Most overrated and underrated universities in Britain?

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People fail to realise that considering the ridiculously poor governmental funding, British universities punch well above their weight (at least, until the Tories are finished with them). The research carried out at these places is equal to many places at the States and far outstripping places in Europe. That's generally why you have more EU students coming to the UK than vice versa

Honestly if you get into a "decent" uni, which is to say most universities within the Oxbridge/russel/1994 group (AND OTHERS) and get a decent degree in a subject that doesn't require you doing multiple choice papers for every assignment, you will do well. I really think a lot of this argument is splitting hairs

Reply 81

wdywuk

Original post by Warrior King

So you define a university's prestige by how well known it is on some internet forum amongst a pool of web-users?

There I was thinking prestige was based on teaching quality, research output, opinions from peers and fellow academics etc.

Teaching Quality??? 99.9% of lecturers have no teaching qualifications before being appointed and would it come as a shock to you to know that typically at an interview for a lecturers spot prospective lecturers will have to do, at most, a 30 minute presentation to their peers. No matter how badly they perform, if their research is top rate they are likely to be appointed.

No matter what university you go to in the UK teaching quality may range from awful to "world class". Pot luck.

Reply 82

ResearchCalTch

Original post by Warrior King

I am criticizing its students and their warped view of their college. It is interesting to me that you have not challenged people who call the LSE and UCL over-rated but you object to Warwick being mentioned. Do you go there? Im not even the only one to have said so. Its an enduring opinion!

Reply 83

danny111

Original post by ResearchCalTch

Warwick and Loughborough are hella overrated. Moderators....Im not sure if I am allowed to namedrop other websites but they are literally unknown on College Confidential which is sorta like the US version this Student Room. Its confusing when I see their students brag about how famous they are in my lurking days. Maybe Im lost? Underrated for me is Imperial College. It gets a lot of praise yes but its still awe inspiring to see some of their fellows and scholars. I feel honored to have studied there but onwards and upwards! But hey even with overrated colleges there are good points. I think every college in Britain has its own strenghts and weaknesses.

This is a good post, but who cares about ignorant Americans?

Reply 84

INeedToLoseWeight

Up here in Scotland, I would say Robert Gordon's in Aberdeen is very over rated. For some reason, people seem to think it is a brilliant university, because there is a private school of the same name.

Glasgow is under rated IMO. Many people think "Glasgow" and think tinky, poor, etc...

People in Scotland are quite narrow minded...

Reply 85

viksta1000

Original post by Warrior King

King's and Edinburgh certainly aren't under rated by anybody in the know.

If anything I'd say Cass is over rated. way over!

I think KCL needs more credit for where it sits in the rankings, top 10 in the UK, top 20 in the world...and yet people continue to go on about Oxbridge, LSE, UCL, Imperial, Warwick, Bristol and Durham

Reply 86

Warrior King

Original post by ResearchCalTch

Erm...right....

Well firstly thank you for clearing that up about College Confidential although based on that last post it did seem you were somehow saying that the opinion of students on CC somehow determined how good a university is.

Secondly the reason I objected Warwick being mentioned is because I genuinely believe it deserves the praise it receives and given that it was only founded in the 60s and is now one of the top ranked universities in the country with a good international reputation and consistently considered a "target university" by the top IBs and financial firms etc, I wouldn't think the praise it receives is over-inflated at all.

As for LSE and UCL. They are prestigious institutions at home and abroad. Statistically of all universities and colleges worldwide the LSE has the lowest acceptance rate I think? Also in one league table UCL ranked in at 4th in the world above Oxford and some big name US universities and both UCL and the LSE have a long line of distinguished alumni be they world-leaders, leading academics in their respective fields etc. So anyone saying a place like UCL or LSE is overrated is basically deluded; holding onto a firm, false and fixed belief which is totally unshakeable despite evidence to the contrary.

Finito.

Reply 87

G550NDH

Underrated : Glasgow University

Reply 88

Warrior King

Original post by viksta1000

KCL's Medical and health care related departments are amongst the best in the world.

If anything Bristol and Durham are over rated. But I think in recent Bristol's position on that high pedestal seems to be receeding.

I can't for the life of me figure why Durham is so highly regarded.

Reply 89

Focus08

Original post by viksta1000

Just pray you get an LSE offer. That's all I can say

Reply 90

laurenlodge

Original post by Rapunzel

Actually, it's apparently joint top for geography, or so I've heard :wink:

It's up there, but I think joint top might be pushing it.

Reply 91

chaz1992

Most overrated: London Southbank imo. They're entry grades for Engineering are CCC and they're not that good of a university imo.

Most underrated: Lancaster probably

Reply 92

Focus08

Original post by MarkNoble

It would be interesting to see how well informed posters are when making these claims. It's not actually that hard to sort out the best institutions. The Research Assessment Exercise is THE authoritative assessment of research quality in the UK. It's about every 5 years.

To take examples: UCL, LSE and Warwick are consistently (ie every time in the last 2-3 decades) in the top ten performing Universities. Stating they are overrated, as some posters have, is simply rather ill informed.

It's also why these are amongst the most competitive Universities in terms of U/G applicants

Post of the day

Reply 93

01010000 01001010

Glynd?r Wrehxam and Chester university, so underrated lolo.

Reply 94

planetconwy1

Original post by 01010000 01001010

Glynd?r Wrehxam and Chester university, so underrated lolo.

Glyndwr University is not Underrated at all, its pretty bad and everyone knows it.

Lancaster, now thats a truly underrated University.

Reply 95

limetang

Overrated: Durham (no bias there =P) warwick and possibly kings.

Underrated: Lancaster

Reply 96

*Corinna*

Original post by Roloqueen

Erm, neither. I spend four days skim-reading about 15 articles and books for the weekly essay and spend a day writing it. Plus a day a week for seminar prep. I tend to end up going out or chilling maybe 3 nights a week, working most other days and evenings and having at least one whole day off. There's usually at least one all-nighter a week involved. It's perfectly possible to balance it all, although admittedly sleep is the bit that sometimes gets left out. It's true that you never have time to become an expert on your essay-subjects, especially as they tend to be quite broad and each one equates to a whole topic, eg Was there really an industrial revolution in Britain? How successful was Charlemagne? They mostly expect you to have mastered the historiographical debates rather than to have analysed lots of primary source material, so it's a very different style of learning to a Masters - more about synthesizing lots of information quickly and critically than doing grass-roots research.

thats not neither. That's a simple essay. I'm not saying its bad or anything, and Im not trying to undermine the hard work you are doing, and I am certain its a good way to make sure everyone on the course gets to learn basic info about the subject taught every week.
But I have to say, based on my bf's uni (I didnt do my undergrad in britain but we are studying the same subject so I can have a valid opinion about his essay topics) they might do 1-2 per term but they seem to require way more detail (hence bibliography-way more time to write) than what you have described. All I am saying is that just because other unis do it differently, it doesn't mean the students don't work equally as hard.

Reply 97

LFChrispy

Can't believe that no-ones mentioned this yet, but Exeter Uni appeared horribly outdated when I visited, and yet it demands straight As etc.

UEA, on the other hand, looked great despite it's lack of prestige :biggrin:

Reply 98

Teveth

Original post by Aexis

What's your view, mine is:

Most overrated: Warwick, Leeds.

Most underrated: Liverpool, Sussex.

Why Leeds? The British league tables rank it fairly low down (rarely in the top 20 any more), despite it being a world top 100 university and boasting an impressive alumni. If anything, it is underrated.

My entry to this thread for underrated - University of Manchester. Its UK rankings are laughable, given its international rep.