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Surrey vs Southampton vs Sussex

I have been offered places at these universites for Maths, grades required being AAB, AAA and AAA/A*AB respectively and I'm really not sure which one to pick.
The order in league tables is consistently Surrey highest, then Southampton, then Sussex.
Surrey is ranked the highest yet has the lowest requirements so I'm thinking there must be some sort of catch as to why that is the case?
I think it may only be ranked so high due to their emphasis on a professional training which pushes up statistics but am very worried about the nightlife, sociability and general student experience there.
Southampton has better nightlife than Surrey, and is also a Russel Group University, which I'm not sure about the significance of, however it has a split up campus which I seem to like less than one all in one place.
Finally Sussex, which I believe has the greatest student experience and the campus is all in one place. However as I said it is ranked the lowest and doesn't seem to have as high a reputation for Maths.

Any thoughts and comments would be very helpful, I really have no idea :s-smilie:
Reply 1
Avatar for gemini89
gemini89
1
Personally I would avoid putting too much emphasis on league tables....these three uni's are so close on the league tables (we're talking a few places, not tens) that it really doesn't make much difference. Most universities go up or down a few spots every year anyway. I would go where you feel most suits you/where you feel most comfortable. I would (biased) vote for Sussex purely cos I love Brighton - it's a great city to live in (and to live by for your first year). I also like the fact the campus is all in one place - and in the middle of a national park at that. I would admit that the campus buildings at the moment aren't much to look at (a lot are under construction) but I'm quite jealous of you being able to experience them when they're all done (new library, new co-op, new cafes, new lecture theatres)...that's if you go there that is!
Reply 2
Avatar for Howbeit
Howbeit
19
Original post by gemini89
Personally I would avoid putting too much emphasis on league tables....these three uni's are so close on the league tables (we're talking a few places, not tens) that it really doesn't make much difference. Most universities go up or down a few spots every year anyway. I would go where you feel most suits you/where you feel most comfortable. I would (biased) vote for Sussex purely cos I love Brighton - it's a great city to live in (and to live by for your first year). I also like the fact the campus is all in one place - and in the middle of a national park at that. I would admit that the campus buildings at the moment aren't much to look at (a lot are under construction) but I'm quite jealous of you being able to experience them when they're all done (new library, new co-op, new cafes, new lecture theatres)...that's if you go there that is!


I'm going to Southampton and it's not THAT spread out.
Reply 3
Avatar for angelmxxx
angelmxxx
14
Original post by HellRaiser
I have been offered places at these universites for Maths, grades required being AAB, AAA and AAA/A*AB respectively and I'm really not sure which one to pick.
The order in league tables is consistently Surrey highest, then Southampton, then Sussex.
Surrey is ranked the highest yet has the lowest requirements so I'm thinking there must be some sort of catch as to why that is the case?
I think it may only be ranked so high due to their emphasis on a professional training which pushes up statistics but am very worried about the nightlife, sociability and general student experience there.
Southampton has better nightlife than Surrey, and is also a Russel Group University, which I'm not sure about the significance of, however it has a split up campus which I seem to like less than one all in one place.
Finally Sussex, which I believe has the greatest student experience and the campus is all in one place. However as I said it is ranked the lowest and doesn't seem to have as high a reputation for Maths.

Any thoughts and comments would be very helpful, I really have no idea :s-smilie:


What are you trying to get out of the tables? If you want to know about prestige/reputation of the uni in general, look at the overall Times/Complete Uni Guide (Independent) tables, not the subject tables. In the general Times Online table, the order is Soton, Sussex, Surrey but they're all very close to each other.

If you want to know about student satisfaction survey score, etc then look at the individual components of the subject table.

But league tables are highly highly flawed, and prestige between similar unis isn't an overriding factor for most graduate jobs, your degree class, work experience/employment and your involvement in student life matter much, much more.

Surrey really promote placement years (ie sandwich courses), would you want to do one of those? Looking at the Times newspaper table, the unis' student satisfaction scores are almost identical. Sussex seems to be last because it has lower average UCAS points on entry (about 100 points lower than the other two), but that could just mean everyone who went to Soton or Surrey did general studies to boost their ucas points. In terms of graduate prospects, the numbers are broadly similar and all above 75 which doesn't indicate any problems, it'll be up to you to ensure you get a 2:1 and some good experience to make you sure get the job you want. Maybe have a look at their websites to see the average maths graduate starting salary from each uni, and typical graduate destinations? The only other ranking criteria is research rating which is pretty irrelevant for you as you will be studying the same thing in each course (depending on which modules you pick), any new discoveries/theories will be taught at all those unis!

The best thing to do to decide is probably to look up the course modules, see how much choice you have, and how you'll be taught - if you prefer seminars/tutorials to lectures and one uni doesn't have any tutorials, you're probably best off not going there. If you want to avoid stats but one uni has 1/4 of its compulsory modules in stats then avoid that! Etc.

RG is irrelevant really, it just means Southampton is in a group of universities who get a lot of research funding and lobby the Government for more research and teaching funding. I guess all the RG unis are prestigious to some extent but if that's what you are thinking about, then don't just look at who is in the RG.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 4
Avatar for gemini89
gemini89
1
Original post by RobertWhite
I'm going to Southampton and it's not THAT spread out.


Didn't say it was...I just said I like Sussex being an all-in-one campus university, it's a personal thing. Funny, I'm actually from Southampton area though!

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