Starting Y13 (y12 support thread contd)

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Well, I filled up the other one, so here's a nice new one to get us through dropping subjects, Uni open days, personal statement writing, and UCAS applications

Plenty of and and (nicely-intentioned) s available!

sounds great! Ds likes the look of the course and I think the college type accommodation system will suit him (easier to meet people I think. It is quite a distance from us (7 hours?) but this suits him!!

His other choices are Durham, Birmingham and Bristol he is not sure about the 5th, but is visiting Manchester this weekend. He has also visited Warwick and Cambridge but disliked both!

DS hated Durham and B'ham! He quite likes M'cr and DH (techy computer bod) was very impressed with their dept.

He also likes ICL and Soton but I don't think he'll get the grades for ICL.

Warwick is on the list to visit!

Soton is our local- so refusing to consider it he felt Warwick talked too much about software and not enough about pure computer science (whatever that means)

He likes london to visit but doesn't want to live there so that rules out imperial etc
Difficult isn't it

One thing worth considering when your dc chooses a university is whether they want one with a big party / club scene, or whether they prefer one that organises more low key events (especially in fresher's week).

DS is a hermit; would sit in his room gaming forever if allowed! He won't care what social life is there He likes both city and campus style, his likes and dislikes are based on modernity vs traditional buildings and the dept tours.

Waiting - if I'm honest, I don't know what Computer Science really is!

Waiting - I know someone who is doing Computer Science at Liverpool and he loves it. On his year in industry at the moment in London. No problem getting a very good placement and he has spent the last 2 summers doing internships at 2 different companies. He is a very bright young man and will go far.

muffinmonster - thanks for the info

Horsemad - my DD1 was a hermit. She studied at York a few years ago & liked it. They had a thriving Anime & Manga society (which hermits seem to like).

I liked it because neither the uni nor the town were too big, and the campus was not too far from the town centre, so you weren't isolated. Some of the college accommodation (Derwent) was rubbish, though.

Hellsbells99 you mentioned earlier about Music for non-music students. From our visits, I recall that both Cardiff and Nottingham had lots of ensembles that were for all. DD was busy asking as concerned about keeping her 2nd instrument going without having it as a study.

Been busy here as still undecided about CUKAS. Less than a week till the deadline.

Thanks Circular!

Mumslife - not going to Reading as DD is away with school. Friends went before the summer holidays and their son loved it - it is currently his favourite. Reading was a possible insurance choice for us but they don't guarantee accommodation for insurance places and when we looked on student room, it seemed some insurance students were struggling to find accommodation.

Does anybody use the league tables to select their uni? Which league table is best to use and is the information worth taking notice of?

On the Complete University Guide, some unis have moved up or down drastically over the past year! What would make a score alter so much?

I've been looking at them to help DD choose the last two places for her UCAS form but as you say it is difficult to assess how reliable they are. I think worth looking at to triangulate with other sources of information but not particularly reliable on their own.

In many ways it is better to go by your dc's reaction to a university rather than using league tables. Campus v city, reaction to department....

If you do use league tables, make sure you compare the individual elements of the table eg. some universities may be exactly the same in all the other elements, but one score such as student satisfaction or research quality can make one score better overall (when there is not much difference between the two unis).

university.which.co.uk/advice/what-do-university-league-tables-really-tell-you

Thank you Littleham, will have a read later!

Seem to remember reading that York and Southampton also guarantee accommodation for insurance places. Not 100% clear whether that means halls or not. seem to recall posting links upthread?

Manchester also guarantees accommodation for insurance places.