The Student Room Group

Why does Durham seem to get a bad press on TSR?

Has anyone noticed this trend?

Durham and also to a lesser extent Bristol (maybe I just notice criticism levelled at Durham more) seem to come in for a lot of unwarranted criticism.

I have seem Durham being described as the "most overrated university in the country." Well I suppose it's nice to know that at least that means that most people rate us...

Other people seem to delight in making generalisations about the arrogance and unpleasantness of Durham students. I can honestly say when I went to the open day no one (student or prospective student) was in the slightest bit nasty or up themselves.

Further, I sometimes see people posting words to the effect of "Durham is a boring old crumbly town, that no one in their right mind could conceivably wish to spend three years in." It does make me question whether I'm a normal person for positively wanting to learn in that environment during the course of my degree!

Does this slightly (I mean it is only an internet forum afterall), annoy anyone else?

And why do you think Durham comes in for this treatment. It seems terribly unfair to me!

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Reply 1
As far as I'm concerned, I like Durham. If someone else doesn't like it I'm sure they have their reasons and that's fair enough, they don't have to come to Durham and someone else who likes it can have their place.

In other words, I couldn't give a **** if people slate Durham. :biggrin:
It does annoy me to be honest, the amount of people who spout sweeping generalisations about us without ever having been here or met anyone who goes. I think its just one of those word of mouth things that everyone gets told as a 6th former.

People who say these things are quite often narrow minded idiots. Possibly with one or more chips on their respective shoulders.
Reply 3
I don't often venture outside the Durham forum, but yeah I've noticed this. TSR in general is shockingly elitist. If you're not at Oxbridge, LSE or Imperial then you're a failure if you believe what you read on here. Personally I couldn't give a **** what these elitist tossers think. Said elitist tossers will be here soon to tell us yet again that are degrees are worthless and we're all losers who are going nowhere in life. Just ignore them, they're the sort of people who will never be in a position where their opinion means anything.
Reply 4
Fields
I don't often venture outside the Durham forum, but yeah I've noticed this. TSR in general is shockingly elitist. If you're not at Oxbridge, LSE or Imperial then you're a failure if you believe what you read on here. Personally I couldn't give a **** what these elitist tossers think. Said elitist tossers will be here soon to tell us yet again that are degrees are worthless and we're all losers who are going nowhere in life. Just ignore them, they're the sort of people who will never be in a position where their opinion means anything.


I'm not even sure it's that. I think Durham is perceived by many to be in/around that elite (well obviously Oxbridge are better than anyone else but I think we can certainly equitably hold our heads with any London college)- yet some people seem hell bent on saying we're not!

Ach. Why can't people just leave off about it!
Reply 5
Jealousy.
Ive noticed that the criticism mostly comes from those attending rival or inferior unis/have little chance of getting into Durham, so develop inferiority complexes and therefore try their best to undermine Durham's successes. I havent noticed many Oxbridge/LSE/UCL/Imperial students slating Durham much.
Reply 6
im going to add to my collection of outrageous posts on this topic:

As a whole, surely Durham is better than these specialised London colleges? This is what i dont understand.. How can LSE be better than any proper (that's gonna annoy some people) university that does a full range of subjects? It's the london school of ECONOMICS for crying out loud! Moreover, Imperial is strictly a science uni.

So, yes - if you go to LSE for econ. then you'll look down on those doing econ. at durham.
- if you do medecin at imperial then you'll look down on those doing medecin at durham.

But surely this is where it stops?? So, as a UNIVERSITY durham is second to oxbridge and in a group with bristol, warwick, ucl. **** imperial and lse.

*waits for the usual barracade of neg rep*
Reply 7
It's mainly because many people think that only Oxbridge rejects go to Durham. I was on the Oxbridge and LSE forums a lot this years whilst applying, and noticed that many always looked at Durham as the 'wannabee Oxbridge.' It's sad really, but hence what stupid generalisations people make.
Reply 8
i dont know why i wrote 'barracade'. It neither makes sense nor is spelt correctly. You get what i mean though... :cool:
Reply 9
^ you can edit it, if you like.
cabeca
i dont know why i wrote 'barracade'. It neither makes sense nor is spelt correctly. You get what i mean though... :cool:


Perhaps you meant barrage?
I personally couldn't give a fig what other people say. I know Durham is a good university, I enjoy it here, I love my course, the people are mostly friendly (was just talking about how friendly people are here last night actually)...so anyone who wants to slag it can take their jealous little arse back to pre-school.
cabeca
im going to add to my collection of outrageous posts on this topic:

As a whole, surely Durham is better than these specialised London colleges? This is what i dont understand.. How can LSE be better than any proper (that's gonna annoy some people) university that does a full range of subjects? It's the london school of ECONOMICS for crying out loud! Moreover, Imperial is strictly a science uni.

So, yes - if you go to LSE for econ. then you'll look down on those doing econ. at durham.
- if you do medecin at imperial then you'll look down on those doing medecin at durham.

