Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>

University of Nottingham

Nottingham

Want to go to University of Nottingham But have concerns

Ok so I have an offer to study Classics at the University of Nottingham however I have a number of concerns. When I visited Nottingham I absolutely loved it, the University has an excellent reputation, the campus is amazing and academically is very good. The problem however is the huge number of private/public students who school at Nottingham. This is a big concern. I myself school at Latymer Upper, and having been to private school and been socialised in the middle/upper class environment I want a change of scene, i wish mix with a variety of people. It is obvious from what I’ve seen at Nottingham and what i have read on student room that this seems unlikely.

Secondly, I am not a stereotypical black male my friends often joke and call me a closet white boy. I play lacrosse, polo, and also enjoy fencing and skateboarding. The concern here is that people will think I’m either a beg or think I’m a snob. I no i shouldnt care what people think but I wish to interact fully with everybody I would hate for someone to have a negative impression of me. Lastly can someone please clarify the crime rate in Nottingham I’ve heard that it is high, It seemed the completely opposite when I visited however it would be good to hear from those who school there currently. I live in Kensington, London and crime does not exist here.

I am rejecting Durham and now after learning how Nottingham really is I am now considering rejecting them as well. This would be a disaster as these were the only two universities in my thoughts.This is my first time using Student room I do have genuine concerns, as everybody knows the years at university are the three most important years of your life so it would be grateful if anyone could share advice which may help alleviate my concerns.

Thank you.

Reply 1

River85

Original post by creativeminds

I live in Kensington, London and crime does not exist here.

Kensington does have crime. All areas have crime. Last time I checked, Kensignton's crime rate was comparable to Newcastle's (both being below average for the major urban areas they are and lower than Nottingham, admittedly). Kensington has crime, you probably just don't witness it, as you're very unlikely to. How do you know you won't find the same at Nottingham? Though certain crimes are high in certain areas, you're still unlikely to witness, let along by a victim of, serious crime.

There are parts of Nottingham that have relatively high areas of violent crime and burglary, but no higher than some other large cities, and the campus is a safe and self-contained area and its city centre is no worse than any other city centre. This is where you'll spend most of your time when living in. As for living out, I think Lenton has quite a bad reputation for burglary but if you take usual precautions (lock doors, keep lights on in evenings especially when out, don't leave valuable items unattended by open windows) then you should be fine. Student houses are frequently targeted by burglars as they are often easy targets and easy to gain access to. This isn't specific to Nottingham.

As for a high private school intake at Nottingham it's worth remembering that Durham, Newcastle, Exeter, Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, UCL, Edinburgh and St Andrews all have a higher private school intake than Nottingham (I think). Other universities, particularly RG universities like Leeds and Sheffield, still have very middle class student bodies. What are you going to do, just not go to university?

In my years at Durham, the university you rejected (presumably for being too posh) I had many opportunities to get to know people from a wide range of backgrounds, including those from relatively deprived and plain average backgrounds (I am on of them). Though some universities have a higher private school intake, with 20,000+ students at a particular university will you come across a wide range of people (if you look).

University of Nottingham

Nottingham

Visit website

Reply 2

scbond

Surely this is a fake post (trolling)?!

Reply 3

creativeminds

Rivers I do apologise if I offended you and given by the negative rating this post has received this seems to be the case. It seems that I have not conveyed my concerns accurately.

Scbond, no this is not fake why would it be? i find that very offensive tbh. what is trolling?

Reply 4

modini

I've lived near Nottingham (and visited the city very frequently) for 11 years now and I've never experienced any burglaries, muggings, shootings or stabbings. Also, I wasn't even aware that Nottingham had a high private school intake :s-smilie:

I'm going there next year and I've certainly never been to private school.

Reply 5

River85

Original post by creativeminds

I wasn't offended (I'm not, nor have I ever been, at Nottingham), and I did not neg the post

Though I am confused about your "crime doesn't exist in Kensingtom remark". Just because you don't witness crime doesn't mean it does not happen.

Reply 6

nulli tertius

Original post by creativeminds

I live in Kensington, London and crime does not exist here.

