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UCL or Birmingham for chemical engineering?

I can't seem to decide between the two.
Birmingham: really nice campus and it seems really relaxed. Allows me to go abroad or go on an industrial placement.

UCL: In london. Has a good reputation and good job prospects.

I am really struggling :/

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Reply 1
Original post by supernovainthesky
I can't seem to decide between the two.
Birmingham: really nice campus and it seems really relaxed. Allows me to go abroad or go on an industrial placement.

UCL: In london. Has a good reputation and good job prospects.

I am really struggling :/


I am also trying to weigh up the pros and cons of UCL, and in my opinion I would say UCL just because it allows for job opportunities in other fields of study. By the way, UCL allows transfer to universities abroad. I doubt they have industrial placement though.
Original post by homer6
I am also trying to weigh up the pros and cons of UCL, and in my opinion I would say UCL just because it allows for job opportunities in other fields of study. By the way, UCL allows transfer to universities abroad. I doubt they have industrial placement though.


Did you apply to birmingham ?
Don't under estimate how valuable possible industrial experience would be. It's almost a necessity for graduates from what I've been told. So you'd have to make sure you got some other sort of experience if you went to UCL.
Original post by GingerGoat
Don't under estimate how valuable possible industrial experience would be. It's almost a necessity for graduates from what I've been told. So you'd have to make sure you got some other sort of experience if you went to UCL.


Have you been on a placement or plan to get one? How important is it for getting a job after uni?
Original post by supernovainthesky
Have you been on a placement or plan to get one? How important is it for getting a job after uni?


I plan to get one ASAP, such that I'm only in first year and I'm already making applications.
It's what I got told to do on my work experience.
And I saw one industry member saying that most companies would take a graduate with a 2.1 and industry experience over someone with only a first class. (I'll source that when I can find it again)
UCL :biggrin:
I have recieved offer from UCL, Birmingham, and Manchester.
I will put Birmingham as insurance because in my opinion is not as good as UCL or Manchester.
And btw I have also applied for year in industry in Birmingham, but let me tell u sumthin
the chances of actually gettin a YII is very low, the uni will only help u not guarantee.

And UCL also has this program, it's only not stated on their degree so less people know about it. UCL is much better than Birmingham, their intake is lower and it's in London. But I don't know what to firm between UCL and Manchester. I am feeling UCL because Manchester have a ridiculously large intake, which makes me doubt the uni. I got an offer from manchester in 3 days, and UCL 2.5 months.
Original post by ib.student.pcm
I have recieved offer from UCL, Birmingham, and Manchester.
I will put Birmingham as insurance because in my opinion is not as good as UCL or Manchester.
And btw I have also applied for year in industry in Birmingham, but let me tell u sumthin
the chances of actually gettin a YII is very low, the uni will only help u not guarantee.

And UCL also has this program, it's only not stated on their degree so less people know about it. UCL is much better than Birmingham, their intake is lower and it's in London. But I don't know what to firm between UCL and Manchester. I am feeling UCL because Manchester have a ridiculously large intake, which makes me doubt the uni. I got an offer from manchester in 3 days, and UCL 2.5 months.


I'm going on an open day to UCL next week to help me decide. What is the program about? Isn't the UCL and Birmingham offer the same?
Original post by supernovainthesky
I'm going on an open day to UCL next week to help me decide. What is the program about? Isn't the UCL and Birmingham offer the same?


Like you or someone else said that the advantage with birmigham is that they have a year in industry. But as I explained they only help, and maybe less than half actually do it. In UCL they also have the option for a year in industry during the third year or second year.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/chemeng/prospecti/ug/structure.php

I have applied to Birmingham for chemical engineering with YIN
and M.eng chemical engineering at UCL.

I will not be able to go to open day for UCL, so please could you give any details that can help me decide between UCL and Manchester

And yes the offer is same AAB. But for IB it is different.
Birmingham: 34 grade points, 5 in Math and Chemistry HL
UCL: 36 grade points, 6 in Math and Chemistry HL
for some reason birmingham is lenient to IB students, and 5 in math is possible so it will b my insurance
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by ib.student.pcm
Like you or someone else said that the advantage with birmigham is that they have a year in industry. But as I explained they only help, and maybe less than half actually do it. In UCL they also have the option for a year in industry during the third year or second year.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/chemeng/prospecti/ug/structure.php

I have applied to Birmingham for chemical engineering with YIN
and M.eng chemical engineering at UCL.

