Edinburgh's International Ranking and UK Ranking don't make sense to me

Hello, I am an international applicant who received a conditional offer (Mathematics) from Edinburgh about a month ago.

As I don't live in the UK I don't know much about the universities stuff there so I came here to ask you guys some insight.

Because I was given an offer from this university, I wanted to find out more about the university apart from the fact that it is a 'Russell Group' university.

So I went to 'thecompleteuniversityguide.com' and 'guardian.com' to check the national ranking and I figured Edinburgh seems to be really low in the national league table (like 15th~25th??)

However, in the global ranking, QS ranks Edinburgh to be the 17th and TimesHigherEducation gives the 36th place to this university (which is obviously higher than most of the decent universities in the UK).

Universities like Warwick, St.Andrews (which are apparently meant to be better than Edinburgh in some people's eye) seem to have worse international ranking but higher national ranking.

This contradiction made me really concerned about the actual quality of the university..

I am hoping to work in the UK after I finish my bachelor degree so I am a little worried about the employability and the actual reputation of this university (normally foreigners, i.e. non UK/EU nationals, have more difficult time trying to get a job there due to obvious reasons like visa requirements and such...)

Thanks for reading this tedious thread, any insights into it will be greatly appreciated.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

TheMagican

9

Trust me when I say this, Edinburgh is very good and it does not need a inconsistent uk table to reflect its reputation, employers already know it.

Reply 2

UPSDGoat

11

Original post by TheMagican

Trust me when I say this, Edinburgh is very good and it does not need a inconsistent uk table to reflect its reputation, employers already know it.

ditto! The problem is Edinburgh's student satisfaction.
I personally don't understand the problem as I'm perfectly happy and satisfied

Reply 3

Okorange

17

Original post by standkakao

Hello, I am an international applicant who received a conditional offer (Mathematics) from Edinburgh about a month ago.

As I don't live in the UK I don't know much about the universities stuff there so I came here to ask you guys some insight.

Because I was given an offer from this university, I wanted to find out more about the university apart from the fact that it is a 'Russell Group' university.

So I went to 'thecompleteuniversityguide.com' and 'guardian.com' to check the national ranking and I figured Edinburgh seems to be really low in the national league table (like 15th~25th??)

However, in the global ranking, QS ranks Edinburgh to be the 17th and TimesHigherEducation gives the 36th place to this university (which is obviously higher than most of the decent universities in the UK).

Universities like Warwick, St.Andrews (which are apparently meant to be better than Edinburgh in some people's eye) seem to have worse international ranking but higher national ranking.

This contradiction made me really concerned about the actual quality of the university..

I am hoping to work in the UK after I finish my bachelor degree so I am a little worried about the employability and the actual reputation of this university (normally foreigners, i.e. non UK/EU nationals, have more difficult time trying to get a job there due to obvious reasons like visa requirements and such...)

Thanks for reading this tedious thread, any insights into it will be greatly appreciated.

Trust me, this is coming from a student at St Andrews, one of the uni's you mentioned which is high up on the UK league tables. The UK league tables are really inconsistent.

Edinburgh is one of the ancient unis, has a long history, performs amazing research and graduated countless distinguished alumni. Its easily a top 10 and quite possibly a top 5 uni in the UK. Employers don't look at league tables they go by sense and its very widely known throughout time immemorial that Edinburgh is a top university in the UK and the world.

Part of the reason league tables are so discredited is exactly because they put top universities low down on the list and some newer less established and less competitive universities high up on the list. I recommend sorting rankings by UCAS Tariff, it gives a better idea of good and bad university.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4

Okorange

17

Original post by UPSDGoat

ditto! The problem is Edinburgh's student satisfaction.
I personally don't understand the problem as I'm perfectly happy and satisfied

Please vote that way on the National Student Survey and encourage your friends to do the same. That is what causes Edinburgh's satisfaction to be low. It seems the university is trying to fix its student satisfaction but it hasn't really shown on the results even now.

Reply 5

UPSDGoat

11

Original post by Okorange

Please vote that way on the National Student Survey and encourage your friends to do the same. That is what causes Edinburgh's satisfaction to be low. It seems the university is trying to fix its student satisfaction but it hasn't really shown on the results even now.

