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Is Aston as good as they say?

I have an offer from Aston for international business and economics, however I have offers from reading, Sheffield and Liverpool too.

Everywhere I look Aston is very highly rated for business related courses, but I would prefer a bigger university for the social life so I'd have to compromise that for the opportunities that Aston supposedly provides.

My problem is that that after reading the High Fliers report, and seeing that Aston isn't even in the top 25 most targeted universities, how is it so highly reputed?

http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2015/graduate_market/GMReport15.pdf

So why is this? If Aston is so good then why isn't it targeted by the top employers?
(edited 8 years ago)

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When it comes to social life, small is beautiful. There are only around 4000 people on campus at any one time, but chances are you will know most of them by the end of your first year. Aston is an exceedingly social place mainly because so many people live and study on the same tiny campus. You can't help but bump into people left right and centre and of course you are right in the heart of Birmingham so it isn't as if you are short of somewhere to go.

The only downside to Aston is if you want to continue hobbies and passions. There are a great many clubs and societies but due to the small intake, the standards tend to be a bit lower. As a result, I continued my music at Warwick University. That said, where clubs fall down on ability, they more than make up for it in friendliness and I found my now long lived passion for climbing and mountaineering at Aston.

Compared to the vastness of campuses like Manchester and Liverpool (places I am now very familiar), give me the friendly close nit community of Aston any day.

Oh - and you are right - the courses are highly regarded at Aston and the ease of having a sandwich year (whether you applied for it or not) in your degree is a must for any ambitious person.

Good luck!
Lakeside residences
Aston University, Birmingham
Birmingham
Visit website
Original post by SlimShady96
I have an offer from Aston for international business and economics, however I have offers from reading, Sheffield and Liverpool too.

Everywhere I look Aston is very highly rated for business related courses, but I would prefer a bigger university for the social life so I'd have to compromise that for the opportunities that Aston supposedly provides.

My problem is that that after reading the High Fliers report, and seeing that Aston isn't even in the top 25 most targets universities, how is it so highly reputed?

http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2015/graduate_market/GMReport15.pdf

So why is this? If Aston is so good then why isn't it targeted by the top employers?


Hi,

Thanks for applying to us and congratulations on your offer. While i'm not going to argue with the card hold statistics in the high fliers report, what i will say is we have strong relationships with a number of these companies. Both for placements and graduate employers. Year on year our graduates will go onto work with: Accenture, Airbus, BAE Systems, Deloitte, Detsche Bank, HSBC, IBM, J.P Morgan, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls Royce, Unilever and many more.

The reason why we may not rank in the 25 is due to the narrow focus of our courses, graduate destinations at places such as the BBC and Channel Four may be limited as we don't offer any media related courses, along with many other jobs in these existing companies which are focused on subject areas such as the Arts, Humanities and Medicine, which we currently don't cater for as extensively as other institutions.

Rest assured our placement year and a degree from our triple accredited business school, will leave you more than prepared to enter the graduate employment market.

If you have any more questions about Aston, Birmingham or student life in general. I would be more than happy to help.

Josh :smile:
Reply 3
Original post by ByEeek
When it comes to social life, small is beautiful. There are only around 4000 people on campus at any one time, but chances are you will know most of them by the end of your first year. Aston is an exceedingly social place mainly because so many people live and study on the same tiny campus. You can't help but bump into people left right and centre and of course you are right in the heart of Birmingham so it isn't as if you are short of somewhere to go.

The only downside to Aston is if you want to continue hobbies and passions. There are a great many clubs and societies but due to the small intake, the standards tend to be a bit lower. As a result, I continued my music at Warwick University. That said, where clubs fall down on ability, they more than make up for it in friendliness and I found my now long lived passion for climbing and mountaineering at Aston.

Compared to the vastness of campuses like Manchester and Liverpool (places I am now very familiar), give me the friendly close nit community of Aston any day.

Oh - and you are right - the courses are highly regarded at Aston and the ease of having a sandwich year (whether you applied for it or not) in your degree is a must for any ambitious person.

Good luck!

Thanks for the reply, however I have 2 issues:

1) First year is in the centre of Birmingham, but the other years when you move out house it most certainly won't be in the centre, therefore a lot of travelling? I'm not too keen on extensive travelling and stuff. I know it's cheaper up north but what are rent prices like in Birmingham?

2) My friend goes there and he said the uni is great but as he put it it's not a 'popping' uni like say Manchester would be, he said even though nightlife is great the flat parties are pretty dead, and I've seen that there's more males than females at Aston, which is unusual ...
Reply 4
Original post by Aston University
Hi,

Thanks for applying to us and congratulations on your offer. While i'm not going to argue with the card hold statistics in the high fliers report, what i will say is we have strong relationships with a number of these companies. Both for placements and graduate employers. Year on year our graduates will go onto work with: Accenture, Airbus, BAE Systems, Deloitte, Detsche Bank, HSBC, IBM, J.P Morgan, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls Royce, Unilever and many more.

