How seriously do you take league tables?

I take them very seriously, however i do not analyse them year on year. I find the average from the past 10 years. The league tables i use are the times, and the world rank unis. For the world ranks i ignore the USA universities though.

Also - were they very influential in your university choices?

edit: I don't appreciate comments like this private spamming me.

Your profile is just and wanky as you. Come get me bitch.

Reply 1

WOLLSMOTH

OP

Oh and never use The Guardian rankings. They have an agenda.

Reply 2

BadExaminee

Me too. I seriously considered the ranking tables when selecting a uni. Don't wanna be in the middle of everyone, right ? :wink:

But I generally only consider the world rank

Reply 3

Meteorshower

14

Not influential at all, I'm choosing where I want to go rather than where some newspaper telling me.

Reply 4

River85

17

WOLLSMOTH

For the world ranks i ignore the USA universities though.

The world tables are just as bad as the Guardian, with just as biased a view. Favouring the large unis, particularly those with high numbers of international staff and students. How does that affect my education?

Reply 5

BadExaminee

Btw don't you think this should have a poll ?

Reply 6

pipkinlove

WOLLSMOTH

I take them very seriously, however i do not analyse them year on year. I find the average from the past 10 years. The league tables i use are the times, and the world rank unis. For the world ranks i ignore the USA universities though.

Also - were they very influential in your university choices?

They were for my subject. Didn't really look at the overall league but I looked at the league for English.

Reply 7

holdyourcolour

10

I take them all with a massive pinch of salt.
When you spend enough time on here and chatting to HR at various places, you begin to get a decent feel for how things line up.

For many (career driven degrees), it's irrelevant what the average person thinks, and simply employers.

Reply 8

WOLLSMOTH

OP

River85

The world tables are just as bad as the Guardian, with just as biased a view. Favouring the large unis, particularly those with high numbers of international staff and students. How does that affect my education?

You're unlikely to get a job outside of this little island if your uni isn't known in other countries.

Reply 9

RamocitoMorales

21

I personally take the rankings very seriously.

I did once make the mistake of looking in the Guardian University, and it showed Portsmouth as being the 4th best for Maths in the UK, and I'd almost convinced myself I would go there.

Then I took a look at the Times rankings and saw St Andrews up at 3rd for Maths. So now I'm going to try and go there as it is within my league unlike Oxford and Cambridge.

Reply 10

BJack

19

WOLLSMOTH

Oh and never use The Guardian rankings. They have an agenda.

They're atrocious.

Reply 11

Peanut42

15

I didn't take them that seriously, I knew I wanted to go to a good uni, but wasn't overly bothered about 'prestige'. Although I have found out I'm going to the 3rd best uni for Classics (according to The Times) so I think I picked pretty well!

(I can't believe I'm posting a serious reply to a Wollsmoth thread, keep it up Wollsmoth!)

Reply 12

History Lost in Physics

11

I don't agree with many of the measures used by league tables. Personally i'm interested in average UCAS tariff's, research rating and good honours.

Reply 13

History Lost in Physics

11

Peanut42

I didn't take them that seriously, I knew I wanted to go to a good uni, but wasn't overly bothered about 'prestige'. Although I have found out I'm going to the 3rd best uni for Classics (according to The Times) so I think I picked pretty well!

(I can't believe I'm posting a serious reply to a Wollsmoth thread, keep it up Wollsmoth!)

Hey - I was trying to encourage him to be nice to people earlier so I gave him some pos rep when he said a nice thing.

I think I might have scared him off though :p:

Reply 14

cpj1987

15

Meteorshower

Not influential at all, I'm choosing where I want to go rather than where some newspaper telling me.

I have my own mind, too. :biggrin:

Reply 15

LukeatForest

13

imtired

why is bristol ranked 31st then? what's the problem with the guardian's nobody seems to take it seriously? and what about others like the telegraph?

by the way this is a table made from other table, from 2006 though:

Spoiler

It's from 2003 - the clue is in the link, as well as the original Telegraph article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=%2Feducation%2F2003%2F06%2F27%2Ftefuni.xml

It's probably the most worthless and far-fetched table ever anyway - Nottingham Trent above Kent and Aberystwyth, as a for instance. Nothing's set in stone, I'll admit, and league tables are only as worthwhile as the person reading them wants them to be. We can all start a league table and put any University anywhere and that's how it is. I personally like to look at league tables just as a guide but I don't take anything much out of them.

Reply 16

The Boosh

17

BadExaminee

Me too. I seriously considered the ranking tables when selecting a uni. Don't wanna be in the middle of everyone, right ? :wink:

But I generally only consider the world rank

What do you think to UNSW?

Reply 17

Peanut42

15

History Lost in Physics

Hey - I was trying to encourage him to be nice to people earlier so I gave him some pos rep when he said a nice thing.

I think I might have scared him off though :p:

Good job! We can rebuild him! :biggrin:

(oh and I like your location, although it has made me thirsty!)

Reply 18

inksplodge

17

I use the league table so that I can click on unis without having to google them individually. It's easier. :biggrin:

Reply 19

River85

17

WOLLSMOTH

You're unlikely to get a job outside of this little island if your uni isn't known in other countries.

A university with a high number of international staff and students aren't necessarily then going to be well known internationally.

Also, that's a massive assumption. The vast majority of undergraduates will be looking to remain in this country anyway. What's more, employers will be conerned with far more than just uni name. Also (and this is the same issue that you have constantly ignored) a graduate from one of the lesser known unis (nationally and internationally) may not find their employment prospects affected at all. If it's in an industry where there's a great demand for workers, and the degree was accredited by a worldwide recognised professional body (such as RICS) then your job application (in this case as a surveyor) isn't going to be particularly damaged by going to a lesser known uni (Coventry, Anglia Ruskin, Kingston...).

Plus a number of the smaller, but excellent, universities who don't do as well in the world rankings are arguably better known then a number of the larger ones who outrank them (even if they aren't fantastically well known).

Finally, the THES world rankings are even more eccentric than domestic rankings. At least with domestic rankings you may have unis climbing or falling by a few places a year. Sometimes there can be a significant difference in the THES rankings. A uni may be 63rd one year, 132nd the next, then 109th the next. A reliable indication?

Finally, what makes the THES rankings more reliable than the other world rankings around (who can have quite different results) and should subject expertise also be important?

So, care to answer each one of these points for once?

How seriously do you take league tables?

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