resistant to going to anything.
The halls situation maybe more could be done to match housemates rather than random. There is quiet or no alcohol but nothing in between.
I think maybe more honesty than uni will only fill part of your time and you need to build around it - work, internships, volunteering.
Mine is off to work at Camp America again for 3 months and I’m glad as it fills the 4.5 months holiday.
University readiness and more encouragement to take gap years. If your yp won’t speak to people and isn’t house trained then grow up a bit before going.
I admit I’m always wary when I see posts about all the housemates being awful. Yes it might be bad luck but often it’s their behaviour that causes everyone to be unhappy with them.
Things are frosty in my DD’s yr2 flat and housemate has accused them of being mean to her and been texting her parents. This girl hasn’t taken bins out once and leaves rotting food in kitchen and fridge and takes all their crockery, leaves it dirty and festering then piles it up in kitchen. I’ve seen it when I’ve been to visit. The final straw was her booking her train home an hour after final exam not allowing any time to do a final end of tenancy clean. Telling her that’s not on is apparently mean and her mum apparently agrees.

Many universities do try and match students to flats a bit more than quiet or not. But students don’t reply honestly - they will say they are quiet and studious because they want a quiet flat when they want to study but invite loads of friends to party the rest of the time.

Students say one of two things about lectures and slides:

1. we don't like it when you "just read off slides"
2. please don't say things off the cuff that are not on the slides as then we don't know what to expect and it's confusing.

It does sometimes feel like we can't win.

Yes @Humptydumptysat or maybe mum fills form in or leans over shoulder.
My DD’s uni there was no matching. One hall has reputation for party central so she picked that and it lived up to reputation.
Yr 2 she moved in with friends. One friend won’t be a friend after moving out, if you’ve not lived together before it’s hard to know what they’ll be like around the house.

Like PP DD has finished her lectures now. There are exams til end April and then shes home. But shes paying for Halls til end of June. Everyone else is going home and she doesn't want to be there alone as its a bit creepy. So two months rent wasted.
But youth unemployment is high, jobs are very hard to find which adds to the pains of first year. Its hard on them.

Not sure why people think no one's allowed to criticise uni's, very odd. I agree they've gone to shit, they've got no money because they over spent on building accommodation for foreign students that now won't be coming. Now there's big debts and no one to pay them. Only 10 - 15 hours a week and finish in April/May, is just ridiculous.

Of course you can criticise universities but if what you are saying is incorrect then people have the right to point that out.
The suggestion that universities have overspent on building accommodation for international students is a myth. They're mainly built and owned by private companies not the university themselves.
The issue is fee income not covering running costs.

As for teaching finishing in April/May - that doesn't mean that the university closes or that staff stop working. From an academic perspective, students will be getting tutorials and support with assessment and staff will be marking and moderating work and preparing for exam boards. All of which are important steps in a student being awarded their degree!
From a student support/experience perspective this is an excellent time to engage with the careers service and other services. There's more to university than just attending lectures.

I think so much depends on who you end up sharing with in the first year in halls. In my experience, the bigger the pool of flatmates you can manage to get, the more chance there is of hitting it off with at least some of them. Dc1 in a flat of 8 had a great time. Dc2 in a flat of 5, which dwindled to 3 by Christmas (one moved in with his g/f, another dropped out), not so much, but luckily had some friends from school already in their second year there, as he had taken a gap year, and had some nice course mates. Dc3 in a ‘town house’ of 12 has had a lovely time and made some close friends. I was in halls all 3 years in a house of 15 mixed year students and made lifelong friends. So, the more, the merrier, quite often works.

for teaching finishing in April/May - that doesn't mean that the university closes or that staff stop working. From an academic perspective, students will be getting tutorials and support with assessment and staff will be marking and moderating work and preparing for exam boards. All of which are important steps in a student being awarded their degree!

Undergraduates don’t get tutorials and support with assessments after the end of the semester! Once exams are over most academic staff don’t have much undergrad involvement until the next semester starts in the autumn. Yes they may be writing courses but you have strangely overlooked the other prime purpose of universities - research! Academics focus on research when not teaching, including grant applications, writing papers, peer reviewing, conferences, carrying out the actual research, supervising post-grads carrying out research…

I assume that poster meant things like Writing Centres and the like, usually run centrally out of the library or such, and which offer help with assessments, revision and exam prep.

But yy to research. If you’re coming to study under me because I’m a leading expert on X, there’s a reason I am the expert. That takes work.

I think you are being fair OP. DD nearly had a similar experience years ago. She was unsure of what her a level grades would be, and unsure on what degree subject she would want and want career she would want.

