11 Plus Exams Forum

It's a bit of a way off for us, but DS1 has started to think about A level options which has led onto what unis will be asking for. So we have started looking on UCAS to see what grades and subjects will be required for degrees in the fields he is looking at, engineering or computing.

This has led me onto thinking how do you dwindle your choices down.

So how has everyone gone about choosing unis?

starts a bit with grades then looking at the courses they offer... then campus / non campus... then do you like that part of the country.....

I agree with Herman....mine have looked at grades required for the course(s) they were interested in, and whittled it all down, doing virtual tours of campuses and then visiting a few on open days. Also they have had chats with the careers advisor at school who would give useful advice about which unis were better for which courses.

Indeed worth going to look at a few. can help visiting relatively nearby ones even if you aren't considering them - easy day out and something to compare with. There is an "open day" site somewhere ... will find it.

Some places like St Andrews do open days on wednesdays through much of the academic year.


edit: here it is.. http://www.opendays.com/calendar/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes even if your son or daughter's not particularly interested, they will get a bit of a feel for student life visiting close by universities....and to be honest having seen quite a number of them over the past few years, I think they're all pretty much the same. Having a look at one red-brick and one newer one will sort of give you an idea what they're all like. Our favourite thing is to look at accommodation, although boys don't tend to be so worried about the tiny rooms and lack of storage as girls do. Birmingham was totally rejected due to the size of the wardrobes on show at the open day.

Bear in mind that after all your efforts over the preceding 18 years to arrange nice playdates and send them to schools with decent fellow pupils they are going to be spending some fairly formative years with their fellow uni students. I'm sure I will be shot down in flames for being of the opinion that the social mix is important although I'm not going to fall into the trap of enlarging on the kind of factors I deem relevant!!!

Thanks for the advice magwich, but my DS is not Oxbridge material so I don't have to worry about him mixing with a certain class of people.

We found the http://www.ukcoursefinder.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; website useful.

You can search by region and UCAS tariff.

Thank you all for the ideas.

Yes I think we will definitely have to look at the grades and work from there as I really do not think he'll be getting the As that most of the top Unis (I do know that's very subjective) are asking for.

We started with the course first as the course my DS wants to do is very specific and is only available at 12 unis. We then looked at the grades each one required and went from there. Good luck with it all. I have thoroughly enjoyed driving all over the country looking at his short listed choices and it was lovely having some time with him on a one to one basis. I really wouldn't worry about the social mix. Thankfully good character, honesty and decency are not exclusive to the academically gifted, wealthy or to those living in certain areas of the country.