Birmingham vs Nottingham

Hey guys, I know there are so many of these types of threads so apologies but I'd be grateful for peoples opinions. I have offers from Leicester, Birmingham and Nottingham. As I'm from Leicester I'm not too keen on staying at home so the choice seems to be Birmingham or Nottingham.

From what I know (or what I think I know) Nottingham is the better uni for Law. However, I probably prefer Birmingham as a city and as a campus. That said, I quite liked Nottingham as well and I'm wondering whether the difference in perceived quality is significant enough to make it a better choice than Birmingham.

I appreciate that it's hard to give advice on such matters but I'm just wondering what people's views on the respective merits of both unis for Law are and if anyone attends either of them I'd be interested to hear your take.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Reply 1

LoseSmallWinBig

Which one do you actually prefer? Your post is quite unclear, unless the city/campus is a key factor in your decision-making process.

Nottingham has the stronger department and I wouldn't say it's negligible. Nottingham is just as good as Warwick, Bristol, Durham and maybe King's. Birmingham can probably be bunched with 10 or so other universities. Go with your heart, my gut tells me that Nottingham might open a few more doors in regards to the uber selective firms.

Reply 2

nulli tertius

Original post by LoseSmallWinBig

And close them again if the poster gets a 2:2.

There have been a few threads on TSR in the last month on Nottingham's low rate of 1sts/2:1s.

To be fair to Nottingham it claims that the proportion has increased in the most recent degree results though it should also be said (a) there are problems with the stats and (b) no-one knows if that is a trend or a blip.

Reply 3

LoseSmallWinBig

Original post by nulli tertius

Surely it's a little more complicated then that. If you take a look at Birmingham's figure on unistats they are comparable to Nottingham 56% get a 2:1 and 5 5% get a first,so 61% reach the 2:1 mark. Nottingham have since claimed that there figure is at the 70% mark. Even if they are manipulating the data in someway, I would assume that whichever way you measured it, by now 60 % would be getting a 2:1, so I don't think the 2:2/2:1 issue is huge here, considering that Birmingham has a similar figure. However, for all we know the figures on Birmingham may also be 'inaccurate' I would assume that this is less likely to be down to harsh marking at Birmingham though and more to do with the calibre of students?

I assume you posted without seeing the username? :tongue:

Since I could be the one sued for defamation!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4

Rainingshame

Original post by The Wire

I'd also consider the extra cost of living. Edgbaston is nicer than Nottingham but it's also FAR more expensive. As others have said in terms of employability the difference between Birmingham and Nottingham isn't negligible, Nottingham is probably the better bet by a noticeable amount. Also it doesn't seem that you didn't like Nottingham. What I will say will you hate living in Nottingham? Because if that's the case I'd go to Birmingham simply because the last thing you want to do is waste a year in Nottingham hating it before dropping out while accumulating a years debt and losing a years funding for the next time you back.

Reply 5

nulli tertius

Original post by LoseSmallWinBig

Since I could be the one sued for defamation!

If you take the Unistats figures, a 6% difference in Birmingham's favour is significant particularly since Birmingham has on average a weaker entry.

I don't think you can average with the Nottingham figure. That is like saying that the average man has 1.95 legs. Either the Unistats figure for Nottingham was always inaccurate or there has been an increase in grades (and query whether that will be sustained).

The issue with the reliability of the Nottingham stats was why I added the comment I did. I don't think one should question the reliability of the Birmingham stats in a downward direction merely because Nottingham itself questioned its stats in an upward direction.

Reply 6

Crumpet1

Nottingham has the edge but they're both great universities for law. If you feel very strongly that you prefer Birmingham, then go with that. This link may be of interest:
http://d1d1tdqerevjwu.cloudfront.net/resources/2013/What_is_a_good_university.pdf

Reply 7

Mansun

Nottingham is better for Law by some distance. But in the QS World Rankings Birmingham overall has just nudged ahead of Nottingham. Both are pretty even on that front. Traditionally, Nottingham was viewed as stronger overall than Birmingham, but that gap has closed somewhat in the last 10 years.