[spooks123]

Aston is a top uni, with a strong rep, student experience and employment rate. Just keen to know why it is underrated. Its even better than many Russell Group Unis in my opinion. Also, it claims to be one of the best for research in the UK, then why is it not in the Russell or 1994 group - interesting to know.

Thanks

[0906079]

I think they were offered a place in RG but rejected it. I don't think it's underrated for its business school, can't say much about the rest of the uni. Every time I told people I got an offer from ABS they were more impressed than, say, when I got offers from Manchester or Durham business schools. Even I was confused as to why I was getting that reaction since I hadn't even heard of Aston until I started the UCAS proccess.

[lionboy]

had to troll on this...Aston was never offere RG status because their research output is so low... also its not that good unfortunately, compared to ex-polytechs then its of good standard but to RG and 1994 it lacks a bit...noted there are some courses such as the business school which excel but its not enough to carry the whole university ....similar situation with City university



*lol at the negative reps, apparently being realistic on tsr is disliked....i guess people can go to any university they want and be succesful ...ahhh the long list of notable alumni from aston never ceases to amaze me

[spooks123]

but overall, aston is much better than city uni, and as mentioned some of russell group and many of 1994 groups.

[lionboy]

okay clearly from the negative rating you just want answers from people who applied there??? no point in asking really

[lionboy]

(Original post by spooks123)
but overall, aston is much better than city uni, and as mentioned some of russell group and many of 1994 groups.

This is such a lie....CASS business school is the best in the country an is the only reason why city is being considered to join the university of london...your actually a moron :l

[spooks123]

(Original post by lionboy)
okay clearly from the negative rating you just want answers from people who applied there??? no point in asking really

Who said I gave u a negative rating - and the person who did it is right to do so as Aston IS good.

[spooks123]

(Original post by lionboy)
This is such a lie....CASS business school is the best in the country an is the only reason why city is being considered to join the university of london...your actually a moron :l

I didnt say 'CASS business school'. I was referring to both unis in general(overall). I am not a moron.

[Smtn]

I think some of Aston's other courses traditionally let the uni down, languages/psychology etc would have low entry grades in comparison to the other universities you're talking about. I wouldn't say being in the Russell group is a big deal anymore, and even more so with 1994 who have Essex, UEA, Surrey etc

[rugbygreg]

I went for an open day but hated it because.
-It was really quite small like 8,000 students
-The accommodation was trash
-The student guides seemed incompetent
-There was loads of building work
-The ethnic backgrounds of the students was not representative of the normal standard (lots of foreign students)
-Doesn't offer enough subjects to be recognised as a quality Uni. Limited humanities etc

The quality of students really stuck out for me,it reminded me of the students from an ex poly rather than a long established University, barring the business school it's a average university.

[lionboy]

ummmm I think you need to look past the league tables...Astons position is seriously over inflated...its why unis lke nottingham trent and ox brookes get rated well(they are bad unis) Aston is more bottom middle. for the recored all those universities you listed par essex and the rest of 1994 group an RG group are better than aston :l

[HJV]

Because they have a Dorito as their logo.

[Smtn]

(Original post by rugbygreg)
I went for an open day but hated it because.
-It was really quite small like 8,000 students
-The accommodation was trash
-The student guides seemed incompetent
-There was loads of building work
-The ethnic backgrounds of the students was not representative of the normal standard (lots of foreign students)
-Doesn't offer enough subjects to be recognised as a quality Uni. Limited humanities etc

The quality of students really stuck out for me,it reminded me of the students from an ex poly rather than a long established University, barring the business school it's a average university.

- Some of the accommodation is trash, and the building work you noted is because they are replacing the accommodation

- Student guides should have been a better standard this year, as I think they were interviewed before being offered the position

- Making a point about ethnicity is going to prompt the question 'does it matter?'. There's still plenty of caucasians if you want to bury your head in the anti-diversity sand

- I agree with your point about not offering enough subjects, but I think Aston should stick with Business/Pharmacy/Engineering/Optometry. I don't know if offering lots of subjects necessarily gives more prestige though. Aston deliberately hasn't expanded further for numerous reasons

- And yes, it's small. Both good and bad points surrounding that.

It's sad you didn't like the campus, as I'm fairly confident academically Aston would serve you better than Sheffield for business

[ilyking]

OP goes to Aston?

[golddust&lipgloss]

because it is an unsightly university, i went for a guest lecture and it was terrible. also, the professor was a bit of a lunatic.

[Pinball_heart]

Because Birmingham, overall, is just such a better university experience.
But then again, I'm biased.

[lionboy]

ahhhh im really enjoying this now...got blasted for saying it was poor now everyone is

[spooks123]

(Original post by lionboy)
ahhhh im really enjoying this now...got blasted for saying it was poor now everyone is

lol... only you said it was poor, seems like you have something against it. Or not?

[rugbygreg]

(Original post by Smtn)
- Some of the accommodation is trash, and the building work you noted is because they are replacing the accommodation

- Student guides should have been a better standard this year, as I think they were interviewed before being offered the position

- Making a point about ethnicity is going to prompt the question 'does it matter?'. There's still plenty of caucasians if you want to bury your head in the anti-diversity sand

- I agree with your point about not offering enough subjects, but I think Aston should stick with Business/Pharmacy/Engineering/Optometry. I don't know if offering lots of subjects necessarily gives more prestige though. Aston deliberately hasn't expanded further for numerous reasons

- And yes, it's small. Both good and bad points surrounding that.

It's sad you didn't like the campus, as I'm fairly confident academically Aston would serve you better than Sheffield for business

- I'm glad about the student guides being interviewed I think they majorly let down the univeristy and a better guide could have played a key part in getting me to apply

- I'm not against the merge of ethnicities but I felt like it was massively out of proportion to the real world, I think it was probably because of the courses offered : Business, Engineering and Science will atract a certian type of people as will English and Humanities I just wanted the student population to be more reflective of the real world.
I know this sounds like I'm a little Englander but I couldn't help but notice the gulf between proportions.

-After going to Sheffield the week before and really enjoying the vast size of the campus / student populace I really felt that Aston was too small for what I wanted, not making judgement on what other want, some want a small university some want a large one I fall into the second group.

I'm happy with my University choice the Management school at Sheffield may not be as strong as that at Aston but the Economics department offered me wider options than anything Aston could along with the opportunity of a placement year which was a key reason why I looked at Aston.
Aston is a good University for business and business alone.

[Smtn]

Aston is good for pharmacy/optometry also ^

What options extra did Sheffield offer you? Placement years are always possible, what makes Aston good is that they are geared towards it e.g fully resourced department/database to help you secure the placement