The Student Room Group

Edinburgh or Warwick?

Hello!
I got offers from Edinburgh and Warwick for Mechanical Engineering(I'm an international student). But I need help in choosing the university.

Science: These unis are on similar level in rankings I've seen, but I hope you know the issue from inside It's really hard to say which is better knowing only statistics. And is there something like 'consultation' with tutors? What is also important, the course in Edinburgh last 5 years, while in Warwick only 4. Any ideas why? Programme description doesn't say a lot.

Sport: I've played volleyball for many years and it's really important to me to continue this. I know that on both unis there are volleyball clubs, but anyone knows if their level is advanced? Is volleyball popular in the UK at all? :wink: Also I'm keen on tennis, but it's more just for fun. Are sport activities included in the tuition fees or I would have to pay additionally?

Places: Unfortunately, I haven't been to either city and won't be able to visit them before deciding. I can imagine basic differences between Edinburgh and Warwick, but I'll appreciate if you write something more about advantages/disadvantages. I'm a bit scared of the distance between Edinburgh and Warwick - it seems like Edinburgh is in the middle of nowhere. Is it lively city? And what's the weather like there? I've never lived in a place located so far on North, I hope there's not raining all the time :biggrin:
At last, is Scotland very vary from England? I mean culture, accent etc.

Thanks for all your answers! :smile:
The Edinburgh degree is a year longer because Scottish degrees last a year longer than English and Welsh ones.

I'd say to visit them both before you decide. Edinburgh was my insurance and it was a nice department. Suffers in league tables because of low student satisfaction, though; might be of some concern to you. The course looked set up nicely, too. I know nothing of Warwick as I hadn't heard of it before I started reading TSR, but isn't the course there a general engineering course? If you know you want to study mechanical engineering then the Edinburgh course would be better as it'd allow you to specialise sooner.
Reply 2
I'm studying at Edinburgh now, and am really enjoying the course. I can't say anything about the course at Warwick as it wasn't something I looked into, but it seems to be more outside the city whereas Edinburgh (the uni) is kind of in the middle of everything. And have grown up here and visited Coventry a lot since my dad grew up there, in my opinion Edinburgh is the nicer of the 2 places (saying that, I've not been to Coventry since I was 13/14 so..)

Yeah, the main area of Edinburgh where you'll spend most of 1st year is pretty much in the city centre and it is very lively :p: Especially during the festival in August, although since it's not during the academic year I don't know how much time you'd spend here during it. The weather is kinda up and down, can have four seasons in a day sometimes. It does rain quite a bit but we do have a fair share of nice days and we have been having quite a bit of snow at Christmas times recently. Scottish accents do take a bit of getting used to, but the culture and stuff isn't all that different from England. I mean there are a few Scottish "days" (Burn's night in January and St. Andrew's day in November) but other than people trying Haggis or going to ceilidhs around the time there's not really many other things I can think of :p:

No idea about the level of the Volleyball team but you can look at more here. You may have to pay £20 or so each semester to cover them renting the halls and stuff for the year and you'd probably need to be a member of the gym too which IIRC is around £90 for the year I think. The gym membership will let you use all the equipment and stuff for free for the whole year.

As Smack said above, the extra year is due to Scottish exams required for uni being 1 year behind what you'd need for English unis. And touching on what he'd said about student satisfaction, some of the tutors are fantastic with feedback and others are terrible. I actually had "yup" written as a comment to an answer I'd had wrong in my December exams, and although I'd had the marking scheme along to see where I'd gone wrong it was a bit :s-smilie: But the department is really good and I've done some really interesting labs in 1st year too which I'd learned a lot from.

Is there no way at all you could visit either? Because that is probably the best way to form your own opinion as there's only so much you can get from people telling you what each is like over a forum :smile:
Reply 3
Thanks for your answers! Really appreciate it.
Unfortunately it's impossible for me to visit this cities now. I'm preparing for my final exams - I have to make up my mind before them. Can you write something more about differences in English and Scottish education system? I've read some information on the internet, but what I found wasn't enough. If Scottish exams are one year behind English, what did you do during first year? Isn't it a loss of time? Don’t misunderstand me, what I mean is that one year at uni doesn't equal one year at college (I'm not sure if it's school before uni) so I’m wondering if you learn a lot or not.
Reply 4
Original post by Bartek
Thanks for your answers! Really appreciate it.
Unfortunately it's impossible for me to visit this cities now. I'm preparing for my final exams - I have to make up my mind before them. Can you write something more about differences in English and Scottish education system? I've read some information on the internet, but what I found wasn't enough. If Scottish exams are one year behind English, what did you do during first year? Isn't it a loss of time? Don’t misunderstand me, what I mean is that one year at uni doesn't equal one year at college (I'm not sure if it's school before uni) so I’m wondering if you learn a lot or not.


In England the A-Level last 2 years, whereas in Scotland the Higher (which you need for Scottish unis) lasts 1 year then the Advanced Higher (which would be needed to go to English unis) would be another year on top of that. So Scottish students could leave school a year earlier than those in England to go to a uni in Scotland if they wanted to.

The first year here would be learning what English students would be still learning in school (or what Scottish people taking Advanced Highers would be). Saying that, I have learned a few things in 1st year that wouldn't have been covered in school in either the A-level or Advanced higher, especially stuff done in labs.

Also, if it really bothers you and if you have the right requirements, Edinburgh may let you go straight to 2nd year so you don't need to do the 1st year if you already have the qualifications.

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