The Student Room Group

Manchester vs Bath vs Imperial Chemical Engineering??

Hello everyone,Would like to know how Manchester compares to Bath and Imperial for Chem Engineering (Meng), in terms of acadmeics and graduate prospects. I am planning to specialise in Oil & Gas industry.The 3 factors that matter the most are quality of academics, student life and graduate prospects. Thanks!

Scroll to see replies

Original post by Karimbayoumi
Hello everyone,Would like to know how Manchester compares to Bath and Imperial for Chem Engineering (Meng), in terms of acadmeics and graduate prospects. I am planning to specialise in Oil & Gas industry.The 3 factors that matter the most are quality of academics, student life and graduate prospects. Thanks!


Well, Imperial figuratively blows both of them out the water in terms of graduate salary and academics. Student life varies for every person at every uni, so nothing conclusive I can say on that.

Imperial >> Manchester and Bath

Manchester ~ Bath
Original post by GradeA*UnderA
Well, Imperial figuratively blows both of them out the water in terms of graduate salary and academics. Student life varies for every person at every uni, so nothing conclusive I can say on that.

Imperial >> Manchester and Bath

Manchester ~ Bath


Thanks for your prompt reply! Woild you say the academic difference between Imperial and Manchester is substantial or not? As I Heard Manchester is very strong particularly for Chemical Engineering.
Original post by GradeA*UnderA
Well, Imperial figuratively blows both of them out the water in terms of graduate salary and academics. Student life varies for every person at every uni, so nothing conclusive I can say on that.

Imperial >> Manchester and Bath

Manchester ~ Bath


That's utter rubbish, Imperial is a good engineering school but there's barely any difference between anything in the top 20. Take a look at unistats, the employment prospects for Bath are definitively the best of the 3 and Manc's are pretty similar to Imperial.

In terms of how they're seen Imperial is a teeny bit better than Bath although if you want to do a year in industry go for the latter as they're much better at getting people into placements. The difference between Bath and Manchester is a bit bigger but it's still a very good engineering school and it has the advantage of being in a good but not too expensive city.
Original post by Karimbayoumi
Hello everyone,Would like to know how Manchester compares to Bath and Imperial for Chem Engineering (Meng), in terms of acadmeics and graduate prospects. I am planning to specialise in Oil & Gas industry.The 3 factors that matter the most are quality of academics, student life and graduate prospects. Thanks!


If it's oil and gas you're interested in, and you're confident enough that the industry will have improved to a point where it is recruiting again by the time your graduate, Imperial is your best bet out of those choices as it's in London and there are a lot of oil and gas companies in the London area.
I study chemical engineering at Manchester and I can definitely recommend it!

Personally, student life has been brilliant for me because the city is great and the chemeng cohort is quite large so you meet many new people. Halls and joining societies here have been a positive experience too.

As for job prospects, they're not bad at all and Manchester Uni are known for being focused on the oil industry. We have a MEG pilot plant in the (relatively) new James Chadwick building which is great facility wise for labs etc.

There's also the 4 years industrial experience masters course so you can gain real experience and obtain a masters in just 4 years rather than the 5 years it would take at Bath. That's one years less tuition fees. If I'm not wrong, Imperial has this too.

I can't really comment on Bath and Imperial because I simply don't know. But feel free to ask me anything about Manchester :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 6
Original post by Karimbayoumi
Hello everyone,Would like to know how Manchester compares to Bath and Imperial for Chem Engineering (Meng), in terms of acadmeics and graduate prospects. I am planning to specialise in Oil & Gas industry.The 3 factors that matter the most are quality of academics, student life and graduate prospects. Thanks!

Manchester and Bath are both great unis for Chem Eng but Imperial is on another level. I would say Imperial is the best among the three while Manchester and Bath are almost on the same level.

Imperial: Great links into industry and it is located in London where plenty of job opportunities and fruitful night life can be found. Extremely high entry requirements (A*A*A or A*A*AA) and applicant to offer ratio (8.4:1) shows how competitive the course is. Imperial itself being a G5 uni who specialises in STEM also has great fame within UK and all over the world. Rankings are always among the best in both the UK and the world.

Bath: Fairly new uni compared to the others (only 50 years of history) but is developing and gaining its fame rapidly. Very strong graduate prospects (on par with Imperial) as the lessons are designed to suit the needs of industry specifically. Cost of living is also fairly low as Bath is a relatively small town. Entry requirements are A*AA shows that it is great but not as good as the A*A*A unis (Cambridge/Imperial). The least internationally-recognised among the three.

Manchester: Traditional famous Chem Eng uni with medium cost of living. Similar to Bath it has a A*AA entry requirement so I would say they have similar reputation. Graduate prospects has been good throughout the years but maybe slightly worse than Bath/Imperial within the UK (It's not Manc's fault but Bath and Imperial are just too strong in this aspect:biggrin:). In terms of rankings it is in the middle between Imperial and Bath internationally.

Well I haven't studied in these unis before so all of the above are just my personal opinions and research, hope it helps. In the end all three are really good unis for Chem Eng.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Karimbayoumi
Hello everyone,Would like to know how Manchester compares to Bath and Imperial for Chem Engineering (Meng), in terms of acadmeics and graduate prospects. I am planning to specialise in Oil & Gas industry.The 3 factors that matter the most are quality of academics, student life and graduate prospects. Thanks!


How are you off financially? Can your parents support you or will you get the full student loan?
Living in London for ICL is again another level and something to seriously consider compared to the other two especially if you're looking at a 4 years Masters and might be the difference between you having to get a job while you're studying and not
Original post by Bioluminescence1
I study chemical engineering at Manchester and I can definitely recommend it!

