h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am off on holiday for a week or so but would like to throw this question to the community at large. We live abroad, and are somewhat out of touch with the education back home in Britain. Is there a central body which can give impartial information as to which universities offer the best courses in which subjects, or more objectively, which universities have which specialities?

Look forward to helpful URLs when I get back.

Books are usually better resources for that. A bookstore or a library usually has better information. The advantage of going on the Internet is updated information, but I still have relied more on books. I hope that helps.

When I was young *mournful wailing of violins in the background* the UCAS produced a book which detailed every university in the UK, along with subjects and last years results. I would imagine that this information is on-line somewhere nowadays though...ah, such is progress

I hope someone with recent experience answers this soon. My youngest is 3 years out of uni, but I seem to remember a "Rough guide" "Real guide" type thingy that was produced by current students to complement anything official. If the UCAS thing has disappeared, which is possible as I think the UCAS application system has, most unis run very good unofficial as well as official websites
Has the student concerned been doing a gap year? If not, it's worth considering as some sort of hedge before the truly horrific student loan kicks in

I have just finished Uni. Hoorey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I applied through UCAS and my brother who is going in October to Uni also applied through them. Therefore I have seen mistakes.

Yes, write to UCAS.

Write to your old school and get help from them.

If you can get hold of any rough guides or student guides do so.

Go to public libraries and and make copious lists.

Decide what is most important to you, the course, the possibility to change the course if you don't like it once you get there. The standard of accomodation. Local public transport. Local shops. Living costs. Reputation of the University ion the subject you wish to stusdy. The possiblility of starting with more that one subject and then specialising after the first year of term if that's what you want to do.

However, I think the most important thing to think about doing after all these and before you go and visit one or twenty places, is GET ON THE INTERNET. I never had access to it before I came to Uni so I didn't realise how useful it can be. I still am limited to the basics but I still know that almost all Uni's have Web pages and most of these provide you with e-mail addresses etc. of people who you can ask questions of.

When you have narrowed down your choice then you should deffinately go and visit the places. I visited three after I have pretty much decided where I wanted to go and applied to six. (This is done through UCAS). My brother visisted about six and then applied to his favourites. Either way works but unless you are applying to Exeter and live in Aberdeen then I would deffinately advise you to go and visit anywhere you are serious about. I walked into one Uni and just *knew* I couldn't go there.

Can I do a quick advert???

I am at Durham Uni. It's fab. The web site is a bit boring but the Uni is excellent.

Wasn't that restrained?

Ok this post is getting huge so I'd better stop.

I am leaving soon so no more internet!!!!!!!!!!! Boo Hoo.

However, my brother is an ACE on h2g2 so if you have any questions about what i have said then you could ask him or you could contact me via him. He is MaW(Camera man for discovery intergalactic) I think. It changes a lot but the MaW bit stays the same.

Good luck with appliying.

And a final word of adice.

DO ARCHAEOLOGY AT DURHAM


FABT

UCAS still provide a book, and also a CD...a copy of which I have floating around somewhere...if I find it I should be able to tell you were to order one...if it turns up I will post the details.
Also, UCAS has a web site:
http://search1.ucas.co.uk/
which will also help you apply for courses and universities after picking one.
Hope this is of some help,
Your humble sixth form student.

Thank you all for replying so enthusiastically. what I was really looking for though was information that is not available from the official sources - where do I find out what sort of a reputation a uni has, and more specifically, in which subjects it specialises and is particularly reknowned for.

There is the Times league table of british universities. [Broken link removed by Moderator] is where the latest version (May 2000) can be found online. That should give you some idea about the reputation and who does what well.

There's more to university than just the book learning
Other things to think about: Can I afford to live in this university (especially as in the second year you will be turfed out of student accomodation and into the predatory rental market). Do I like the look of the place - is it reasonably safe. What are the sports/drama/drinking facilities like...etc. etc.
In fact, imho, the one aspect in which nearly all universities in the UK are pretty much the same is the standard of education...which is not what going to university is about at all

Last year Virgin published an alternative guide to british universities, I found that very helpful.
Just to reiterate fabt's point- Go to Durham!!! *ahem*

Meanwhile, online alternative guides are at http://www.push.co.uk/ and http://www.unofficial-guides.com/guides/ but I don't know how useful either of these are...

You can't afford (monetarily) to go to_ any_ British university unless you are a Yank (American universities are much more expensive because they pay their lecturers a decent salary) or somebody with a similar background whose family has been saving up for them since birth.It's not that I think students should have totally free education (although I do, of course - had it not been for the 1944 education act, I'd have had to leave school at 14) but the suddenness of compulsory fees brought in after embarking on a course was wicked and I suppose I was more than usually naive to have expected this government to have rescinded that legislation - though when I knew Jack Straw at Leeds, he'd have been among the first out in the streets protesting..
Six years ago, my younger son's school was encouraging him to apply for Oxbridge, but he had worked out that even with a full scholarship (highly unlikely) it would be financially impossible. I thought Durham would be a good idea on the strength of their hockey reputation but he ruled that out too, largely on the grounds of expense. This week he was saying that his only regret (he went to Birmingham and loved it) was not doing the gap year first-not for growing up experience (he'd been round the world with me for most of his life) but for the MONEY

I applied to Oxford but ended up going to Bangor in N. Wales as my first choice. After I'd been and seen the two places I decided that N Wales was a much nicer place to live and actually had a course better suited to what I wanted to do. It also helped that I am quite into the outdoor sports kind of life as it's one of the best universities for that (I knew quite a few who had gone primarily for the climbing).
Quick plug for my alma mater, if you want to do anything to do with the sea - marine biology, oceanography its one of the best places in the country to go

Hi TC (and friends)
What was the result of this? Where did the lad go? Does he like it? Does he have enough money to phone home?

Ahem. He is doing Electrical Engineering at Karlsruhe. Like 30 mins train ride. So he lives at home. The University (which has a very good reputation, so we're lucky to be near it) has a partner uni in Grenoble, which somehow my son seems to be interested in. So, despite non-existent French (the teacher was constantly ill) he may decided to spend a year or a semester there during his university life.

Term proper starts next week - at the moment he's on a short refresher course for newcomers, most of whom will be boys who have spent a year or so doing their National or Community Service and are out of the habit of learning.

Like many people in the same position, I am still stunned at the thought of my offspring (that little cheery pudgy baby!) going to University.

I must start practising being an embarrassing Mum - isn't that what's expected of you?

Start looking for the embarrassing hat for gruation now, That will get him softened up for the even more embarrassing one you buy for his wedding

so busy making sure that I could spell embarrassing that I seem to have messed up graduation

O gosh. Do I HAVE to wear a hat? The last one I wore was my school hat. And we didn't really wear them so much as carry them.

My son (just started at uni) claims that there is nothing I can do to embarrass him. Haven't tried very hard yet, but the challenge is tempting!

There's a challenge I hope you will rise to. Getting their main subject a bit wrong is good, but you can't beat the wrong clothes or liking the wrong authors/music etc. Good luck with it

If you want any advice on how to embarass him, let us know