uni..... which one?

I work at a Uni (not listed) and I would say it totally depends on the course she is doing and look at which offers the best programme.

What course are they doing? That totally makes a different to which one they pick. I wouldn't say Bolton though, my husband went there and it wasn't great at all.

I went to Staffordshire, but the Stafford campus so im not sure I will be much help.

I loved the uni, met some fantasic people, my Husband included. Some of the people I lived with complained because "there was nothing to do" I just don't think they looked hard enough, I think they would have complained where ever they lived. Stoke had better clubs that Stafford, people used to go there for the odd night out so I think that will be a bonus if she is living there. Stoke isn't the nicest place to live though.

At the Stafford campus the boys out numbered the girls by a long way, but I think that is different in Stoke because its the more arty subjects.

I have a friend who is a lecturer in Stafford now so she might be able to help if you have any other questions about the uni.

As others have said, it depends on what course she wants to do. Different universities are better than others for individual courses.

Not sure of the repretation of Staffordshire Uni but there are some really dodgy areas of Stoke, I've never lived there myself but my mum was born and lived there for most of her youth and my sister currently lives in Staffordshire (although not in Stoke itself). The probably doesn;t help you at all does it?

I went to Staffordshire Uni in Stoke and had a fabulous time. The accommodation was relatively cheap so living expenses were quite low. The social scene was really vibrant....the Union on Leek Road was great.....2000 capacity. Very happy times.

Course was ok too. ?

I went to Derby and had a fantastic time. Was a great place to go ? But what does she want to do?

I went to northampton undergrad and staffs grad (and it's my local)

Both are cheap to live at, Business school at northants is great, facilities are very up to date, park campus is outside the town centre and on a hill, green and friendly it's a fairly small institution compared to staffs so you get to know or at least recognise more or less everyone, Avenue is a free bus ride away mostly arts subjects done there and all the freshers live in in the first year, atmosphere is really relaxed, loads of sports teams, music is generally cheese or RnB

Staffs is bigger but the stoke parts are within easy walking distance, stoke is a cheap city to live in, oatcakes are the food of the gods, the union gets some good bands in, more indie stuff than at northants, up to date facilities, I lived at home so didn't experience living there, train station close by

Thats all I can think right now, PM me if you want specifics, I did law btw

Oh and check out facebook "I survived UCN" etc

At the risk of sticking my nose where it isn't wanted, but . . .

Shouldn't she be doing that ?

Surely Oxford and Cambridge should be on that list? ?

P&AP makes a fair comment though. This needs to be her decision - she's going to be an adult when she goes therefore she needs to be doing the research, getting on the internet etc. Plus universities aren't necessarily a reflection on the area, especially if they're campus based. Most people had a good time at university regardless of the area because of the people they met.

Well, I suspect she'll be a taxi service ?

I think your daughter should be looking at the university depts in terms of the course she is interested in first, then the the social life/accomodation etc. One uni course is not the same as another, even if the named degree is the same. For instance, a psychology degree can be very much toward the social scences end of things or a hard core science programme involving oodles of stats.

? sorry, but I had exactly the same thought! My boss' so started uni last year, and I was AMAZED at how much they were doing, sorting out his uni based halls accommodation for him etc.

Am I the only one that did it all myself? I remember turning up at halls on my first day, and being the only person without a parent in tow. So much for those crazy first days of managing alone! (to be fair, I'd left home 2 years earlier)

Anyway - WEES - depends on course!

gaaah, beat me to it. ? For most academic subjects, I'd say Oxford or cambridge.

As others have said, it depends on which course she wants to do and the reputatin and course ocntent of the various courses on offer, and I guess it might also depend on certain financial aspects. Some unis are more expensive in terms of fees, certain cities have extortionate rents/cost of living. If money is an issue, are any of these close to home and she could spend a year at home and commute?

Fair enough. Back in the day, we just used public transport and relished the opportunity of a day away from school / parents etc.

I guess I'm a touch biased from my years working at Uni open days and watching pushy parents bully disinterested teens into asking pointless questions.

I'm not suggesting that would happen in this case, I just think this is a process for the daughter to see through on her own. Its an important step towards independence, and learning to make your own choices (and take responsibility for the consequences).

You can tell I didn't go to uni....left off the most important info!

She is looking to study Media Production. she has looked at all the websites and gone through all the modules to see if it would be the right course for her to take.

She is not sure want career path she wants to take and the advisors at the sixth form are encouraging the students to choose a subject that they like, as they will be studying it for along time.

She has already been in a situation where one of her AS level couses was not what she thought it would be, and consequently she did not do well in it as she did not like it and she has now dropped the subject.

I was a bit concerned in her choice as (bizarrely) I have heard in the 'Media' that media studies is considered an easy degree to do.

