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Glasgow, Edinburgh, Royal Holloway and Winchester

Hi everyone,

It has been months since I posted a thread but seem to get quite a few private messages from students, feel like the Student Room Team Mum!

I wanted to address Missy's request for information as she wanted my opinion or Glasgow/ Edinburgh of which I just read the thread of which has been closed and seemed to have gone out of control.

Lisa originally considered Glasgow U along with Edinburgh U and with consideration towards her international baccaluareate exams and missing a point needed on the Physics 2, hardest exam produced by IBO, for her it was a blessing in disguise as she no longer wanted the larger city life being only 18 as she had once thought. U of Glasgow is a world class city, sadly there is a darker underside there, it is more like New York in that regard with stabbings and not safe through Kelvin Park and near campus in the evenings. A friend of mine, her husband went there two months ago on buisness and thought it was very nice and had changed since he was there years ago. The university has a wonderful reputation but you must look over your shoulder of which worried me as this process continued. With U of Edinburgh, another great college, it has its fair share of issues and is known as the Aids capitol of Europe with the issue to drugs, again, a lovely city but with a dark side.

As the process went on, Lisa was released and could have pursued her other four choices and found several others that were smaller and in safer areas. She applied and made nearly all of them with not as demanding perfect scores needed. There were about another ten to consider and when it came down to it, I encouraged her to find a smaller and much safer campus being so far from California. She considered the choices and Royal Holloway was one possibility but I will tell you it is 95 percent females there, few males of which was a determining factor. We visited the campus last year and main building is beautiful, although out in the middle of no where and you must taxi to train station to even get to London and takes over an hour or so. The staff is lovely there but you are so isolated there and cut off from other U of London locations. She decided upon U of Winchester, formely King Alfreds Winchester and is excited as can be!!! They are the friendliest and in a safe area with ten minute walk to town and and small high street and close by trains of direct line to London every half hour. Airport close by to other EU countries, Euro train to Paris and close to sea. The area was featured in Da Vinci code movie.

We are taking a ten day trip there for Fresher's Faire and this ended up being a blessing in disguise. It may not be the top prestigious uni, excellent for her degree, Psychology with Ballet and can go onto Cambridge or Oxford for post graduated degree.

I know she will love it there and I feel this was the best choice of all!

Go Wintonians!!!

Ta Ta.

Lisa's Mum :dancing:

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Reply 1

guccilittlepiggy

Lisa's Mum

It may not be the top prestigious uni, excellent for her degree, Psychology with Ballet and can go onto Cambridge or Oxford for post graduated degree.

I don't mean to be rude, but I very much doubt it.

Reply 2

beefykoala

Psychology with ballet?!

You'd go home each evening with aches at the top and botttom of your body!!

Reply 3

Lisa's Mum

Winchester is known not only for its social sciences but the performing arts and they encourage a joint honours degree of interest. I believe it is twenty percent studied, not entirely as Psychology would be the main focus.

Bye,

Lisa's Mum :girl:

Reply 4

Lisa's Mum

Hi Mr. Gucci,

U of Winchester is known for its social sciences and is a respectable institution for that. In fact, the reknowned journalist, Martin Bashir of whom did the famous interviews of Princess Diana and Michael Jackson along with being on evening tele is an alumni.

Where are you studying?;smartass;

Reply 5

guccilittlepiggy

Lisa's Mum

Firstly I am not a Mr.

I'm sure that your daughter will be happy at UoW and I'm sure that she has researched the reputation and the graduate prospects. All I was saying is that you cannot presume that she will walk straight into post grad at oxbridge. The competition for places is very high and I really wouldn't fancy her chances with a psychology and ballet degree tbh. Its rather naive of you to use a 'journalist' as an example, especially as you daughter won't be going into media, one graduate does not prove anything about the university and if you think it does then I'd be inclined to assume that you've fallen for whatever rubbish you've been told by the pr department. Did you even ask about graduate destinations?

Reply 6

*soph*

Lisa's Mum

With U of Edinburgh, another great college, it has its fair share of issues and is known as the Aids capitol of Europe with the issue to drugs, again, a lovely city but with a dark side.

Where did you get this info from?

I might be being ignorant but I've never heard of this before :confused:

Reply 7

Shake 'n Bake

I think it will waste your daughter's potential to go to a university that has one notable alumni.
University of Glasgow is very good university. Alot of the departments get top marks but employes look at the overall reputation of a university.
Winchester seems to have minimal reputation. However if your daughter feels she will be happy there then so be it.

Reply 8

fabuleuse

*soph*

Where did you get this info from?

