The Student Room Group

Firm and Insurance

Im studying maths, chemistry and food (food subj is a bit random but I work as a part time chef.. seemed a good idea to do a subject im so fluent in)

I want to study chemical engineering.. Ive been for an interview at Teesside, the standard of the equipment and the general pride that the lecturers had, while being so open to questions and genuienly nice people have made me want to firm this and put heriot-watt as my insurance.

I've heard mixed reviews of teesside which is making me wonder wether its the right one to go too.. whilst ive only heard good things about heriot-watt.

I didnt need an interview at heriot-watt just the insurance that i get 300 points but its only a beng.. where as teesside requires 240 for an meng (provided i firm them otherwise its 280) and 200 for a bend.... if i get less than that but i still firm teesside then im guranteed onto a foundation course....


So im really stuck on what to do.. i havnt been to heriot-watt, but people praise it.. i love the look of teesside and im pretty much guaranteed onto it as long as i firm it... Which to go for?

I guess im really just looking for opinions on the unis.. sorry for the long explanation
Reply 1
Sorry I haven't been to either, but probably just best to visit? Even if you know all about the course and everything, one of the two might just 'feel' right, good luck :smile:
Make Heriot Watt your insurance. It's probably the second best engineering school in Scotland (behind Strathclyde) and you'd be an utter fool to go to Teeside if you can go there instead.

Once you're into Heriot Watt you can transfer into the MEng providing you get good enough grades.

Seriously, go to Heriot Watt. It's heavily targeted by the big oil firms, too.

I always say that a university's reputation hardly ever matters for engineering but this is one of the cases that it does. Heriot Watt is in a completely different league from Teeside.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by Smack
Make Heriot Watt your insurance. It's probably the second best engineering school in Scotland (behind Strathclyde) and you'd be an utter fool to go to Teeside if you can go there instead.

Once you're into Heriot Watt you can transfer into the MEng providing you get good enough grades.

Seriously, go to Heriot Watt. It's heavily targeted by the big oil firms, too.

I always say that a university's reputation hardly ever matters for engineering but this is one of the cases that it does. Heriot Watt is in a completely different league from Teeside.


So if i firm Tesside and put heriot-watt as my insurance i can choose heriot-watt over teesside when i get my results?

Thanks for the replies :smile:
Original post by LukeNunn
So if i firm Tesside and put heriot-watt as my insurance i can choose heriot-watt over teesside when i get my results?

Thanks for the replies :smile:


I don't know but what I do know is that Heriot Watt > Teeside.
Heriot Watt is ok, but if you have visited Teesside and liked what you saw then why risk it? Teesside gets great reviews for student experience and the MEng in Chemical Engineering asks for 280 to 300 points, not 240 (better check your information)! You will be spending four years at uni so go for what you know you will like.

Teesside promises to consider students who go firm for the next level down if they do not achieve the required tariff points for the course applied for, i.e. if you apply for MEng and achieve 260 points you might get offered the BEng Chemical Engineering, or for 200 points the Extended engineering (foundation year) programme. Its a good uni, good course and is student focussed - I would advise to go for the Teesside Offer.

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