Not a view shared by your local paper

http://kensington.londoninformer.co.uk/

Reply 7

cunningstunt87

While the majority here seem to be "lacking in an accent" (to put it one way), you'll find a lot of people here from ordinary working class backgrounds. Don't come across as a snob and you'll make friends with them perfectly.

Although you might wanna try and find something in common with people who won't have played Lacrosse and Polo.

Reply 8

scbond

Original post by creativeminds

Trolling is similar to spamming though it's done to cause a fuss and create reactions. If you are genuinely thinking this way then sack uni off altogether and work in a shop for the rest of your life because I'm sure two of the top universities in the country don't need a snobbish attitude like the one you've displayed in your first post. If you're view of the most applied to university in the country is full of public/private schooled students and that puts you off despite the opportunity to receive an excellent standard of education then you have a very dim view of things.

Reply 9

UKiwi

Take heed of what River85 posts, from what I've seen he can be relied upon to produce the most balanced and considered advice when it comes to university related discussion.

I think it's worth baring in mind that although universities such as Nottingham and Durham are known for a large population of privately schooled students, in reality the percentage is only around 31% and 41% of the student body respectively (source: The Sunday Times University Guide). So in both cases the percentage of state-schooled students relatively noticeably outnumbers that of private-schoolers, granted I would have thought that at such competitive universities a large number of the state-schooled students come from grammar schools. Obviously proportions fluctuate from course to course, the type of accommodation you stay in and the types of societies you join. It's also worth noting that while there may be more state-schooled students, the overwhelming majority of the student body in the top universities is middle class, so you're out of luck if you're hoping to avoid such social circles.

To my knowledge Oxford is the only university in the UK that is at any threat of having a higher percentage of its student intake from private schools, than those from the state system.

I also think the main fault you're making here is that you almost seem like you're trying to plan and socially engineer your friendship groups at uni, which arguably makes you come across as even more 'snobbish'.

Reply 10

Jeester

There are plenty of State schoolers there. I am one for starters and in my mates I think there is one private school 3 grammars an acadamy and a couple of staters.

Reply 11

username818632

Original post by creativeminds

.....The problem however is the huge number of private/public students who school at Nottingham..... I want a change of scene, i wish mix with a variety of people. It is obvious from what I’ve seen at Nottingham and what i have read on student room that this seems unlikely.

...The concern here is that people will think I’m either a beg or think I’m a snob. I no i shouldnt care what people think but I wish to interact fully with everybody ...

Hi There Creativeminds,

As a 2nd year who has been in halls in Notts University. It actually struck me how unprejudiced university actually was. There wasn't really any cliques at all which I thought would form pretty quickly and no one really judged you by your class/colour/sex etc at all. It was a friendly place and everyone had the same rights as the next person. One of the most popular people in my halls was in fact a guy with Autism who was really opinionated and threw quite dramatic tantrums throwing chairs across the room.

If you are worried that life at notts would be walking around with people who are the same class as you and if you attempt to join the "poshies group" when you are from the slums of deepest darkest Glasgow or something (not that I'm say Glasgow is full of slums :wink:

) you'll get rebuffed with a "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Don't because that view is simply untrue.

If you take my house which I'm living in Lenton with for example. We have one privately taught girl from Birmingham, a girl and a guy from all boys/girls grammars up north, two guys who are really colloquial and who's parents work as butchers, PAs etc, and a girl who's kind of in the middle from Wolverhampton whose parents are pharmacists but went to a good state school.

I think its a perfect illustration of how Uni of Nottingham is. A good mix of people from across the country and backgrounds. People don't care where you are from whether you have a silver spoon in your mouth or whether you've got money. Money is a topic with is simply not talked about its not important.

Being at this uni has basically proved that no matter what background you have you are just as good as anyone you see at Notts cause you've gotten into a Uni within the top 20 in the UK and in the top 75 in the world. In fact it is people who did pick and choose who they were friends within were the ones who were hated.

Rutland was hated cause it was full of people obsessed with sport and nothing else. A group in my hall was hated because they didn't mix and yet assumed everyone loved them because they were "hot" and went out and got drunk all the time and slept with anything with a pulse. So people won't hate you because of class, they'll hate you because you think that's important one way or another. If you are open minded, you'll be greatly surprised in life at Notts. If, of course, you give it a chance. :wink:

All the best in your decision making.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 12

olddad