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Newcastle vs Manchester

Hey guys,

I've received offers from both universities (for chemical engineering) but I am stuck between which one to choose. I have heard from a lot of people that Manchester has a better reputation internationally, but I'm not sure how important that is considering I am not exactly fond of the idea of working in another country. I also know that both have very good industrial links so would I really be at a disadvantage in terms of employability if I go to one rather than the other?

Newcastle is also cheaper, especially for accommodation and I wouldn't have to travel to the Uni, unlike Manchester as I would most likely live in the Fallowfield area. However, Manchester seems to have a better music life than Newcastle, and I love going to gigs..

So I'm kinda stuck, any help will be appreciated :tongue:
(edited 8 years ago)
*From what Norwegians and Aberdonians have told me that is. Was equally impressed by Newcs. open day presentation, really good credentials.
Reply 2
Original post by RME11
If you are looking to get into oil & gas or leaning more towards process engineering post-degree Newcastle is better, really good reputation with Norwegian's and Aberdeen from what they've told me.


I'm not particularly sure what I would like to go into post-degree but would I still be in a good position if I was considering pharmaceuticals or nuclear?
Not sure at all, looking at Mancs. syllabus it looks less chemistry intensive than Newcastle - so maybe that's something to consider? Newc. has a livelier nightlife scene but Manc. has a better music scene and is bigger with more stuff to do. I also think Geordies are friendlier than Mancs, I'd also say it is safer city but that's probably due to it's size difference.
Reply 4
Original post by RME11
Not sure at all, looking at Mancs. syllabus it looks less chemistry intensive than Newcastle - so maybe that's something to consider? Newc. has a livelier nightlife scene but Manc. has a better music scene and is bigger with more stuff to do. I also think Geordies are friendlier than Mancs, I'd also say it is safer city but that's probably due to it's size difference.


I ended up firming newcastle haha :tongue: thanks for the help!
I'm sure you won't regret it, both excellent universities nonetheless.
Original post by RME11
*From what Norwegians and Aberdonians have told me that is. Was equally impressed by Newcs. open day presentation, really good credentials.


Manchester absolutely destroys Newcastle with respect to oil and gas.
The dedicated petroleum engineering course (run by school of chemical engineering), has ridiculous links to industry which obviously spill over to the chemeng course.

WRT "aberdonians and Norwigeians", Manchester has one of if not the most active SPE and AAPG student chapters outside London. With the society being invited to Shells facilities in Aberdeen (this has since been put onto the PetE course) as well as annually to Copenhagen for the ATC.

With access to ex VPs from the likes of shell and visiting lecturers from Aberdeens leading drilling companies, there is really no comparison in this regard.

OT: Manchester is far and away better than Newcastle for Chemical Engineering easily one of the best departments in Europe, and the birthplace of the discipline. That being said you're hardly comparing oxbridge to NTU so go with which ever you will personally prefer.
Original post by Oilfreak1
Manchester absolutely destroys Newcastle with respect to oil and gas.
The dedicated petroleum engineering course (run by school of chemical engineering), has ridiculous links to industry which obviously spill over to the chemeng course.

WRT "aberdonians and Norwigeians", Manchester has one of if not the most active SPE and AAPG student chapters outside London. With the society being invited to Shells facilities in Aberdeen (this has since been put onto the PetE course) as well as annually to Copenhagen for the ATC.

With access to ex VPs from the likes of shell and visiting lecturers from Aberdeens leading drilling companies, there is really no comparison in this regard.

OT: Manchester is far and away better than Newcastle for Chemical Engineering easily one of the best departments in Europe, and the birthplace of the discipline. That being said you're hardly comparing oxbridge to NTU so go with which ever you will personally prefer.


Sounds very nice, maybe we should all go to Madchester eh
Original post by RME11
Sounds very nice, maybe we should all go to Madchester eh


Wouldn't recommend either Manchester or Newcastle for oil and gas, Manchester (alongside RHUL) are just the only solid options after Heriot-watt(pet eng), Aberdeen (Pet eng) and Imperial (Pet Geosci).

And for Chemical Engineering i'd say Camb>ICL>UCL*>Manch/Bath/Notts*>>>>>>>>>>>>Newcastle and others.

ChemEng departments with good oil and gas links
ICL>Manchester>Bath/UCL etc.

If you're deadset on being a reservoir engineer though you should probably do peteng.

*if you want to ever go into banking these 2 are great. If you have no interest in finance forget these 2.
Original post by Oilfreak1
Wouldn't recommend either Manchester or Newcastle for oil and gas, Manchester (alongside RHUL) are just the only solid options after Heriot-watt(pet eng), Aberdeen (Pet eng) and Imperial (Pet Geosci).