I will not be able to go to open day for UCL, so please could you give any details that can help me decide between UCL and Manchester

And yes the offer is same AAB. But for IB it is different.
Birmingham: 34 grade points, 5 in Math and Chemistry HL
UCL: 36 grade points, 6 in Math and Chemistry HL
for some reason birmingham is lenient to IB students, and 5 in math is possible so it will b my insurance


I'll let you know what UCL is like :biggrin:
Birmingham does not offer a year in industry its just a semester right :s-smilie:
I think I'm more steered towards Birmingham because it seems like a nice place :biggrin:
Reply 11
Birmingham because it is awesome!! :smile:
Original post by bhamsh
Birmingham because it is awesome!! :smile:


I'm guessing you go there :biggrin:
Reply 13
Original post by supernovainthesky
I'm guessing you go there :biggrin:


I'm going there this september for medicine :smile:
firmed it last month :smile:
Original post by bhamsh
I'm going there this september for medicine :smile:
firmed it last month :smile:


Wow cool beans ;D

And Birmingham does seem pretty awesome :smile:
Don't forget the Birmingham Scholarship, £1,300 if you get AAA at A-Level. The individual departments also offer sholarships.
UCL only seems to offer a bursary.
Reply 16
I don't know whether to put ucl or birmingham as my firm both want AAB, Birmingham want an A in chem and maths and UCL want an A in maths and either chem OR Physics. Been to visit both and the birmingham campus and accommodation seem really good compared to UCL. Birmingham is closer to me and everything is on campus and the department looked excellent as it was all brand new. Whereas UCL is in london so will be very busy, accomadation only guaranteed for 1st year then need to find own flat, department didn't look the best but i'm stuck as UCL is very well known. Are the job prospects really that much greater if i went to study ChemEng at UCL?
Original post by kd1992
Are the job prospects really that much greater if i went to study ChemEng at UCL?


I don't see why the job prospects at UCL are better than Birmingham other than that UCL is in London (but then many employers that desperately need chemical engineers are around the Midlands, too).

From your post, you seem to feel pretty negative towards almost everything about UCL whereas you seem fairly happy with Birmingham. If that is how you truly feel then I'd go to Birmingham because you're going to be spending four years of your life there, and it's going to be four important years.
Reply 18
Original post by ib.student.pcm
I have recieved offer from UCL, Birmingham, and Manchester.
I will put Birmingham as insurance because in my opinion is not as good as UCL or Manchester.
And btw I have also applied for year in industry in Birmingham, but let me tell u sumthin
the chances of actually gettin a YII is very low, the uni will only help u not guarantee.

And UCL also has this program, it's only not stated on their degree so less people know about it. UCL is much better than Birmingham, their intake is lower and it's in London. But I don't know what to firm between UCL and Manchester. I am feeling UCL because Manchester have a ridiculously large intake, which makes me doubt the uni. I got an offer from manchester in 3 days, and UCL 2.5 months.


I'm in the simillar situation, cant's choose between UCL and Manchester. UCL is very high up in the worlds overall ranking (think it's 4rth), whereas Manchester is better for Chemical engineering. Which one do you think is more important for the job prospects? I got rejected post-interview form Cambridge and Imperial, so really tempted to take a gap year an re-apply there.
Original post by Borat_13
I'm in the simillar situation, cant's choose between UCL and Manchester. UCL is very high up in the worlds overall ranking (think it's 4rth), whereas Manchester is better for Chemical engineering. Which one do you think is more important for the job prospects? I got rejected post-interview form Cambridge and Imperial, so really tempted to take a gap year an re-apply there.


I have done quite alot of research regarding this, been to the universities as well. I chose UCL over Manchester, Ucl will help you much more in many ways expecially when it come to job prospects. UCL is also known on an international level in comparison to Manchester. So I would suggest choosing UCL

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