Geography at Uni - Exeter, Southampton or Reading

[SexyDomesticatedDad]

DS 1 has offers at all 3 - anyone got any opinions onthese? Travel wise they are all quite easy to get to from here, Exeter though would be furthest away.

I did a postgrad at Reading in a somewhat related subject - and ended up running some of the seminar groups (on my subject) for the geography students.

Nice campus (although its developed a bit since I was there) and a reasonable level of accommodation on-site.

Very good train service to quite a wide area...

Back in the day when I was applying for Geog (mumbles "1988") Southampton was the best of these three, especially on the more "technical" side (OS influence I think).

Now I just don't know! I just want to jump up and down and shout "Edinburgh" cos its great there but I see I'm too late ....

Great choice of subject!! I trained as a teacher after Uni and am now just starting (20 years after graduating) a MSc in International Development which is what I really loved even way back then.

Hope she has a fabulous time whatever you decide!

Academically i know southampton has a great reputation.

Not sure what any of them are like for living and studying (at least as important, if not more so).

Thanks - also talked to some Geography teachers at DS2 parents evening to get some ideas too - a few differnet opinions too - guess HE will have to make a final choice - although for some reason we sort of like the sound of Exeter (nicer surrounding area) for family visits..going there in a couple of weeks time so will have to wait.

I would visit all three and see which one your DS prefers. As far as the actual campus goes, Exeter will probably win hands down and it is always high in student satisfaction survey but Southampton is a very high ranking university and your DS might prefer the location and atmosphere.
He might also compare the courses and see which one best covers areas he's interested in.

I know people who teach geography at all 3 universities--very good people. The 'best' geography department in the country these days is probably Durham, for human geography anyway, but your DS has 3 good choices. Of the 3, I'd choose Exeter but it all depends on what kind of geography your DS is interested in really. He should look at the staff in each department and look carefully at their research interests. That'll give him an idea of the (broad) areas that are covered in the degree. The first year is likely to be fairly generic in any case, but he should look at what specialist modules are offered in later years (he should email and ask if the info isn't on the website). Visiting the campus and deciding whether he'd be happy there will also help.

Incidentally, my top tip for a geography degree would be Glasgow*. Great city, great university, great department, great student experience (the staff really give a shit about the students). I know plenty of people who agree with me. I once did an open day for another university, both of us manning the stand spent most of the day telling people that they should apply to Glasgow. Oops.

• You can almost always get in to Glasgow on clearing claiming you want to do philosophy or classics or something else that's often undersubscribed. You don't have to actually take this subject at all, since they admit by faculty. You can do geography in the arts, social science or the science faculty.

No experience of Geography, but Exeter is (or certainly was, and no reason to think that this has changed) a fab uni to go to, both socially and academically, so I would choose that.

Going down to Exeter next week to check it out. Thanks for the comments.

Southampton is - I believe - the only Russell group one of those you've listed.

Another thing to consider is that Southampton has Oceanography. I went there and it was excellent.

He will have made his firm and insurance choices by now (last day to decide was 4th May).