University of Bristol

Bristol

Is Bristol bias against private schools??

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There are so many more private school kids around Bristol than state school kids. If anything the bias is most definitely the other way!
Also I used to work for the alumni office at the uni and we used to get displeased people saying to us all the time that they thought the university discriminated. The fact is that Bristol is massively, massively oversubscribed and so people with good predicted grades are going to get rejected if they don't appear as well-rounded or whatever as other candidates.
Saying that there is a bias against private schools is just an excuse for parents when their over-privileged kids don't get in. There's not a shred of truth in it.

I lived in a house of fifteen people in my second year and I was the only (the ONLY!) person not to have come from a private school. It's ridiculous.

University of Bristol

Bristol

Reply 21

Valkyrja

There is on my course, but it's a tiny bias and it's department based I believe.

Reply 22

J-OD

spook2575

well no one from my school got into bristol for economics, and its a state school.

but this 'evidence' feeds into peoples need to correlate their school's status and their university offers made, whereas if we think of this rationally the amount of people we are talking about here is likely to be small, and therefore not telling alot about any institution, - there are many other factors at play - PS, GCSE + ALevels, interview (? if relevant) - the school they went to - be it state or indepedent, is merely subsiduary to the things that really matter on application.
University Admissions Tutors will not arbitrarily deselect candidates or hinder them due to the school they went to, and if they do then they arent doing their job properly! - if anything the evidence for the Cambridge Special Access Scheme or widening participation initiatives want to change any unjustice there has been in the past.
If you want bristol, go for it! and good luck

Reply 23

Buffyboy

To be honest if i were you id try to apply to ethier PPE or Politics and Economics, if you havent focused much on philsopohy on your personal statement, don't impress about it at interview then chances are they are not going to want you. As it has been said it works the other way round, mentioning philosophy on a politics and economics application isnt going to help either.

So yeah, i wouldnt apply for PPE unless i was really interested in philosophy, maybe do some reading you might find you like it... I read Sophies World which was an adequete introduction, theres alot of great philospshy introductions out there. You mentioned you love politics, well political philosophy is imperative to the study of politics and its really interesting, read some J.S Mill for a taste of some great political philosophy ideas.

Reply 24

travis 3

7% of pop = private schools
35% of bristol uni private
doesnt mean they favour private, it may be more applicants are from private
private schools tend to produce applicatns with more A's at a-level and therefore still may have a higher rejection rate than state schools. private schools are disriminated by unis, becasue they tend to be less self-motivated to work. unfourtantely for some people who attend private schools do not need to be spoon fed, but unis will still assume that these pupils are enocuraged and helped more than pupils in state schools.

Reply 25

jm6852

Given that Bristol has a ridiculous amount of poshos and rahs I very much doubt it.

Reply 26

alli_siv287

i have also heard they are pretty biased against grammar skls aswell coz plenty of ppl i've spoken 2 have been turnd down by Bristol, all who have gone 2 grammar skls, and have AAA predictions or higher x

Reply 27

n0c0ntr0l

They aren't biased. They just get waves of really good applications. How do you decided when everyone is predicted AAA? I got in, and I'm coming from what is considered one of the most expensive and posh schools in the country.

Reply 28

andy5788

No, no and no.

Oh, and no.

Reply 29

says mr widening participation officer.

:p:

Reply 30

2009er

I would say Bristol certainly was not! Although they should be! Bristol probably isnt more likely to let a private school kid in either just that I dont think they take into account that on the whole its easier to get an A at a private school than a state school. I didnt think that Cardiff would be biased like this but when I went for my interview there, there was 5 kids from THE SAME PRIVATE SCHOOL in Birmingham. I thought that was ridiculous and annoied me somewhat...

Reply 31

cv711

Few points:

1. 'High Master' like headmaster has been used as tradition.
2. School fees at St Paul's are not more than £8000 they are around £5500
3. Ofcourse people from St Paul's are going to be discriminated against, why wouldn't they-its because we are expected to get amazing results and if we don't, then we are considered failures.
4. Social engineering? If you could afford to send your child to the best school, why wouldn't you. Wouldn't you want your child to have the best education possible and the best chance to scceed and be given the greatest opportunity?

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 32

n0c0ntr0l

Lol, only my school, eton and harrow and malbourough are 8k a term, and it's still going up, probably gonna be 10k in 3 years time.

Reply 33

majikthise

cv711

4. Social engineering? If you could afford to send your child to the best school, why wouldn't you. Wouldn't you want your child to have the best education possible and the best chance to scceed and be given the greatest opportunity?

And that makes it not social engineering, how?

Reply 34

n0c0ntr0l

It is hurting us, but it's not killing us. It's not affecting the super rich, it IS affecting the upper middle class that go there (such as myself)

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 35

cv711

'buy their grades'

I sense bitterness. What you have failed to realise is that people who go to St Paul's actually work. We aren't injected with the mark schemes to exams in our heads, we are taught well, concentrate on what we learning about, LEARN and REVISE the material and do well in our exams.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 36

andy5788

Nevertheless your grades are achieved in a certain context, as are everyone's. To remove achievement from context is absurd and fundamentally unfair.

What many people often fail to realise is that universities are not assessing your A Level grades, your extra curriculars or anything else. They are using them as a guide; a guide which helps them to judge your potential to do well on their course. Potential is key, and potential can only be judged in context.

Bristol's admissions policy is NOT a demonstration of bias. It is a recognition of the blindingly obvious (and ever more statistically demonstrable) fact that grades achieved alone are not a good enough indicator of potential to succeed on a HE Course. Well drilled students (from the state or private sector) can fail to adjust to the independent nature of university work, and seemingly lower achieving students from less prestigous schools can actually perform extremely well in HE given the chance. For those interested I recommend the report released a few years ago by St Georges Medical School on their differentiated offer admissions policy.

Bristol's policy specifically disallows consideration of a candidates economic or social background (assuming of course there it has had no obvious and quantifiable impact i.e years spent out of education etc). It takes into consideration only a candidates previous EDUCATIONAL background, it is just a sad fact that poorer students almost uniformly recieve a weaker education.

(And to think I promised myself the other day I wouldn't throw myself into this again.....)

EDIT: Oh and of course private schooling is social engineering. As is private healthcare. The question is whether it is an acceptable consequence of peoples freedom to invest in their childrens education. Personally I think it probably is.

Reply 37

n0c0ntr0l

I don't think you understand the nature of private schools. Yes we are terribly proud of our schools, yes we strive for the best. But you will find that the worse your school is the easier it is to get into the top university with lower grades. They judge on potential, I'm sure a boy coming from the local comprehensive near my house would get into bristol with BBB easier than I would whilst predicted AAA.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 38

andy5788

But the point is that BBB is just as hard for them to get at their school as AAA is for you to get at yours. That's why these policies exist. It is no easier for anyone to get in from any school, it's just that achievements are placed in context.

Reply 39

Paranoid Kid

n0c0ntr0l

And I don't think you understand the nature of state schools. There are schools out there where people are seriously disadvantaged - their learning environment is disruptive and suffers from a serious lack of resources. That doesn't exactly make it 'easier to get into a top university'. Why shouldn't the disadvantage be recognised in their offer?

As a more general point - we're not talking all state schools here, we're talking about the very worst. Some state schools are simply excellent, so no one should think this is a straightforward matter of 'this person goes to a private school, this one to a state school, thus we'll give the place to a state school student'. Equally as demanding offers will be made of students who went to a good state school as those who went to a private one.