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really struggling to pick my 5 university choices!

Hi! I'm really starting to worry now; everything on my UCAS form is ready to be sent off, everyone is just waiting on me to pick 5 universities.
First off, at GCSE I got 2 A*'s(maths and business studies), 6a's and 2 b's. At AS I got 2 A's (Biology and History) and 2 B's (Maths and Economics), then I dropped Economics this year.

So now, here I am, predicted AAA (my maths teacher says A/B but my head of year says this isn't allowed so he's just going to put an A).

I'm from Torbay in Devon and Ideally I want to go to university somewhere in Wales / Central England + the Midlands. So its about 2 hours drive and 4 hours train to get home, but I do enjoy adventure and I'd definitely consider going up North if its for a university thats worth it!

I really like the City of Birmingham and Uni of Bham is one of my only choices I'm absolutely certain about. I also visited Cardiff and liked it but I worry it isn't very highly regarded for CompSci according to the CUG list :/

But what I'm thinking right now is:
Birmingham (AAA), Another AAA - maybe Bath? , Newcastle (AAB-ABB), Another aab / abb - maybe somewhere like Nottingham?, and Cardiff (AAB-ABB)

Buut, right now after some thinking I'm not sure about any of the choices I've made except for Birmingham!
Can anyone recommend me another good University thats AAA as my optimistic one?
Also a Uni thats AAB
And I'm starting to think Cardiff is a bad insurance university because its AAB-ABB and there are universities that are just ABB that are ranked higher than Cardiff, any suggestions?
How about Exeter? I know its relatively good but its so close to home :frown:

I was considering Aston as insurance because its in Birmingham but I don't think its ranked very high either!

I'm completely open to any suggestions because I am so confused right now, I was trying to get a range but now I realise its not a very good range at all..

Thanks for any help! Sorry if its a bit of a wall of text but I would greatly appreciate any assistance!! :smile:

TLDR;
Predicted AAA
Currently thinking about Birmingham (AAA), Bath (AAA), Warwick (AAA), Newcastle (AAB-ABB), Exeter (AAA-ABB), Nottingham (AAB), Cardiff (AAB-ABB) -- (I do realise you can only have 5!!)
1) Any recommendations for AAA and AAB-ABB universities highly ranking, preferably in (west) Midlands or Wales or anywhere really..
2) I don't feel happy that Cardiff is a good insurance choice seeing as it isn't straight up ABB, Any ABB universities relatively good for an insurance?
3) I really like Birmingham, is thinking about Aston a bad idea? Its not ranked very high on the list :/

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

imattacus

This post probably isn't very good at getting to my point..
Predicted AAA
Currently thinking about Birmingham (AAA), Bath (AAA), Warwick (AAA), Newcastle (AAB-ABB), Exeter (AAA-ABB), Nottingham (AAB), Cardiff (AAB-ABB) -- (I do realise you can only have 5!!)

1) Any recommendations for AAA and AAB-ABB universities highly ranking, preferably in (west) Midlands or Wales or anywhere really..
2) I don't feel happy that Cardiff is a good insurance choice seeing as it isn't straight up ABB, Any ABB universities relatively good for an insurance?
3) I really like Birmingham, is thinking about Aston a bad idea? Its not ranked very high on the list :/

Reply 2

Guy from t'North

Aston isn't "prestigious", but it is in the centre of Birmingham city on a nice campus (so great if you're a fan of Birmingham). Also about 75% of their computer science students do sandwich years in industry, with about 5 a year going to IBM - so I was told at the open day!

It may not be highly ranked, but Aston seems like a good insurance choice as I'm confident a degree from there can get you a good job!

Reply 3

ihavemooedtoday

I don't know what the undergrad requirements for Imperial are (since I am doing postgrad and that's a totally different system), but if you are interested in a more practical degree, Imperial is pretty awesome.

There is definitely enough theoretical stuff, but unlike many other universities, there are also many practical projects, etc. They also have a very strong focus on machine learning and AI, which I personally believe is awesome :smile:

.

We get recruitment talks from companies all around the world every week, and we pretty much only have to ask to get interviews.

Reply 4

Aston University

Official Rep

Original post by Guy from t'North

We beg to differ :wink:

, but then there is a big difference between a prestigious university and one focused on employable graduates relevant to the real world. It's why we have been in the top 10 for graduate employment for the last ten years.

As for OP, if you want some facts to wet your whistle:

Computer Science at Aston is currently top 10 in the UK regarding Overall Student Satisfaction (2015 Guardian University Guide)

93% of Aston’s Computer Science graduates achieved a Graduate-level job or continued in further study within 6 months of graduating according to the latest Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey.

You may also want to hear from one of our students on his experience.

Either-way, good luck picking your choices, but we would love to see you in October 2015.

Reply 5

NathBrook

Aston has quite a unique approach to 'Computing' science degrees compared to the other universities I have looked at (open days). I was fairly impressed and like the honesty and feel of the university.

If you're looking for another AAB/ABB choice I would consider Loughborough, the facilities there are the best I have seen (from 7 open days) and their is a great vibe around the campus.

I think it's best if you look at universities yourself, everybody wants something different and you don't want other people's recommendations leading to you going somewhere you don't want to be!

Reply 6

indieguy

Bristol/Southampton are nice.

Reply 7

Frank the Tankk

There are a lot of decent AAB universities...on my list were Sheffield, Nottingham, Glasgow, KCL and St Andrews. I ended up applying to Nottingham, St Andrews and KCL out of that list with Edinburgh as my AAA choice and Queen's Belfast as my ABB choice (ended up with a BBB offer). Although I really liked the look of Sheffield and Glasgow, I'm having no regrets in not applying to either.

I'll give a few reasons as to why I picked each of my choices:
- KCL as it's in London and has an active Tech Society.
- Nottingham as its campus was beautiful and modern, it similarly has an active HackSoc and CompSoc.
- St Andrews as its career prospects are great and I love the university as a whole after visiting.
- Edinburgh as it's extremely reputable for Informatics, producing some of the best research in Europe and has fantastic facilities. Also, having lived local to Edinburgh for a few years, I can tell you that it is one of the most incredible cities you'll ever visit.
- Queen's is my local uni, so I get cheaper fees. It's also got an integrated placement year and is in the middle of building some incredible new facilities...also, it is the biggest department in QUB now so I guess it will garner a lot more investment.