Rankings

Hello. How much emphasis should my daughter place on rankings of not only the uni, but also the uni course when deciding what uni to apply to? Thanks.

Hello. How much emphasis should my daughter place on rankings of not only the uni, but also the uni course when deciding what uni to apply to? Thanks.

Hello. How much emphasis should my daughter place on rankings of not only the uni, but also the uni course when deciding what uni to apply to? Thanks.

Which course? Rankings are particularly misleading for some subjects

Thanks for taking time to reply. Product design is the course 👍🏽

Hey!

To add to what other posters have said, general rankings often are very arbitrary, and that ranking doesn't necessarily apply to the quality of the specific course that you (your daughter in this case) are applying to. From personal experience, the course was what spoke to me the most when selecting where and what to study at university. Course rankings are a good starting point, but I wouldn't let that alone decide where to apply to university, as there are a lot of factors such as distance from home, friendliness of the department, ability to study abroad, ability to take a placement year, etc., that should also be considered. Also look at the modules that will be studied for the chosen course at each university, some will place larger emphasis on certain sub-disciplines than others, and some will be more flexible about which modules can be taken than others as well, so do consider this as well.

Best of luck for your daughter's university applications!

^Harry (Lancaster University Student Ambassador)

In that case there is only one subject ranking that covers the subject (in the Guardian - the others all group it with a huge range of creative courses). That could be a useful resource to create a long list of universities to look at but looking at the course level data on discoveruni and deciding what is important, visiting open days and looking at online graduate shows to check the course covers the sort of design your daughter is interested in (product design can vary from commercial/industrial design through to bespoke furniture design with a huge range in between) is the most important thing.

Employment is going to be based on the quality and fit of her portfolio so finding the course and university that will help her best develop her skills and portfolio is key. Not ranking.

Hello. How much emphasis should my daughter place on rankings of not only the uni, but also the uni course when deciding what uni to apply to? Thanks.

I wish we had paid a bit more attention to rankings. My son's university doesn't score particularly highly for his course but it was where he wanted to go. He is sadly quite disappointed with the degree, teaching, lack of feedback and inconsistent marking. I keep try to get him to speak up but he doesn't want to make a fuss, meanwhile his dream of a 1st or 2.1 are quickly disappearing down the toilet! If he had his time again I think he would have shopped around for something better!