But surely this is where it stops?? So, as a UNIVERSITY durham is second to oxbridge and in a group with bristol, warwick, ucl. **** imperial and lse.

*waits for the usual barracade of neg rep*


It's actually the London School of Economics and Political Science, and is pretty much better than Durham in every subject that it offers. So while as a university perhaps it can't compete (it's a specialist school), it is not on the same level as Durham by any standards. That's why it's #3 in the world for social sciences.

This is the reason Durham gets slated on TSR: many Durham students believe the university to be more prestigious than it is. It's good, sure, but it's not top tier in the UK and definitely not in the world.
Reply 13
nobody on here is saying that durham is among the very best unis in the world (yale, stanford, harvard, oxbridge) but if you say it's not 'top tier' in the uk then you've got a fight on your hands!

where do you go if you want to do law, history, english (perhaps THE three most competative subject along with PPE) but you dont get into/like oxbridge? you go to durham. it's 2nd best for these subject = top tier. not THE top but top bloody tier!

anyway, no offence but i remeber from somewhere that you're american (i think)? if so, (im sorry to say) it's unfair of you to assert your opinion so strongly having less experience of, well, the country and education system than we do. im not saying your opinion is less valid but it carries less weight and should be delivered accordingly. (although i might well be imagining things, if so sorry)
Durham perhaps may compete for history, but LSE is miles ahead of Durham for law and has many of the world's top scholars.

I have a cousin at Durham actually, he missed his offer for UCL and says his course is a complete joke. And I have about 10 relatives who live in and study in the UK, I was there during their A-Level dramas and university experiences so please don't assume what I know and what I don't, thanks. This is not my first time living in this country either.

My perspective is as a postgrad, meaning I determine a university's quality on the departments that I am familiar with. Durham is not in the same league as LSE and Imperial--not even close. The only reason it gets top applicants is its similarity to the Oxbridge system, and the fact that many students are put off London due to living costs.
Reply 15
shady lane
It's actually the London School of Economics and Political Science, and is pretty much better than Durham in every subject that it offers.

I wouldn't want to do my subject there.

Being at a top university is something to be congratulated. Going round telling students of other universities that yours is better isn't. That just isn't cool. And who are you to say what the 'best' university is anyway? It's entirely subjective. So you can piss right off.
Reply 16
shady lane
Durham perhaps may compete for history, but LSE is miles ahead of Durham for law and has many of the world's top scholars.

I have a cousin at Durham actually, he missed his offer for UCL and says his course is a complete joke. And I have about 10 relatives who live in and study in the UK, I was there during their A-Level dramas and university experiences so please don't assume what I know and what I don't, thanks. This is not my first time living in this country either.

My perspective is as a postgrad, meaning I determine a university's quality on the departments that I am familiar with. Durham is not in the same league as LSE and Imperial--not even close. The only reason it gets top applicants is its similarity to the Oxbridge system, and the fact that many students are put off London due to living costs.


Ach-you are such a **** stirrer shady. Sometimes it is better to be tactful.

I will not get annoyed with you. But I will please ask you to substantiate your law comment, as law is traditionally one of Durham's strongest subjects. I'm genuinely interested to see this. It was this strength that attracted me to the university.

So if you can show me how LSE's law department is significantly stronger I will stand corrected. But until then I will beg to differ.

Edit: Even before I applied I saw little difference, so this is not bias on my part.
Reply 17
cabeca
where do you go if you want to do law, history, english (perhaps THE three most competative subject along with PPE) but you dont get into/like oxbridge? you go to durham. it's 2nd best for these subject = top tier. not THE top but top bloody tier!

(The Times rates Durham top for English.)

I feel bad using league tables to make points, but, let's face it, there's not much other evidence around with which to make such points. In The Times' subject tables, Durham is extremely high for a lot of things. 1st for English, 3rd for chemistry and maths, really high up for law, for history and (I think) for philosophy, etc. Even on the overall league tables, the actual points difference between it and the universities above it is really quite small. It also has very high entry standards.

I've never really understood how anyone who doesn't come to university here has grounds of any sort to say we're overrated. Knowing one person who comes here is not the same. I'm sure there are courses at a lot of top unis that aren't great, and in Durham there are likely to be a few. But in many of the core subjects Durham performs really well.
Reply 18
hi, i have to say people who usually slate durham, if anyone hasnt noticed, are normally from large cities eg london(esp) manchester liverpool brum because they see durham as small and that old means boring and old fashioned so they never went to look at the uni,(but they still think they can comment) i have to say i chose imp for how easy it is to get to, and b/c of london. i had a big decision over declining durham(im stil rethinking it-why im on this board:smile:. and i dont understand how anyone can do tiers someone who gets a degree from durham against someone from oxbridge will never be purely rejected from a job over uni, they are both good unis so they would be interviewed. therefore who is better between the unis doesnt ever really matter excpt on this board:wink:
Reply 19
In Maths from comparison with a friend who attends Oxford we learn the same stuff, except at Durham we get to pick 20credits from other departments.