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Bath vs. Warwick for chemistry

Hi,

So, I've applied to study chemistry (MChem/MSci) at Bath (offer), Warwick(offer), Imperial (rejection), Oxford (rejection) and Durham (still waiting).

I'm getting less and less hopeful for Durham so while I'm waiting for a response I thought I should try and figure out which to firm out of Bath/Warwick if I don't get an offer.

I would appreciate help with the differences between the two universities / the two courses and which I should maybe choose out of Bath and Warwick.

I think Warwick has a more reputable course, although the university/campus seems very isolated :s

Any help is much appreciated!! :biggrin:
Hello!

I am a current second year chemistry student at Bath. I have visited Warwick before. As an aside, I spent my first term studying chemistry at Oxford before transferring, so I have experienced two very different environments.

Both universities are very good for chemistry, and honestly I would go with the gut feeling you have about which uni you will be happier at. At the end of the day you could be at the number one uni in the world and if you don't like it you're not going to do as well, and you'll lose your enthusiasm for your subject.

If you want to do/are considering doing a year in industry, I would strongly recommend the Bath course: the industry links are many and varied and the staff have been really helpful with every step of the applications process. It's a very flexible course so even if you decide quite late to change an aspect (year abroad/ industry/ Bsc) it's usually pretty simple.

Also, the research is really very good and there are loads of different projects you can get involved in in the 3rd or fourth year. They have links with research groups around the country as well, so if you want to go into research somewhere else afterwards then you can always join a team with links to your lecturers: a good reference from someone they already work with is always useful!

While I can't speak for Warwick, I have found the chemistry department at Bath extremely well organised and really personable. I feel that the course is very well set out and the lecturers are overall very good at linking parts of the course together. The lab course is well designed as well, it backs up elements of the lecture course, and I feel like it's at the right kind of level both time-wise (enough time to finish everything but not so much you're sat around) and difficulty-wise.

Basically, I wouldn't go off the reputations, especially as they're quite similar in many ways. Wherever you go, you're going to end up with a respected chemistry degree, and I speak from experience when I say that a good reputation doesn't mean you're going to like it!
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Avatar for itsConnor_
itsConnor_
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Original post by Bluemoon20
Hello!

I am a current second year chemistry student at Bath. I have visited Warwick before. As an aside, I spent my first term studying chemistry at Oxford before transferring, so I have experienced two very different environments.

Both universities are very good for chemistry, and honestly I would go with the gut feeling you have about which uni you will be happier at. At the end of the day you could be at the number one uni in the world and if you don't like it you're not going to do as well, and you'll lose your enthusiasm for your subject.

If you want to do/are considering doing a year in industry, I would strongly recommend the Bath course: the industry links are many and varied and the staff have been really helpful with every step of the applications process. It's a very flexible course so even if you decide quite late to change an aspect (year abroad/ industry/ Bsc) it's usually pretty simple.

Also, the research is really very good and there are loads of different projects you can get involved in in the 3rd or fourth year. They have links with research groups around the country as well, so if you want to go into research somewhere else afterwards then you can always join a team with links to your lecturers: a good reference from someone they already work with is always useful!

While I can't speak for Warwick, I have found the chemistry department at Bath extremely well organised and really personable. I feel that the course is very well set out and the lecturers are overall very good at linking parts of the course together. The lab course is well designed as well, it backs up elements of the lecture course, and I feel like it's at the right kind of level both time-wise (enough time to finish everything but not so much you're sat around) and difficulty-wise.

Basically, I wouldn't go off the reputations, especially as they're quite similar in many ways. Wherever you go, you're going to end up with a respected chemistry degree, and I speak from experience when I say that a good reputation doesn't mean you're going to like it!


Thanks so much for your response!! :smile: Out of curiosity, why did you decide to leave Oxford after the first term? The course does look extremely intense there

Also how many hours are you in the lab in first/second year per week? And do you get much help or can they be quite pressured?

And what do you think of Bath as a university in general? They don't seem to have a lot of societies compared to other universities and it seems pretty small
Original post by itsConnor_
Thanks so much for your response!! :smile: Out of curiosity, why did you decide to leave Oxford after the first term? The course does look extremely intense there

Also how many hours are you in the lab in first/second year per week? And do you get much help or can they be quite pressured?

And what do you think of Bath as a university in general? They don't seem to have a lot of societies compared to other universities and it seems pretty small


It was very intense, but I didn't have any problems keeping up with it. I found the intensity made it very isolating though, and the course was quite badly organised (for example, the tutorials had no relation to the lecture course and were thus extremely unhelpful).

In the first and second year you get one 9-5 day and one 9-1 day per week in the labs. They step it up in the third and fourth years.

I don't know anyone who hasn't managed to finish a lab set, and even if you ran into trouble and didn't manage it they have make-up labs at the end of each semester. To be honest if you manage your time well you'll probably have a bit more time than you need, which is useful if you manage to make a mistake or want to use the time to do writeups.

The first year doesn't really have proper writeups, you hand in samples and fill in proforma (data sheets) with some questions on. There are also prelab questions that you have to complete before starting the lab work. There are more significant writeups in the second year.

Wrt the uni, it is a small uni, but I've never felt like it's a problem. I think that's why there aren't as many societies as some of the larger unis, but the societies I know seem very well run. It also has the advantage of being very close to bristol, I know that the chemsoc does joint socials with them which is pretty cool.
Hi

I just wanted to find out what happens in third year (if you know) because Im assuming most people go on their year abroad/in industry, will tutorial groups change and is everything alot smaller in terms of the number of studens.

Thanks

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Original post by anita-573
Hi

I just wanted to find out what happens in third year (if you know) because Im assuming most people go on their year abroad/in industry, will tutorial groups change and is everything alot smaller in terms of the number of studens.

Thanks

Posted from TSR Mobile


At my university, tutorial groups are smaller and all the BSc people attend workshops with other BSc students only, same for MSci (but the content is the same, just a timetable issue I think).

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