The Student Room Group

Ranking Scottish unis from best to worst (to prove a point)

So before anyone says anything, let me explain. Often on this site, i see (mainly English uni students) talk about how "X is better than Y", "Z is overrated and W is underrated" and "X, Y and Z are better than U, V and W" etc etc.

So really, i wanted to do this to see if there is any truth/point in uni rankings, by asking, in your own opinions and experiences, how you rank Scottish unis. Again this isn't about criticizing other unis, this is about how much point there is in things like national and world rankings. So here are mine:

Tier one: St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen
Tier 1.5: Dundee (still really good but maybe not in the same vein as the others)
Tier two: Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde and Stirling
Tier three: RGU, Caledonian and Napier
Tier four: Queen Margaret, Abertay, West of Scotland and Highlands & Islands

This is for overall, and you can mention things like what you consider the most important aspect (prospects, teaching etc) and whether you look at rankings.

Again, just an experiment, thank you!

I'll be honest, i think this is important because i used to be one of those people who was a ranking watcher. This was because when i was first applying, there were and are a significant group of people that essentially worshiped uni rankings, demeaning those who went to one lower than themselves. So, as someone new to the uni process, this scared me into thinking I had to apply somewhere that was highly ranked to be successful. After I told myself however that this is silly, I started thinking about how many people took rankings seriously when choosing a uni and potentially making a huge mistake of applying somewhere more 'respected' and regretting it as opposed to applying somewhere 'lower down the table' and going to a uni more suited to them.

So overall, this is about how people use rankings to judge how good universities are and whether they are used too much, or rather how accurate these rankings may be by seeing how others judge unis in their own opinion.
(edited 9 years ago)

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Reply 1
Tier 1: St A, Edinburgh, Glasgow

Tier 2: Aberdeen, Dundee, Strathclyde, Heriot Watt

Tier 3: Stirling, Caledonian, Napier, Abertay, RGU

Tier 4: Queen Margaret, West of Scotland, Highlands & Islands

The first two tiers all contain fairly decent unis, and there's not a huge difference between them. There's a jump between Tier 2 and 3. Basically Tiers 1 and 2 are the good universities in Scotland, and Tiers 3 and 4... aren't quite so good, in general.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 2
Original post by Mechie
Tier 1: St A, Edinburgh, Glasgow

Tier 2: Aberdeen, Dundee, Strathclyde, Heriot Watt

Tier 3: Caledonian, Napier, Abertay, RGU

Tier 4: Queen Margaret, West of Scotland, Highlands & Islands

The first two tiers all contain fairly decent unis, and there's not a huge difference between them. There's a jump between Tier 2 and 3. Basically Tiers 1 and 2 are the good universities in Scotland, and Tiers 3 and 4... aren't quite so good, in general.


Thanks, but (sorry for being picky) would Stirling be in 2?
What's the point to be proven?
Reply 4
Original post by Ellen96
Thanks, but (sorry for being picky) would Stirling be in 2?


No, sorry I missed it out. I'd probably place Stirling in 3. Although it would be the best of all the 3's.

This is pretty silly though, just go to where you think you'll be happy.
Reply 5
Original post by Mechie
No, sorry I missed it out. I'd probably place Stirling in 3. Although it would be the best of all the 3's.

This is pretty silly though, just go to where you think you'll be happy.


I've already picked, I've only been thinking about this because there are many people on this site that go on about rankings and such, and i was curious as to how big an impact it made on how people personally ranked universities.
Reply 6
I think in terms of general reputation, it goes something like this:

1. Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews.

2. Aberdeen, Dundee, Heriot Watt, Strathclyde.

3. Stirling.

4. Glasgow Caledonian, Napier, Queen Margret, Robert Gordon's, West of Scotland.

5. Abertay, Highlands and Islands.

This is obviously different for every subject area. Also, UWS might belong more in 5 but it's reputation is considerably greater in the west than it is in the east.
This is obviously different for every place of interest. I'd say that popularity is significantly higher in the western than it is in the eastern.
I would say:

Top: Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Andrews

2. Strathclyde, Aberdeen, Dundee

3. Stirling, Heriot

4. The rest (I don't really know them, so it would be tough for me to rank them in different ranges)
I know this might be a little off-topic but which uni out of Glasgow, Strathclyde, Aberdeen and Dundee has the best reputation for Biological Sciences?
I'd do it:

Tier 1: St Andrews, Edinburgh
Tier 1.5: Glasgow
Tier 2: Dundee, Aberdeen
(I see no reason why Aberdeen should be better overall than Dundee, which is world class in life science and has the highest mean citation score in the UK)
Tier 3: Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde, Stirling, RGU
Tier 4: Caledonian and Napier
Tier 5: Queen Margaret, Abertay, West of Scotland and Highlands & Islands
Reply 11
Original post by StereoBucket
I know this might be a little off-topic but which uni out of Glasgow, Strathclyde, Aberdeen and Dundee has the best reputation for Biological Sciences?


