It’s all very well for the government to say today they will give thousands of students more grants from September 2008 – and yes please – but my concern is whether David will be offered a place of his choice at university.
After visiting two unis in the last week, we were told both days that applicants far exceed the places available – by as much as 10-1 on the economics course at Nottingham.
At Leicester, the tutor making the business studies presentation had a very cavalier attitude and kept stressing that they have 500 applicants for 100 places – and then he shocked me by saying only 20% of those places would be offered to UK students – the remainder went to overseas students.
And I hope David will be eligible for some of those grants too because he is totally self-financing himself and presently has two part-time to save up for it.
So lets see how we get on today when we visit the University of East Anglia in Norwich. David is keen on it and it comes highly recommended by my my sister’s boyfriend’s daughter who studied there recently and loved it.
She told us not to be put off by the concrete buildings, to wander down by the river to see it at its best. The uni is putting a salsa band on and some of David’s friends are joining us for the campus trawl, so we should have some fun, as well as being able to bounce ideas off each other.
UEA is a very nice Uni – complicated campus, but very nice [even though they rejected my application four years ago]. They have a wonderful climbing wall in their sports centre, as well.
All universities, especially the good ones, are oversubscribed.
I went to Norwich University – for a rag weekend with a friend who attended there. Nice place.
I would love to spend the next few years sequestered in Norwich, one of my favorite towns in the known universe. OK, Norwich gets my vote for your son.
Ian
Keep us posted.
lol Elle, it’s the conservative way,
yeah Blair’s Thatcherite legacy
give first choice on Uni courses to pasying students from abroad – hence the americans in Cambridge – the Chinese flooding in …
No good crying over spilt milk!
But I do hope for David’s sake that all uk students get first choice in a uk university
But hell, you can’t have your cake and eat it, if you vote for tuition fees and top up fees, you’ll get universities offering courses to paying students from abroad …
Just like in Addies we’ll be offering the best heart transplants and cancer treatment to paying customers from abroad, and if the surgeons, consultants and specialists have any free time left on their hands, they may treat uk residents and nhs patients – lol!
Not so much a matter of you get what you pay for, but rather you get what you VOTE for, and all those people who voted to privatise health services and higher education – have sabotaged the very parents, and sons & daughters of those who thought it sounded good on paper. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
And Economics (like every other subject) it does matter where you study and who you network with. Once again I wish both you and David all the best. But don’t forget in Cambridge even if at Angllia Ruskin, he could intearct with the best (from Cambridge Uni). The Economic Society has an excellent social calendar and list of guest speakers …
Yes it still does have & produce HI-FLYERS!.
All I know about UEA is that its creative writing post-grad course is highly respected and involves or has involved excellent tutors.
No doubt you will already have established which universities have the most-highly-accredited courses, and which universities’ graduates are most likely to get jobs in their subject.
Good luck to David!
Hope it goes well, Ellee. Let us know.
As we native Norfolk broads know, Norwich is a fine city. I actually think they should play on the architecture of the campus as it is part of its identity – especially the Sainsbury Centre.
Re overseas students – it is all about money, Ellee. Other people value British education and are willing to pay for it. But this isn’t anything new, when I went to Uni 20 years ago, 90% of the engineering students were from Malaysia.
We really liked Norwich and David is definitely steering towards Economics, perhaps with finance and accountancy (he doesn’t take after me in this department!) He is keen to be a stockbroker, so this makes sense to me.
I liked the Scandanavian lecturer who joked that he was still working on his Norfolk accent, his commitment to his department. The sports centre is very impressive too, with an Olympic size pool and many wonderful facilities.
I do love the company of my sons so much that I am not looking forward to them flying the nest. The house will seem so empty without David. He has just gone off to a school summer ball in Cambridge, the local doctor has driven him there with his daughter in the back seat. David took a long stemmed red rose for his date, but assured me it was just platonic. It brings a lump to my throat. A new chapter is beginning in both our lives.
I nearly killed my Dad on the Norfolk Broads, Ellee. Er – p’raps I ought to save that one for my own blog.
OK – I’d better clarify incase you all think I’m homicidal.
We were on a boating holiday with aunts/uncles etc and I was a young lad of seven. I was fishing from the stern of the boat as it was going along (from a well formed at the back of the vessel). My dad was standing on the gripper coiling a mooring rope and he’d kicked my tub of maggots over by accident, so I was crouched down picking them up. I’d not realised that I’d nudged my Dad’s legs by accident. I remember hearing a weird murmuring noise above the swirl of the propeller and the grind of the drive-shaft and it was a few minutes before I raised my head to hear my name being called out from the distance – I looked over the well to see the mooring rope taught and my Dad hanging for dear life from the end of it being dragged along the river. I panicked and ran into lounge where the grown-ups were (this was the 70s so they were all hippies and very relaxed as though from the cast of Hair). “Dad’s in.” I said in a tremulous voice, my uncle looked up and said “Oh, that’s good, son” I began to freeze up with anxiety and tried again, “Noo, er, Dad’s IN.” I said rather pathetically, “Great – we heard you the first time, Kevin.” it was then that I burst into tears and added “…in the WATER !!!” All hell broke loose, cups of tea and newpapers chucked everywhere and no-one else knew what to do – the only person with any boating skill was my Dad. “How do we stop this bloody thing ???” cried my aunt, I grabbed the power handle and yanked it into reverse the only way I knew how to stop a powered boat – NOT the right thing to do in this case though. The boat eventually stopped … and then began going BACKWARDS !
Fortunately my quick thinking Mum turned the ignition off. I was always known as ‘Bloody Kevin.’ I have been emotionally hobbled ever since. Thank you, Ellee for allowing me some catharsis on your wonderful blog. 😉
E-K, your poor dad. Still, I bet he looks back and has a good laugh about it. Are your sons less haphazard than you?
David played a trick on me yesterday. I missed a call on my mobile when we were driving home and I asked him to call the number for me while I fumbled for my hands-free kit. He deliberately called a wrong number and the person and I felt rather foolish. (it was somene quite important). I have warned him that his day will come when it is payback time. 😉
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