Oh come off that mate.

Of course in general Newcastle would be easier to get into but statements like ^^^ is unnecessary. + they are both well regarded and reputable unis anyway.

Reply 4

Maddog Jones

11

Original post by *Hakz*

Oh come off that mate.

Of course in general Newcastle would be easier to get into but statements like ^^^ is unnecessary. + they are both well regarded and reputable unis anyway.

Stop being so sensitive. Warwick is generally better.

Reply 5

Joinedup

20

1. Look at the offers the unis make on the course you are interested in... 2. The one making the higher offers is the harder.

/Spoonfeed

Reply 6

*Hakz*

15

Original post by Maddog Jones

Stop being so sensitive. Warwick is generally better.

I agree bro.

Reply 7

ByronicHero

20

Depends. The security at Newcastle isn't as good but it depends which buildings you want to get into. Warwick has low windows which are good if that is your access of choice but Newcastle you can probably find somebody to help you get in depending on which building you need to get into. It really depends on what you want to take.

Reply 8

River85

17

Original post by electriic_ink

Newcastle would be easier to get into but that's because Warwick's a much better uni.

I see no evidence to back that statement up, tbf.

Warwick is creamed over more on TSR (which is strange, as Newcastle is often creamed over by those in top public schools - as shown by its intake - and given the very middle class make up of TSR what is usually creamed over by one group is creamed over by the other also; I suppose league tables and Warwick's surge in popularity under New Labour, as well as its business whores, are to blame).

Whilst Warwick is slightly more popular, generally speaking, popular doesn't mean it's better. The difference, generally speaking, isn't substantial and Newcastle has the edge in a number of factors (it bombs Warwick out of the water in some).

Original post by paddy__power

Depends. The security at Newcastle isn't as good but it depends which buildings you want to get into. Warwick has low windows which are good if that is your access of choice but Newcastle you can probably find somebody to help you get in depending on which building you need to get into. It really depends on what you want to take.

In Newcastle you can always head off to Elswick, loads of people there will be happy to help with a bit of breaking and entering. But then Warwick is on the edge of Coventry and that's full oif scallies, or some I'm told....

Anyway, really depends on the subject. For economics, Warwick, but for other courses it can be Newcastle (Medicine is typically used as Newcastle's strength, but the same also goes for law to some extent. Most of Newcastle's other strong or popular courses aren't offered at Warwick. It becomes even more complicated if comparing a popular course like Combined Honours at Newcastle and, say, Italian and Film Studies at Warwick)

Both are Russell Group universities of, despite what many on TSR think, a broadly comparable standard, so quite popular, with Warwick being slightly more popular in most socio-economic groups (I imagine Newcastle is slightly more popular amongst the upper-middle class). You really need to look at it from a course-specific perspective; typical offers and applicant numbers will give you some broad idea.

Reply 9

Mr. Roxas

9

I usually agree with River85. I think he is a brilliant poster as he is very smart, sensible, and often, spot on. But I have to disagree with him this time. Whilst Newcastle is a wonderful university, it is - generally - inferior to Warwick in academic reputation (both by the lower middle-class and upper middle-class types of students), academic standards (in almost all major fields) and amongst the employers. All surveys would tell us that Warwick is superior to Newcastle. The only fields where Newcastle would outrank and outperform Warwick are in medicine and the para-medical programs. Warwick is superior in all the rest, including law. The difference though is not a big as some posters here make it out to be. But there is a difference, nevertheless.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 10

River85

17

Original post by Mr. Roxas

I usually agree with River85. I think he is a brilliant poster as he is very smart, sensible, and often, spot on. But I have to disagree with him this time. Whilst Newcastle is a wonderful university, it is - generally - inferior to Warwick in academic reputation (both by the lower middle-class and upper middle-class types of students), academic standards (in almost all major fields) and amongst the employers. All surveys would tell us that Warwick is superior to Newcastle. The only fields where Newcastle would outrank and outperform Warwick are in medicine and the para-medical programs. Warwick is superior in all the rest, including law. The difference though is not a big as some posters here make it out to be. But there is a difference, nevertheless.

I didn't neg you (I do dislike people negging others for an opinion - the forum exists for discussion for goodness sake). If you're bothered about it I'll more than cancel it out for you :p:

Now it's a bit later in the day, I'll try and clarify a few things.

How are you measuring academic reputation? Academic reviews?

