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Top Maths Unis?

Hey there, I was just curious as to what Universities would you consider to make up the 'top ten' in the UK... Could you also possibly indicate how much they use GCSEs in the admissions process as I'm a hopeful mathmo for 2011 entry to a top uni (grades permitting :p:

).
Thanks in advance your comments are much appreciated. :smile:

Reply 1

screenager2004

14

Cambridge
Oxford
Imperial
Warwick

(You will hear the abbreviation COWI) quite a lot: those four are supposed to be the best for maths apparently)

Reply 2

eulerwaswrong

13

(i am not doing or intending to do a maths degree - this is just an opinion based on nothing in particular)

1. Cambridge
2. Warwick
2=Imperial
4. Oxford
5. UCL

then the rest of your red brick/top 10 anyway unis. I dont think rep of uni matters all that much as soon as you get below the top 5 anyway. But unis like bristol/baths/ucl/lse/red bricks

Reply 3

9MmBulletz

16

oxford cambirdge imperial warwick UCL leicester bath bristol

Reply 4

didgeridoo12uk

16

according to the times good university guide

Oxford
Cambridge
Warwick
St andrews
Leicester
Keele
Durham
Imperial
Bath
Loughborough

not quite sure i agree with that though. and league tables aren't everything!

Reply 5

qgujxj39

17

Farhan.Hanif93

Hey there, I was just curious as to what Universities would you consider to make up the 'top ten' in the UK... Could you also possibly indicate how much they use GCSEs in the admissions process as I'm a hopeful mathmo for 2011 entry to a top uni (grades permitting :p:

).
Thanks in advance your comments are much appreciated. :smile:

This is a brilliant article, as is this.

Ignore mainstream league tables, they're awful.

Reply 6

.:excel4100%:.

14

As mentioned already COWI are top,

I would also consider Manchester, Bath, Bristol, UCL, King's aswell

Reply 7

.ACS.

19

didgeridoo12uk

according to the times good university guide

Oxford
Cambridge
Warwick
St andrews
Leicester
Keele
Durham
Imperial
Bath
Loughborough

not quite sure i agree with that though. and league tables aren't everything!

I really, really, wouldn't bother looking at league tables.

Reply 8

BillLionheart

7

9MmBulletz

oxford cambirdge imperial warwick UCL leicester bath bristol

Leicester? Strange this keeps coming up. They are not bad at all but not major league. They play well in newpaper league tables.

Of course if we are thinking UK wide we have to include Edinborough near the top. But I suppose the slightly different Scottish system means people are not comparing it as an undergrad destination.

Reply 9

Ice Man 3000

There have been numerous threads on this topic. I think Cambridge has the most prestige for Mathematics, and is regarded as the best, then Warwick, Imperial and Oxford follow in an order dependent on the applicant. (Whatever is more important to the person, job prospects, area of interest) I can't really comment to a great extent on Warwick and Oxford, but Imperial are top notch in the Pure Maths area, and the compulsory courses in the initial two years, emphasise this strength. This can be seen in the Times subject league table, as Imperial has the highest ranking in that area. But you really can't go wrong with any of those uni's. After COWI, I've heard from lecturers that Bristol, Bath, Durham are also very well regarded for Maths. Each to their own anyway.

Reply 10

RamocitoMorales

21

eulerwaswrong

(i am not doing or intending to do a maths degree - this is just an opinion based on nothing in particular)

1. Cambridge
2. Warwick
2=Imperial
4. Oxford
5. UCL

then the rest of your red brick/top 10 anyway unis. I dont think rep of uni matters all that much as soon as you get below the top 5 anyway. But unis like bristol/baths/ucl/lse/red bricks

You don't have a clue.

Reply 11

Flying Scotsman

12

Cambridge
Oxford
Warwick
Imperial
Bristol
Manchester
Southampton
Nottingham
Edinburgh
Bath

Reply 12

Pimpin Juice

11

RamocitoMorales

You don't have a clue.

What's wrong with his opinion of UCL 5th? :confused:

I think many people would hold the opinion of COWI as top. Then UCL/Bristol/Bath etc. next.

Reply 13

henryt

17

The thing about UCL is that the university is good, but the Maths department is less good in comparison to the university. So people assume that the Maths department is "very strong", when it's, say, only "strong". They don't have a dedicated Maths building (or, didn't when I applied!), so I don't really think that Maths is an overall concern of the University. Both of these things will impact both the funding and the resources that the department has or can offer, which will reflect in the teaching and research quality, and all of these things make up the overall standing of the Maths department, even if it doesn't affect it's reputation.

You've got to look past the reputation of a department when deciding whether it's good or not. Reputations can be completely outdated, and you've got to look seriously at the quality of the course. The university will provide some context, but there's usually great scope within that. For instance, Oxford's reputation for Maths isn't, perhaps, the greatest. And yet, it's quite a high quality course compared with the rest of the university. Perhaps undeservedly, Oxford is usually put a definitive second to Cambridge, when the courses are nigh on identical for the first 3 years. Part III at Cambridge is more different to the Part C at Oxford than the first three years, but again, you'll probably be well served whatever your chosen path of study is at either University. I can't even count the number of times I've, or my tutor (who studied at Trinity, Cambridge) have had to explain to people on Open Days who've just come out with 'Oh, Cambridge is miles better for Maths, though, isn't it?' that actually that's far from true.

Regardless, you'll get a top-class education from any of COWI.

Reply 14

BillLionheart

7

Flying Scotsman

Cambridge
Oxford
Warwick
Imperial
Bristol
Manchester
Southampton
Nottingham
Edinburgh
Bath

That's a pretty good top 10. It is quite close to the top 10 allocations of doctoral training account in 2007 - which is interesting in that it is a combination of objective evidence and expert opinion. One slight difference is for that list Durham snuck in ahead of Southampton.