The reason why we may not rank in the 25 is due to the narrow focus of our courses, graduate destinations at places such as the BBC and Channel Four may be limited as we don't offer any media related courses, along with many other jobs in these existing companies which are focused on subject areas such as the Arts, Humanities and Medicine, which we currently don't cater for as extensively as other institutions.

Rest assured our placement year and a degree from our triple accredited business school, will leave you more than prepared to enter the graduate employment market.

If you have any more questions about Aston, Birmingham or student life in general. I would be more than happy to help.

Josh :smile:


I see, that explains it, I'd still expect it to make the top 25 from all the recommendations and good things that I've heard employability wise though.

I'm going to a subject specific open day on the 10th of February and I should have a much better opinion on Aston and better idea on what to do after that, but could you also answer the 2 questions in my above post please?
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by SlimShady96
Thanks for the reply, however I have 2 issues:

1) First year is in the centre of Birmingham, but the other years when you move out house it most certainly won't be in the centre, therefore a lot of travelling? I'm not too keen on extensive travelling and stuff. I know it's cheaper up north but what are rent prices like in Birmingham?

2) My friend goes there and he said the uni is great but as he put it it's not a 'popping' uni like say Manchester would be, he said even though nightlife is great the flat parties are pretty dead, and I've seen that there's more males than females at Aston, which is unusual ...


In response to point 1 - true, you live out of town a bit. I got around this problem by cycling in. But then real life is generally about living out of town. It is the way it goes.

As for point 2 - you are going to spend in excess of £30k on a degree and you are more concerned about the quality of flat parties? I think your priorities are a little twisted. And for your info - students are being banned from uni for attending house parties in Manchester. It is one thing to have a few mates over. It is quite another for 1000+ people to turn up to a small terrace house in a residential street. But if destroying the lives of the poor sods that live on the same streets as students is your thing, then forget Aston. Civilised people only need apply.
Original post by SlimShady96
I see, that explains it, I'd still expect it to make the top 25 from all the recommendations and good things I've heard though.

I'm going to a subject specific open day on the 10th of February and I should have a much better opinion Aston and idea on to do after that, but could you also answer the 2 questions in my above post please?


Sure thing, glad you're coming to look around. Our fantastic Open Days staff should welcome you with open arms. In regards to your other questions:

1) There is always the option to live on campus for the entirety of your degree requiring you're fastidious and get your application in really early, there is always space for a number of returning students. Additionally, if you have your heart set on a house share. Aston Brook Green owned by our students' union may be a good option, it's within walking distance and you get an actual house, rather than a flat. Rent varies from place to place, student pad is a useful resource for gauging local prices.

2) I personally think your social life at university is what you make of it. During my time at Aston i attended some pretty lively house / flat parties. Your friend may just not have made friends with the right social group or the sort of group you want to make friends with. Other than that, like your friend the nightlife is fantastic living in a major city; bars, clubs, restaurants, live music. Whatever floats your boat. I'm a Birmingham local, so if you want to know more about the city, just give me a shout. I know more about it's ins and outs than "spaghetti junction and bad accents." :wink:

Josh
Reply 7
Original post by ByEeek
In response to point 1 - true, you live out of town a bit. I got around this problem by cycling in. But then real life is generally about living out of town. It is the way it goes.

As for point 2 - you are going to spend in excess of £30k on a degree and you are more concerned about the quality of flat parties? I think your priorities are a little twisted. And for your info - students are being banned from uni for attending house parties in Manchester. It is one thing to have a few mates over. It is quite another for 1000+ people to turn up to a small terrace house in a residential street. But if destroying the lives of the poor sods that live on the same streets as students is your thing, then forget Aston. Civilised people only need apply.

Of course the degree is the most important, but I have offers from unis on a similar level to Aston, therefore my decision has to come down to other factors such as social life which is also important to me because I want to make the most of uni in every way.

I want to find people 'on my level' if you get what I mean and there is more chance of that at a bigger university, I like the look of Aston and right now it's between Aston and Sheffield for me.
Sheffield and Liverpool are on a completely different level in terms of general reputation.
Reply 9
Original post by Terminator01
Sheffield and Liverpool are on a completely different level in terms of general reputation.


If I'm doing an business course what's more important the reputation of the business school or the university?

The course at Sheffield will be taught in departments not the management school.
Original post by SlimShady96
If I'm doing an business course what's more important the reputation of the business school or the university?

The course at Sheffield will be taught in departments not the management school.


Agree with the poster. Sheffield and Liverpool will stand out more on your CV. Overall reputation wins always in my opinion. Where the course is being taught is irrelevant. I would firm Sheffield and put Liverpool as my insurance.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 11
I'm in a similar situation to the original poster, just wondering what your reasons are for the degree standing out better if it was from Liverpool rather than Aston? Just because Liverpool isn't well known for Business and is lower in the league tables both in general and for the subject.
Original post by Help97
I'm in a similar situation to the original poster, just wondering what your reasons are for the degree standing out better if it was from Liverpool rather than Aston? Just because Liverpool isn't well known for Business and is lower in the league tables both in general and for the subject.

