Assisting teens in choosing university for 2021 during a pandemic

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mulbs Oct 2020 11:18am, 21 Oct 2020 13,869 posts	0 mulbs Anyone else trying to do this, any top tips?
Dr PhFleecyD Oct 2020 11:28am, 21 Oct 2020 51,196 posts	0 Dr PhFleecyD It’s not easy is it? I don’t think virtual open days can give you much insight into everyday uni experience though meeting the subject staff and students virtually might be useful. If you can travel to the town then wandering about a bit might be useful to see if it’s a place they might feel comfortable living in for 3 years. There is also quite a lot of information available on student forums and stuff so that might be handy? Hopefully by next summer things might have calmed down enough to visit and decide properly after exams, I suppose that’s one good thing about putting down lots of options
Diogenes Oct 2020 11:54am, 21 Oct 2020 54,050 posts	0 Diogenes My advice, based on very old personal experience, is that it is the course that is important more than the place. I think you can be happy anywhere as long as what you are doing is right for you (and well-run). Of course, that is really difficult to tell at the moment with online lectures and limited face-to-face interaction.
Sharkie Oct 2020 11:56am, 21 Oct 2020 16,656 posts	0 Sharkie No children here - but surely that is super sound advice from Dio.
TRO Saracen Oct 2020 12:01pm, 21 Oct 2020 22,153 posts	0 TRO Saracen When I was a teen I completely kept my parents out of the loop, researched, made my choice and then told them. Very much part of me striking out on my own in life, owning the decisions and any consequences. I’ve always had an independent, rebellious streak. If they’d had tried to steer me in one direction I’d have gone in the other just because; so it was cleaner and simpler just to make my own mind up.
Dr PhFleecyD Oct 2020 12:14pm, 21 Oct 2020 51,199 posts	0 Dr PhFleecyD Dio: I think they’re both important. Also the subject teaching might not be typical this year... And TRO: things have probably changed a lot since you were a teen Kids now are more financially dependent on parents than they were. Ds1 quite liked getting my input when we went to open days, it was someone to bounce ideas off. Personally I loved going to open days with him and getting a nose round!
um Oct 2020 12:20pm, 21 Oct 2020 3,539 posts	0 um When I chose, it was all me, nothing my parents influenced. With my 3 children, we facilitated visits, but gave no real input. Other than for Oxford, making sure they were aware of the 'intense' nature & type of people they'd be mixing with. Visits do play a part - more the look and feel of the place. We had one trip to Leicester (about 2.5 hours drive there) for our daughter to say, as we walked in, 'I'm not coming here'. We persuaded her to stay for the 30 min intro, and that didn't change her mind, so we drove back home. Bristol (son) was full of good spirits and how they'd got funding and would be replacing the old buildings with new ones. Not so good when I asked 'so does that mean the place will be a building site for the next 3 years' ? My son (now 30) is a teacher & helping pupils through this - so if you have specific questions. feel free to ask and I can get 'professional' guidance. My 3 went to Oxford, Durham and Nottingham. I went to Southampton, wife to Oxford, visits done to Cambridge, Imperial, Exeter, Brighton, Birmingham, Newcastle, Leicester, Manchester, Bristol, maybe a few more. Good luck!
mulbs Oct 2020 1:45pm, 21 Oct 2020 13,870 posts	0 mulbs Thanks all, good stuff bouncing around up there ^^^ With my eldest son, we had some lovely days out - he chose where we were going to visit, I chauffered and took care of "stage fright" before leaving him to it for a while on each tour then we'd lunch and potter around the nearest town centre to see if the overall feel was somewhere he'd want to spend 3 years. In the end he chose to stay at home and go to Herts uni 3 miles down the road lol. This one will want to spread his wings rather than stay at home. It'll still be his choice as to the what and the where. He wants to study Psychology, possibly with a view to Forensic psychology but doesn't want to restrict choices at this point. Selfishly, I'd like him to be within a couple of hours of home, Liverpool and Manchester would be about 3 hours (Liverpool was my home town), but they're kind of tricky to visit just now. He was interested in Oxford at one point but got cool-kidded out of it. I'd be really interested to hear recent experiences of any/all unis mentioned above. um, good point abut establishing if somewhere will be a building site or not! He doesn't know (how could he yet?) if he wants city/town/campus. He's a good independent learner/worker, he's also a bit of an intermittent party animal. He will need help from the bank of mum and dad, although I'm assuming he'll also do a spotof part time work.
larkim Oct 2020 3:56pm, 21 Oct 2020 12,362 posts	0 larkim In general terms, we left eldest son to do what TRO did - sort it himself, but if there were any queries / questions we were happy to help and advise. He did need some nudging along in terms of attending open days etc, but the choice of course, uni, etc was all his. Though it was helped by the fact that his course was relatively niche (though his seleciton of that course did come from attending an open day for a more generalised course offering, and the niche presentation for his chosen subject just blew him away and set his mind from that point onwards). We did get more stuck in when ££ started coming into the equation - we persuaded him to go half-board in his halls for example, because that had been a great experience for us when we were at Uni - though in hindsight that actually turned out to be a damp squib as he made his best "pals" through the athletics club and his course rather than via his halls. I don't know how we'd approach the virtual world of uni selection; I suppose at best it makes it easier to attend more, at worst you don't get the feel for the place like a physical visit does.
Dr PhFleecyD Oct 2020 5:34pm, 21 Oct 2020 51,200 posts	0 Dr PhFleecyD Psychology is a pretty universal subject, plenty of choice so I think he should look at what kind of take different unis have on it and what looks most interesting. For example Sussex is keen on child development, cognitive and experimental stuff, places with fMRI scanners will be more into neuroscience stuff, Surrey where I did my PhD and taught is hot on health psychology. I don’t know much about northern uni psychology courses I’m afraid!