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Physics: Bath, Birmingham, Glasgow, Oxford, St. Andrews. HELP!

Hello guys, I have applied to study physics at these universities which are
Bath, Birmingham, Glasgow, Oxford and St. Andrews. And I have a difficulty in choosing where to go (and only if I have an offer from Oxford I think I would go there but I don't know if I will make it). So let me tell you my opinion on these universities and please tell me what you suggest.
Bath: I have an unconditional offer and it's a really good uni(5th for 2016) but I have visited the university and didn't really like the buildings I think. I really like old architectural buildings, etc such as at at Oxford.
Birmingham: It's a really good university at physics(6th) but overall it's like 15th I think and this troulbles me.
Glasgow:I have an unconditional offer. I think it is prestigious since it's old but the entry requirements are low and it ranked 13th.
Oxford: I think I didn't do well on PAT exams and I don't know if I would make it.
St Andrews: As I heard it is a really prestigious and good uni such as Oxbridge but a lot of people say that the place is not good or something.

So if we exclude Oxford, what uni would u recomend and why.
Thank you :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by yiannaros95
Hello guys, I have applied to study physics at these universities which are
Bath, Birmingham, Glasgow, Oxford and St. Andrews. And I have a difficulty in choosing where to go (and only if I have an offer from Oxford I think I would go there but I don't know if I will make it). So let me tell you my opinion on these universities and please tell me what you suggest.
Bath: I have an unconditional offer and it's a really good uni(5th for 2016) but I have visited the university and didn't really like the buildings I think. I really like old architectural buildings, etc such as at at Oxford.
Birmingham: It's a really good university at physics(6th) but overall it's like 15th I think and this troulbles me.
Glasgow:I have an unconditional offer. I think it is prestigious since it's old but the entry requirements are low and it ranked 13th.
Oxford: I think I didn't do well on PAT exams and I don't know if I would make it.
St Andrews: As I heard it is a really prestigious and good uni such as Oxbridge but a lot of people say that the place is not good or something.

So if we exclude Oxford, what uni would u recomend and why.
Thank you :smile:

First off, I'm putting links to the course structure in this post. If you want fine-grained information about statistics consult unistats (https://unistats.direct.gov.uk/) but take any information you find there with a grain of salt as sample sizes may be small. I studied MPhys at Durham. I noticed you're using the complete university guide. The overall ranking on it is pretty useless. The only particularly useful indicator is entry standards. First I'll give you my opinions on the physics courses they offer and make suggestions:

Bath:

It has the worst course of all of those. I ranted about it in this thread.

Birmingham:

Course link here. Good university, great physics course. There are lots of options in third and fourth year. It being 15th in the rankings won't affect your job prospects, especially since it's high in world rankings.

Glasgow:

Glasgow's course structure is a bit opaque to me but it does at least have a good range of options, although I get the impression the curriculum isn't as rigorous as Birmingham or St Andrews. Try customising modules according to the maximum credit rules and see if you prefer the paths offered at Glasgow to Bath.

The entry requirements for Glasgow aren't low. The first year of Scottish University is equivalent to A2 level, and the offer for that entry point is AAB. You're (probably) aiming for advanced entry into second year, the offer for which is A* in Maths, A in Further Maths, and A in Physics. That's actually *******s since you certainly don't need Further Maths to start a Physics degree, unless they don't offer complementary maths modules in second year to get you up to speed on linear algebra and differential equations.

Oxford:

If you get an offer firm it for sure. It slightly sucks that you can't use unconditional offers as insurance, but since you received them it means those universities are probably confident you can get A*AA at A-level or whatever equivalent qualification - you should be too. Work towards that.

St Andrews:

St Andrews is an excellent university. It is located in a small town; research what student life is like there if that concerns you. It might be quite lively with all those students crammed in a small space. Also, the setting's pretty picturesque and might be well-aligned with your preference for old architecture. Check some street view images on google maps. You need this document and this and this to understand the course structure. The student intake's the highest achieving among the four non-Oxbridge options. Trying to compare the course with Birmingham's is hurting my brain, but by my analysis, despite a higher proportion of coursework in second year and some differences in arrangement, the course load at St Andrews is larger and probably slightly more involved, as you might expect.

