The Student Room Group

University Prestige Vs Good University

Scroll to see replies

Original post by nunugab
Why are you being daft? I explained my reasoning before. Rankings have nothing to do with jobs or internships however they are good indicators of the level of tuition at institutions. Prestige -> Better viewed by employers (despite how marginal it differs from other institutions) -> Better job prospects. Have you ever heard of selection bias within recruitment? This discussion is over. I voiced my opinion and let that be the end of it. You will never convince me that rejecting ICL for Southampton is a good choice, never.


You voiced your opinion and I, as someone who is actually studying an engineering degree and actually has an internship offer, am saying that your opinion is a load of crap. I'm not particularly interested in convincing a psychology student that choosing Southampton over Imperial is a good choice, because what you think is completely irrelevant to this discussion. But what I will ask you to do, is to stop giving advice to prospective engineering students about which universities offer better job prospects when you clearly know nothing about it and have no experience in it. I'm glad that this discussion is over and hope that you won't continue offering bull**** advice. :smile:
Reply 61
I am in the same situation as OP, choosing between Imperial and Soton for Aero Engineering and also on course to get A*A*A*A.

The problem is that I want to do a course that includes spacecraft engineering and while Southampton is great for this, Imperial does no spacecraft at all. Also Imperial is expensive to live in and I've heard a lot about the course being poorly organised.

I want to do a PhD after university and then go into research. Will there be a long term difference between a (probably 2:1) degree from Imperial and a (probably 2:1 or 1:1) degree from Southampton?
Reply 62
Original post by Smack
You voiced your opinion and I, as someone who is actually studying an engineering degree and actually has an internship offer, am saying that your opinion is a load of crap. I'm not particularly interested in convincing a psychology student that choosing Southampton over Imperial is a good choice, because what you think is completely irrelevant to this discussion. But what I will ask you to do, is to stop giving advice to prospective engineering students about which universities offer better job prospects when you clearly know nothing about it and have no experience in it. I'm glad that this discussion is over and hope that you won't continue offering bull**** advice. :smile:


My cousin did an engineering degree at ICL. Give me 20 min and I'll get back to you about her job prospects. Then perhaps we can compare them with your internship offer.
Reply 63
Original post by nunugab

Original post by nunugab
No I'm not a student at ICL but I do acknowledge quality institutions. Nothing wrong with that.


I don't in anyway disagree with you.

But a Southamption undergraduate with a strong work experience & a convincing personality e.t.c has a near equal chance of competing with someone from Imperial

Remember that employers won't think 'oh the Imperial guy will be smarter' because they, as much as all of us know that people choose to go to a certain uni because of uncountable factors. Going to Imperial doesn't necessarily mean you will be inferior because the Southamption applicant might have the same grades/UCAS points as the Imperial guy but still choose to go to South*

All in all, i get ur point & i partly agree with you about overall reputation but in this case its irrelevant to be honest.
Reply 64
Original post by Smack
You voiced your opinion and I, as someone who is actually studying an engineering degree and actually has an internship offer, am saying that your opinion is a load of crap. I'm not particularly interested in convincing a psychology student that choosing Southampton over Imperial is a good choice, because what you think is completely irrelevant to this discussion. But what I will ask you to do, is to stop giving advice to prospective engineering students about which universities offer better job prospects when you clearly know nothing about it and have no experience in it. I'm glad that this discussion is over and hope that you won't continue offering bull**** advice. :smile:


She did a MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Graduated last year. She's currently working within IB in MO at Rothschild. (Fair enough she didn't pursue a career within Engineering but I can ask her for the destinations of her fellow graduates who opted to pursue a career within engineering). What internship offer do you have?
Original post by nunugab
My cousin did an engineering degree at ICL. Give me 20 min and I'll get back to you about her job prospects. Then perhaps we can compare them with your internship offer.


You sure are one sad mother****** then if you are that desperate to try and win an internet argument.

:facepalm2:

Also not sure why as a psychology student you are offering advice to prospective engineering students about job prospects. I am telling you that you are wrong and your opinion is utter rubbish.