There's no doubt that I would be voting Edinburgh in my highest regards!
I've seen the work the uni had been doing and I hope it pays off soon, it deserves it!

Reply 6

standkakao

OP

6

Thanks everyone for the response, I am somewhat (though not fully, alas my skeptical nature) convinced that Edinburgh is a very good university.

One point though,

Original post by Okorange

Part of the reason league tables are so discredited is exactly because they put top universities low down on the list and some newer less established and less competitive universities high up on the list. I recommend sorting rankings by UCAS Tariff, it gives a better idea of good and bad university.

Wouldn't this make Edinburgh's ranking low anyway as Edinburgh tends to have a very low entry requirements compared to other English universities (like BBB offers and such...)

Reply 7

Okorange

17

Original post by standkakao

Thanks everyone for the response, I am somewhat (though not fully, alas my skeptical nature) convinced that Edinburgh is a very good university.

One point though,

Wouldn't this make Edinburgh's ranking low anyway as Edinburgh tends to have a very low entry requirements compared to other English universities (like BBB offers and such...)

It wouldn't make it that low much better than 21st at least. Definitely in the top 10. Edinburgh doesn't have low entry requirements, maybe only to those from deprived areas and for international students, but its a very competitive school.

Reply 8

Chlorophile

20

Original post by standkakao

Thanks everyone for the response, I am somewhat (though not fully, alas my skeptical nature) convinced that Edinburgh is a very good university.

One point though,

Wouldn't this make Edinburgh's ranking low anyway as Edinburgh tends to have a very low entry requirements compared to other English universities (like BBB offers and such...)

I'm pretty certain that BBB is the minimum university-wide entry requirement - the individual subject requirements are normally much, much higher.

Reply 9

UPSDGoat

11

Remember that Edinburgh is a Scottish univesity, so degrees here are usually 4 years instead of 3. So we're technically a year behind, and go through the first two years of our degrees slower. Hence that's why the entry requirements are lower than it's English university counterparts.
But we're better, because we have flexibility in our degrees and can learn different things and still get credits for it
(e.g. I wouldn't have learned programming if I couldn't have outside courses)

Reply 10

nearlyheadlessian

15

Original post by standkakao

Thanks everyone for the response, I am somewhat (though not fully, alas my skeptical nature) convinced that Edinburgh is a very good university.

If you're not convinced, don't come. I really can't see what a bunch of anonymous strangers on the Internet are going to be able to say that will persuade you - and if we can sway you, then what are you worrying about?

Reply 11

standkakao

OP

6

Original post by nearlyheadlessian

If you're not convinced, don't come. I really can't see what a bunch of anonymous strangers on the Internet are going to be able to say that will persuade you - and if we can sway you, then what are you worrying about?

wow such aggression

thanks mate your response was probably the most helpful out of all I've read.

Reply 12

nearlyheadlessian

15

Original post by standkakao

wow such aggression

thanks mate your response was probably the most helpful out of all I've read.

I'm not being aggressive - as an international student, coming to the UK is very expensive. Seriously - if you have doubts about Edinburgh, don't come. It's a lot of money to take a chance on.

Domestic university rankings are all a load of bunkum, everyone knows that, and you could have found it out with one quick google. So I have to assume you have deeper concerns than this - how on earth can anecdotal evidence from people on a forum ("it was okay for" / "feedback sucked" etc.) help you make an informed decision? It's a world class institution, but if you bring a sceptical attitude and don't think it's any good, you most probably will find you don't like it!

Reply 13

Катя

18

Same thing applies to Manchester, actually - #30 worldwide according to QS, and #28 nationally according to the Times (2015).

Worldwide rep always trumps domestic rep imo.

Reply 14

standkakao

OP

6

Original post by nearlyheadlessian

I'm not being aggressive - as an international student, coming to the UK is very expensive. Seriously - if you have doubts about Edinburgh, don't come. It's a lot of money to take a chance on.