Despite this, her sixth form college kept pushing and pushing for her to apply. It was also sold to her as she’ll have an amazing time, don’t worry about money all students get a part time job! You’ll be on a course you love and meet your tribe, and then get a well paid graduate job afterwards etc etc. Thankfully in the end she didn’t apply, waited a few years during which she started a career, and went to a local uni to study a related subject.

But we didn’t know anyone who had been to uni, we just had the university website and prospectus to go off, along with some open days and the information from her college. If DD had been more sure of her grades and interests she would also have applied and turned up at uni ready for the best 3 years of her life to begin because why would she have expected anything different.

The landscape for young people now is very different to even just 10-15 years ago and I genuinely believe many are attending university and according tens of thousands in debt after being sold on a fake promise.

I would agree about lack student employment prospects. So many people confidently assume they will get a part time job when at uni. I have heard loads of students struggling to get work with many taking over a year to secure something. Or getting a job just before the summer in their university town and having to stay there (rent) over the summer. The most successful ones are those who have established weekend jobs from sixth form with large chains who transfer them around. But there are harder to come by too. And of course no job can mean no money to socialise.

Undergraduates don’t get tutorials and support with assessments after the end of the semester! Once exams are over most academic staff don’t have much undergrad involvement until the next semester starts in the autumn. Yes they may be writing courses but you have strangely overlooked the other prime purpose of universities - research! Academics focus on research when not teaching, including grant applications, writing papers, peer reviewing, conferences, carrying out the actual research, supervising post-grads carrying out research…

I'm an academic and and manage a team of 15 other academics.
I haven't mentioned research because we were talking about teaching. I am aware of the responsibilities related to research and PGR supervision.

I was pointing out that just because lectures finish that doesn't mean staff aren't still working in a way that benefits the students. We don't have exams in my department but we've got UG dissertations due to be submitted in three weeks time. My staff (including me) are still offering tutorial support to students to support them with their work. If a student requests an extension then support could continue for another week beyond that.
We offer some accelerated degrees so we will have UG teaching taking place until July with staff supporting dissertations beyond that.

Good on your DD! I agree too many sixth formers are funnelled straight to university when they would be better doing something else and establishing what their interests are first or not going to university at all.

Mine has zero lectures or tutorials from 27/3.
She is there revising but it’s very quiet lots of students prefer to be at home and all resources are online. Back in my day it was law books in a library now she can access all that info online. Not much going on social wise or careers wise as it’s revision period. I think it then becomes a vicious circle and hardly anyone there so not much on.
I appreciate from a University point of view that there is lots staff are doing but from a paying customer point of view 5 months of actual classes in 12 months for a full time course is lower than people expect.
Her flatmate works full time and is a full time student.

I do agree with OP that university is far too expensive now and less young people will be living away from home in the future. Many working class families can simply not afford the expense. Its not as though a degree now gaurantees a good job for life as it did back in the 80s.

I look back on my university years as some of the happiest in my life. After years of envying graduates I found what I was capable of. However my experience was different. I was a mature student and it was not about friendships, clubbing and drinking. For me it was about the opportunity to learn and the intellectual freedom. I realised pretty early in my first degree that I was always meant to be an academic and so my entire life centered upon getting a 1st so I could progress.

I appreciate from a University point of view that there is lots staff are doing but from a paying customer point of view 5 months of actual classes in 12 months for a full time course is lower than people expect.

But it shouldn't be a surprise as all the information including term dates and contact hours are available and form part of the student contract. Universities have to be transparent about these things.

Plus the customer is paying to be taught by expert academics. That kind of knowledge isn't acquired (researched, written up, disseminated etc) by doing an online course in an hour with a multiple choice quiz at the end.

I worked in a university for many years and lots of students don't settle away from home. It's common for them to leave after a year or transfer to another university. It's a lottery really as you don't know if the course or living companions are suitable. Could she try to get a place near enough to live at home or even try for an apprenticeship and leave university for now? It's touted as the be all and end all but it doesn't suit everyone. Far from it.
I hope everything works out well for her. She's young and there's plenty of time to find her niche.

Bearing in mind these can still be 17 year olds, so still children, signing up to £30k contracts, 3 or more year commitments, with associated living expenses. Student loans are pretty much the only large loan a 17 year old can sign up for - in other contexts they are considered too young to have capacity to make such commitments.

I actually think the amount of information available from universities to make course choices is pretty poor. It also misses out key information like what percentage of students actually manage to secure a paid year out in courses offering those. Contact time should be presented on the top of the page for the course.