I might be being ignorant but I've never heard of this before :confused:

Well duh!! It was in Trainspotting. :wink:

Reply 9

Kew

Lisa's Mum

She considered the choices and Royal Holloway was one possibility but I will tell you it is 95 percent females there, few males of which was a determining factor. We visited the campus last year and main building is beautiful, although out in the middle of no where and you must taxi to train station to even get to London and takes over an hour or so. The staff is lovely there but you are so isolated there and cut off from other U of London locations.

1) The male/female ratio at Royal Holloway is around 40/60%. In no way is it 95% female!
2) I've used the station frequently but never bothered getting a taxi there! You can easily walk there from campus in around 25 minutes.
3) There are regular trains straight into central London (Waterloo, I think). The journey takes 40 minutes, not over an hour.
4) Obviously RH is a bit isolated compared to places like UCL, but not nearly as much as some people seeem to think. I've made several journeys over to Senate House during my time at RHUL, and never found it at all a problem. I know several students who regularly went to ULU every week for ULSO rehearsals, including a couple of cellists...

Lisa's Mum, I think it is odd to dismiss RHUL for reasons that mainly don't stand up to close scrutiny. It has a much much better academic reputation than Winchester, and is no more 'out in the sticks' - trust me, RHUL students often go into London! Is ballet very important to Lisa? If not, then she could do single honours Psychology at RHUL.

I think it rather peculiar to dismiss Glasgow and Edinburgh too, because they're also in a completely different league to Winchester. But if crime really is such an important issue for you, then fair enough - though thousands of students attend those universities every year without any problems...

Reply 10

Ollie87

You'll have a tough time getting into Oxbridge for post grad with a degree in psychology and ballet from Winchester I'm afraid. Not saying it's impossibe, but incredibly unlikely. I hope she enjoys her time studying there.

Reply 11

majorraja

Don't forget to pack plenty of cotton wool for her trip.... :rolleyes:

Sorry but glibly falling for stereotypes about glasgow and edinburgh which you have made little real research about dismays me.

Reply 12

mermania

Lisa's Mum

With U of Edinburgh, another great college, it has its fair share of issues and is known as the Aids capitol of Europe with the issue to drugs, again, a lovely city but with a dark side.

unless your daughter frequently has unprotected sex with complete strangers or injects herself with used needles regularly, I don't think she'd have to worry much about getting AIDS. There are going to be drugs at any university - you couldn't have much faith in your daughter if you think she's going to automatically turn into a junkie just because there are drugs around her.

and as for stabbings in Glasgow, if you walk around dodgy areas in any city late at night that's going to be a problem, surely?

Reply 13

rosieposy87

Lisa's Mum

LMAO! 'University of Winchester' or whatever they call it these days used to be a teacher training college (a very good one! But still just a teacher training college) so you can hardly say its 'known for it's social sciences'. Winchester only became a university about 3 years ago (a hilarious ceremony involving giving out sweets to everyone in winchester, bizarre)- it's hardly a 'distinguished institution', more a pretty average university.

Martin Bashir is only a 'reknowned journalist' because he essentially took the piss out of the 2 famous people he interviewed. Well done him. If you can name one piece of journalism he's done since his Michael Jackson interview (which was about 6 years ago now) i would be surprised.

I've lived in Winchester my whole life and believe me, it's not that interesting. Yes it is very safe but that's completely besides the point of university in my opinion. If i was your daughter i'd much rather be going to Edinburgh! Tell her to have fun dancing in the one club which has a dancefloor about 2 metres square.

Reply 14

arkbar

I still say troll.

Reply 15

Scots_Law

I think your comments about both the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow are unfair and clearly (and also worryingly!)you have failed to research these universities in any sort of depth. I, personally know students at both universities and no one I have spoken to has had any problems with crime or Aids :rolleyes:

Reply 16

majorraja

They are the friendliest and in a safe area with ten minute walk to town and and small high street and close by trains of direct line to London every half hour. Airport close by to other EU countries, Euro train to Paris and close to sea. The area was featured in Da Vinci code movie.

That has to rank as one of THE daftest justifications for picking a university ever!

Oh, by the way, the Da Vinci code was fiction. Just in case there is any misunderstanding about Europe being under the throes of a battle between the Merovingian Dynasty and Opus Dei.

Edit: Or is it?

Reply 17

Obscured

I just can't believe that "lisa's mum" is back. Although clearly foolish, the woman's ignorance is so bad it's funny.

Reply 18

Acaila

I'm just loving all this about Edinburgh :biggrin:

I've noticed/heard of about as much crime in Edinburgh as I have in my tiny little town in the highlands.
I also know someone who used to teach at Winchester and thinks my class is a lot brighter :biggrin:

Reply 19

mermania

Acaila

I'm just loving all this about Edinburgh :biggrin:

I've noticed/heard of about as much crime in Edinburgh as I have in my tiny little town in the highlands.