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Lancaster Uni confused with UCLan :@

I was in work today with 2 guys who go university, and we were talking in general about universities. They asked me which university I was going to, and I said "Lancaster". One of the guys said "Central Lancashire, in Preston?". I said no, and explained that it was up north, but the look of bewilderment didn't leave his face the entire time.

It really annoyed me though, because what if I do work hard, get my AAB and then when I go to a possible future employer, what if they have the same reaction? Should I just go Manchester or Birmingham uni because they're "Russell Group" universities and their reputation is further reaching? Obviously Lancaster climbing league tables isn't doing anything for their overall reputation :/

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Original post by Vijay2010
I was in work today with 2 guys who go university, and we were talking in general about universities. They asked me which university I was going to, and I said "Lancaster". One of the guys said "Central Lancashire, in Preston?". I said no, and explained that it was up north, but the look of bewilderment didn't leave his face the entire time.

It really annoyed me though, because what if I do work hard, get my AAB and then when I go to a possible future employer, what if they have the same reaction? Should I just go Manchester or Birmingham uni because they're "Russell Group" universities and their reputation is further reaching? Obviously Lancaster climbing league tables isn't doing anything for their overall reputation :/


You have to distinguish between reputation with employers and awareness with the general public with no specific interest in the matter. The latter are often influenced by advertising campaigns and generally those universities that need bodies do more advertising.

Last year I took a taxi from Reading Station. I asked for the University. The taxi driver's reply was "Thames Valley?" I didn't even know Thames Valley had an outpost in Reading. But to that Reading taxi driver, someone arriving in Reading and asking for the University does not want the University of Reading.

There is no certainty that if you go to Birmingham or Manchester, members of the public won't think you are at Manchester Met or Birmingham City.
Student in the Laboratory, Lancaster University
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Reply 2
I thought Lancaster gets confused with Leicaster...
Reply 3
Original post by nulli tertius
You have to distinguish between reputation with employers and awareness with the general public with no specific interest in the matter. The latter are often influenced by advertising campaigns and generally those universities that need bodies do more advertising.

Last year I took a taxi from Reading Station. I asked for the University. The taxi driver's reply was "Thames Valley?" I didn't even know Thames Valley had an outpost in Reading. But to that Reading taxi driver, someone arriving in Reading and asking for the University does not want the University of Reading.

There is no certainty that if you go to Birmingham or Manchester, members of the public won't think you are at Manchester Met or Birmingham City.


I guess that's a good way to look at it....thanks :smile:
Original post by Vijay2010
I was in work today with 2 guys who go university, and we were talking in general about universities. They asked me which university I was going to, and I said "Lancaster". One of the guys said "Central Lancashire, in Preston?". I said no, and explained that it was up north, but the look of bewilderment didn't leave his face the entire time.

It really annoyed me though, because what if I do work hard, get my AAB and then when I go to a possible future employer, what if they have the same reaction? Should I just go Manchester or Birmingham uni because they're "Russell Group" universities and their reputation is further reaching? Obviously Lancaster climbing league tables isn't doing anything for their overall reputation :/


Welcome to the real world, where people don't give the slightest bit of a damn about "reputation" and newspaper league tables. It is quite possible that if you go to an employer outside of the north east of England or one who doesn't get much applicants from Lancaster University then they might have the same reaction.

And I wouldn't be so quick to just go to Manchester or Birmingham either on that basis. No doubt there's a large amount of people that are still unaware of the merger between UMIST and Victoria and so when you say "Manchester University" they may well think Man Met.

Back when I was doing my UCAS form, one of the universities I applied to was the University of Edinburgh. My mum, a university graduate from the University of Aberdeen, had always thought that Napier was the only university in Edinburgh.