Summary/tl;dr:

If we excluded Oxford, I'd recommend either Birmingham or St Andrews. I honestly couldn't call it for you since the campus experiences are probably completely different. My advice would be to look over the course brochures to see what kinds of things you'd be interested in, and do plenty of research about the locations. That being said, if it were me in your shoes I'd pick St Andrew's :wink:.
(edited 8 years ago)
You should try to base your decision on factors such as course modules, uni vibe and surrounding areas (for example, st andrews is in a tiny town). If you can, go and visit the unis.
Personally, I ignore the prestige tables because I think they're a whole load of rubbish.
Reply 3
Original post by Unkempt_One
First off, I'm putting links to the course structure in this post. If you want fine-grained information about statistics consult unistats (https://unistats.direct.gov.uk/) but take any information you find there with a grain of salt as sample sizes may be small. I studied MPhys at Durham. I noticed you're using the complete university guide. The overall ranking on it is pretty useless. The only particularly useful indicator is entry standards. First I'll give you my opinions on the physics courses they offer and make suggestions:

Bath:

It has the worst course of all of those. I ranted about it in this thread.

Birmingham:

Course link here. Good university, great physics course. There are lots of options in third and fourth year. It being 15th in the rankings won't affect your job prospects, especially since it's high in world rankings.

Glasgow:

Glasgow's course structure is a bit opaque to me but it does at least have a good range of options, although I get the impression the curriculum isn't as rigorous as Birmingham or St Andrews. Try customising modules according to the maximum credit rules and see if you prefer the paths offered at Glasgow to Bath.

The entry requirements for Glasgow aren't low. The first year of Scottish University is equivalent to A2 level, and the offer for that entry point is AAB. You're (probably) aiming for advanced entry into second year, the offer for which is A* in Maths, A in Further Maths, and A in Physics. That's actually *******s since you certainly don't need Further Maths to start a Physics degree, unless they don't offer complementary maths modules in second year to get you up to speed on linear algebra and differential equations.

Oxford:

If you get an offer firm it for sure. It slightly sucks that you can't use unconditional offers as insurance, but since you received them it means those universities are probably confident you can get A*AA at A-level or whatever equivalent qualification - you should be too. Work towards that.

St Andrews:

St Andrews is an excellent university. It is located in a small town; research what student life is like there if that concerns you. It might be quite lively with all those students crammed in a small space. Also, the setting's pretty picturesque and might be well-aligned with your preference for old architecture. Check some street view images on google maps. You need this document and this and this to understand the course structure. The student intake's the highest achieving among the four non-Oxbridge options. Trying to compare the course with Birmingham's is hurting my brain, but by my analysis, despite a higher proportion of coursework in second year and some differences in arrangement, the course load at St Andrews is larger and probably slightly more involved, as you might expect.

Summary/tl;dr:

If we excluded Oxford, I'd recommend either Birmingham or St Andrews. I honestly couldn't call it for you since the campus experiences are probably completely different. My advice would be to look over the course brochures to see what kinds of things you'd be interested in, and do plenty of research about the locations. That being said, if it were me in your shoes I'd pick St Andrew's :wink:.



Thank you very much, this is a really helpfull :smile: Btw I already have my A levels which are A*AA for maths,physics and further maths since I made a differ entry.
Also, what about the Russell Group? St Andrews isn't in the RG. Why is that since it is one of the best uk unis ? Do u think it is importan for a uni to be in the RG ?
Personally, I think the RG only really benefits postgraduate research students (because RG means more money for research), and being in the RG will make no difference to a undergrad since undergrads aren't researching new things
Original post by yiannaros95
Thank you very much, this is a really helpfull :smile: Btw I already have my A levels which are A*AA for maths,physics and further maths since I made a differ entry.
Also, what about the Russell Group? St Andrews isn't in the RG. Why is that since it is one of the best uk unis ? Do u think it is importan for a uni to be in the RG ?

You might want to read this report on an article by a Durham University researcher. Membership of the Russell Group contains a few obvious choices, beyond that it's fairly arbitrary. If anything, St Andrews is the one university that proves the Russell Group is little more than a cartel. If I had to guess why it's not a member, it might be because it doesn't have enough total research income (which is due to being small rather than grants per researcher I'd suspect). It certainly has nothing to do with its research quality which is very high.

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