But I thought this discussion was over?
Reply 66
have fun in a male:female ratio of 12:1 :biggrin:
Reply 67
Original post by Smack
You sure are one sad mother****** then if you are that desperate to try and win an internet argument.

:facepalm2:

Also not sure why as a psychology student you are offering advice to prospective engineering students about job prospects. I am telling you that you are wrong and your opinion is utter rubbish.

But I thought this discussion was over?


I believe I'm allowed to voice my opinion in any thread in TSR. Now, what are your internship offers?
Original post by *Hakz*
I don't in anyway disagree with you.

But a Southamption undergraduate with a strong work experience & a convincing personality e.t.c has a near equal chance of competing with someone from Imperial

Remember that employers won't think 'oh the Imperial guy will be smarter' because they, as much as all of us know that people choose to go to a certain uni because of uncountable factors. Going to Imperial doesn't necessarily mean you will be inferior because the Southamption applicant might have the same grades/UCAS points as the Imperial guy but still choose to go to South*

All in all, i get ur point & i partly agree with you about overall reputation but in this case its irrelevant to be honest.


Where you study at is irrelevant most of the time.

This is how most engineering internships are obtained:

A company sees that it has work that needs to be done. The engineering department decides that it needs more people to get this work done, so it gets hold of HR and asks them to get more people.

HR then puts forward some CVs to the engineering department, who might or might not interview the candidates depending on the amount of CVs put forward. Often people in the engineering department will also recommend candidates.

The tricky part is making sure that your CV is one of the ones that HR passes on. HR will pass on the CVs of the people that keep hassling them (phone calls, emails, etc.) so they can get some peace to do their work.

Some companies - usually larger ones - also have online application forms. But these are rarely read and if HR has CVs from students looking for a placement they will get them first.

Sorry that that's not explained very well, but the gist is that who you know is the most important factor, and otherwise you've got to do your absolute best to make sure that HR keeps your CV on the top of the pile.
Original post by nunugab
I believe I'm allowed to voice my opinion in any thread in TSR. Now, what are your internship offers?


Yes unfortunately people are allowed to voice their opinion on TSR, however wrong they are. Thankfully most people are sensible enough to not offer their opinion on things they know nothing about but there's always the odd exception... :rolleyes:

Now what do you mean "what is my internship offers?" I thought that it was a fairly unambiguous sentence. I have an offer to work in an engineering role for a company this summer.
Reply 70
Original post by Smack
Yes unfortunately people are allowed to voice their opinion on TSR, however wrong they are. Thankfully most people are sensible enough to not offer their opinion on things they know nothing about but there's always the odd exception... :rolleyes:

Now what do you mean "what is my internship offers?" I thought that it was a fairly unambiguous sentence. I have an offer to work in an engineering role for a company this summer.


'Ok'. What company? I'm just trying to gain an insight into Southamptons graduate employment.
Edit: You're quite ignorant assuming that I have no knowledge about engineering. I may not know much about the actual course but I definitely know a thing or two about graduate employment, obviously I base this knowledge on the engineer graduates in my family.
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by nunugab
'Ok'. What company? I'm just trying to gain an insight into Southamptons graduate employment.


I'm not a Southampton student. If you want to gain an insight into Southampton student's employment then you should check their website as they usually have testimonials and graduate profiles. Another good source for you to look at is Gradcracker - the careers website for engineering students. Many of the companies there have graduate profiles too, most of which list their educational background.

And of course there's also Unistats, too. It doesn't say what companies the graduates from a particular university work for, but it does say what sectors they are employed in and whether this is graduate level work or not.
Reply 72
Original post by Smack
I'm not a Southampton student. If you want to gain an insight into Southampton student's employment then you should check their website as they usually have testimonials and graduate profiles. Another good source for you to look at is Gradcracker - the careers website for engineering students. Many of the companies there have graduate profiles too, most of which list their educational background.

And of course there's also Unistats, too. It doesn't say what companies the graduates from a particular university work for, but it does say what sectors they are employed in and whether this is graduate level work or not.


