Can anyone prove their parents didn't go to uni?

[whostolemypumpkin]

These days a lot of university outreach and other opportunities seem to prioritise applicants whose parents didn't go to university. Unlike free school meals, or ethnicity, it seems to heavily rely on honesty rather than being provable. Or have I missed something? Most people are honest, but perhaps less so when the stakes are high. Maybe I'm being too cynical, but I doubt it.

it would be too expensive to do full means testing.

Not to mention a possible GDPR breach. And would you really go up to a pale skinned kid and berate then for ticking the mixed-race box?

However it's easy enough to check a postcode or a school. An entitlement to full maintenance once at university.

As I've said several times, these are broad brush approaches, that don't deter the very people they're designed to encourage by asking for extra evidence. And it works pretty much.

As I've said several times, these are broad brush approaches, that don't deter the very people they're designed to encourage by asking for extra evidence. And it works pretty much

Exactly this.

You misunderstand what I meant about public lectures. These aren't events aimed at sixth formers. They're events aimed at anyone with an interest in Medieval history, immunology, nuclear fission, Dickens. Academics have some responsibility to the wider community to impart their expert knowledge. A university isn't just about teaching 18 year olds.

@whostolemypumpkin I am very familiar with the range and breadth of summer residentials available (in a previous role I used to plan/manage/run a suite of them, including assigning spaces). I'm just wondering about the ones you mention upthread: 'but I've seen some very oversubscribed subject-specific summer schools, which used to be "first come first served", moving in this direction' - do you mean specific examples of courses changing their entry criteria, or do you mean provision of additional opportunities for people whose parents can't afford £500 for what is effectively a week's childcare/entertainment provision sorted? (yes I do mean childcare because some of these courses are aimed at kids as young as 13)

If it's the latter, then things like Headstart and Smallpeice courses do still exist for fee paying individuals. They are fantastic opportunities, and I do believe young people get a lot out of them. The subsidised WP courses are invaluable for young people (like me actually) who had no experience of university, or really being away from home. These experiences are indirectly linked to me being the first in my immediate family to get on the property ladder also and my ticket into the middle class

Titchy, Imperial does actually do public lectures aimed at KS4 and KS5. But maybe they're unusual.
www.imperial.ac.uk/be-inspired/student-recruitment-and-outreach/schools-and-colleges/students/on-campus-activities/events/newlands-lecture-series/

Fox there was at least one Smallpeice course last year that started out as open to all, then after applications opened I'm guessing they must have been swamped because they
suddenly decided to introduce WP criteria. It still cost the same though.

Imperial does actually do public lectures aimed at KS4 and KS5

They're not what I meant at all! Anything aimed at school kids is done as part of an agenda to encourage kids to apply to university (not necessarily to that institution interestingly).

Titchy, Imperial does actually do public lectures aimed at KS4 and KS5. But maybe they're unusual

Not unusual .....lots of uni's do this

@Rufusthebewilderedreindeer it is @titchy who is the expert on this thread, and my ego has nothing to do with her!!!

@whostolemypumpkin, I really don't care anymore, but you have provided other details. I described the content of the book, you described its appearance, publishing date, etc.

I don't think I have much of a place on this forum, despite having real advice to give. Some MNers have got back to me to thank me, I have put up with constant put-downs and slagging -off, but the main thing is that the parents of the students I would really be trying to help just aren't on this site, which is why I think I'd be best off trying to find another way of helping them. MNers on the whole are a whole lot more switched on and "helicoptery" than the parents of the students I used to work with. Many of them really didn't have a clue.
Too many of the threads here are like the medieval argument about how many angels can sit on the head of a pin. As well as the constant "well my dc this, or my ds that, or when I was at school, " which really just fills up the thread with gunk that doesn't help. So many personal anecdotal stuff. Keep up the chatting....!

And as I have discovered sexism is a one way street on here I have challenged this and got nowhere.

I am wasting my time so I am back off to Landyzone where people really help one another, the banter is FUN and the bitching is absent.
Something which is largely not present here in my short experience. Such a shame, but Mars and Venus and all that. Maybe someone will start Dadsnet!

Abject apologies stanley

I did think it could be taken both ways and I obviously took the wrong way!

I described the content of the book, you described its appearance, publishing date, etc.
If people had already narrowed down to handful of books on the same topic then the additional info might help them, but you said that it was the only book on the subject. If they can't find it based on that unique property, then knowing what's on the cover and the year of publication won't help. They aren't searchable parameters.