University league tables

DalePie

The_One_Who wrote: »

Whilst I agree with most of the above, it should be the daughter who is doing all the research and legwork, not her mother!

I saw this and thought... :rotfl:

The_One_Who

DalePie wrote: »

I saw this and thought... :rotfl:

Why? It's the daughter who is going to be going to the university, and who should be the one interested in finding out more about each one and their courses. It will be the daughter who knows what she wants in a university and what sort of course material will interest her.

bouncydog1

The daughter is probably in the middle of her AS's and panicking as she has to make her choices when she goes back next term. There will also be the open days to consider and some are imminent!

The mum is doing some of the legwork I guess, from a parent's perspective. However that doesn't mean that she is going to make the choice for her daughter - at least I hope not otherwise she will be in for a rough ride!!

The_One_Who

It doesn't take that much time out of your life to do your own research though. Think about when they are in their final year, when they will be applying for jobs, revising for finals, writing a dissertation, probably working part-time, possibly in some clubs or societies (and may have a leadership role), and attempting to have some sort of social life so as not to go mad.

There's nothing wrong with a parent helping, but the prospective student should be able to do their own legwork, and will be able to know what they want and narrow the field significantly.

cherylim

The_One_Who wrote: »

It doesn't take that much time out of your life to do your own research though. Think about when they are in their final year, when they will be applying for jobs, revising for finals, writing a dissertation, probably working part-time, possibly in some clubs or societies (and may have a leadership role), and attempting to have some sort of social life so as not to go mad.

There's nothing wrong with a parent helping, but the prospective student should be able to do their own legwork, and will be able to know what they want and narrow the field significantly.

I agree with this. Courses aren't standardised at university. Every single course is different, and it's important to find the right course for your goals. The OP can't do this on her daughter's behalf - there's simply too much to look at, and you need to know everything about your personality, interests and goals to find the right place.

ammonite

The National Student Survey is done by actual university student so is a good indication of their satisfaction levels of different departments. A lot of the good but non-redbrick universities do well in the NSS which I happen to think is a good indication of how students feel - many of the league tables take into account how much research money is brought in from external sources - something which your daughter probably won't care about - whereas she would care about how much feedback and support students in English got at XYZ university.

Derivative

I don't really see the point in league tables.

If your daughter wants to go to a 'respected' University, she needs to get star grades and get into one of the constituents of the Russell Group.

Other than that, no-one cares whether or not Leeds Met is two places above Manchester Met.

And I have severe doubts as to whether or not employers (or anyone else, really) actually care about the University you went to outside of an elite few.

On every other possible statistic league tables are pointless. Student satisfaction? What does that mean? Easy exams? Research? Is that relevant?

She should be looking for a degree she wants to study, in a city that is tolerable.
Anything else should be wholly irrelevant - thinking about 'social life', for example, when you're about to get into tens of thousands of debt is a highly sub-optimal pattern of thought IMO.

real1314

I went to Birmingham Uni last week; a tutor showed a league table based on the recognition of research papers, showing Brum 3rd, behind Ox/Bridge. Another Uni didn't make the top 5 and weren't happy, so they re-marked the same stats on a different scoring distribution and got themselves coming out as top, above all the others. Brum still came 3rd though, which kind of proved a point.

It's all about how many points you allocate to achievement levels.

Uni A
Top Level 3; HiMid 3; Mid 5; Low 3 Bottom 3

Uni B
Top Level 2 HiMid 4; Mid 6; Low 4; Bottom 1

Score 10 points for Top; 5 for HiMid; 3 for Mid, 1 for Low, 0 for bottom:-

A = 63 - winner
B = 62

Change it to 5 for Top, 4, 3 , 2, 1

A = 51
B = 53 - winner

Same results, different weighting. :cool:

yertiz_2

As the parent of 1 student, just graduated; another in first year, and another making choices this year I and OH have had our personal information and finances scrutinised by SFE and we are expected to contribute to their loans. Whilst I am in agreement that it is the Students choice I do feel that we should be involved in discussion regarding their choices; they are still relying on us for financial and emotional support which we are more than happy to give and they are happy with this arrangement.

bouncydog1

Putting the cost aside, I agree it is essential that parents and prospective students have in-depth discussions about prospective Unis. Not only about the work and prestige (which some individuals are obsessed with so they can brag to their friends!), but more importantly living away from home.

For many students this will be the first time they have lived away from home without support (e.g. supervised holidays). It is very important that both sides are comfortable with conditions. EG may be an excellent Uni, but a fair walk away from town with limited taxis and no late night buses - as a parent I wouldn't be comfortable with this scenario "just in case".

Equally the parents can assist with looking at course content, because this then helps their own understanding of what the pressures may be.

I personally feel that preparing for Uni involves both students and parents in a huge amount of investigative groundwork so a good idea of the whole experience can be explored. That way both sides are better prepared for the reality.