What courses have you got offers for? I still can't decide, got open day at Aston next week, I really like the look of it and can see myself there, the only thing with Aston is that it's not that famous, my teachers haven't heard of it and they would say things like who has come out of Aston?(famous)

In that sense Sheffield and Liverpool have more pedigree, but I now think to myself, is it really that important..
Reply 13
Original post by SlimShady96
What courses have you got offers for? I still can't decide, got open day at Aston next week, I really like the look of it and can see myself there, the only thing with Aston is that it's not that famous, my teachers haven't heard of it and they would say things like who has come out of Aston?(famous)

In that sense Sheffield and Liverpool have more pedigree, but I now think to myself, is it really that important..


Business and Politics as joint honours, I can't decide as I actually really liked Aston when I looked around on the open day and it has the placement year but it's obviously a lot newer and smaller. I'm also starting to think that the only advantage Liverpool has is that it's well known, as it doesn't do well in the rankings and isn't known for its Business/Management School at all..

Very confused at the moment and I actually have to accept my offer and apply for accommodation in the next week or so as I'm out of the country for 3 months :frown:
Original post by Help97
Business and Politics as joint honours, I can't decide as I actually really liked Aston when I looked around on the open day and it has the placement year but it's obviously a lot newer and smaller. I'm also starting to think that the only advantage Liverpool has is that it's well known, as it doesn't do well in the rankings and isn't known for its Business/Management School at all..

Very confused at the moment and I actually have to accept my offer and apply for accommodation in the next week or so as I'm out of the country for 3 months :frown:
Well for me prestige isn't THAT big a factor, they are both on a similar level, the only reason I'm having second thoughts about Aston is that it's small and my friend said it isn't as popping as Liverpool would be, but I haven't been to either and I'm just going to decide on the one where I believe I'll be happiest at

Also on the placement year I can go work in the U.S. for a year, don't know if that's possible at Liverpool
was exactly in the same position as you, I put Sheffield as my firm choice then Aston. I heard sheffield was decent however when went to visit, the town was not as nice as birmingham tbh. Bham is a lot nicer and has so much more to offer.. it is quite big. After thinking for weeks I changed my firm choice to Aston. Bham is a good night out tbf, you've got a little bit of everything. One other thing that made me change my mind is the social life as well, sheffield isn't that lively and the only thing i liked about liverpool is their accommodation.
Original post by klncjndkbvjnef
was exactly in the same position as you, I put Sheffield as my firm choice then Aston. I heard sheffield was decent however when went to visit, the town was not as nice as birmingham tbh. Bham is a lot nicer and has so much more to offer.. it is quite big. After thinking for weeks I changed my firm choice to Aston. Bham is a good night out tbf, you've got a little bit of everything. One other thing that made me change my mind is the social life as well, sheffield isn't that lively and the only thing i liked about liverpool is their accommodation.
From what I've seen in YouTube Sheffield is quite live for nights out, type in Sheffield parties, yeah Liverpools accommodation looks great whilst Astons looks decent but it only seems to have a kitchen and no living room area just to chill and watch TV with everyone, and Sheffield accommodation has all that but it's far away from the uni which means at least a 20 minute walk and I'm fed up of walking, so Astons small and compact campus is a bonus really
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by SlimShady96
I have an offer from Aston for international business and economics, however I have offers from reading, Sheffield and Liverpool too.

Everywhere I look Aston is very highly rated for business related courses, but I would prefer a bigger university for the social life so I'd have to compromise that for the opportunities that Aston supposedly provides.

My problem is that that after reading the High Fliers report, and seeing that Aston isn't even in the top 25 most targeted universities, how is it so highly reputed?

http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2015/graduate_market/GMReport15.pdf

So why is this? If Aston is so good then why isn't it targeted by the top employers?

The thing with aston is, locally,people think it is one of the best business schools. But outside of birmingham /west midlands it is nowhere compared to the likes of sheffield and liverpool. Ur better off going to a better university considering ur gonna be in 21+ debt after you finish.

Plus, A 1st from liverpool or sheffield with relevant skills and experience will look better than a 1st from astom with relevant skils amd experience.
From what i here things are getting quite competetive, so its better to stand out if im honest as much as you can.
This is nonsense! Aston is a top Uni, end of story. Sheffield and Liverpool are not comparable for business (any many other subjects). Open your mind....it's not all about gigantic, monolithic unis!!!
Reply 19
Speaking from my experience in the subject of business management, Aston is a decent university but definitely not a top university. HR won’t go ‘wow’, likewise for liverpool and sheffield. Only the top 50 universities in the world will catch the eyes of the HR, example G5, warwick and Manchester. If you are to choose Aston, why not go for Birmingham? It has got a higher overall reputation and its business school is decent as well.

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