As nulli tertius says, there is a difference in awareness between the general public and graduate employers. Most of the general public, and this includes many university graduates themselves who are now into the world of work, do not have the slightest bit of interest in what the perceived best universities are, what what ones newspaper league tables rank highly. They generally only know what they hear about from advertising campaigns (and the former polytechnics probably have much stronger advertising campaigns) and from what they are geographically close to. I suggest you not let this annoy you.
Reply 5
Yeah when I told someone I was going to Lancaster they were like "oh UCLAN" and I was like no...
Reply 6
I find UCL getting confused with UCLan! If people ask me where I've applied and I say UCL I get "Oh in Preston?" Maybe it's just my friends! :redface:
Reply 7
some people are just stupid...end of. i had the same thing a couple of times. and people being adamant that lancaster university was a part of UCLAN. its just some people, dont worry about it.
Lots of people make this mistake, some don't even know where Lancaster is - though of course, the people I speak to may not necessarily be representative of the recruitment consultants that large employers contract. Maybe if you wanted to distinguish it, you could say 'Lancaster University'? UCLAN is almost always referred to by the acronym so the two can hardly be confused in that sense


.... as for the posters above suggesting that some people are still unsure of what 'University of Manchester' means, I say nonsense. I've never known anybody, from any part of the country that I've been to, to confuse Manchester with Man Met or Salford - there's no common link (apart from the inclusion of Manchester in the title) and it's been clear for a good while now that UMIST and Victoria merged to create Manchester so I fail to see where exactly the confusion lies. Think about it, do people confuse Goldsmith's with QMUL? SOAS with LSE? Imperial with KCL? Of course they don't.
Reply 9
the worst thing is, i live in lancashire, about 30 mins away from preston, and about 45 mins away from lancaster. yet people still think i mean uclan and not lancaster :angry:
I've never experienced this problem. At job interviews and placements, when out with friends and new people, they've always understood Lancaster University to be just that. :/
Original post by anoif_
I find UCL getting confused with UCLan! If people ask me where I've applied and I say UCL I get "Oh in Preston?" Maybe it's just my friends! :redface:


Wow, now that's a tiny bit special... :teehee:
Reply 12
Original post by diamonddust
Wow, now that's a tiny bit special... :teehee:


Haha! Clearly :p: I'm pretty sure some of my friends don't think there's a world outside of the North West.
Original post by J1mjam
some people are just stupid...end of. i had the same thing a couple of times. and people being adamant that lancaster university was a part of UCLAN. its just some people, dont worry about it.


Oddly I've never come across anybody confusing the two, don't know why.

On a different note, are you in your 1st year? Just asking because I'm a 1st year in cartmel college. Holker (53), where are you?
Employers will know more about universities than the guys u were talking to, don't worry
Lancaster is getting more and more well known
Original post by TheMeister
Lots of people make this mistake, some don't even know where Lancaster is - though of course, the people I speak to may not necessarily be representative of the recruitment consultants that large employers contract. Maybe if you wanted to distinguish it, you could say 'Lancaster University'? UCLAN is almost always referred to by the acronym so the two can hardly be confused in that sense


.... as for the posters above suggesting that some people are still unsure of what 'University of Manchester' means, I say nonsense. I've never known anybody, from any part of the country that I've been to, to confuse Manchester with Man Met or Salford - there's no common link (apart from the inclusion of Manchester in the title) and it's been clear for a good while now that UMIST and Victoria merged to create Manchester so I fail to see where exactly the confusion lies. Think about it, do people confuse Goldsmith's with QMUL? SOAS with LSE? Imperial with KCL? Of course they don't.


:confused: Manchester and Man Met have more in common than Lancaster and UCLAN lol. They're both in Manchester and they both have Manchester in the title. All Lancaster and UCLAN have in common is the "lan." I know for sure that some people that go to Man Met would just say they go to Manchester in everyday conversation.

No one says they go to London Uni, they always refer to the constituent college to which they attend. That's the reason why no one confuses Goldsmith's and QMUL, etc.
Reply 16
Original post by mackemforever
Oddly I've never come across anybody confusing the two, don't know why.

On a different note, are you in your 1st year? Just asking because I'm a 1st year in cartmel college. Holker (53), where are you?


your lucky noone has given you the frustration of confusing the two!
yea, im a first year and im in meathop 47
Reply 17
Original post by Derezzed
They might not know precisely where it is, but haven't most people done the House of Lancaster, War of the Roses (and so forth) whilst studying History at school?


I knew of it but never once did it in History.
Original post by zanahoria
I thought Lancaster gets confused with Leicaster...


I bet you get confused about a lot of things...
The Wars of the Roses and the start of the Tudor period is no longer on the curriculum? :frown:

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