As for popularity with upper-middle class students and those from leading independents, this was something I was just mentioning as an aside (something I, rather geekily, find interesting). Whilst Warwick has a substantially middle class intake, there's no denying that, Newcastle has traditionally had a solid enough independent/middle class intake as two of its strengths are Fine Art and medicine - subjects attracting large numbers of such students. In recent years Newcastle has become even more popular, it has one of the highest intakes of students from the independent sector and the those from the three highest socio-economic groups of all Russell Group universities. It was, until a couple of years ago, the most popular university destination for students from Harrow (last time I checked it was third behind Edinburgh and Oxford, I think) I'm sure the popularity of the city itself also has an effect. I'll try and check and posts stats tomorrow as I'm not sure how up to date the last ones I saw are.

When comparing universities, even (or, I should say, especially) two medium to large size multi-faculty universities like Newcastle and Warwick, it's like comparing apples and oranges to some extent. The two have different locations (one directly in a city centre, the other a campus on the edge of a city) and different strengths, attracting different sorts of people.

Newcastle has world class/leading departments outside medicine; Engineering (particularly Civil and Mechanical), Linguistics, Fine Art, History of Medicine and Agriculture to name a few and these can compete with any other department in the country. Unfortunately, as already mentioned, many of these subjects Warwick doesn't offer. But I don't think you can really class Warwick as a better overall university because of this.

I still maintain that in terms of the quality of undergraduate students and undergraduate education, the difference is negligible. Although Warwick has higher entry standards and typical offers, the difference is huge and it doesn't translate to a significant difference when it comes to the nitty and gritty of undergraduate study - very different to A-level as I'm sure you know. Newcastle has a far higher research income than Warwick, obviously this is partly down to Newcastle's strength in medicine and related research - something attracting substantial funding. This isn't of any real interest to the undergraduiate but thought it was worth mentioning.

As "reputation" amongst graduate employers, I wasn't really touching on this as it wasn't really related to the quality of the university itself. In FO IB Warwick certainly has more than an edge; it is arguably that little stronger in quantitive subjects (besides engineering) and has a more recognised business school. In Law my own personal experience of both large regional firms and national firms (which can still be horrendously competitive) Warwick isn't favoured a great deal more than Newcastle (there can be regional bias). Newcastle's law department is becoming increasingly well rated and popular, as shown by its position in the latest law league tables - second in one, I think). I'm not using the league table in any argument that Newcastle's law department is better than Warwick's as I don't think that's true and, if I did, can find better evidence. More that it's becoming, in a variety of ways, well rated and these will have an effect in the minds of sixth formers.

So, because of the above (but particularly because of the differences between departments, and that medicine is by far not the only particularly competitive department, I feel you can't really say Warwick is harder to get into without knowing the department, or assume that the are Newcastle is as competitive as Warwick is its medical school.

After reading this through I'm not sure if I have clarified things. I'm far too tired after dissertation research all day. Ultimately what has a large effect to applicants is league table positions, and this is where Warwick has excelled over the years (having never left the top ten, unless I'm mistaken. So this is one reason, though not the only reason, why Warwick remains a more popular university, across the socio-economic groups, than Newcastle. But I just feel that in order to give the OP an answer we need to be aware of the specific department as Newcastle isn't just as good/"better" than Warwick in medicine, nor is medicine the only particularly strong department at Newcastle.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 11

BigV

9

Original post by River85

In Newcastle you can always head off to Elswick, loads of people there will be happy to help with a bit of breaking and entering. But then Warwick is on the edge of Coventry and that's full oif scallies, or some I'm told....

Yes, I often wonder how many people on TSR realise that Warwick Uni is pretty much part of Coventry and backs on to one of the trashiest parts of it.... Hence why all the students choose to live in Leamington or Kenilworth, despite the fact that it is a 30min bus ride to the Uni.

Obviously Warwick is a very good university, but personally I don't understand all the hype. - I guess it has just marketed itself very well.

To answer the OP: Probably easier to get into Newcastle for most subjects, but there wouldn't be much in it really. You can tell people you go to either uni with pride.

Reply 12

Mr. Roxas

9

Thanks for your post, River85. I respect your opinion, but I firmly believe that Warwick's peers are Durham, UCL, St Andrews and Bristol. Newcastle's peers are Birmingham, York, King's and the like. They overlap once in a while depending on certain programs, but they generally don't fall in the same group. I'm saying this to simplify things.

