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Which uni should I choose..? Bristol, Sheffield or Glasgow

Hello everyone!
At the turn of September and October I'm going to become an international student. I've decided to study aeronautical engineering, and I received offers from several unis: Bristol Uni, Glasgow Uni and Sheffield Uni(a year in industry). Unfortunately, I can't visit any of them before choosing two of them, so here are my questions:
Can somebody tell me which two out of three unis should I consider? My criteria are:
-the science level(possibilities to take part in different projects)
-the chances of getting internships (I mean, companies like Boeing, Airbus, Rolls Royce or other, are they interested in students from those three unis)
-how those unis are being considered by employers(I understand that it is mostly depends on my skills, but still there may be some prejudices)
Right now I'm mainly into Bristol, but you can try to change my mind
Thx for incoming comments!!!
They're all on the same kind of quality and will have good chance of getting internships and jobs, probably Bristol and Sheffield more than Glasgow for employment. 50% of people on the RR grad scheme in the UK are from Sheffield Uni and Boeing has their only manufacturing site in Europe at Sheffield's AMRC alongside being the founding partner for the AMRC. Bristol, being right next to Airbus, likely has better connections with them however Sheffield's aren't half bad too and I know a handful of people who went from Sheffield to Airbus and their subsidiaries.

The main things I would use to decide are course structure and travel links.

Sheffield's course structure is very different to every other aero degree that I've seen and it's really not for everyone, but if it is for you then you will absolutely flourish. Otherwise I don't think there's too much to watch out for with the other two.

Depending on which country you're from you are potentially more likely to find that Sheffield has the best travel links as there is a direct train from Manchester airport which takes 1h15m. For Bristol, if you can't fly to Bristol directly (it's a relatively small airport), you'll probably be going from Heathrow or Birmingham which are longer trips. For Glasgow, while you have Glasgow international airport it has a lot of gaps in where it serves so you may struggle to fly to/from home using it, in which case your backups would be Manchester and Edinburgh Airports, both of which are again fairly far away. On the flip side, if you can get a flight to Glasgow international it's just a 15 minute bus ride to the centre.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Helloworld_95
They're all on the same kind of quality and will have good chance of getting internships and jobs, probably Bristol and Sheffield more than Glasgow for employment. 50% of people on the RR grad scheme in the UK are from Sheffield Uni and Boeing has their only manufacturing site in Europe at Sheffield's AMRC alongside being the founding partner for the AMRC. Bristol, being right next to Airbus, likely has better connections with them however Sheffield's aren't half bad too and I know a handful of people who went from Sheffield to Airbus and their subsidiaries.

That's not strictly correct. Of course there's a massive site at Broughton in North East Wales and of course there are 'more than a handful' of university people working with airbus through AMRC in the Cheshire site! Don't go believe every 'pop' piece of news you read in the media.
Original post by marinade
That's not strictly correct. Of course there's a massive site at Broughton in North East Wales and of course there are 'more than a handful' of university people working with airbus through AMRC in the Cheshire site! Don't go believe every 'pop' piece of news you read in the media.

Marinade, I think you've taken my post completely the wrong way. When I say "I know a handful of people..." I mean that literally, as in I personally know them, I didn't say that "a handful of people worked at Airbus" which seems to be what you read it as.

Also the number of graduates at Broughton is much lower than the number at Bristol, although a lot of them in the UK sites as a whole may be moving over the next few years based upon what a little insider birdy has told me.
Original post by Helloworld_95
Also the number of graduates at Broughton is much lower than the number at Bristol, although a lot of them in the UK sites as a whole may be moving over the next few years based upon what a little insider birdy has told me.

It is lower, but in engineering you take any significant contacts/jobs you can. It's interesting where the new links to airbus will go in future, as for the future of sites in general, difficult question.
Reply 5
According to your statatement that Sheffield's course is slightly different than in other unis, I checked that, and compared to the Bristol's one. In fact Sheffield in my opinion offers more modules than Bristol and from what I read they are really extended. Did you mean that thing?
Original post by Helloworld_95
They're all on the same kind of quality and will have good chance of getting internships and jobs, probably Bristol and Sheffield more than Glasgow for employment. 50% of people on the RR grad scheme in the UK are from Sheffield Uni and Boeing has their only manufacturing site in Europe at Sheffield's AMRC alongside being the founding partner for the AMRC. Bristol, being right next to Airbus, likely has better connections with them however Sheffield's aren't half bad too and I know a handful of people who went from Sheffield to Airbus and their subsidiaries.

The main things I would use to decide are course structure and travel links.

Sheffield's course structure is very different to every other aero degree that I've seen and it's really not for everyone, but if it is for you then you will absolutely flourish. Otherwise I don't think there's too much to watch out for with the other two.

Depending on which country you're from you are potentially more likely to find that Sheffield has the best travel links as there is a direct train from Manchester airport which takes 1h15m. For Bristol, if you can't fly to Bristol directly (it's a relatively small airport), you'll probably be going from Heathrow or Birmingham which are longer trips. For Glasgow, while you have Glasgow international airport it has a lot of gaps in where it serves so you may struggle to fly to/from home using it, in which case your backups would be Manchester and Edinburgh Airports, both of which are again fairly far away. On the flip side, if you can get a flight to Glasgow international it's just a 15 minute bus ride to the centre.
Original post by Szymek
According to your statatement that Sheffield's course is slightly different than in other unis, I checked that, and compared to the Bristol's one. In fact Sheffield in my opinion offers more modules than Bristol and from what I read they are really extended. Did you mean that thing?


I mean the specialisms that Sheffield offers, which means you have to choose to specialise in one of Aeromechanics (Mechanical/Materials) or Avionics (Control Systems/EEE) in second year, then in third year you will specialise further to one of Mechanical, Materials, Control Systems, or EEE. Though indirectly this does result in a wider choice of modules and you'll end up well qualified to do most jobs within your speciality (and every grad can do most jobs in Mech). Though this does result in a larger choice of modules as is necessary to cover each of those topics.
Original post by Szymek
Hello everyone!
At the turn of September and October I'm going to become an international student. I've decided to study aeronautical engineering, and I received offers from several unis: Bristol Uni, Glasgow Uni and Sheffield Uni(a year in industry). Unfortunately, I can't visit any of them before choosing two of them, so here are my questions:
Can somebody tell me which two out of three unis should I consider? My criteria are:
-the science level(possibilities to take part in different projects)
-the chances of getting internships (I mean, companies like Boeing, Airbus, Rolls Royce or other, are they interested in students from those three unis)
-how those unis are being considered by employers(I understand that it is mostly depends on my skills, but still there may be some prejudices)
Right now I'm mainly into Bristol, but you can try to change my mind
Thx for incoming comments!!!


Never visited any of the Uni's, im a mechanical engineer (so im familiar with the subject but aero has its differences)
I'd say 1) bristol 2) sheffield 3) Glasgow

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