Is Exeter uni’s intake still mostly from the independent sector?

[Bell8484]

And if so is this an issue for those from state/ more diverse backgrounds?

It will be ‘mostly’ if you take account of the international students.

I didn’t find university (Manchester) at all diverse, socioeconomically.

Interesting thread. My son has insured Exeter for September. He is a state school kid and liked the Exeter open day far more than Bristol- no drunk people at 8.30am! As someone else said earlier- it’s within 2 hours of Reading station so it was on DS’s radar from the start.

My DS is there. He went to a state school and loves studying at Exeter Uni. He says it’s very inclusive and he is really enjoying it.

That’s really good to hear.

No. There is no uni (possibly one or two conservatoires) where the majority of UGs are from the private sector.

No uni prefers privately educated kids.

My dc’s experience of being a state school kid at Exeter was that it was brilliant and no one actually gave a shit what school you went to. Which is pretty much what the vast majority of young people at uni think.

A colleague has a DC with autism at Exeter, went to a popular state non selective school in the home counties. DC has had nice (pricey) accommodation and colleague says DC is enjoying it and finds the people ‘posh but nice’ and the course, services and support good.

No. DS recently graduated from Exeter and had a real mix of friends from private schools to city comps and rural working class communities.
The kids simply don't care and often aren't aware. Maybe the odd time it surfaces is in conversations about ski holidays.

It's a problem that mostly exists in some MNers heads who, for some reason, insist on bashing an excellent university!

Agree
seems very odd

The 'No' was my answer to what I perceived was your underlying question i.e. 'is it a problem?'

But do they also get international Uni fees paid by the company? Typically not. If they're paying those, they are well off. 30k x 3 or 4 years plus (often London or other expensive city) living expenses - looking at minimum 150k post-tax out of pocket expenses over the term of the course per child. Potentially overlap between multiple children.

However, I should have clarified, when I said international I was mainly referring to those other than Uk expats - i.e. foreign nationals who come to the UK for Uni and who comprise the bulk of international students. Many of these students have A LOT of disposable income.

However, I think they often fly under the radar as UK students don't recognise the "tells" as much as they would for rich UK students.

If you don’t know the difference between assuming that highly expert professionals are corrupt, and advocating for your DC, then that is your character flaw.

My daughter's there (from a state school). She says it's not very diverse :(

And further to say, I have no idea what schools my undergrads went to ( I teach at an RG not Exeter, although I was an External Examiner there).

Neither do student support staff have any idea what school students went to. At my place, the computer system that holds student records, has NO information about the schools students attended.

As staff, we see the school on the UCAS form. That is practically the only time, and it’s useful for adjusting admissions offers according to clearly outlined criteria delivered to universities nationally by the Office of Students.

@Bell8484 you may want to remove the chip from your shoulder … you are making really unpleasant assumptions about professionals’ ethics. It’s insulting.

In our experience, yes lots of kids from independents and no not very diverse.

That’s reassuring, has he said what makes him feel it’s inclusive?

My DD is considering it as its well regarded for the course she's interested in. Its 4/5 hrs away for us - northern (selective) state school educated. We're booked on the open day in May but a previous poster is right - quite an expense with overnight stays etc. The last couple of comments from @Bobsterbunny and @HazeyjaneIII suggest your children aren't enjoying it?

No. But really I can assure you that privately educated kids are, in the majority, nice regular people. And I’d also say not all from particularly wealthy backgrounds- at my kids school the parents were: teachers, nurse, builder, IT, music promoter, cyber security, gardener, b and b owner, laundrette owner, accountant, and so on. Pretty bog standard jobs.
My DD is at Durham which has about 30% privately educated student population but she says there’s an active anti private school attitude so she never volunteers that she went to a private school. Funny how that never seems to be the reverse (state educated kids sseem quite at ease with prejudicial b views of privately educated students but rarely the reverse - my kids never stood on street corners mocking state educated kids. But they sure got it).

DD is enjoying it but quite surprised at the demographic. She did a year at a London uni and expected it to be a wider mix of people than it is. Exeter is a nice city though and pastoral care at the uni has been good :)

No surprises that the only catered halls at Newcastle (Castle Leazes RIP) had a large cohort of ex boarding school students.

It is being redeveloped and will be self catered.

We are also 4 1/2 hours away if we do it without stopping

Theres a premier inn in town and one also on the edge. We always go for the one slightly on the edge. Book early for £60 ish a night ( parking £13 )

Awful that state educated students, who are in the majority, think it is acceptable to bully privately educated students. I was bullied in my first year hall of residence (similar but not identical scenario) and so taken aback that I didn't know how to react or defend myself - this was a long time ago.

I find this a strange concern. What does it matter? They are only people at the end of the day and your DC will need to get along with them as they are all there together. And surely if you are studying together then there’s a pretty good chance that you will end up in a similar workplace.

All those ‘private school kids’ who are looked at so askance are literally just someone else’s baby, carrying with them the hopes, dreams and fears of another mother and father. You probably gave birth in the same maternity hospitals, watched the same children’s shows, went on the same family days out and had the same toddler and pre-school challenges. Along the way their parents made some different educational choices, but that’s all.

Their parents may be richer than you and the only thing that can be done about that is acceptance.

In a funny way I found that state school actually insulated me from how the world really works because it gave me false expectations of fairness and equality, whereas actually we live in a capitalist, neoliberal economy and it took me years to really grasp that.

My son is at a private school. When he’s asked what school he’s at, he replies “<X School> because I’ve got two scholarships and my dad works there”. We live in a 3 bed semi on the main road in a crap town.

I’m so, so fed up of the automatic assumptions made about private school students. We know families at state schools who have vastly bigger incomes than we do. I had hoped this would stop at university. Perhaps it won’t.

I wrote similar on a thread recently and a terribly witty poster replied, in full, with “tiny violin!” Dear god.

Some kids have not had a straight forward path into uni and overcome huge adversities to get there.Researching demographic, the feel of a uni and the student pool staff are geared towards is important even if just to become more informed and prepared. It has nothing to do with what other parents earn, an odd presumption and something I care little about. It’s all part of a process to find out about unis and to prepare young people during the application process. It costs a huge amount of money and is a gruelling process so research is key.

It may be a strange question for you but if you had such a kid I’m sure you’d be asking questions and doing all the research you could. It has the reputation it has, amongst young people and across social media. I read something online that the University of Exeter’s proportion of private school students is increasing, while other Russell Group competitors are closing the gap between private and state school.There were also some comments on another v long MN thread about it that warranted a bit of digging.

Thank you for your concern re my child’s awareness of how the real world works but it’s not needed. She is more than aware of inequality and adversity both of which she has managed to overcome in jaw dropping ways.

Thank you all for the many informative posts; it’s encouraging to hear that there seems to be so much positive feedback about it as a uni. Any other info would be most gratefully received.

@Bell8484 with regard to your comment about your DD overcoming inequality and adversity: our experience is that the uni takes this very seriously and makes quite generous contextual offers to students fitting specific criteria. Do look into this. I’m not making the assumption that your DD needs a contextual offer, but I think it shows some commitment from Exeter to supporting students who haven’t necessarily had the easiest start. Obviously many other unis make generous contextual offers as well, but as you’re asking specifically about Exeter I’m sharing my son’s experience. Good luck and I hope she finds the perfect place for her.