How much do uni rankings matter for engineering?

Hi guys,

I know that engineering degrees are acreditted, but I am not sure whether going to a higher ranked uni will still make a difference?

I mainly started to think about this when I saw this thread:http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3962577&page=3

I am currently studying at Hull, but I have an offer from Leicester.
Leicester is higher ranked than Hull, but I like Hull's campus and surroundings more.

Is it worth it to sacrifice Leicester's uni rank and stay at Hull?

Employers won't know which university is ranked where. If you want to impress potential employers, impress them by being a good engineer.

Thanks man, I just got worried about not being taught as much as higher ranking unis, as discussed in that linked thread.

But you're right, it's more important how much I invest into being a good engineer myself in the first place.

I guess it's more of a case of where I can see myself spending the next 4 years of my life.

^this

But check the course details, etc, etc.

I have a very tough time distinguishing the Leicester's features from Hull's, they both do Formula student, the both do a placement year and they both claim to have excellent links with industry. Although Leicester seems to have a more impressive list of industry partners/employers.

I will go and look at the course content properly again, but so far I just have no idea, by the way the link I put to that thread went to the wrong page. I was supposed to link it to the first page where "Greu" talked about higher ranking unis teaching more content than lower ranking unis.

So the "potential" problem is having to self teach when you graduate. But to be honest, all of this is just stressing out, I just don't know if I will enoy it at Leicester or not, I like Hull, but I'm worried it's too small for me to spend 4 years at.

An employer would, almost certainly, be putting it's new graduate hires through their own training program.

I can't comment on the merits of Hull v Leicester. And rankingwise they are similar anyway, so that's not really a deciding factor (even if it was...). Maybe, revisit both and come to a decision.

Thanks man

Well, I'm just so stressed out really.

Hull has such a nice campus, but it's small. It also has a convenient and compact student area very close to the uni, but then again, it's also small.

I really don't like how Leicester's campus buildings look like, they've got this old 1980s feel to them, some of them are hideous to be honest, only some of the buildings are nice, and Hull's library is like twice to almost three times the size of Leicester's and seems a lot nicer.

This is a big worry, since I will be spending most of my time in the library.
But I just don't know, Leicester just seems bigger as a uni and as a city, but the student areas seem a bit further away from the uni.

I'll have to keep looking into this.

I have a very tough time distinguishing the Leicester's features from Hull's, they both do Formula student, the both do a placement year and they both claim to have excellent links with industry. Although Leicester seems to have a more impressive list of industry partners/employers.

I will go and look at the course content properly again, but so far I just have no idea, by the way the link I put to that thread went to the wrong page. I was supposed to link it to the first page where "Greu" talked about higher ranking unis teaching more content than lower ranking unis.

So the "potential" problem is having to self teach when you graduate. But to be honest, all of this is just stressing out, I just don't know if I will enoy it at Leicester or not, I like Hull, but I'm worried it's too small for me to spend 4 years at.

That might be his/her experience and I'm not going to disagree with it, but I think that very few graduates find it the case that their job requires every last bit of knowledge taught during the course of their degree. Most engineering jobs will probably require you to learn new things, but that's regardless of whether you went to the top or bottom university.

The couple of people I know who went to Leicester (not for engineering though) had a great time.

Look at unis with years in industry. This helps a lot and you could possibly get to work with your partnered company after graduation. The uni I've applied to for my engineering course has a scholarships where we are partnered with a company for summer placements and a year in industry and with the majority of people on the scholarship they work for their partner company on graduation.

Really with uni rankings its also to do with student satisfaction and other factors which really a employer wouldn't care about. Ranking is more a general guide for students looking for a uni that suits them, not for employers to know about how good a graduate is.

Hey, thanks for your insight man, really appreciate it.

The problem is that I've already made my five choices and I'm waiting from two other unis for offers. But I've already got an offer from leicester and derby so far. UCAS says that I can possibly change my uni choices up until 30th of June, but I'm not sure how likely this is as I'm already well past the 7 day grace period where I had the chance to change my choices. I will call them about it.

The thing is that both Hull and Leicester offer degrees with a year in industry, I have never heard of these specific scholarships though, I doubt I would be cut out for a scholarship though as I've had a poor academic history.

Depends on your uni. Look at the courses you've applied to if they offer any scholarships. My scholarship wasn't entirely based on academic grades.