What does everyone think about the new 'declare your parents education' UCAS rule?

[NotanOtter]

Seems a heap of proverbial to me....

Thanks for your illuminating contribution to the discussion Edmond

Yes, ed, ucas would as they go by degree not class but I don't think in practice it will make a huge difference.

What about the argument that parents with degrees are clever so their children are clever too and therefore those whose parents with degrees should be preferred at the expense of those who don't?

Nice argument, Xenia. I have a PhD, neither of my parents has an educational qualification (... my mum may have a typing certificate somewhere, otherwise nothing at all; my dad failed his School Cert three times). I always knew I was a foundling!

I guess it depends if we want 100% of the population to go to university or keep it more selective to keep some value to the degrees (yes I do have a degree myself - very hard-won) hence there must be some way of eliminating applications to leave some potentials to offer places to. Using parental educational records is dodgy if this became a compulsory question. I suppose you could always claim to be estranged or an orphan in that case.

Nowt to do with this topic, but in the past I have been asked in interviews for some fairly junior roles in organisations what occupations my siblings have - to what purpose, I wonder. Now I would refuse to answer but then I was a bit too polite and complied. I'm not sure what they thought when I piped up 'they're all civil servants, they work in x y and z depts' .

edmond [wierd]

at Qmu in ediburgh they already aske this on the registration forms to matriculate, am a mature student, you have to tick it or they ask you to anyway

From today's Times
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I come from a family of 5 and 3 were university educated. It was a bit like Neil Kinnock. I think my brother was the first in my fathers and mothers family to have gone to university.

I was a bit of a rebel and not the best student and so did not go to University nor did my DP and so all those years of feeling like I let the side down and that I was a lesser person within my family might be worth it now .

Thanks Fio. That's what I've been trying to say. IME - which, I admit, is only of one department, and not one which is normally hugely oversubscribed (it may be a bit different if you're Admissions Officer for Medicine in Cambridge!) - it's the Department which decides who to to admit, and (again IME) this is done in as fair and equitable a way as possible to ensure that we get the best students for our course (which doesn't necessarily mean only those with the best A'level results, but those who will really get the best out of it).

Still... that's not what people want to hear. Scaremongering and panicking about how 'they' are out to 'get' our kids is so much more fun!

(So are you applying for next year, Fio? To do what? Good luck...)

There are lots of bright people from disadvantaged backgrounds - but most of them have been let down by the system years back and are probably not applying to universities (particularly the elite universities) anyway.

Your degree sounds fascinating. I gave a lecture at the University of Kent once (donkey's years ago) and liked it there.

Sorry... I did know that you were pg... It had just slipped my mind. When are you due? Will you take a year out and then go back? Good luck with it all.