Does it really matter where you get your degree from?
Does it matter which university you get your degree from? I'm just asking because I see a lot of people on here putting others down just because they applied to a university that's not so prestige or highly ranked as Russell group universities.
Does it really matter?
Does it really matter?
Original post by AnonymousHearts
Does it matter which university you get your degree from? I'm just asking because I see a lot of people on here putting others down just because they applied to a university that's not so prestige or highly ranked as Russell group universities.
Does it really matter?
Does it really matter?
Depends. If you're doing a course that gives professional accreditation then it will be valued over similar courses that are not accredited for the same subject.
Yeah it kinda does, it's much easier to find a job in your field if you have a degree from a university which is more respected for the subject. Overall reputation doesn't matter as much though.
It does matter. It matters in terms of graduate salary, employment prospects, opportunities for postgraduate study... It matters a lot, I'd say. I know someone who graduated with a politics degree from Hull (who's really smart) and two people who graduated with the same degree from the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University (who are in my opinion not quite as smart but good at exams). I know the Hull graduate is having a lot of trouble finding a job, so he's unemployed just now; whereas the Edinburgh graduate is getting top, highly-paid job offers left, right and center and the Newcastle graduate is going to Kings College, London for further study. So, in my experience, it matters a lot.
It depends on the job. The name of the university will usually get you more interviews and a firmer foot in the door, the rest is up to you. Big companies offering good jobs will seek out graduates from top universities so if you go to them you'll be right in their sight. Doesn't mean you have no chance from another uni, it's just you'll have a higher hill to climb. Plus it's the name of the university that counts more than the actual course; your university is more of an indicator of you academic/intellectual acumen than the subject-specific quality of the modules you studied. Unless it's vocational like medicine. That shouldn't be your only consideration of university though!
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as people have said, it depends on the career.
in my experience though I would say it depends on what degree one acquires and work experience. my husband graduated from a supposedly inferior uni, he applied for a job where the other applicants were from Oxbridge and he was the one who got the job because he had some experience, excellent references and graduated with a decent degree.
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in my experience though I would say it depends on what degree one acquires and work experience. my husband graduated from a supposedly inferior uni, he applied for a job where the other applicants were from Oxbridge and he was the one who got the job because he had some experience, excellent references and graduated with a decent degree.
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I'd say for specific courses like law, IB, some engineering and a few others, it can have an impact.
But the vast majority of generalist employers (i.e. those providing the vast majority of jobs) have absolutely no idea which university is good for what, or where they're ranked, beyond knowing that Oxbridge is good because it's famous. Students, academics, a few HR people in a handful of fields and education journalists are the only people who care about rankings.
Even in those fields who do put some stock in your institution, you'll find they probably group things into a rough 'reputation' rather than a rank. If they've heard of it, if they went there, if their brother went there, etc. Often, requiring specific institutions is just a way of filtering out poor A levels, because some companies actually look at A levels even for 'proper' jobs.
I'd expect the rankings obsession to increase over the years, because some of today's rank-obsessed graduates will eventually find their way into important hiring jobs. But the generation that currently manages didn't have rankings, and will only know about ranking if they've looked into it. And if they're smart enough to run a company, they're also smart enough to look at the methodology and realise that most ranking systems fail to include the fundamental elements which would actually make them useful, i.e. degree content difficulty (independently assessed) and teaching quality.
On balance, you may as well go to the one with the best course, and where you feel the most at home, because that's where you'll do the best, and will learn the most. Visit, look at the facilities, speak to existing students and staff if you can, look at the actual content of the course. If several have the same course and feel, go with the best rank, just to catch the handful of employers who do look at it. But making decisions solely on rank isn't especially sensible.
But the vast majority of generalist employers (i.e. those providing the vast majority of jobs) have absolutely no idea which university is good for what, or where they're ranked, beyond knowing that Oxbridge is good because it's famous. Students, academics, a few HR people in a handful of fields and education journalists are the only people who care about rankings.
Even in those fields who do put some stock in your institution, you'll find they probably group things into a rough 'reputation' rather than a rank. If they've heard of it, if they went there, if their brother went there, etc. Often, requiring specific institutions is just a way of filtering out poor A levels, because some companies actually look at A levels even for 'proper' jobs.
