Higher Education

For the last ten years or so, around 98% of Cranleighans have opted to go on to Higher Education.  Between 75% and 80% each year go on to the older universities, and the rest to the former polytechnics or colleges of art, most of which are now affiliated to universities. Our more academic pupils opt for Oxbridge, Bristol, Durham, Nottingham, LSE, Imperial and UCL, but plenty of high fliers choose other universities, too, especially the 1960s technological universities like Bath, Warwick, York, Loughborough and Sussex. A large number aim for the big northern civics, especially Newcastle and Leeds, and Exeter is always another popular destination. A handful opt for Cardiff, Edinburgh and Southampton each year, while of the new universities, Oxford Brookes is the most popular, followed by UWE Bristol.

Over the same period, the Business, Management and Economics subject areas have attracted the most students.  Some niche business courses, such as Property Management or Marketing, have been popular, and more of our linguists opt for courses combining their languages with business than purely cultural degrees. For the rest, Cranleighans choose from the complete range of traditional degree courses, although quite a high number opt for Joint or Combined Honours programmes, perhaps reflecting a wish to offer a broader base to future employers. Examples of more exotic courses chosen by individuals over the last few years include Digital Music, Chinese & Spanish, Boat Design, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, Fashion Marketing, Internet Engineering, Oceanography and Human Resource Management. Between 85% and 90% get into their first choice university, and about 40% take a gap year before going on to university.