Personally, student life has been brilliant for me because the city is great and the chemeng cohort is quite large so you meet many new people. Halls and joining societies here have been a positive experience too.

As for job prospects, they're not bad at all and Manchester Uni are known for being focused on the oil industry. We have a MEG pilot plant in the (relatively) new James Chadwick building which is great facility wise for labs etc.

There's also the 4 years industrial experience masters course so you can gain real experience and obtain a masters in just 4 years rather than the 5 years it would take at Bath. That's one years less tuition fees. If I'm not wrong, Imperial has this too.

I can't really comment on Bath and Imperial because I simply don't know. But feel free to ask me anything about Manchester :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile


Thanks a lot! Academically did you like the course? How was the quality of teaching in your opinion?
Original post by Colinj451
How are you off financially? Can your parents support you or will you get the full student loan?
Living in London for ICL is again another level and something to seriously consider compared to the other two especially if you're looking at a 4 years Masters and might be the difference between you having to get a job while you're studying and not


Considering costs and everything else, it seems Manchester is my best option really!
Thanks everyone for your opinions!

To clear things up, I have decided on Manchester!! I am incredibly excited to be at an exciting uni and city! If there is anything you feel can help me, please so share on thjs thread! 😊

Bath's small town wasn't my type and Imperial is too expensive for me, Manchester is the way to go!
Original post by Karimbayoumi
Thanks a lot! Academically did you like the course? How was the quality of teaching in your opinion?


Academically, there are good and bad points. Most of the lecturers are brilliant but there are a few lecturers who I feel just waste your time and are poor at communicating their point across. It's probably the same as with any university.

The booklets for each module are of a high quality and lecturers are always willing to explain concepts through the discussion boards or during their office hours so getting a help isn't a problem!

I would say, however, that the school can sometimes be quite disorganised, but that's to be expected with such large class sizes.
Original post by Bioluminescence1
Academically, there are good and bad points. Most of the lecturers are brilliant but there are a few lecturers who I feel just waste your time and are poor at communicating their point across. It's probably the same as with any university.

The booklets for each module are of a high quality and lecturers are always willing to explain concepts through the discussion boards or during their office hours so getting a help isn't a problem!

I would say, however, that the school can sometimes be quite disorganised, but that's to be expected with such large class sizes.


I see. Regarding the new Chem Eng building, it has gotten me confused because it seems to indicate that we will be doing sone practical work but according to the course assessment there are hardly any assessments for practical work. Would you clarify if you get to use any of the high-tech facilities as part of the course or not? Do you get to spend some time in labs or is it just lectures? Thanks!
Original post by Karimbayoumi
I see. Regarding the new Chem Eng building, it has gotten me confused because it seems to indicate that we will be doing sone practical work but according to the course assessment there are hardly any assessments for practical work. Would you clarify if you get to use any of the high-tech facilities as part of the course or not? Do you get to spend some time in labs or is it just lectures? Thanks!


The James Chadwick building is where you'll be for your EBL (tutorial sessions) but these aren't practical sessions. The pilot plant spans the 4 floors of the James Chadwick building and there are labs on all floors too which you'll use for your 1st and 2nd year lab modules. In year 1, labs is with 10 credits and in year 2, labs is worth 20 credits (which is equivalent to a double module) so it's a fair share of your marks. You'll be marked on the quality of lab reports you produce :smile:

As for year 3, as far as I know you don't use the labs. And in year 4 you can use the equipment to design your own experiments for your masters project .

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 14
Original post by Karimbayoumi
Thanks everyone for your opinions!

To clear things up, I have decided on Manchester!! I am incredibly excited to be at an exciting uni and city! If there is anything you feel can help me, please so share on thjs thread! 😊

Bath's small town wasn't my type and Imperial is too expensive for me, Manchester is the way to go!


Apply to them all, and then visit.

There's no rush.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by jneill
Apply to them all, and then visit.

There's no rush.

Posted from TSR Mobile


Alright, thank you! I have some friends living in Manchester and because I can't visit atm I relied on their words, there is a consensus that Manchester as a city is big and lively, which is my type!
If you think you have a good chance with Imperial? Why not consider Cambridge too?
Original post by FusionNetworks
If you think you have a good chance with Imperial? Why not consider Cambridge too?


The most important reason is that Cambridge is too expensive. I should have mentioned this earlier, but I am an international student, the fees vary from uni to uni for me, it isn't the standard 9000 GBP. Cambridge is 15000 pounds more expensive than Manchester. I want your opinion too, is Manchester one of the best for Chem Eng? Nationally speaking.
Original post by Karimbayoumi
The most important reason is that Cambridge is too expensive. I should have mentioned this earlier, but I am an international student, the fees vary from uni to uni for me, it isn't the standard 9000 GBP. Cambridge is 15000 pounds more expensive than Manchester. I want your opinion too, is Manchester one of the best for Chem Eng? Nationally speaking.


Imperial is definitely one of the best university for Chemical Engineering, in fact for any Engineering discipline. There is a reason why the entry requirements are so high. I believe the general consensus would be to choose Imperial if you can reach those requirements.
Personally I would choose Bath over Manchester, if the costs are similar.
Bath has higher student satisfaction and graduate prospects; if those are important factors to your decision.

Cambridge have several bursaries available to international students
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by FusionNetworks
Imperial is definitely one of the best university for Chemical Engineering, in fact for any Engineering discipline. There is a reason why the entry requirements are so high. I believe the general consensus would be to choose Imperial if you can reach those requirements.
Personally I would choose Bath over Manchester, if the costs are similar.
Bath has higher student satisfaction and graduate prospects; if those are important factors to your decision.

Cambridge have several bursaries available to international students


I was actually asking about Manchester haha not Imperial, but thanks for all the insight and advice!

Quick Reply

Latest