Something i've gone for :smile: well Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee were some of my options, for specifically life sciences Dundee has the edge (but i'm not going as i could switch to chemistry, a department they don't have, that put me off as i don't see how you can offer life sciences, physics, maths but NOT chemistry). Don't just look at research though, because that is not a guarantee you'll have a lot of contact with researchers. Also there's been a thing in the news saying they could possibly cutting staff numbers in life sciences. Still though it is very good, followed i think by Strathclyde/Glasgow then Aberdeen. Hope i helped :smile:
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 12
Original post by Sir Fox
I'd do it:

Tier 1: St Andrews, Edinburgh
Tier 1.5: Glasgow
Tier 2: Dundee, Aberdeen
(I see no reason why Aberdeen should be better overall than Dundee, which is world class in life science and has the highest mean citation score in the UK)
Tier 3: Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde, Stirling, RGU
Tier 4: Caledonian and Napier
Tier 5: Queen Margaret, Abertay, West of Scotland and Highlands & Islands


I don't see how you've ranked Strathclyde and Heriot Watt, who both have excellent engineering departments, along with Stirling and RGU.
Reply 13
For me (from my experiences visiting the universities and seeing the type of students that get accepted into these universities) -
Tier 1: Edinburgh, St Andrews, Glasgow
Tier 2: Strathclyde (Strathy is in a tier of its because IN SOME CASES it is better for certain courses than the universities in tier one, although for some subjects like english or history it might even be below the universities in tier 3. Courses like engineering, science and business are extremely strong at Strathclyde, arguably better than Glasgow, Edinburgh etc.)
Tier 3: Aberdeen, Heriot Watt, Dundee.
Tier 4: Glasgow Caledonian, Edinburgh Napier, Stirling, RGU.
Tier 5: Abertay, UWS, Queen Margaret, UHI.

This can change a lot depending on the course offered.
University ranking systems are pretty flawed in general, and I think the difference between universities in the top ten (and even the top twenty) is pretty minimal. Ranking universities into tiers, or looking at specific courses, seems to be more beneficial than determining which university is number one, number two or number three...
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 14
Wondering if anyone can give some advice, I have completed a HND in Music Bussiness, but just weighing up my options of which uni to continue my degree at, Scotland is so limited and only really is offered at UWS and UHI, or private institutes which cost a rediculous amount of money. Any help ?
Reply 15
Adapted from sir fox: (My opinion)
Tier 1: St Andrews, Edinburgh
Tier 1.5: Glasgow
Tier 2: Dundee, Aberdeen, Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde (I don't see why Strath and HW is less good than Dundee)
Tier 3: Stirling, RGU
Tier 4: Caledonian and Napier, Abertay (Abertay quite good for some compsci/games courses?)
Tier 5: Queen Margaret, West of Scotland and Highlands & Islands

Oh this is a 2 yr old post :/
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Yammy
Adapted from sir fox: (My opinion)
Tier 1: St Andrews, Edinburgh
Tier 1.5: Glasgow
Tier 2: Dundee, Aberdeen, Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde (I don't see why Strath and HW is less good than Dundee)
Tier 3: Stirling, RGU
Tier 4: Caledonian and Napier, Abertay (Abertay quite good for some compsci/games courses?)
Tier 5: Queen Margaret, West of Scotland and Highlands & Islands

Oh this is a 2 yr old post :/


Dundee has a number of departments and subjects that are in the top tier UK wide, some even world class. This includes medicine, dentistry and life science/pharmacology/biological research (all world class), and law, engineering, and art and design.

I'm not an expert on uni reputation, but I am not aware of any world class subjects at Strathclyde or Heriot-Watt, despite both doing reasonably well (HW) and very good (Strath) nationally.

That's why, purely subjectively, I'd put Dundee a notch above those two.
hello, there :smile:
Will I get any job if I graduate from Napier or Stirling?
Original post by Sabeva Yana
hello, there :smile:
Will I get any job if I graduate from Napier or Stirling?


No. You are doomed. McDonalds will scoff at you.

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Okay, seriously - you can get a job no matter where you graduate. Prestigious unis help you get a foot in the door, especially with well paying/competitive jobs, but uni is what you make of it. Someone from Stirling who has good grades, a couple of internships, some exciting stuff on their CV will have a better chance at the same job than someone who just wiggled their way through Oxford and never got any outside experience.

And it depends on your field, of course.
Original post by Sir Fox
No. You are doomed. McDonalds will scoff at you.

.
.
.

Okay, seriously - you can get a job no matter where you graduate. Prestigious unis help you get a foot in the door, especially with well paying/competitive jobs, but uni is what you make of it. Someone from Stirling who has good grades, a couple of internships, some exciting stuff on their CV will have a better chance at the same job than someone who just wiggled their way through Oxford and never got any outside experience.

And it depends on your field, of course.

Ok, what about biological sciences?

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