University Campus or Home?

securityguy

stebiz wrote: »

Your opinion of Universities. Except for the big two, I think they are ALL equal and only the snobs think of it in any other way - and there are a lot about. If I was interviewing for a job and the two prospective employees had a 2:1 Hons - it wouldn't make any difference to me if they were Bath, Warwick or Manchester.

Hardly a convincing argument, given you name three of the best in the country and, in Warwick, one of the very best. Are you saying that you would regard a 2:1 from Birmingham and a 2:1 from Wolverhampton as equivalent? Because if so, you are a fairly rare interviewer.

thatlemming

I only know one guy who lived at home for uni in the first year, and by december he had a place in halls. As someone AT uni, halls is really the place you meet so so many people, and quite frankly, grow up an awful lot.

Why ruin the whole uni experience by living at home with your parents? Can I suggest your daughter goes to thestudentroom.co.uk and asks actual students the same question, as it's her that'll have to put up with living at home while everyone else is living together. My halls are rather expensive but I'd rather have a little more debt and an amazing experience than have lived like a child for three more years.

MrsDrink

This is very much a marmite-subject. You will get (as you have seen) people who strongly believe living away is important, and those who don't. I fall in the latter camp, but my personality may or may not be the same as your daughters so it's hard to advise.

For me (I went to a uni 250 miles away from home so I had to live away):
* Freshers week (year) was totally overrated - I am not into foam parties etc, and I had a boyfriend so I wasn't into the whole casual relationship/sex thing.
* I only stayed in touch with one girl after I left uni (and then only for around 2 years) - and she was someone I met on the course, she was in different halls/houses to me. The other girls I shared Halls/House with drove me insane so I avoided them as much as I could. To the point that after my final exam I packed all my things up and drove home. I went back to collect my results but didn't go to my graduation.
* I pay out around £130 a month for my student loans. That would pay for an amazing holiday every year for MrD and I if I saved it instead. (I appreciate it was an investment for my future earnings, but if all else could be the same I'd like to have that money in my pocket).
* My student loans were not enough to pay for me to live. They covered my halls and fees with minimal pocket money left over. As a result I ended up with £1500 over draft, and a few thousand on a credit card. This started me off on a bad relationship to credit really. Never fully paying it off, and it slowly getting bigger as it was used for 'unexpected' costs. (Read unplanned).

If I could have stayed at home, and come and go as I liked (within reason) I think I would have learnt as much about 'life' as I did going off to Uni. I think if you ask her for rent (even if it's a token gesture) then she can learn about finances/budgeting. And depending on your daughter, encourage her to socialise (you could even ask you want the house to be 'offspring' free one night a week so you get some peace and she is forced to get out and about). (There are some good threads on here about how to deal with grown up children staying at home).

That being said - when I did my post-graduate qualification I rented a 2 bedroom end terraced house on my own. I adored that. I loved having my own space. (Possibly why I hated my undergrad experience so much).
(The fact I could afford this goes to show how expensive my halls and house share was during my undergrad!!)

MrsDrink

Dunroamin wrote: »

Choosing three reputable, established universities as examples isn't a fair comparison. Anyone who thinks that there's no difference between, say, Durham, Bolton and Lincoln would need their head examining!

Hahahaaa and what's wrong with Lincoln :rotfl:

mumps

mrcow wrote: »

I have 3 of them!

I'm going to start selling body parts once they reach 18!

I have 4 and thank heavens that two are old enough that they didn't have fees and one has an NHS bursary to live on and no fees. 1 out of 4 isn't too bad and fees were lower. The £9k fees do make it feel a bit overwhelming.

securityguy

securityguy wrote: »

Hardly a convincing argument, given you name three of the best in the country and, in Warwick, one of the very best. Are you saying that you would regard a 2:1 from Birmingham and a 2:1 from Wolverhampton as equivalent? Because if so, you are a fairly rare interviewer.

Actually, if could almost be a competition: which pair of universities have the greatest entry requirement difference per kilometre door-to-door? UCL to London Met would be my guess.

sulphate

Everyone will have their own very different opinions on this. I chose the uni nearby for this reason. I stayed at home the first year, though I then got sick of it and moved out for the last 2 years. For awhile I regretted going to a uni nearby and wish I'd applied elsewhere to get the "full experience". Now, though, I'm glad that I did it and almost wish I'd stayed at home for the full 3 years because my debt would have been lower. I don't feel that I missed out because I didn't stay in halls, I made friends regardless. The uni I went to is very over-subscribed for hall accommodation so lots of my friends who lived further didn't get into halls. Even though I was living out of home, I didn't learn to budget very well and in fact only learnt that properly after moving in with my boyfriend (now husband) post uni.

Regarding the loan itself, post-uni students only pay a small amount off per month, and are not obligated to pay it back by a certain date. For me, it did affect mortgage approval (despite what I was told pre-uni!) because they looked at my monthly take-home pay not my annual salary.

As for the quality of the university you go to, I went to an ex-poly, got a 2:2 and have a better job than some of my friends who went to "better" universities or got a 2:1. It's what you do with it that counts.

stebiz

securityguy wrote: »

Hardly a convincing argument, given you name three of the best in the country and, in Warwick, one of the very best. Are you saying that you would regard a 2:1 from Birmingham and a 2:1 from Wolverhampton as equivalent? Because if so, you are a fairly rare interviewer.

Oh right, you come from the snob camp.

MrsDrink

securityguy wrote: »

But to restrict your applications to your local universities, if you don't absolutely have to, seems a shame.

Absolutely agree (especially when that local university is Lincoln :rotfl:)

Person_one

stebiz wrote: »

Thanks. I can agree with most of that except one thing. Your opinion of Universities. Except for the big two, I think they are ALL equal and only the snobs think of it in any other way - and there are a lot about. If I was interviewing for a job and the two prospective employees had a 2:1 Hons - it wouldn't make any difference to me if they were Bath, Warwick or Manchester.

Of course they aren't all equal!

I'm no snob, but different universities are better at different subjects, or have better links with industry/research etc. or have better reputations that help get a foot in the door in a particular field.

Lots of ex polys are great for things like arts, health, teaching etc. while russell group units are generally better for hard sciences, and two universities offering the exact same degree title could have completely different course content.

You mentioned Manchester, well its no 'better' than MMU but its certainly not 'equal'! You'd have no luck trying to study primary teaching or graphic design at UofM, or chemical engineering or genetics at MMU.