And for Chemical Engineering i'd say Camb>ICL>UCL*>Manch/Bath/Notts*>>>>>>>>>>>>Newcastle and others.

ChemEng departments with good oil and gas links
ICL>Manchester>Bath/UCL etc.

If you're deadset on being a reservoir engineer though you should probably do peteng.

*if you want to ever go into banking these 2 are great. If you have no interest in finance forget these 2.


Or you could do your bachelors in chem eng at Newcastle (And be able to go into many more fields than just being able to go into oil and gas like if you had a B.Eng in petrol eng.) and get your Masters in petroleum from one of these all singing all dancing universities if you wanted to do so :hmmmm2:

I'm a mechanical engineer who's actually worked in oil and gas both on and offshore, let there be no mistake that outside of the office roles in engineering - nobody really cares where your degree is from, if you need the degree to do the job and you have it in hand all that matters is that you are a hard worker & show great aptitude and you'll go very far. Smartarse know-it-alls who think that their Russell group degree has made them some kind of messiah are off the job just as fast as they come.
Original post by RME11
Or you could do your bachelors in chem eng at Newcastle (And be able to go into many more fields than just being able to go into oil and gas like if you had a B.Eng in petrol eng.) and get your Masters in petroleum from one of these all singing all dancing universities if you wanted to do so :hmmmm2:

I'm a mechanical engineer who's actually worked in oil and gas both on and offshore, let there be no mistake that outside of the office roles in engineering - nobody really cares where your degree is from, if you need the degree to do the job and you have it in hand all that matters is that you are a hard worker & show great aptitude and you'll go very far. Smartarse know-it-alls who think that their Russell group degree has made them some kind of messiah are off the job just as fast as they come.


I agree that nobody cares once you're in but the links in Manchester/RGU (not even a russel group) far outweigh those in Newcastle that's indisputable.

With that being said the industrial links of Imperial, Camb, HW and Aberdeen FAR exceed those of Manchester (Newcastle is pretty much irrelevant at this point).

And yes people do normally do a broader undergrad and then do a masters at a more prestigious uni in petroleum, but it's pretty ridiculous to choose Newcastle over Manchester for Chemical Engineering and cite petroleum links as a reason to do so. (You're literally comparing one of the countries best ChemEng departments to one of the most mediocre departments in the country, and then spouting nonsense about O&G links, for Chemical Engineering; Manchester wins all the time.)

Also find it funny how you've metamorphosed from a prospective student, who is actively seeking advice for A-levels on this forum to an experienced engineer in the space of an hour - the magic of TSR I guess.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Oilfreak1
I agree that nobody cares once you're in but the links in Manchester/RGU (not even a russel group) far outweigh those in Newcastle that's indisputable.

With that being said the industrial links of Imperial, Camb, HW and Aberdeen FAR exceed those of Manchester (Newcastle is pretty much irrelevant at this point).

And yes people do normally do a broader undergrad and then do a masters at a more prestigious uni in petroleum, but it's pretty ridiculous to choose Newcastle over Manchester for Chemical Engineering and cite petroleum links as a reason to do so.

Also find it funny how you've metamorphosed from a prospective student, who is actively seeking advice for A-levels on this forum to an experienced engineer in the space of an hour - the magic of TSR I guess.


Maybe you should have actually read my post explaining I'm a qualified mechanical engineer in Oil & Gas as well as ex-merchant navy. I'm one of those rare cats who actually has work experience in the field I'm intending to advance in via higher education. What's your credentials then "Oil freak"?
Original post by RME11
Maybe you should have actually read my post explaining I'm a qualified mechanical engineer in Oil & Gas as well as ex-merchant navy. I'm one of those rare cats who actually has work experience in the field I'm intending to advance in via higher education. What's your credentials then "Oil freak"?


Lol, you need to redo A-levels and then a 3 year bachelors to retrain? yeah not a qualified engineer in my books.

I did a 3 year BEng in PetE in Manchester (see my post history to see me advising against this course).

During uni I Interned for 3 months at SLB (and still enjoy good relationships with the company), represented the Uni at Copenhagen (and still enjoy good relationships with the individuals I met) , was invited to visit BP's IST division - a visit which ultimately lead to a job offer and liaised with industry leaders to arrange visiting lectures.

I am currently working in a grey area between Management - Finance in a little known national health provider (and earning circa 30k on a gap year), but as I said this is just a gap year (don't enjoy the job, no progression opportunities).

