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Decent Unis That Are Typically Overlooked?

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Reply 20
Hm, thanks guys. I want to apply for politics, if that helps. I'm thinking of Aston now, just looked and it looks quite good :P
Original post by Templar49
Hm, thanks guys. I want to apply for politics, if that helps. I'm thinking of Aston now, just looked and it looks quite good :P


Have you considered Surrey? I'm interested in applying for Politics and went to their open day yesterday - it was awesome there :biggrin:
Reply 22
Original post by Rennit
Don't listen to the people that say league tables are false :smile: They just go to universities lower down in them. You must look at a few league tables and make generalisations to find the "overall" league table.

I'd say Lancaster would be a very good choice. But generally, "good unis" are those from which employers like to take graduates from; and if employers haven't heard of the university, you're stuffed. :\


Why not? It's true. I'm not biased either as I hold an offer from Cambridge.
Reply 23
Original post by Khadijah6987
Aston Uni - I had never even considered it until putting in my UCAS form. It has a higher grad employment rate than oxbridge and produces the most millionaires than any other uni (this could be because it has a highly regarded business faculty)


I haven't looked at the graduate employment rate but the millionaires statement is wrong. Check this out if you don't believe me
http://stephentall.org/2012/03/19/which-universities-produce-most-millionaires/

Also the graduate employment statistics are pretty irrelevant. Check out the average wage of an oxbridge graduate compared to an Aston graduate and you'll see what I mean.
Reply 24
Original post by stefl14
Why not? It's true. I'm not biased either as I hold an offer from Cambridge.


Neither am I as I'm at Oxford.

You have to look at what the league tables measure to see how reliable they are.
What do you guys think about the University of Manchester?
Reply 26
UEA, Dundee, Surrey, Reading, Queen's, Essex and Lancaster.
Original post by randomguy786
What do you guys think about the University of Manchester?

It's not overlooked...
Reply 28
Original post by randomguy786
What do you guys think about the University of Manchester?


Pretty well known in the UK.
UEA, Surrey, Aston, Keele, Aberystwyth, Queen Mary UoL, Lancaster.
I imagine Oxford Brookes gets overlooked a fair amount. I'm slightly biased as I'm going there in September, but a few people from my Sixth Form hadn't even heard of it. I thought that was a bit weird, but there you go.
Reply 31
Original post by Popppppy
Strathclyde definitely.
It has brilliant engineering, business and education departments, but most people outside of Scotland haven't heard of it, and thus assume it's crap.


The ones that are crap are usually known too lol
(edited 11 years ago)
Cue everyone naming their own university... People, please, if your university is frankly very average, then don't go trying to convince people it's amazing.

That being said, UEA, Kent, Reading, Lancaster, Aberdeen spring to mind.

Original post by Rennit
Don't listen to the people that say league tables are false :smile: They just go to universities lower down in them. You must look at a few league tables and make generalisations to find the "overall" league table.

I'd say Lancaster would be a very good choice. But generally, "good unis" are those from which employers like to take graduates from; and if employers haven't heard of the university, you're stuffed. :\


This isn't strictly true. You're quite clearly up yourself because you probably go to a very highly placed university. League tables are false, mainly because they all value different things (and this is coming from a person with 5 offers from top 20 universities so don't go calling me bitter). Some value research quality (which, if you ask me, is kind of pointless, considering you're going to be doing most of your own research anyway), others value 'graduate prospects' which is so hard to measure. Your best bet is to look at student satisfaction to see where you may enjoy.

In terms of an employer hearing of a university, it generally doesn't matter a whole. In fields like banking and law (mainly for the bar), businesses will look to take from the top, but for most other professions, it's not of the highest importance. Many employers won't really be aware of the league tables, outside of knowing that Oxbridge is top, then the likes of UCL and Imperial, and then the rest. You're certainly not stuffed by going to a less-well-known university, and that's a really sad and disparaging view to take.
(edited 11 years ago)
I'd have to agree with UEA. When I was considering universities, UEA never really crossed my mind, so it came as a surprise to see it do so consistently well in league tables, for my subject anyway. I didn't apply there because the course want exactly what I wanted, but if it was I would have.
Reply 34
Ah, league tables again.

Well, my take is that, like them or not they are here and here to stay. Whilst I wouldn't base my entire decision on tables, I'd still use them, be silly to ignore all the stats made available since they came online.

' Established quality ' is a truly nebulous concept isn't it? Apart from the very obvious who exactly is going to define that but another arbitrary 3rd party who would be no better to judge than a newspaper?

To answer the question, yes I second all the common answers given.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by EGjeff
A lot of it depends on subject, Coventry for example (where I studied) - very middle of the park in terms of overall ranking and gets overlooked as being 'that grey pit' in the Midlands, but for automotive engineering / design, graphic design, international security, journalism it is exceptionally well regarded within those fields. Chief designers at both Lotus and the Ferrari F1 team went to Coventry, as well as a number of senior folk at the MOD and the BBC. All depends on what you want to do.


Have you seen Ferraris F1 car this season? It's bloody hideous! :rolleyes: At least now I know why!
Being biased Essex.:tongue: Particularly if you're considering Politics OP!

Royal Holloway, Aston and Surrey also spring to mind.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 37
I've found an amazing university - Aston Uni in Birmingham. It has really high graduate employment, student satisfaction, etc, and yet hardly anyone has heard of it!


I'm doing Business, and it's one of only 13 business unis worldwide which is triple-accredited. And yet other unis which are not triple-accredited and have poorer graduate employment, student satisfaction, etc are much more well-known... Seems strange! :curious:
Original post by stefl14
I haven't looked at the graduate employment rate but the millionaires statement is wrong. Check this out if you don't believe me
http://stephentall.org/2012/03/19/which-universities-produce-most-millionaires/

Also the graduate employment statistics are pretty irrelevant. Check out the average wage of an oxbridge graduate compared to an Aston graduate and you'll see what I mean.


Yes sorry your right it's number 10 on the list ... http://www1.aston.ac.uk/about/news/releases/2012/february/top-10-uk-universities-millionaires/
Reply 39
Qub is better than it looks on the league table, or so I'm told by grads of the place who seem to be doing alright for themselves... The hypothesis is that it's unpopular with southern english public school applicants so makes low offers.

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