Uni visits and decisions about where to apply

[ToadMum]

The city vs campus one is very relevant and would be hard to get your head around from a prospectus or website. DD is very sure she doesn't want a campus one (it's why she didn't like Surrey) and wants to live in a city.

DS2's school has sent him off on a couple of trips to Cambridge (very kind of them and one was free, the other not hugely expensive and some time later, for some reason, we got a partial refund anyway). On the most recent occasion, one of the speakers addressed the idea of finding out what kind of university you want - campus, city or sort of city-as-campus like Cambridge - and going with where you feel happiest. Not at all, 'You're clever, your school's sent you on this day out - ergo, you must want to come to Cambridge, so that's what we'll tell you want to do', which was good, we thought.

Having walked through and around the Reading Uni campus for as long as she can remember, (we were part of a study on the emotional development of babies and young children so visited often, plus it’s very close by) DD knew that was what she wanted, just not at Reading.

Thinkers, that was exactly the conclusion DD came to, the week we combined the open days at Reading and Bristol . No offence to the Reading campus, which is very attractive; the university (like Bristol) just failed to ignite a spark, somehow. Good food offered at both, though .

[kenyancowgirl]

Bristol failed to ignite a spark with DS1 either - it was "Ok" until he saw others - too many hills maybe but I think it is marmite - some absolutely love it whereas ithers just don't - and that is the thing you don't get from looking at websites/prospectuses and talking to others - your own "feels"....

However, there is a danger that too many visits, confuse the "feels", which is why narrowing down on paper first is not a bad thing.

[Tinkers]

However, there is a danger that too many visits, confuse the "feels", which is why narrowing down on paper first is not a bad thing.

Exactly what DD has done. A paper exercise first to see which courses she liked, offered her what she wanted to do, campus based, not a huge distance from home, grades required etc and narrowed it down quite a lot to 4. The Open days have been more a confirmation exercise either way, but so far she has liked all three she has seen. I don’t think either her or us could have handled seeing more.

[loobylou]

This has been a really interesting thread.
Can we go even more basic for me? (sorry!)
Dd has just done GCSEs and will be starting year 12 in September.
She has an idea of what subject she would like to do at university (though that could change after A levels start) - she would like to do History or History and Politics or International Relations (something along those lines).
Because of weekend trips etc over the years she has towns she definitely doesn't want to live in/go to university in. She has a couple that she likes the idea of (but this is based on the city/town not the course/uni itself).
She would now like to start thinking a bit more about it and she wants to start with the courses, then look at the university experience/place.
There are hundreds of universities. Where does one start to narrow it down to looking at courses that inspire her? I literally have no clue how to start this process - as I knew what I wanted to study I just remember sending off for all the prospectuses for all the medical schools and then applying for the 5 courses requiring the lowest A level grades.
Is there a website where she can put in her ideal course and see what comes out?

[loobylou]

Also:
Do league tables mean as little with universities as they do with schools?

[kenyancowgirl]

There are quite a few:

Here is one:

https://www.ukcoursefinder.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

UCAS also have various search facilities and there is a Which one that allows you to put your A level subjects in and look at course suggestions and then investigate those further:

https://university.which.co.uk/a-level-explorer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And yes league tables can be as misleading as they can with schools - you have to drill down to see what they are assessing: for example UEA comes very high in most of the league tables they quote - they are very high in student satisfaction (they really are a lovely place) but are not in the infamous Russell Group etc.

Compare like for like - you can look at different medical schools for example and compare them as it is a similar course - but generally the best university is the one you graduate from....

[ToadMum]

And there's UCAS itself - good to have a general rummage through, anyway (everything under the Undergraduate tab, or Conservatoires, if that's what they are interested in, as it's a separate process), if you and your DC are new to the current process.

https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate

[loobylou]

Thank you KCG and Toadmum, I'll have a look at all of that; it's really helpful. Thank you!

[SteveDH]

I went on a few uni visits with my DD, mostly to act as a sounding board.
they were useful in helping narrow down exactly what she was looking for in a course.
After about 3 visits and looking at course specs she managed to narrow it down to just 5 courses so no more pre application visits were needed.
The all offered post offer visits which a lot nicer and helped narrow it down to the final 2.

[copella]

As well as visiting unis mine also did taster courses at unis they may have been interested. One went to Surrey and really took against it. Not sure why as we were not with him. Visits were helpful to rule some out. We also never drove but used public transport so that they had an idea of how complicated or not the journey would be if they get homesick.