Alright, will check it out.
Reply 73
Original post by nunugab
http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities/articles/2010/09/21/worlds-best-universities-engineering-and-it-

http://www.universityportal.net/2007/09/world-university-ranking-of-engineering.html

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2009/subject-rankings/technology


Imperial ranks between 6th to 8th in the World for Engineering. Thats why. & Yes I'm fully aware that the last link is from 2009, it's still valid though as I seriously doubt that Southampton would move up 60 places in 2 years. As we all know these are not objective rankings but I still maintain my opinion, rejecting Imperial isn't ideal.


I admit if i was going to uni to do any other engineering course I would have chosen Imperial but there EEE department looked s***. I've already made my decision and im going to firm Southampton. Still thinks its a bad idea?
Reply 74
Original post by Smack
You still haven't answered my post.

What do rankings have to do with finding a job or an internship as an engineer?


Well, companies like to employ the best. Imperial graduates are VERY well respected, more so than Southampton, therefore they are more likely to get employed.

For example, Shell completely wet themselves over recruiting Imperial graduates. To a lesser extent BP also.
Original post by london12
Well, companies like to employ the best. Imperial graduates are VERY well respected, more so than Southampton, therefore they are more likely to get employed.


Engineering graduates are not usually respected by industry because they have no or very little experience. You only begin to get "respect" once you accumulate experience, and once that happens your university degree will become irrelevant. Until then it's a matter of knowing the right people and being in the right place.

And again, what you say contradicts the statistics from the Guardian: more Southampton EEE graduates have graduate level work after six months than Imperial ones.


For example, Shell completely wet themselves over recruiting Imperial graduates.


Yet Imperial is not the top supplier of graduates to Shell.


To a lesser extent BP also.


I didn't meet anyone from Imperial at their Aberdeen offices when I visited. Most were from Scottish universities.
Reply 76
Original post by Smack
You voiced your opinion and I, as someone who is actually studying an engineering degree and actually has an internship offer, am saying that your opinion is a load of crap.


and I as someone who has done 4 internships in technology/engineering AND have already graduated can tell you there is a difference between Imperial/Cambridge and the other universities when it comes to employment....

Put it this way, when I tell recruiters at open days/interviews etc that I was from Imperial i would get a 'wow', literally....... would they say the same to a soton student?
Original post by london12
and I as someone who has done 4 internships in technology/engineering AND have already graduated can tell you there is a difference between Imperial/Cambridge and the other universities when it comes to employment....


For which companies (or sectors if you are not happy saying which companies), and why is this not then reflected in employment statistics?


Put it this way, when I tell recruiters at open days/interviews etc that I was from Imperial i would get a 'wow', literally....... would they say the same to a soton student?


See above.
Original post by 04ghicks
(I'm not racist but I hate being around people of other ethnic origins)


Shame you're going to oxford then, since asians are the smartest.
Reply 79
Original post by Smack
Engineering graduates are not usually respected by industry because they have no or very little experience. You only begin to get "respect" once you accumulate experience, and once that happens your university degree will become irrelevant. Until then it's a matter of knowing the right people and being in the right place.

My god what nonsense.....??

Original post by Smack
And again, what you say contradicts the statistics from the Guardian: more Southampton EEE graduates have graduate level work after six months than Imperial ones.

Errr yes, because 70% of Imperial's engineering graduates are chinese and lack communication skills working in Britain (where the statistics are collected from...)

Why do you think for Computing (which is dept of engineering, but doesnt have as many chinese students as the pure engineering depts) the employment percentage is not far off 90%?


Original post by Smack
Yet Imperial is not the top supplier of graduates to Shell.

It was in 2008. Got anything to show which suggests otherwise? I also know from people who work out in the carribean that Shell and BP scramble for Imperial grads. It's usually Imperial and Cambridge they go for more than usual.


Original post by Smack
I didn't meet anyone from Imperial at their Aberdeen offices when I visited. Most were from Scottish universities.

There were lots in the London office...

BP has two executive directors who went to Imperial, Iain Conn and John Mazoni.
(edited 13 years ago)

Quick Reply

Latest