I'd expect the rankings obsession to increase over the years, because some of today's rank-obsessed graduates will eventually find their way into important hiring jobs. But the generation that currently manages didn't have rankings, and will only know about ranking if they've looked into it. And if they're smart enough to run a company, they're also smart enough to look at the methodology and realise that most ranking systems fail to include the fundamental elements which would actually make them useful, i.e. degree content difficulty (independently assessed) and teaching quality.
On balance, you may as well go to the one with the best course, and where you feel the most at home, because that's where you'll do the best, and will learn the most. Visit, look at the facilities, speak to existing students and staff if you can, look at the actual content of the course. If several have the same course and feel, go with the best rank, just to catch the handful of employers who do look at it. But making decisions solely on rank isn't especially sensible.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by AnonymousHearts
Does it matter which university you get your degree from? I'm just asking because I see a lot of people on here putting others down just because they applied to a university that's not so prestige or highly ranked as Russell group universities.
Does it really matter?
Does it really matter?
I think this is the wrong question.
Lets say it matters... You prefer Hull over Leeds. But Leeds is more 'respected'. Are you going to go there because people say its better and it supposedly has better graduate opportunities? You went to the Leeds open day and you went to the Hull open day, you prefer Hull. But people tell you Leeds is better. What should you do?
The answer to your question is always the same. They'll be people who will say it matters. They'll be people who will say it doesn't matter.
My answer is you do what will make you happy. What's the point of having a job if you hate it? What's the point of going to Leeds when you don't really like it?
If something was really that rubbish and that useless... It wouldn't exist.
I'm fed up of people saying x university is the best and x university is the worst. If you worked at Hull as a lecturer you wouldn't say it was rubbish. It would be providing for you and paying for your life. People are very easy to judge.
Why live your life in hope that employers will view it as better? How do you view it? That's what really matters.
Hope this helped.
Of course it matters.
It is more important when applying for jobs in the city (IB is the obvious one) but other than that it depends entirely on the degree.
For IB in particular, I was always under the impression that to get into it you pretty much had to go to one of the don Universities in London, but I know two people from my Uni who have gotten grad schemes with investment banks.
I do Engineering at a RG University and some companies only offer grad schemes to students from this University because they approve/prefer the particular course structure of this course over other Universities. My friends University had a similar ones for Law where the company she went to work for only accepted graduates from her particular University.
My point is that the University does matter to some companies because they just prefer the way the course has been run at a given Uni over another, even if both are accredited. With the workplace the way it is, employees are able to be picky.
For IB in particular, I was always under the impression that to get into it you pretty much had to go to one of the don Universities in London, but I know two people from my Uni who have gotten grad schemes with investment banks.
I do Engineering at a RG University and some companies only offer grad schemes to students from this University because they approve/prefer the particular course structure of this course over other Universities. My friends University had a similar ones for Law where the company she went to work for only accepted graduates from her particular University.
My point is that the University does matter to some companies because they just prefer the way the course has been run at a given Uni over another, even if both are accredited. With the workplace the way it is, employees are able to be picky.
(edited 10 years ago)
Your degree class is more important, a 2:1 from a middle ranking uni will get you a lot more opportunities than a 2:2 from a top uni.
For some careers (as others have said) such as IB and Law, they do care about where your degree came from, but they'll have lots of applicants with firsts so it's another way to cut down the candidates to interview.
For some professionally accredited courses, such as medicine, nursing, teaching. Where you did your degree doesn't matter as the courses have to cover basically the same content for you to qualify.
So my advice would be go to the best uni you can that you'd be happy at (don't just look at league tables but living costs, bursaries, course content, distance from home) and get the best degree class you can.
For some careers (as others have said) such as IB and Law, they do care about where your degree came from, but they'll have lots of applicants with firsts so it's another way to cut down the candidates to interview.
For some professionally accredited courses, such as medicine, nursing, teaching. Where you did your degree doesn't matter as the courses have to cover basically the same content for you to qualify.
So my advice would be go to the best uni you can that you'd be happy at (don't just look at league tables but living costs, bursaries, course content, distance from home) and get the best degree class you can.