:smile:

Reply 13

nulli tertius

21

Original post by River85

Warwick is creamed over more on TSR (which is strange, as Newcastle is often creamed over by those in top public schools - as shown by its intake - and given the very middle class make up of TSR what is usually creamed over by one group is creamed over by the other also; I suppose league tables and Warwick's surge in popularity under New Labour, as well as its business whores, are to blame).

TSR largely consists of people who believe success in life ought to be, and perhaps is to a degree is, tied to academic ability.

There are a group of upper middle class and upper class students and would-be students who know that, at least for them, that connection is remote.

They wish to attend university with their peers and to have a good time. They have been progressively shut out more and more universities by academic standards. The door to Oxbridge was probably still open in the 1980s but it is pretty firmly closed now but since then the door has closed at Edinburgh and St Andrews. Moreover, the rise in the number of graduates generally makes somewhere like Oxpoly (now Brookes) and the Ox and Cow (Oxford and County Secretarial College) which were until the 1990s since as a suitable place to go at 18, no longer adequate.

The key to this group is that it is not enough that you can get entry but a sufficiently large group of your social circle have to be able to obtain entry.

At the moment that group has settled on Newcastle. It has probably only done so because of the renaissance of the City Centre. You couldn't imagine Princess Eugenie hanging round Eldon Square circa 1985. However, the mere presence of that group attracts applicants and thus forces up admission standards which means the next similar generation looks somewhere else.

Reply 14

River85

17

Original post by nulli tertius

At the moment that group has settled on Newcastle. It has probably only done so because of the renaissance of the City Centre. You couldn't imagine Princess Eugenie hanging round Eldon Square circa 1985. However, the mere presence of that group attracts applicants and thus forces up admission standards which means the next similar generation looks somewhere else.

So it's a place for thick Harrovians (or mediocore Harrovians) :p:

I really want to photoshop Eugenie as a charv, hanging around the old Eldon Square bus station. Or at the "hippy" green. Newcastle's increasingly popularity as a city (both its reputation as a party city and its cultural attractions) certainly has had an effect, I alluded to that earlier (and I've spoken of a similar "cycle" to the one you describe before). Eugenie herself admitted it was a major factor in her decision to study there.

Original post by Mr. Roxas

Thanks for your post, River85. I respect your opinion, but I firmly believe that Warwick's peers are Durham, UCL, St Andrews and Bristol. Newcastle's peers are Birmingham, York, King's and the like. They overlap once in a while depending on certain programs, but they generally don't fall in the same group. I'm saying this to simplify things.

:smile:

Fair enough. Although personally, I don't think we can. I don't mean to over-complicate things but as someone who has studied at Durham for quite a number of years and also has personal experience of a number of Newcastle departments I would have received a comparable undergradaute education at Newcastle (or King's, York or Birmingham) - obviously these don't have a collegiate system (a feature of Durham often over-played in my opinion) and differences in course content. So in some sense my student experience will be different but not, in my opinion, the quality of my educaion. I have never found the students at Newcastle inferior to Durham, though at Durham there are a few more of this "borderline Oxbridge" types but not a significant number to make any difference. I have always been dissapointed at the quality of my fellow students at Durham actually (and I'm nothing special myself, either).

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 15

Aeschylus

17

Does Warwick university pay students to shill on TSR? It sometimes feels like it.

Reply 16

a_patel93

OP

Original post by xxxchrisxxx

for what course?

Biomedical Sciences. Completely forgot to add that..

Reply 17

a_patel93

OP

Original post by Joinedup

1. Look at the offers the unis make on the course you are interested in... 2. The one making the higher offers is the harder.

/Spoonfeed

That's what I thought, but apparently not according to my school's careers advisor?

Reply 18

BMWX5M

So what do you guys reckon in terms of Mechanical Engineering? Is Newcastle's department superior compared to Warwick's in terms of the quality of teaching and equipment in the labs?

Reply 19

Mankin Lee

My auntie who is a chartered mechanical engineer adviced me that Warwick has a strong reputation and industrial links as it is located in the West Midlands, where a lot of the major manufacturing companies are situated.

I currently have an unconditional offer for Warwick Mechanical, and I've visited the uni three times now, in the process
gathered that the WMG, and the engineering school collaborate and offer a very comprehensive undergraduate education.

Therefore answering your question, Warwick would be a better university for Mechanical Engineering, and will require higher grades to get in.

P.S. haven't visited Newcastle, have only seen them from the league tables and advices from my Aunt :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Which would be easiest to get into: Newcastle or Warwick?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you