Going to see colleges with your kids...

[Nigeyy]

I've been on the university search with my oldest daughter, and we're currently at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. Weather isn't very nice (cold, snowflakes and overcast) so probably not the best time to see it. We're off on another trek to see some colleges in Maine tomorrow.

How is it the colleges *you* like are never the ones your kids like? (I've been very quiet about this, but at times I feel like shooting out "wow! This is a fantastic place!"). Got to say the colleges I've seen are so much nicer now though, they are luxurious in comparison.

Anyone got any good stories of going to see colleges with their kids? I could do with a laugh!

 

[Nigeyy]

Thought this was nice, Lake Champlain this evening

 

[alicat]

Lovely pic. Sorry, no funny stories to share.

 

[swansonj]

I took my daughter and some friends to the university I wanted her to choose, and treated them to an enormous decadent brunch at a well known cafe. That may or may not have influenced her decision to apply there...

 

[Cheddar George]

My daughter went to Glasgow because it looked like Hogwarts.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I'm afraid I'm rather more autistic than "what it looks like". Choose the courses of best fit first - that's the (hopefully very) short list.

Sorry - boring (but logical) answer

 

[Milkfloat]

I would have been mortified if my parents had wanted to join me in picking out a University. I used it as a great way for a friend and I to travel the country attending a series of parties in a knackered VW Beetle. I did in the end pick a University, but that was based on the social life as much as the educational aspect. However, saying that - this is 25 years ago and things have somewhat changed including my maturity.

 

[smutchin]

How is it the colleges *you* like are never the ones your kids like?

When I was going through this with my son a couple of years ago, we visited York, which I loved, and Manchester, which I wasn't so keen on.

York is a fairly small city, very smart in the centre with lots of nice coffee shops and pubs, and the uni seems fairly self-contained on its campus, which is a couple of miles out of town. If I were going to uni now, it would suit me perfectly and I was very keen for my son to go there.

Manchester is a big city - one of the biggest in the UK - and the city centre is pretty grim, a big sprawling mess. The uni campus is massive but doesn't have that self-contained feel like York, partly because the main student accommodation is on a separate site a few miles away. There seemed to me to be less to do on the campus but that's perhaps partly because there's so much going on in the city itself to keep students entertained.

Of course, my son chose Manchester, which is where he is now and he loves it there. But that's fine, I get it - I was the same when I was his age, and chose Leeds (another big city) ahead of smaller campus unis like Southampton or Norwich. I would have preferred Manchester to York at his age too. You have very different priorities at that age, it's quite normal. And having grown up near Canterbury, York probably seemed too similar to him (York and Canterbury are very alike in so many ways).

And to address @twentysix by twentyfive's point, both York and Manchester have excellent courses in my son's subject (History) so you have to start looking at other reasons for choosing between them.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

And to address @twentysix by twentyfive's point, both York and Manchester have excellent courses in my son's subject (History) so you have to start looking at other reasons for choosing between them.

Excellent and exactly wot I was saying

 

[nickyboy]

Son #2 got similar offers on similar courses at universities of similar standing

So he chose the one with the best nightlife. I didn't try to influence his decision at all. My priorities are not his priorities, not should they be

 

[Cheddar George]

When I was going through this with my son a couple of years ago, we visited York, which I loved, and Manchester, which I wasn't so keen on.

York is a fairly small city, very smart in the centre with lots of nice coffee shops and pubs, and the uni seems fairly self-contained on its campus, which is a couple of miles out of town. If I were going to uni now, it would suit me perfectly and I was very keen for my son to go there.

Manchester is a big city - one of the biggest in the UK - and the city centre is pretty grim, a big sprawling mess. The uni campus is massive but doesn't have that self-contained feel like York, partly because the main student accommodation is on a separate site a few miles away. There seemed to me to be less to do on the campus but that's perhaps partly because there's so much going on in the city itself to keep students entertained.

Of course, my son chose Manchester, which is where he is now and he loves it there. But that's fine, I get it - I was the same when I was his age, and chose Leeds (another big city) ahead of smaller campus unis like Southampton or Norwich. I would have preferred Manchester to York at his age too. You have very different priorities at that age, it's quite normal. And having grown up near Canterbury, York probably seemed too similar to him (York and Canterbury are very alike in so many ways).

And to address @twentysix by twentyfive's point, both York and Manchester have excellent courses in my son's subject (History) so you have to start looking at other reasons for choosing between them.

My daughter made a show of looking around Edinburgh Heriot-Watt, but after the bus ride from the city to the out of town campus i think she would have stayed on the bus for the trip back.

 

[smutchin]

My daughter made a show of looking around Edinburgh Heriot-Watt, but after the bus ride from the city to the out of town campus i think she would have stayed on the bus for the trip back.

I looked at Heriot-Watt but couldn't take it seriously after one of my friends deliberately mispronounced it as Hairy O'Twat.

 

[Bazzer]

I attended Leeds with child 1. As she was planning on being a doctor, part of the tour included the autopsy room. Part of the "weeding" process seemed to be if potential students acted maturely the presence of cadavers.

 

[Fnaar]

Part of the "weeding" process seemed to be if potential students acted maturely the presence of cadavers.

If I was leading that course I'd give a place to any potential student whose automatic reaction was to manoeuvre a body's jaw, and say "gottle of geer, gottle of geer"

 

[ColinJ]

Anyone got any good stories of going to see colleges with their kids? I could do with a laugh!

I checked out the bike stands at Sheffield University and wasn't impressed!

I went with my stepdaughter to her interview at Sheffield university. While she was being interviewed I walked around the campus and spotted some bike racks. There were locked front wheels with bikes missing, locked bikes with front wheels missing, broken locks (with entire bikes missing!) and securely-locked bikes which had been vandalised.

My mate's son was going to Sheffield uni the following year. I heard that his mum was going to buy him a bike to get around the city so I suggested that it would be a good idea for him to ride something cheap, and effectively disposable. The advice went unheeded and he got an expensive mountain bike. It was stolen in his first couple of weeks there ...

PS I am not a fan of cities, but I quite liked Sheffield. I think it would be a good place to go to university, subject to there being a good course in the subject of your choice. The Peak District is about 30 minutes away and there are good rail links to Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and beyond.