[callmejackie]

I have been offered a place for MSc in Computational Fluid Dynamics at both Cranfield University and at the University of Leeds. And I, from India, with only the resources from the internet, am having a difficulty in deciding which to chose. So, I would like to know how others think about the matter. Give in as much information as you know.

[ Forum Moderators are welcome to move this thread to another section if there is a better section to discuss such matters. ]

[callmejackie]

A few questions more. I request you to please answer them separately for each Universities.

1. How good is the Library? The website claims that they have x no: of books, y no: of journals and digital library. But, I want to know how is the experience.

2. How is the living? In and around the University township.

[callmejackie]

*bump*

Please... anyone with any information.. The deadline for accepting the offer from Cranfield is this Saturday.

[callmejackie]

*bump*

[federvo.mala]

hi unfortunately in this forum, engineering is not a very discussed topic and plus cfd is a very specific subject itself.

Anyway, I would like to help you on your choice but I would probably choose Leeds simply because, the university is not in the middle of nowhere like Cranfield. I have been to Cranfield and did not like the atmosphere it just looked a bit sad.

But please don't take my words for granted. I might be absolutely wrong.

Anyway, Leeds has got quite good name for engineering.

[Dirac Delta Function]

(Original post by federvo.mala)
hi unfortunately in this forum, engineering is not a very discussed topic and plus cfd is a very specific subject itself.

Anyway, I would like to help you on your choice but I would probably choose Leeds simply because, the university is not in the middle of nowhere like Cranfield. I have been to Cranfield and did not like the atmosphere it just looked a bit sad.

But please don't take my words for granted. I might be absolutely wrong.

Anyway, Leeds has got quite good name for engineering.

Pretty sure Cranfield's name is stronger.

[federvo.mala]

(Original post by Dirac Delta Function)
Pretty sure Cranfield's name is stronger.

Yeah I expressed myself pretty bad but I agree with you that Cranfield is rather stronger than Leeds on the subject. Just wanted to say that I'd choose Leeds over Cranfield because I did not like the atmosphere and PLUS engineering is not bad at LEEDS either.

[callmejackie]

Oh wow, a million thanks for the reply. I know CFD is a highly specialized course. But, I am not looking for CFD or anything. I just want to know what the university is like.

Yes, I know Cranfield is a village, somewhat remote and definitely not anything like the Leeds. I actually dont mind that much and I actually do riding through the countrysides.. So, thats not an issue..

The very important thing that is affecting my judgement is that Cranfield is as good as Leeds and vice versa. What can you guys tell me about the teaching styles at both universities?

[encarta]

Hi callmejackie,

I was the Course Representative of the CFD course in Cranfield last year, and i'm currently following a PhD course in the same department this year.

What i can tell you about the course is you'll be very well prepared for both the research and industry worlds. Some of my mates of last year are currently working for BMW (Germany), Marussia F1 Team (England), etc.

But this course is very intensive, you'll have lectures one week over two, and the remaining week, you'll have an assignment to write using the techniques learned the previous week. For that, you'll have access to Astral, which is a supercomputer with about 1500CPUs and 7TFlops of computation capacity, which is really nice considering the cost of CFD simulations.

The lectures are given by some of the world experts in their domain, Dr. Drikakis, Dr. Thornber, etc. and are very interesting. You'll cover a very wide range of theory and practice during this year, from the incompressible to the compressible flows, classical turbulence modelling (RANS) and more advanced (LES, DNS), nano-flows, flows for rotating wings, automotive, ...

In my opinion, this is one of the best MSc in CFD you can get, it is also the opinion of a lot of industrial companies.

To answer your question concerning the library, it is very good and very well furnished with papers and books. You'll also have an electronic access to most of the papers relevant to CFD, as the library does receive most of them.

Finally, even though Cranfield is indeed in the middle of nowhere, the atmosphere is really nice, as most of the students are here for one year, so everyone is in the same situation. You'll spent most of your time working believe me, but there is free shuttles to go in Milton Keynes for the cinema, night clubs, etc. If you have a car, Cranfield is as good as Leeds for living.

Hope i answered most of your questions. If you have any further, please MP me and i'll be glad to give you some link with some of my indians mate on the campus. They will be able to answer much more precisely than me.

[callmejackie]

Hi encarta,
Thank you for your reply. The kind of one I was really expecting..
I accepted the offer from Cranfield last week and I am glad that I made the right choice. I never had doubt as to which offer I was going to chose. But, I needed assurance that I was making the best choice because, it cant be neglected that Leeds is also an equally good competent University.. And since Cranfield is unknown to even people who live in UK( primarily because it is a wholly postgraduate university), it was difficult to get a good feedback. ( BTW, me, from India, have heard about Cranfield way before I heard about Leeds.. no offence meant )

The Admissions team, Cranfield Students Union and the Course Director Dr. Ben Thornber was very very helpful with information. I am really looking forward to being there in September this year. In the meantime, I am getting all my paper works done, arranging finances and preparing for the shift.

On another note, I think it would be very informative if the alumni start a forum so that the future applicants will find it easy to get information.

Thanking you for your reply which is the best I’ve read for a long time

[kizdp]

Hi callmejackie,

I just read this whole thread and I agree with most people in the UK not knowing about Cranfield University. However, after doing some research and going to the open day I saw that it seems like a nice MSc and University.
I will also be joining you this year for the same so... I'll see you soon!

[M a Hossain]

Hi encarta,

I have started my MSc in Cranfield this year. It looks great!!