Imperial Vs. Southampton for Aeronautical Engineering

I do Mechanical Engineering at Imperial. I think you would have better job prospects from Imperial in both Engineering and Financial sectors as it is well known within the industry as producing excellent graduates. This tends to be, at least from my experience, because they give you a lot of work with very little guidance, forcing you to think for yourself and be prepared for a professional career.

I would expect a much harder 4 years at Imperial than at Southampton so if you would rather spend most of your time socialising than studying maybe Southampton would be better. Engineering is not a subject which is easy to get by on natural talent as their is a lot of information to process (unlike for example maths).

As far as money is concerned imperial will obviously cost you a lot more and it is difficult to say that this has an effect on teaching. You will be in contact with leaders in their field which is an advantage but it is a general complaint at imperial that teaching is below expected standard. Basically if you want to do well you have to take things into your own hands! Not bad experience though.

Difficult choice but I do not regret my decision to go to Imperial in the slightest (having spent 3 years here) and I can certainly recommend it!

Do you need to ask such a simple question? Imperial for the rep all the way. I didn't even know there was such as thing as Southampton uni.

Well you're a bright one aren't you.

Imperial is not worth £10k more than Southampton unless you want to go into finance, IB etc where name is everything. Also depending on what country you're going back to (if you are) Southampton may be just as well reputed generally, particularly East Asia. All firms who take engineering graduates regularly will not hold Imperial significantly higher than Southampton, if at all. It would help if you decided now what you want to do after you graduate.

I do Mechanical Engineering at Imperial. I think you would have better job prospects from Imperial in both Engineering and Financial sectors as it is well known within the industry as producing excellent graduates. This tends to be, at least from my experience, because they give you a lot of work with very little guidance, forcing you to think for yourself and be prepared for a professional career.

I would expect a much harder 4 years at Imperial than at Southampton so if you would rather spend most of your time socialising than studying maybe Southampton would be better. Engineering is not a subject which is easy to get by on natural talent as their is a lot of information to process (unlike for example maths).

As far as money is concerned imperial will obviously cost you a lot more and it is difficult to say that this has an effect on teaching. You will be in contact with leaders in their field which is an advantage but it is a general complaint at imperial that teaching is below expected standard. Basically if you want to do well you have to take things into your own hands! Not bad experience though.

Difficult choice but I do not regret my decision to go to Imperial in the slightest (having spent 3 years here) and I can certainly recommend it!

thanks. For my future plans-i want to stick specificaly to aeronautical engineering, rather than work in finance and all. I plan to land a good job in the aeronautics sector in the UK, and if both the unis have the same reputation with employers in the UK, i might as well go with soton coz its fairly cheaper.

Southampton is definitely the better choice then considering the fees difference.

something like this:
Imperial in environment -> London (so more expensive), Halls only 1st year, Transport is expensive, Smaller rooms, Alot more things to do/see (city is much bigger), More Science oriented uni (so alot of things like gender bias change), Alot of facilities (like lib) are open longer

Soton -> Cheaper overall, Halls every year, Transport cheaper/included if you live in halls. Not much to do in the town, but alot of clubs/socs in uni (really, not much else), More rounded uni (humanities), Smaller/Less accessible facilities (ie smaller labs, open less), Houses are much easier to find near uni for 2nd yr if you need em.

and then i wanted to judge if Imperial is worth paying for

Personally I'd say Imperial but I'm a bit biased since I firmed Imperial for Aeronautical Engineering (over Southampton) xD I was more impressed by Imperial on open days and I can't wait to be living in London

If you do firm Imperial PM me or something and let me know. It's always good to find another course buddy

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my HTC One S

hey graham,
thanks man. nope-definitiely looking towards studying more, especially after paying that huge fee. socialisiing? not so much... anyway, you said that the standards are not as great as expected? any reason as to why people say so?

and do u have anything to say about southamton on the other hand? if so, it would be great for me to compare.

I would agree with Graham in that Imperial prepares you better for the world outside. If I was in your boots, I'd firm Imperial over Southampton, despite the fee difference. Even if you work for 2-3 years in the financial sector after graduation, you'll recoup the difference in fees. Southampton is also not a great place to live in comparison to London, but if you like your space then you should consider Southampton over Imperial but if I was in your boots i'd definitely go for Imperial.

It is worth baring in mind that year on year Red Bull Racing and Williams F1 and sometimes McLaren do like to employ from Southampton uni because the students that graduate from here (they've found) are ideal for them.



I live in London and will say that rent is higher in London BUT shops are marginally cheaper. I seriously don't know how some shops get away with how much they charge in Southampton. With London, you have to expect transport is going to be more expensive. In Southampton, if you live in halls you get free bus rides around the city on uni link buses (frequent, once every 10 minutes or so and 4 major routes offered).

As for less accessible facilities well that's a rumour that isn't true. In your first year no uni will allow you to randomly walk into a lab and do stuff, maybe later on, but definitely not in your first year. Southampton also has more space to build so if there was a shortage of labs, they could easily build another, but there are so many workshops. Most are empty 60% of the time. Humanities have a separate campus from the main one as well. Southampton uni library is quite amazing and quite big. There are also three public libraries within walking distance that you can use with your uni card.

If I was doing aero engineering my preferences would be 1. Imperial; 2. Bristol; 3. Southampton; 4. Cambridge. The top 3 would be close but I'd go for Imperial just in case I find out engineering isn't really for me and it would be good to know the financial sector would be equally as open to me.

As for student satisfaction levels, Imperial and Southampton have very similar levels but they are very low for some reason. Probably because both courses are demanding and challenging.

there isnt much difference with the reputation of uni's with the employers?
coz ill be hoping to get something like a job recruitment after the first year itself, coz i hear theres some employers who will be willing to pay ur fees and all if ur ready to work with them after u complete your degree. the benefit of such a scenario, as i see it, is that i secure a job and my fees are covered.

Where would the chances of getting something like that be higher.I hear, soton does several internships and recruitments, and some of the employers hire engineers only from soton?

Not within the aeronautics field. Usually that kind of funding happens before you start your degree but I'm not sure about that.
Southampton do have links with a lot of firms but so do Imperial.

Also everyone, it's £10k difference a year. Over a MEng that's £40,000. Just in case

I hear this a lot. The reality is that teaching standards at Imperial are pretty good. Students complain because the courses are fairly challenging, and they are not used to that. And some students expect to be spoon-fed.

Many of these Imperial students, if they went to another good place like Oxford or Cambridge, would have it pretty bad.

okay. i like the way you put down thing hehe. so ur saying that the 40k isnt justified ryt....was thinking of that as well coz thats loads and loads of money that i dont want going down the drain. if i was a UK citizen the case would have been different.

if i aim at being in the top 5-10% of the graduates...will the uni choice really matter or i will land a job equally good and with equal ease from both the unis?

Personally I think Southampton offers better value than Imperial in the short and long term, given you want to stay in the UK and apply only for aeronautics jobs.