I think uni choices for sciences, social sciences, medical and law are more important when considering what uni to go to and I do think if you can go to a better one then go to it.
I think the future is very dependent on the improvement of technology, the way in which society and individuals in society are seen, how well people are looked after health wise and how we keep the world from becoming one big crime scene. Each in my opinion are very important in making sure people don't suffer and that we continue to cure and create things that improve our living, society and help look after our planet.
Going to a good uni will not only provide a better education so that we get the most talented and well rounded students possible but so that they can then find employment when they leave. Of course I don't think less of a person who go to a non-Russell group uni because the uni you go to doesn't define your intelligence but Russell group uni's (among others too) do provide better education and opportunities.
When it comes down to it, your entire education really comes down to the individual and how you use your opportunities to the best advantage. But in the UK, I do think that the uni you go to matters and I don't think it matter because of what I've stated but simply because if you go to a prestigious uni then everyone automatically thinks you're more intelligent than the rest, which is not always the case.
My opinion when it comes down to it is, it doesn't matter what uni you go to as long as you keep moving forward in your knowledge and keep working hard, you're just as good as the rest and sometimes better.
A quote for anyone who might feel put down by others who good to the 'better uni's'
"Just because they're the strong doesn't mean they can't get their a***s kicked. That's right. See, what every long-shot, come-from-behind underdog will tell you is this: The other guy may in fact be the favorite; the odds may be stacked against you. Fair enough but what the odds don't know is this isn't a math test. This is a completely different kind of test. One where passion has a funny way of trumping logic."
I think the future is very dependent on the improvement of technology, the way in which society and individuals in society are seen, how well people are looked after health wise and how we keep the world from becoming one big crime scene. Each in my opinion are very important in making sure people don't suffer and that we continue to cure and create things that improve our living, society and help look after our planet.
Going to a good uni will not only provide a better education so that we get the most talented and well rounded students possible but so that they can then find employment when they leave. Of course I don't think less of a person who go to a non-Russell group uni because the uni you go to doesn't define your intelligence but Russell group uni's (among others too) do provide better education and opportunities.
When it comes down to it, your entire education really comes down to the individual and how you use your opportunities to the best advantage. But in the UK, I do think that the uni you go to matters and I don't think it matter because of what I've stated but simply because if you go to a prestigious uni then everyone automatically thinks you're more intelligent than the rest, which is not always the case.
My opinion when it comes down to it is, it doesn't matter what uni you go to as long as you keep moving forward in your knowledge and keep working hard, you're just as good as the rest and sometimes better.
A quote for anyone who might feel put down by others who good to the 'better uni's'
"Just because they're the strong doesn't mean they can't get their a***s kicked. That's right. See, what every long-shot, come-from-behind underdog will tell you is this: The other guy may in fact be the favorite; the odds may be stacked against you. Fair enough but what the odds don't know is this isn't a math test. This is a completely different kind of test. One where passion has a funny way of trumping logic."
(edited 10 years ago)
Thanks everyone for your very helpful replies. I was just curious but thank you !
!
Original post by Dylankj96
It does matter. It matters in terms of graduate salary, employment prospects, opportunities for postgraduate study... It matters a lot, I'd say. I know someone who graduated with a politics degree from Hull (who's really smart) and two people who graduated with the same degree from the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University (who are in my opinion not quite as smart but good at exams). I know the Hull graduate is having a lot of trouble finding a job, so he's unemployed just now; whereas the Edinburgh graduate is getting top, highly-paid job offers left, right and center and the Newcastle graduate is going to Kings College, London for further study. So, in my experience, it matters a lot.
Nonsense. That has completely nothing to do with the universities that has a lot to do with the people themselves and how they approach the job applications; what you have said suggests that the other person has far better technique in applying for jobs than the other person which is why he his getting job offers and the other person isn't.
Original post by AnonymousHearts
Does it matter which university you get your degree from? I'm just asking because I see a lot of people on here putting others down just because they applied to a university that's not so prestige or highly ranked as Russell group universities.
Does it really matter?
Does it really matter?
Yes, it does.
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