Really stuck on which University to choose! (Edinburgh, Bath, Sheffield, Nottingham)

Okay, I now have all my offers. Nottingham, Edinburgh, Sheffield and Bath.
I'm really stuck with which University to go to, getting the grades won't be a problem. What kind of universities are they? Which ones are more creative/practical/technical? Which has better facilities? Which has the higher prestige?

Any tips are welcome and I would be so thankful! :smile:

Reply 1

KeyserNI

Original post by hunpu

You applied to all these schools without knowing what sort of course they ran?

Prestige wise you'd be looking at Nottingham, Sheffield and Bath as all being equal Edinburgh is a bit further down.

Reply 2

hunpu

Original post by KeyserNI

You applied to all these schools without knowing what sort of course they ran?

Prestige wise you'd be looking at Nottingham, Sheffield and Bath as all being equal Edinburgh is a bit further down.

I had a good idea they were good unis, with bath being more practical. other than that i applied for these cos they were known to be good. :smile:

Reply 3

JK471993

If it was my choice, I would firm Sheffield.

Reply 4

*Hakz*

Depends on what course you really want to do!

Prestige wise, I would say Bath then Nottingham then Sheffield. Have no idea about Edinburgh but its really respected also

Reply 5

chenman27

I can not tell you anything about Edinburgh besides it being of lesser prestige than the other three. Bath is slightly more practical/mathematical from what I gauged out of the visit day but they stress they are not overly so. They do work with the civil engineers but not as much as you'd think, only for the first semester and I think a few larger projects in the other years. What's good about Bath, in my opinion, is that they are practical and they have a thin sandwich system which allows you to continue with your placement over summer for Years 2 and 3.

Sheffield I have not been to but from what I hear it is the the more arty out of the 4 you have chosen and possibly, currently, the more prestigious - by a very thin margin.

Nottingham I went to today. The course is a nice mix of theory/history, art and practicality. They seem to do a variety of projects rather (varying lengths) compared to a lot of continuous 2 week projects. They put a lot of emphasis on sustainable design. Their studios are beautiful, much better than Bath and Cambridge imo (haven't been to the other two so can't compare them). However the department feels slightly isolated from the main campus.

I would rank Sheffield - Bath - Nottingham closely together in that order with Edinburgh a bit lower. When I went to Bath and Nottingham one of the obvious differences, prestige wise, were that Bath made you feel you're privileged to go there - like they didn't really need you, whilst Nottingham felt like they were trying to entice you to go there. Bath was by no means snotty but they weren't trying to sell their course as much as Nottingham were and they weren't trying to remind everybody that they are in the top however many courses in the UK.

Anyway enough of my babbly, actually go to the universities see what you'd prefer, if possible talk to current students.

Reply 6

hunpu

Original post by chenman27

Wow thanks alot :smile:

Reply 7

Imperialleather

Haa, The University of Edinburgh is infinitely better than the other three. I don't believe they are even in the top 100 universities in the world. Edinburgh has the prestige out of the four, with bath coming second. Edinburgh has recently been ranked the 20th best university in the world (2010 and 2011 QS HE rankings). Employers love Edinburgh graduates as the university is very academic and theoretical. The down side is that 1/3 of the student populace is from the public student sector.

Reply 8

gul88

I have offers from Edinburgh, Nottingham and Bath. I am going to choose Edinburgh because I want to have art, theory based architectural education. I've heard that Bath is known with its technic, practise based courses. When it comes to university rankings, Edinburgh is better than Nottingham.

Reply 9

jrhartley

Original post by gul88

Looks like you might be making the mistake of looking at the overall uni reputation rather than the department reputation. Employers (i.e. architectural practises) aren't interested in Russell Group and league tables - they are interested in the track-record of the school of architecture.

If I were you - 1) Bath 2=) Sheff or Notts - probably Notts in my case as I was pretty unimpressed by the presentation of the archi dept @ Sheffield when I went there back in the day and 3) Edinburgh

Bath has the strongest rep with employers out of your list by a long chalk and that matters hugely, obviously.

Reply 10

catoswyn

Original post by hunpu

I only know Bath. It is incredibly hard to get into for architecture. Its philosophy is to approach architecture as an engineering discipline rather than from an arts base. It has a great reputation.

Good luck choosing.

:smile:

Reply 11

natpalit

Hi,

I did my Part 1 at Sheffield. In retrospect it was really good, but you have to be very committed, and you have to do a lot of learning on your own, and I never felt like I got that direction of what I should have been doing on my own. That said, there are many others in my year and in those above/below, who didn't have a problem with self directed learning. The facilities at Sheffield aren't the best, but there is a great supportive atmosphere, and a strong social conscience. If you're opinionated, then Sheffield is probably right for you.