Warwick vs Bristol ????

Matt667

I want to do Physics at uni, which one is better for Physics Warwick or Bristol?

Reply 1

Unkempt_One

13

Just for you, I'll a straightforward answer. Warwick.

Reply 2

Herbiechester

5

Original post by Unkempt_One

Just for you, I'll a straightforward answer. Warwick.

There are numerous ways to rank unis depending on your personal preferences so maybe you should substantiate your post? Warwick is a fantastic uni, but for me, it being located in basically a large car park in between the less than vibrant Coventry and Leamington means that the wider student experience is downgraded.

In the QS world rankings for Physics, Bristol is ahead of Warwick. It is however much lower down the domestic tables, in part because of what I consider to be the almost meaningless inclusion of student satisfaction. I asked at Bristol why their student satisfaction is so low, and according to their research, its because the students union was so shabby and located up a hill too far from the main campus (students dont like walking apparently).

Also, if you look at the more meaningful REF14 rankings by subject and intensity ( not the GPA average) you will find Bristol higher than Warwick for physics.

For me a clincher is that you can choose whether to have a year in industry - not available at Warwick. I think that meaningful work experience will be more important in getting employment than the relative reputation of Warwick or Bristol.

Reply 3

stochasticking

14

Warwick. Both great unis though.

Reply 4

JuliusDS92

18

Original post by Matt667

I want to do Physics at uni, which one is better for Physics Warwick or Bristol?

About equal. I've seen the modules list for both a while ago and my impression is that Warwick offers a slightly larger/more interesting range of courses in the later years but it's not a big difference. And much more important than this is the quality of the teaching, the labs, the support you get from the department and how tutorials are run (the way my tutorials are done in Edinburgh are very different from how they're done for my friend in Manchester). No one can compare these for you unless they've studied physics at both Warwick and Bristol, and that'll be a very small group of people who probably aren't on TSR.

Lots of people will say Warwick but they don't know what they're talking about (unless they can back up their statement). People on TSR, particularly those who aren't even at university yet have a weird obsession with Oxbridge, UoL & Warwick.

If you have any questions about studying physics at university just ask :smile:

I'd say Warwick.

Probably close enough that you should just check them both out to see which you like more.

Reply 7

Unkempt_One

13

Original post by Herbiechester

There are numerous ways to rank unis depending on your personal preferences so maybe you should substantiate your post? Warwick is a fantastic uni, but for me, it being located in basically a large car park in between the less than vibrant Coventry and Leamington means that the wider student experience is downgraded.

In the QS world rankings for Physics, Bristol is ahead of Warwick. It is however much lower down the domestic tables, in part because of what I consider to be the almost meaningless inclusion of student satisfaction. I asked at Bristol why their student satisfaction is so low, and according to their research, its because the students union was so shabby and located up a hill too far from the main campus (students dont like walking apparently).

Also, if you look at the more meaningful REF14 rankings by subject and intensity ( not the GPA average) you will find Bristol higher than Warwick for physics.

For me a clincher is that you can choose whether to have a year in industry - not available at Warwick. I think that meaningful work experience will be more important in getting employment than the relative reputation of Warwick or Bristol.

OP asked for Physics and I delivered Physics. For a slightly more sophisticated answer, you could look at the modules available at each university. Warwick. Bristol. Based on those I'd say Warwick's coverage of key physics topics in optional and core modules is slightly better, especially in quantum physics and especially given Warwick students tend to take more options of equivalent difficulty due to the credit structure. On the other hand Bristol does appear to have more modules catering to physicists leaning to what I'd call the engineering side (nanoscience etc.). The ultimate tie-breaker for me would be Warwick having higher entry standards. Looking at the bigger picture of course, Warwick's setting is boring and I can easily see why you might choose Bristol, especially if you prefer their particular course structure.

I really don't think the REF ranking is particularly meaningful, intensity or not. Firstly, the intensity rating is simply calculated by multiplying the percentage of FTE staff submitted, which makes no sense unless you assume the other staff not submitted have absolutely no research impact at all. While it's obvious Strathclyde and Cardiff are trying to game the system, I can tell beyond any doubt that Oxford's research impact is not lesser than Glasgow's, or that Imperial's is lesser than Bristol's. As far as I can tell the FTE eligibility includes honorary staff who don't necessarily have to be research active. I think research is something you have to look at on a case by case basis. For instance, Warwick has more involvement with key Particle Physics experiments but Bristol is quite big in Quantum Engineering.

Employment-wise of course I doubt there's much difference. A minority of students would do an industry placement and I doubt whether that has much long-term impact compared to penultimate year work experience.

(edited 7 years ago)

Warwick vs Bristol ????

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