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Bristol or The University of Nottingham for LLM

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Reply 20
Original post by Durham_
I am not sure it is...I will get to do 6 modules at Notts, 4 at Bristol (maybe 5 if I ask nicely to the Postgrad office).

One of the Professors that I want to have at Bristol may be on study leave next year and I don't want to be taught by (with all due respect) PhD students. So that may be the deciding point between the two.

The faculty on the LLM at Nottingham is very impressive so it is a tough call.

Birmingham is also a very good option!!!! Are you a trainee/graduate?


Study leave can mean lots of things. One of the Russian lecturers is currently on study leave, but she still taught a graduate class on Tolstoy and attended the department's research seminars. Talk to the person in question to get more specific information.
Reply 21
Original post by AfghanistanBananistan
What I am saying is that most people disregard rakings because they are useless.

Bristol ranks better than LSE in world ranking, but we all know that LSE is miles better than Bristol. It shows that rankings have major flaws.

Universities have highs and lows in popularity. What I meant was that from 1990 to 2005 Nottingham had the highest (or at least top 3) for the most applications per place of any university and averaged the 6th highest entry standards (higher than Bristol). Notts was harder to get into than Bristol so carried more prestige then, or at least equal. Nottingham was also in the top 10 of most rankings between this period (and still has an average rank of 11th in all tables)

Nottingham city had a few bad media reprts back in 2005 and applications turned away from it. It was not the unis fault but Notts suffered from decreased applications, slightly lower entry standards and thus ranking. These things are going back up now so Nottingham may be back where it used to be.

Look at Durham. A few years ago noone mentioned it in ther lists of 'top 10's' and it ranked outside of the top 15 and had far lower entry standards. It has had a massive boost in popularity recently and people are now saying that it is in the top 5.

Swings and round abouts. But employers know that places like Bristol and Nottingham are the same, with many AAA+ students and therefore there is little to choose between them.


Most people do not disregard rankings though. In fact, most undergraduates and almost all international students at all levels use them to help select their university. That is not to say they are not flawed, but even intelligent postgraduates use them to some extent; after all, what is RAE if not a ranking system?

Anyway, the comparison between Bristol and LSE is silly and you know it. LSE is a university that specialises in a very small number of fields, has more postgraduate students than undergraduates, and has, unlike most universities, no issues with funding because of their internationalism and fees.

To suggest that 'LSE is miles better than Bristol' is to miss the point altogether. It is institution and subject dependent. An example: I wonder how many people would choose LSE as their first choice, assuming they had a choice of any university in the UK, to study philosophy. Nevertheless, you can make general comparisons between the likes of Bristol and Nottingham because they are both large research-intensive universities in the Russell Group, and I assume they would probably have similar numbers of students if you discounted Nottingham's international campuses.

You are right about Nottingham though, and Durham's relatively poor position in English league tables is somewhat related to ideological bias on the part of the Guardian etc., etc.. Swings and roundabouts indeed!
Reply 22
Bristol doesn't even get a look in
Reply 23
Bristol
Original post by evantej


Anyway, the comparison between Bristol and LSE is silly and you know it. LSE is a university that specialises in a very small number of fields, has more postgraduate students than undergraduates, and has, unlike most universities, no issues with funding because of their internationalism and fees.

To suggest that 'LSE is miles better than Bristol' is to miss the point altogether. It is institution and subject dependent. An example: I wonder how many people would choose LSE as their first choice, assuming they had a choice of any university in the UK, to study philosophy. Nevertheless, you can make general comparisons between the likes of Bristol and Nottingham because they are both large research-intensive universities in the Russell Group, and I assume they would probably have similar numbers of students if you discounted Nottingham's international campuses.


Firstly, it doesn't matter about specialist institutions. Imperial is specialist as well. LSE is the best for what it does, as is MIT, and has the highest level of world class research in the UK. Hence, what im saying is that it is wrong for Bristol to rank well ahead of LSE in world rankings, and LSE and other social science unis say this. It shows rankings are flawed.

The philosophy argument is a very bad choice. I suppose you dont know that Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos, two of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, taught at LSE and shaped the philosphoy of science and social science. LSE is also ranked number 1 in the world for the philosophy of social sciences - the only type of philosophy they teach. This just backs up my argument that LSE is best for what it teaches.

I have no affiliation towards LSE, it just seems to me that no one could even compare the level of world classness of LSE and Bristol.

