brunel or queen marys. also travelling costs?

hi, im applying for mechanical engineering but i cant seem to decide between the 2. im predicted A*AA for maths chem physics, i got ABBB in AS (bio as the fourth).

qmul pros are its a simple 45minute bus journey to from my home, has international prestige which would be great since im almost definitely going abroad, but it has a really low gradute prospect salary

brunel offers a range of mechanical engineering degrees with automotives, or aeronautical which looks great, although if i was to go their id have to take a car journey from one end of east london to the other end, which im willing to do if needs be.

really my question is depending on how much should i trust these statistics, i really dont want to end up wtih a 20k salary like unistats is indicating on qmul, id rather take a gap, yet at the same time im going to go abroad so it probably downplays this even more, and i may aswell just take qmul which is convenient for me.

btw, moving into halls or private accomoadation is out of the question for personal reasons im unable to move from home. which bring me to my next question whats more expensive accomadation near brunel or petrol/insurance for a £1200 car, ill be a second driver aged 18 years? would the cost of accomadation outside london eg in sheffield be any cheaper than a car aswell because i might be able to move out to sheffield/birmingham only. my mate also told me that student loan would be about a grand less if i was going to live in my home, but he told me that you can say you need to pay rent to your parents which a lot of people do, is this true, dodgey question yes but im still spending a lot of money on a car anyway.

You are getting misleaded. Just because it says £20k salary on some stats website doesnt mean thats what you will end up on (infact that data is pretty much irrelevant) It is all totally dependent on what industry you go into, some pay more some pay less as simple as that. The universities are offering you a good degree what you do with that degree is totally up to you.

but doesnt a uni decide your career prospect right? im personally not bothered about student life and such mainly just the prospects.

Nope not really, its up to you where you want to work.

A graduate job is what you make of it. Plus, bus is cheaper than running a car especially since you're a student. And since you're young, the insurance will be ridiculously expensive.

I commute everyday from north London to QMUL by tube (from zone 4 to zone 1 and then to zone 2) and my travelcard costs around £35 a month. And that journey is tiring, especially when I have to be in the Friday seminar at 9am. Considering you may need to pay the congestion charge (£10 a day) to get through central London and go from east London to Uxbridge, and the traffic and the costs - no. Even by tube, you would be going from Zone 5/4/3/2 to Zone 1 and then to Zone 6 - madness. I wouldn't be able to do it and I don't think you'd be either.

It's better (if you go to Brunel) that you get private accommodation close by. The costs of travelling and/or maintaining a car is very expensive.

but than why is it that for example if you go to kongston university most graduates have a very poor salary and if you go to imperial or even brunel you on average get 25k?



wouldnt i just be able to go around centralm london via north london, im sure not all of central london has a congestion charge right. also im also applying to surrey university, where i could kinda avoid central london. i know a car is expensive but so is accomadation too right, i wouldnt mind getting accomadation somewhere in sheffield but this is very very very unfavourable for personal reasons its a real importance to stay at home

You have to go via central London though. But even if you would be able to avoid the congestion charge, what about the time costs? Time where you can spend socialising or working on your CV. Universities tend to not be car friendly either so you have to pay a **** load of money for parking costs.

Commuting from east London to Uxbridge is one thing - but Surrey? It's too far for any student. The most amount anyone has ever travelled in my uni was from Brighton and their social life suffered. Why not just apply to local unis if you need to stay at home?

a drive from my home to surrey university is only an hour and 10 minutes, is that too much, i talked to someone who said that an hour and a half is something a lot of people do, and of course ill park my car away from the uni and do a 10 minute walk or so on top of the drive. brighton according to google maps also says an hour and a half journey, should i trust what i was told from the other person that an hour and a half isnt uncommon.

social life isnt something im after, im actually kinda like an old fashioned person, i dont drink go clubbing or anything like that, most i do is go for a kebab or a restaurant with some mates for an hour or 2.

An hour and a half is a lot and that does not include peak time traffic which could very well be 3 or 4 hours. Especially if you have an early seminar or lecture.

Queen Mary: A lot of my friends are doing engineering there and they LOVE it. Also, it's highly respected. Plus, it's only 45 minutes away from where you live.

thanks forgot to consider that, how long/often are these prak times? if needs be i could alway take the train to surrey which would take an hour 45 minutes, for those few times i might have a random time change or something.

thanks for the reply, what do they say about graduate prospects, salary seam pretty bleak according to unistats

thanks for the reply, what do they say about graduate prospects, salary seam pretty bleak according to unistats