Choosing a university - useful sites?

Savvy_Sue

DS2 has just done his AS levels and is about to do start his UCAS forms. He's thinking seriously about applying to Cambridge which means he hasn't got long to think, and he's got no real clue about where else he might want to apply, and therefore where else he wants to try to get to an Open Day or visit.

I know he'll get help when he goes back, but that's still a couple of days away, so can anyone point me to 'Best course' guides online so I can point him to them?

He's thinking Maths. We know Warwick is good and although he hasn't worked out whether or not he might want to go there, he's agreed a default position that he'll come with me when I take DS1 back if he can arrange an informal chat with someone there ... unless they've got an open day early in the term in which case I shall use his default position to suggest he goes to the 'proper' open day - I was seriously impressed by the one they did for Computer Science a couple of years ago!

I know I could just leave him to get on with it, and if he wasn't thinking Cambridge I (probably) would ...

Broke_Student

www.push.co.uk has a decent Uni chooser but I would recommend it more for 'average' applicants as the criteria it uses includes things like the importance of sex ratio, size of city and things on entertainment etc aswell as academic things.
I am asuming, based on my experience, that anyone applying to top end Unis would be mainly concerned about the quality of education itself and put alot less weight on the social factors.
The 'what's it like' section of the site will still be useful for him as it gives descriptions of all the Unis and even the individual colleges of Cambridge.

m277

For Maths, I would recommend Cambridge, Oxford, Warwick, Bristol, Bath, Durham, Imperial, York, Leeds and Manchester (not necessarily in that order).
For Cambridge, he has to sit STEP papers which are designed to be hard so he should have a look at them first. I think Warwick also ask for this as well in their offers. Tell him not to be put off by these just because they're difficult at this moment in time- he still has a year to revise and practise before taking the tests.
I've just finished my maths degree at Oxford so you can ask away if you have any questions about the whole application and interview process at any of the unis.

Helix

Unless they have changed it for this year you can apply to additional universities after you send your application off, up to the maximum number of unis (which I think is 5 now). So he could apply for Cambridge before the deadline and take longer to decide about his other choices.

This would also give him time to go to open days which I think normally happen in October or at least they did in my case.

Savvy_Sue

Oh you lot are brilliant, thank you.

Yup, he's done STEP (and got a level 1), plus he has 3 As and a B in his AS results, or maybe he's now got a full A2 in Maths at grade A plus 2 As and a B.

I told him Durham - I went there!

I didn't know he could add choices later, that's a huge help.

Will get him on the case ...

m277

He has to sit two STEP papers depending on which maths A-levels he has done/doing. If he is only doing the single maths A-level then he has to sit both STEP 1 and STEP 2. But if he is doing both maths and further maths (which I would recommend as it will give him a better grounding for uni maths) then he has to sit STEP 2 and STEP 3.
I gather from your post, he has probably done a maths A-level and STEP 1, and got a level 1 - that's pretty impressive.

Savvy_Sue

STEP's all new to me but I will ask him tomorrow what STEP it is he's done. I think it's STEP 1.

Sorry, I think I've done him down: he is doing Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Law and Psychology. The B is in Psychology ... So he's got 4 As and a B at AS level, or I think he can call it an A in Maths at A2, plus A in Physics and Law and B for Psychology. And I think he's going to carry on with all of them because that way he gets out of something called Core, in which they learn how to fill in their UCAS forms!

Either way he's a bit on the bright side ... but I don't want him to apply for Cambridge just because he's bright and it would make the school look good, I want him to do it because that looks like the right kind of course for him and his interests.

studentphil

Oxbridge involves serious poncing about in academic dress and it really does have the feel of public school writ large (with a touch of the Army mixed in) to be fair with proctors and university police equaling the house master. If you can cope with all that poncing about then it is no doubt good for your life chances and meeting the best academics in the world.

The best way to choose a university is to go and see them.

melancholly

having been at cambridge, please ignore the (predictable) twaddle in the post above! total rubbish written by someone who clearly has no experience of the place - just the kind of thing that puts people off applying even though it has no basis in reality!

i'm the first generation of my family to go to uni, let alone cambridge, so i remember the general confusion about the whole application process very well - if you want some specific advice about what college to go for, PM me!

melancholly

the guardian website has lots of info on where is good for specific courses and what those places are like:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityguide2008/0,,2027789,00.html

(although tbh, most universities are big enough that almost everyone will find people they like wherever they go - but they don't like to tell you that )

Savvy_Sue

studentphil wrote: »

The best way to choose a university is to go and see them.

Funnily enough, I'd worked that out, as had my son. However, since there are probably more universities offering Maths degrees than there are days between now and when his UCAS application needs to be in, and since in order to maintain his good results I'd have thought he needed to be in school at least once a week, we were after a bit of help with narrowing down the extensive choice of which universities to go and see ...

Plus, having done my own fair share of 'poncing about in academic dress' in a university other than Oxbridge and working in a couple of more recent additions to the land of academia, we're both well aware that older universities will have a more traditional ethos, atmosphere and expectations.

But thanks melancholly, I will see if DS2 wants to take you up on that kind offer of insider information. Trying to strike the balance between helping him and telling him what to do! :rotfl: When I was applying to Uni, my main consideration was how far away from home I could get, but DS1 didn't use that, and DS2 doesn't seem to be, which is comforting: I must be doing something right! :rotfl: