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Whats important to you?

Have spent my morning, yet again, looking at university league tables etc and am interested in what other people find to be the most important aspect when choosing a university. Do you use league tables? If so, do you go by subject or where the university is placed? Or do you bypass them altogether?

So much information, I don't know where to choose!

Reply 1

Owly

You can use league tables as a guide, particularly subject tables, but you need to have a good think about what you really want. By this, I mean you may have to choose between doing a course that's not quite right for you at a very good university, or doing the perfect course at an institution that some people may perceive as inferior.

What are you intending to study? You could post in the various subject forums, although you'll get even more information :biggrin:

P.S. If you want any info on English at Warwick, I can probably help.

Reply 2

torilou10

OP

Thank you. I'd love to say I'd be of Warwick standard but that's highly unlikely! My boyfriend and I are actually both planning on going so its even harder picking because we'd need to either go to the same university or be within the same area. He is hoping to do English/Linguistics, although is proving harder than we thought because universities seem to differ on when they actually require when it comes to Mature student entry level requirements, and I wish to train as a primary school teacher.

A lot of the Leagues say different things, as does the unistats website, and I've also been trying to work out how much accommodation would cost etc. It's a pain!

Reply 3

BigV

9

This issue is something I am giving a lot of thought to at the moment. I start my Access course in 3 weeks or so and I am well that the whole personal statement/UCAS thing starts moving very early on in the term.

I am hoping to do computing/computer science and I want to stay in the Midlands area. Warwick, Leicester, Loughborough and Birmingham seem quite highly ranked and well respected in this subject area on most reviews, BUT the course I really like the look of is at De Montfort which is ranked much lower and is an ex poly too.

I'm looking at doing a 4 or 5 year 'sandwich' course with a year in industry so it is very important that it is a nice place to live & study, but at the same time I do not want graduate with 4 years worth of student debt only to find that my Uni & degree choice is considered second rate by employers.

I think it is going to come down to maybe compromising on the course choice slightly in order to go to a decent Uni. There are so many graduates now I think it is really important to get in to a well known / respected Uni if at all possible.

Hopefully the open days will help clarify the situation - I mean I know someone who scrapped Cambridge as an option because they felt most of the other prospective students at the open event were 'socially retarded snobs' and hence it wouldn't be a nice place to be.

Reply 4

nulli tertius

21

torilou10

universities seem to differ on when they actually require when it comes to Mature student entry level requirements, a

That is because they do differ and they differ between faculties and courses.

Ignore anything about entry requirements in a prospectus unless it specifically relates to mature students and get in touch with faculty/course director to make enquiry.

Give your age and what you have done since leaving school as well as the qualifications you have or hope to attain.

However don't do it this week when he has discovered that he has 50 students for 20 places or vice versa

Reply 5

MissyP

9

BigV

This issue is something I am giving a lot of thought to at the moment. I start my Access course in 3 weeks or so and I am well that the whole personal statement/UCAS thing starts moving very early on in the term.

I am hoping to do computing/computer science and I want to stay in the Midlands area. Warwick, Leicester, Loughborough and Birmingham seem quite highly ranked and well respected in this subject area on most reviews, BUT the course I really like the look of is at De Montfort which is ranked much lower and is an ex poly too.

I'm looking at doing a 4 or 5 year 'sandwich' course with a year in industry so it is very important that it is a nice place to live & study, but at the same time I do not want graduate with 4 years worth of student debt only to find that my Uni & degree choice is considered second rate by employers.

I think it is going to come down to maybe compromising on the course choice slightly in order to go to a decent Uni. There are so many graduates now I think it is really important to get in to a well known / respected Uni if at all possible.

Hopefully the open days will help clarify the situation - I mean I know someone who scrapped Cambridge as an option because they felt most of the other prospective students at the open event were 'socially retarded snobs' and hence it wouldn't be a nice place to be.

I have done an access course and you start the whole ucas thing pretty much straight away. I would suggest going to the open day's at the uni's in which you are interest in. You will be able to talk to the tutors in your chosen area of interest, see how their teaching technique is and also get a feel for the place and see if its a place you would like to live around for 4years. Seriously is it the only way to sort it out.

Reply 6

BigV

9

MissyP

I have done an access course and you start the whole ucas thing pretty much straight away. I would suggest going to the open day's at the uni's in which you are interest in. You will be able to talk to the tutors in your chosen area of interest, see how their teaching technique is and also get a feel for the place and see if its a place you would like to live around for 4years. Seriously is it the only way to sort it out.

What course are you doing at Uni and were you asked to interview? Was it hard to achieve distinctions/merits?

One of the courses I am interested in states that they will be interviewing Access to HE students and asking them to sit a test - Now if the interview process starts early on in the year I may not have covered enough stuff on the Access course in order to pass the entry tests??

Dunno, I have lots of concerns and I am assuming /hoping that a lot of them will be covered early on in the term by the college tutors.

Reply 7

MissyP

9

BigV

What course are you doing at Uni and were you asked to interview? Was it hard to achieve distinctions/merits?

One of the courses I am interested in states that they will be interviewing Access to HE students and asking them to sit a test - Now if the interview process starts early on in the year I may not have covered enough stuff on the Access course in order to pass the entry tests??

Dunno, I have lots of concerns and I am assuming /hoping that a lot of them will be covered early on in the term by the college tutors.

Hey! I did an Access in Health and Social Care. It contained Maths and English at Level 2 (equal to GCSE) and then Biology, Social Issues in Health and ICT at Level 3 (equal to A level)

I wanted to be a midwife and all this course as aimed at getting people the right qualification to train to be in the health profession. We applied through UCAS about December (closing deadline is normally Feb) So we had a good few months to settle in. It was after Christmas that anyone started hearing about interview dates etc. We had interview training/role play in tutor hour. Which was helpful and informative.

Your tutors will tell you what the uni's are looking for in your application and give you the knowledge and tools to ace the interview.

As for the access course, you are pushing two years work into one year, so it is demanding and you have to get your head straight into your books when an assignment is due in. The earlier you start on essays etc the more help the tutors will give you. You are allowed to hand in a rough drift before it is due in but it has to be so many weeks before the deadline date. My advice is for you to fully take advantage of this as they will give you help if you haven't included the right stuff to achieve high scores. I personally found the course really interesting and easy. Maybe due to doing A level Biology for a year - but failed when i was younger and having achieved high grades in Maths and English in my GCSEs at high school.

What course pathway have you picked and where are you aiming to go?

Reply 8

BigV

9

I'm doing a computing based course which has level 2 English and Maths along with Level 3 algebra & ''computer maths'' and a load of IT/programming type stuff at level 3 as well.

I would like to go on to do computer science or computing (not 100% sure what the difference is, they seem to share a common first year anyway) at degree level in 2011.

I am already researching courses and I am a bit disappointed as it appears Warwick (which is close to home) wants A-level maths for their courses, however my tutor tells me he has got students in to Leicester before which is also pretty well ranked for what I want to do.

Reply 9

torilou10

OP

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. I'm actually looking to do the Access to Teaching course although am unable to find much information about it, i.e. modules covered, from my local FE provider. I had hoped to do it in a year as, mentioned in my 2nd post, my boyfriend is also applying for uni and had his heart set on 2011 entry. Unfortunately, because I will be working full time as of October as a Nanny, the course doesn't fit in with my work hours, therefore I am probably going to have to end up doing it part time, aiming at 2012 entry. I know I'm looking at universities pretty early for it, I still have my end in 2011 entry-mode, but I still wanted to get peoples opinions and advice all the same :biggrin:

Whats important to you?

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