We deal with the existence of universal members in a given cardinality for several classes. First, we deal with classes of abelian groups, specifically with the existence of universal members in cardinalities which are strong limit singular of countable cofinality or λ=λℵ0. We use versions of being reduced—replacing Q by a subring —and get quite accurate results for the existence of universals in a cardinal, for embeddings and for pure embeddings. Second, we deal with the oak property, a property of (...) complete first-order theories sufficient for the nonexistence of universal models under suitable cardinal assumptions. Third, we prove that the oak property holds for the class of groups and deals more with the existence of universals. (shrink)