Domestic university rankings are all a load of bunkum, everyone knows that, and you could have found it out with one quick google. So I have to assume you have deeper concerns than this - how on earth can anecdotal evidence from people on a forum ("it was okay for" / "feedback sucked" etc.) help you make an informed decision? It's a world class institution, but if you bring a sceptical attitude and don't think it's any good, you most probably will find you don't like it!

Well I have spent few hours researching about this issue, and some sources tell me that international rankings are loads of bull whereas other sources tell me that domestic rankings are very inconsistent, which puts me into a huge doubt.

Of course I am not going to rely solely on the information I get from this forum, but this forum is definitely (at least to me) another source that tells me a degree of truth. What I don't get it is that people use the term 'World Class institution' for 'too many' universities though.

Anyway thanks for sharing your thoughts, appreciate it.

Reply 15

solarplexus

15

Who cares about the guardian's rankings, full of their left-wing arty farty crap.

Reply 16

Okorange

17

Original post by standkakao

Well I have spent few hours researching about this issue, and some sources tell me that international rankings are loads of bull whereas other sources tell me that domestic rankings are very inconsistent, which puts me into a huge doubt.

Of course I am not going to rely solely on the information I get from this forum, but this forum is definitely (at least to me) another source that tells me a degree of truth. What I don't get it is that people use the term 'World Class institution' for 'too many' universities though.

Anyway thanks for sharing your thoughts, appreciate it.

It all depends on your definition of world class of course. Does Edinburgh play a major and significant role in research worldwide. Yes. Do people actually know of the university. Yes. Is it the most competitive university in the UK for studies? No.

If you want unis that are by everyone's definition world class only go to Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, Yale and MIT. If you want something in the next tier, Edinburgh is in that tier in the same league as UCLA, Duke, Manchester, King's, UCL etc.

If you think Edinburgh isn't competitive enough for you http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/medicine-vet-medicine/undergraduate/medicine/applying/how-to-apply/requirementoverview Edinburgh received 715 international applications for 17 spots in medicine, i'd say that is pretty competitive don't you?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 17

bayernmunich

1

Edinburgh is a great university with hundreds of years of prestige under its belt. Due to EU and Scottish students not paying fees, the university tends to be quite lenient with international admissions with the exception of medicine. Every one I know who applied for my course international or not got a minimum AAA offer. It varies from subject to subject. Humanities subjects tend to have lower offers for international students, but the fact of the matter is it's pretty freaking rare to find someone who hasn't had straight As at Edinburgh. It's way more competitive to get into domestically and the fact that it has lower entry requirements may skew your perception of its quality. Edinburgh is one of the top universities in the UK and the world. Imperial, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, MIT etc are the absolute best and universities like Edinburgh, St Andrews, UCL, Princeton etc. follow in after. International rankings tend to favour larger universities with a wider range of subjects and domestic rankings are a bunch of bull****. All employers recognise Edinburgh as a world class institution. Internationals tend to favour the likes of Warwick and Kings etc. more as they are in England and closer to larger international communities as well as perceived competitiveness due to higher offers. Eastern internationals especially favour universities near London, Birmingham and Manchester.

Original post by standkakao

Hello, I am an international applicant who received a conditional offer (Mathematics) from Edinburgh about a month ago.

As I don't live in the UK I don't know much about the universities stuff there so I came here to ask you guys some insight.

Because I was given an offer from this university, I wanted to find out more about the university apart from the fact that it is a 'Russell Group' university.

So I went to 'thecompleteuniversityguide.com' and 'guardian.com' to check the national ranking and I figured Edinburgh seems to be really low in the national league table (like 15th~25th??)

However, in the global ranking, QS ranks Edinburgh to be the 17th and TimesHigherEducation gives the 36th place to this university (which is obviously higher than most of the decent universities in the UK).

Universities like Warwick, St.Andrews (which are apparently meant to be better than Edinburgh in some people's eye) seem to have worse international ranking but higher national ranking.

This contradiction made me really concerned about the actual quality of the university..

I am hoping to work in the UK after I finish my bachelor degree so I am a little worried about the employability and the actual reputation of this university (normally foreigners, i.e. non UK/EU nationals, have more difficult time trying to get a job there due to obvious reasons like visa requirements and such...)

Thanks for reading this tedious thread, any insights into it will be greatly appreciated.