Why is a prestigious UNI like Bristol so low in rankings?

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Reply 60

Josb

Original post by Vividly clear

2017 Complete ranking 24th

2017 Guardian 38th

2017 Sunday times 20th

Because national rankings are focused on student satisfaction and grades, whilst international rankings focus on research output and Nobel laureates.

University of Bristol

Bristol

Reply 61

username1732491

Bristol has a low student satisfaction, which is why they do badly in local tables (especially Guardian, which gives a high priority to student satisfaction), but do well in the QS international table (which doesn't include it at all).

Student Satisfaction has almost nothing to do with prestige. A low satisfaction score means that generally students won't have as fun an experience that they would elsewhere, but it probably doesn't represent the minority of students who are doing research (aka the main factor of prestige).

Reply 62

_Fergo

Original post by JRKinder

Well if a prestigious bank considers a university to be good then surely you must agree that that is an indication that its alumni are just generally desirable? Obviously for some industries the university you attended doesn't matter, but unis like Warwick just tend to attract a lot of very intelligent individuals (usually Oxbridge rejects though lol), admittedly this is concentrated in Maths and Economics. But still, lets just compare it to Bristol/Nottingham. Warwick is undoubtedly better for the aforementioned Maths/Econ, but do Bristol/Notts stand above Warwick for any other particular course? (can't use medicine as Warwick doesn't offer it at undergrad level). I find Nottingham in particular could be a lot better if it just focused on the courses that it is actually good for, rather than being such a large uni that offers a bunch of other courses that drag it down. Its why places like Imperial and LSE shine aside from being in London, they've chosen to specialise and as a consequence are incredible at their respective courses. I'm not saying Notts should do so to the same extent as those, but focusing on a reduced number of courses could be beneficial for it (because I agree the name is well-known still, it just lacks polish imo).

As for St Andrews it's consistently topped the Scottish league tables with the only competition coming from Edinburgh, but I agree it has got a lot of rep from William and Kate going there. There probably is a case to move this down, I'm not awfully familiar with the ins and outs of Scottish unis though.

No, not at all. Banks may focus on performance based on specific subjects (even if they don't specify subjects), or because more students from said unis apply (definitely the case of both Warwick and LSE). But if you take these into consideration, why not law firms or consultancy firms and just banks?

Additionally, you placed Durham and St Andrews above Notts/Bristol - how is St Andrews or Durham more targeted by banks?

Bristol stands above Warwick for Law, History, English Literature and many of their engineering courses (as abstract as such rankings are), among others. Nottingham just as much - you simply base your rankings on specific subjects.

I also fail to see how St Andrews competes with Edinburgh... Their research output pales compared to the latter, as do their resources. I never really und the heat foe St Andrews.

But, to be on point, Warwick has been given much more credit than it actually has precisely because of IB. I have noticed nonetheless that much of its endorsement through forums such as these comes from its students.

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Reply 63

Lord Samosa

Just focus on the quality of the course, the university itself in what it can offer you and the prospects of doing that course at that uni.

Just use rankings as a basic guide, not as the determining factor.

Reply 64

Capricancer

Original post by *Stefan*

I also fail to see how St Andrews competes with Edinburgh... Their research output pales compared to the latter, as do their resources. I never really und the heat foe St Andrews.
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Wow... what a surprise! A university with a third of the number of students and in a town rather than a city has less research output??