It's hard to advise your kids when you don't have that experience yourself. I would like her to have the uni experience as I feel that as well as the degree, I hope she will get much more than that.

When I do the hair at weddings I always ask the bridesmaids how the know the bride and more often than not they are all uni friends. I think that is great and want my daughter to have a good time as well achieve something.

It was easy for me when I left school as I always wanted to be a hairdresser and have a passion for it that hasn't abated. I have tried to convey that to my daughter that it is going to easier to get out of bed in the morning if you have a job you love!

I'm sure we will get more info on courses etc on the open days . I suppose what i'm looking for is thoughts about uni life, especially if you've been there or live in the area. How would you feel if your Son/daughter were to go there?

oh dear....I've rambled on a bit and now Tescos have arrived with my shopping .

Thanks for all your replies.

Sharon.

I did too - I remember scooting down to St Andrews and Strathcyle unis on the train/coach - I got chatted up by a wino at the Glasgow bus station who offered to share his Buckie with me ?

And I started uni by myself, my folks brought some stuff down the following weekend, by which time I was already 5 days into a hangover and had spent my entire grant on beer, F&D cream fudge donuts and membership of the Dead Parrot Society ?

Mind, public transport is probably more expensive than driving now!

It's not so much the difficulty of the course but it isn't necessarily the best preparation for a career in the media. That said, I know that teenagers aren't really very good at taking advice from anyone, let alone parents ?

I do agree that it's important to do something you enjoy (and ideally are fairly good at!) but I would say it's also good to think about where a particular degree can take you.

With virtually no jobs to go into when you qualify. Is this something she has really researched ? Is passionate about ?

Or is it just trendy and a bit of a doss ?

Sorry if that sounds hard, but she needs to be certain now - not 3 years and £30,000 later.

Crikey .....so many more replies......i type sooooooooooooooooslowly ... she has done all the research....... I'm just being the manic mother.

Oooh. I did Media Production at Bournemouth Uni - although I switched out to 3D Computer Animation.

The course has changed a hell of a lot since my day (gets out zimmer frame) - but it was a very hands on course rather than a lecture / academic course.

FWIW, out of my group of about 15 friends, I am the only one not working in the industry. Although most specialised in Audio / radio the range of jobs they have is quite impressive. They were a go getting, not hanging around lot and had all done a lot of work experience prior to even joining the course - all could operate a radio desk, most could edit video, some could edit / do film stuff. In fact, thinking about it, most had worked in local radio - having started out at the 14/15 age in hospital radio.

Does your daughter have any work experience in any media related areas?

Oddly enough my friend's ex wife did a similar degree at Derby although this was 10 years ago now. She's now working for the BBC's natural history unit in Bristol.

Now don't all shout ?

when I said to her ' surely you should have an idea of what you want to do after the degree'....

'well we were told , unless you are doing something that needs a specific degree, employers don't really care what degree you have as long as you've got one'

thats what what daughter says she was told at the talk about Uni......

That's true to an extent but a media degree won't necessarily get you a job as a management consultant. I did law but I now work in finance.

Oh and as an aside, most courses that are Media Production are nothing of the sort, they are more like the 'media studies' courses that are considered to be a bit of a waste of time..... is she interested in becoming a journalist or presenter or does she want to do lighting / sound / camera / production?

If she is interested in the production side, she might be better off looking at Art Colleges. If it's journalism / presenting she is interested in, something like English or Law might be a better bet for her.

Hmmmmm.

While some companies do have a fairly blanket "graduate" recruitment channel, I think the majority still give strong preference to candidates with qualifications / experience related to the job they have applied for.

I hope she's paraphrasing or has misunderstood, as I'd hate to think that careers advisers were sending out that sort of message.

Precisely. G&T is a qualified Toxicologist, but went into finance after uni. She had a lot of highly transferable skills (organisation, numeracy, data management, attention to detail), but she still had to start from the bottom and go through a certain amount of retraining.

I have a science PhD, and while I've stayed in the sector, I've moved into a managerial role, and that's been a treck. I spent 9 years at university, and they're sending me back next week to start a Diploma in Business Management.

Thanks for all your replies

must unpack the shopping now.

Again, another who doesn't work in the arena I qualified (engineering degree, work in health and safety/project management), however even going along those lines I would chose wisely. I did engineering for much the reasons your daughters looking - didn't know what I wanted to do. However I didnt solely chose the degree on enjoyment, but on what would give me the broadest range of job options when I turned 22. I think there's too many degrees at different levels for your daughters advisors blanket statement to actually work so much now days. What is she going to uni for? To have a good time, or give her the skills for a job? What would be best compromise for her from enjoyment/skill learning/job potential she can do (that said, my sister did Hotel and Catering management, and is now a police officer)?

