Which would be a better option in the long term?

If you had offers from two universities, one was an ex-poly so through no fault of its own has not had a lot of time to build up a reputation and the other from a red-brick so has argubly has a better reputation but however, is lower down on the league tables, which one would you chose?

In other words what is more reliable in judgeing the quality of a uni:

League tables OR
Reputation forged over a long time.


BTW I'm refering to Hull and Trent here! (both relatively good uni's but would Trent's history be looked down upon by employers?)

BTW I'm refering to Hull and Trent here! (both relatively good uni's but would Trent's history be looked down upon by employers?)

Take the one with better reputation. Although league tables matter as well, but in future when you will be looking for a job, you would have better chances when you come from a university that has more reputation. I had to choose between UCL and Loughborough for civil engineering. While Loughborough was around #5 in the table and UCL on ~18, I still chose UCL for the better overall reputation. I asked my teachers for advice and they said that go for the one with the higher 'general reputation'.

That's my advice, too.

Nottingham Trent University - established as Nottingham School of Design in the 1840s.

University of Hull - established as University College Hull in the 1920s







One of the reasons why it's probably best to ignore most teachers, at least in my experience.

How can you measure "reputation"? Whist the difference between UCL and Loughborough seems quite stark to many, what about Warwick and Durham, Manchester and Birmingham, Newcastle and Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh...

Or even in this case, Hull and Nottingham Trent?

Loughborough is very highly thought of in engineering and going there is unlikely to have disadvatanged you in terms of employment prospects, certainly in engineering.

Only a minority (albeit perhaps a relatively significant minority) of employers are focused on university name. This is university name, not necessarily reputation (which is abstract and subective) and certainly not league table position. They can discriminate using their own personal preferences based on experience, on geographic location - having a regional bias - or will look for Russell and 1994 Group universities (showing no real bias for any particular universities within this group)

Far better chose a stronger department in my opinion. Epecially when the two universities are still Russell or 1994 Group universities.

In short, OP if you want to go to Hull then go to Hull. If you want to go to Trent then go to Trent. No need to complicate things.