I do get your point about league tables. Yes, unfortunately they do influence people, but unfortunately people don't see their flaws - student satisfaction being one. For people to think UCL is better than Oxford and 4th best in the world is very misleading, but some abroad start to think it when seeing rankings.
Reply 25
Original post by damidude
Bristol doesn't even get a look in


what do you mean?
Reply 26
Original post by Focus08
Bristol


why?
Reply 27
Original post by Durham_

Original post by Durham_
what do you mean?


Reputation wise, Nottingham's reputation is better.
Reply 28
Original post by Durham_
I am not sure it is...I will get to do 6 modules at Notts, 4 at Bristol (maybe 5 if I ask nicely to the Postgrad office).

One of the Professors that I want to have at Bristol may be on study leave next year and I don't want to be taught by (with all due respect) PhD students. So that may be the deciding point between the two.

The faculty on the LLM at Nottingham is very impressive so it is a tough call.

Birmingham is also a very good option!!!! Are you a trainee/graduate?



Nein - Undergrad, but it's kinda common knowledge.
Reply 29
Original post by AfghanistanBananistan
Firstly, it doesn't matter about specialist institutions. Imperial is specialist as well. LSE is the best for what it does, as is MIT, and has the highest level of world class research in the UK. Hence, what im saying is that it is wrong for Bristol to rank well ahead of LSE in world rankings, and LSE and other social science unis say this. It shows rankings are flawed.

The philosophy argument is a very bad choice. I suppose you dont know that Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos, two of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, taught at LSE and shaped the philosphoy of science and social science. LSE is also ranked number 1 in the world for the philosophy of social sciences - the only type of philosophy they teach. This just backs up my argument that LSE is best for what it teaches.

I have no affiliation towards LSE, it just seems to me that no one could even compare the level of world classness of LSE and Bristol.

I do get your point about league tables. Yes, unfortunately they do influence people, but unfortunately people don't see their flaws - student satisfaction being one. For people to think UCL is better than Oxford and 4th best in the world is very misleading, but some abroad start to think it when seeing rankings.


Did you study at Notts or Bristol?
Reply 30
Original post by evantej
Study leave can mean lots of things. One of the Russian lecturers is currently on study leave, but she still taught a graduate class on Tolstoy and attended the department's research seminars. Talk to the person in question to get more specific information.


I emailed him two weeks ago and he said he may be on study leave and if he is he won't be teaching.
Reply 31
I would opt for durham quite purely because it has the college system, and the others don't
Reply 32
Nottingham has a terrific reputation for Law, according to the Silver Circle Law firm I interned with last summer they prefer Nottingham to Durham or Warwick at undergrad, so I doubt that changes much at PostGrad.
Both are fantastic though, there's probably not a huge reputation difference anyway, so which uni do you prefer?

On the topic of professors, Nottingham has some of the leading specialists in their fields
Reply 33
Original post by TheBigCh
Nottingham has a terrific reputation for Law, according to the Silver Circle Law firm I interned with last summer they prefer Nottingham to Durham or Warwick at undergrad, so I doubt that changes much at PostGrad.
Both are fantastic though, there's probably not a huge reputation difference anyway, so which uni do you prefer?

On the topic of professors, Nottingham has some of the leading specialists in their fields



I liked the law building at Bristol.. but I am visiting Notts in January. You can only do 4 modules at Bristol and one of the Professors I want to take classes may be on study leave. He is an expert in Private International law.

Durham is good for the LLB but the postgrad is not great. There were complaints on the course last year.

Notts has an amazing selection of Professors teaching on the LLM namely in Shipping law and I like the idea of a campus!!! I can take 6 modules there and plus the course is 1,000 pounds cheaper! I can study from corporate to investment law to shipping so its pretty good.

Which Silver circle firm did you interned if I may ask?
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 34
Original post by Planar
I would opt for durham quite purely because it has the college system, and the others don't


There were complaints on the course and people were def not happy!!!
Reply 35
Original post by Durham_
I liked the law building at Bristol.. but I am visiting Notts in January. You can only do 4 modules at Bristol and one of the Professors I want to take classes may be on study leave. He is an expert in Private International law.

Durham is good for the LLB but the postgrad is not great. There were complaints on the course last year.

Notts has an amazing selection of Professors teaching on the LLM namely in Shipping law and I like the idea of a campus!!! I can take 6 modules there and plus the course is 1,000 pounds cheaper! I can study from corporate to investment law to shipping so its pretty good.

Which Silver circle firm did you interned if I may ask?


SJ Berwin, although I should be interning this summer at Slaughter & May
Reply 36
Original post by TheBigCh
SJ Berwin, although I should be interning this summer at Slaughter & May


Excellent!! Congrats...

I am sure they know where they recruit from....and they would know the quality of the Universities/law departments very welll

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