Anyhow, enough of my rant, in answer to your original question, I don't know any of them, or that course

There's a certain level of truth in that - a traditional academic degree was designed to teach you how to learn and write and think and present as much as it was to learn about the particular subject. And these transferable skills work across industries and the job market. So great as long as you don't want to work in medicine/dentistry/vet/particular scientific role etc where you do need a specific degree.

However, I'd say that when you do a uni course that has moved away from traditional academic subjects (or go to an ex-polys that didn't originally offer the academic subjects), the emphasis is not necessarily on the transferable skills in the same way. And some subjects and some universities have a much stronger appeal to potential employers than others because of the course and uni reputation.

I don't think it's fair as (AFAIK) the tutition cost is the much the same but a degree in Classics from Oxford is going to open a lot more doors for you than a degree in Cinema Studies from the University of Essex. It's not a problem if you want to work in film, I suspect, but it might well be if you decide you want to work in the City or do a law conversion course...

I'm not sure that I agree with this. Whilst the transferable skills may be different, all courses will still need you to improve your reading and analysis of related literature/books and writing skills, whether this is formal timed essays or courseworks. Transferable computer skills are probably better taught at the polys than at Oxbridge (apart from Facebook skills which seems to be a compulsory part of any Oxbridge degree ?). And other generic study skills such as time management, organisation, information gathering etc as well as all the 'life skills' stuff will be the same wherever you go (unless you stay at home, I guess).

I've never really understood why being able to write good essays (i.e. have an Oxbridge degree) makes you more attractive to employers. Certainly in my profession, Oxbridge is seen as lagging behind as they teach a very similar course to 50 years ago. This leaves those large number who leave mid way through to do their clinical studies elsewhere, at a real disadvantage. Their theory is excellent, but they've never been taught to apply it. They also often struggle with the self-directed-ness of the courses elsewhere as they are used to a fairly rigid sturucture and weekly small group supervisions which are certainly not the norm at most universities.

I understand that a certain amount of the kudos is because of the intellectual rigour of the courses, but I'm not sure that they necessarily provide you with more useful transferable skills than other Unis.

Gosh, that was a ramble.

R-A are you a medic? If so, Oxbridge are waaaay behind in still keeping students in lecuture theatres until the 3rd year!

To be honest, it sounds like your daughter has been encouraged to apply because it will look good on the school's figures. I have no idea about the reputation of the course she wants to do at the unis you have mentioned but given that it's only recently that she's decided to go to uni, would she be better having a year out, trying to get some relevant experience and figuring out whether she really wants to go?

I wouldn't saddle myself with £30,000 of debt (potentially) unless I was certain the degree was either a) from a good enough university to be taken seriously if I wanted to move fields after graduation or b) the reputation of the course was such that the graduates are demonstrably more in demand in that field.

I'm afraid I'm in the camp that tends to think that a degree in 'Media studies' or the like is unlikely to be terribly useful or appealing to employers. I know several people who have done similar degrees and other things around theatre studies etc. One now works selling computers, another is doing some PT youth work & plays a trumpet in a band, another one who also does youth work (none of these actually needed the degree in order to get these jobs). H's 2 cousins did drama type degrees, one at Northampton. She struggled to get a job on graduating & worked in Sommerfield for some time, before finally deciding to do a PGCE. She now teaches drama in a secondary school so did quite well in the end but it's not what she'd really wanted to do. The other works with a travelling puppet theatre - enjoyable, but not a particularly reliable income!

I'm afraid these days that with the cost of going to university, and with so many other people getting degrees, it's not always worth doing something for the sake of it. Yes it's a great experience, gaining independence, meeting new people etc, but unless you are also learning skills that make you attractive to an employer then it's not necessarily going to get you very far in the workplace!

If I were her I would either pick a more academic or a more vocational subject (i.e something directly relevant to an area of work she might want to go into). I have heard that Derby is good for Youth Work & Community studies type degrees. I'm not really too sure about the others although I didn't think Northampton had a great reputation. Going to Uni is great, if it enhances your employement prospects. If not then it might be better looking at things like modern apprenticeships, or doing PT learning from a Further Education college (some offer foundation degrees) whilst also gaining work experience.

Have a look on here: https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/

As for location, pick somewhere with decent transport links & fairly lively. I know people who have gone to Uni in suburban areas and found it too dull & quiet! I went to Nottingham Uni which is v good and has a lovely campus. I also had an interview at Loughborough which looked good too, and I looked round Sheffield - again v good. My brother went to Manchester and had a fabulous time (though maybe partied a little too hard). He had to live in some dodgy areas though - Fallowfield & Moss Side - but he came out fairly unscathed with a 2:1!?

Nottingham Trent has a decent reputation and according to the league table, decent graduate employment prospects, Coventry seems middling for employment prospects and Derby seems to not do very well in that respect - Northampton does slightly better.