I've been accepted to Imperial's MSc in Metals and Energy Finance which i'll be starting in October and am currently trying to secure a paid internship at Merrill Lynch/Goldman Sachs/JPM - granted i'm not putting a lot of effort into this as I need my job to pay for my Masters (subconsciously sabotaging myself).

While I agree I am more suited to a career in finance hence the Masters choice and current job. I have also been exposed to (both sides) of the petroleum industry being taught by execs from Shell and BP, holding internships with another multinational and networking with an innumerable number of petroleum professionals for long enough to know that Newcastle does not compare at all to Manchester for Chemical Engineering and certainly doesn't compare with Manchester in terms of oil and gas links, its simply disingenuous to say it does.
Original post by Oilfreak1
Lol, you need to redo A-levels and then a 3 year bachelors to retrain? yeah not a qualified engineer in my books.

I did a 3 year BEng in PetE in Manchester (see my post history to see me advising against this course).

During uni I Interned for 3 months at SLB (and still enjoy good relationships with the company), represented the Uni at Copenhagen (and still enjoy good relationships with the individuals I met) , was invited to visit BP's IST division - a visit which ultimately lead to a job offer and liaised with industry leaders to arrange visiting lectures.

I am currently working in a grey area between Management - Finance in a little known national health provider (and earning circa 30k on a gap year), but as I said this is just a gap year (don't enjoy the job, no progression opportunities).

I've been accepted to Imperial's MSc in Metals and Energy Finance which i'll be starting in October and am currently trying to secure a paid internship at Merrill Lynch/Goldman Sachs/JPM - granted i'm not putting a lot of effort into this as I need my job to pay for my Masters (subconsciously sabotaging myself).

While I agree I am more suited to a career in finance hence the Masters choice and current job. I have also been exposed to (both sides) of the petroleum industry being taught by execs from Shell and BP, holding internships with another multinational and networking with an innumerable number of petroleum professionals for long enough to know that Newcastle does not compare at all to Manchester for Chemical Engineering and certainly doesn't compare with Manchester in terms of oil and gas links, its simply disingenuous to say it does.


Once again your lack of reading comprehension shines through. I need to do a single A level in Chemistry to get on a B.Eng in chemical engineering, there is a large difference between a mechanical engineer and a chemical engineer.

So no substantial experience in oil and gas other than a 3 month internship? Cool.

3a7.jpg
Original post by RME11
Once again your lack of reading comprehension shines through. I need to do a single A level in Chemistry to get on a B.Eng in chemical engineering, there is a large difference between a mechanical engineer and a chemical engineer.

So no substantial experience in oil and gas other than a 3 month internship? Cool.

3a7.jpg


Yeah despite continuous contact (outside of academia) to: chief reservoir engineer of BG group, head of operations at BPs IST division, Head of recruitment at SLB, senior reservoir engineer at gazprom - to name a few totally discard my opinion because you were a pretend engineer and probably spoke to all but 2 people involved in the hiring process of graduates. Whereas for 3 years it was pretty much my full time job to liaise with recruiters.

Add to this that you're literally the only person I've met (and probably the only one on these forums) to place Newcastle ChemEng links with petroleum on the same level as Manchester's ChemEng shows how truly clueless you are on the matter.

If i wanted to retrain as a MechEng I would have to do a Masters and a few supplementary courses not A levels + a 3 year long bachelors, in addition to this on the weight of my degree I was easily able to secure a high paying job (for someone with 0 experience) and have never been out of work despite a "downturn in oil prices". You're as much of an engineer as the guy who comes to sort out the boiler (real engineers have transferable skills that are desirable across multiple industries), and are as clueless as any other a-level student to graduate recruitment.

Would like to reiterate though both are pretty mediocre universities overall (so between the 2 of these it should be preference), Manchester is just in a completely different league when it comes to links with the petroleum industry and the ChemE department.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by RME11
"You're as much of an engineer as the guy who comes to sort out the boiler" - I would say typical freshly graduated in-the-office engineer attitude towards experienced field engineers with hands on experience but you couldn't even get a job.

Lipton_Kermit-630x422.png

It's time to stop posting.


Except I do have a job, while you're studying your a-levels :banana2:and had offers to work at BP (reading comprehension?).

Why am I not working at BP? I want to try and break into IB, an industry infinitely more competitive than the oil and gas industry. Should I fail this I don't see myself having any issues entering the oil and gas industry (even in todays climate), considering my past experience, and the fact that I will have went to 2 of the most highly regarded universities in the uk for petroleum. (seriously its a solid plan B, i'll consider it a failure to end up a graduate reservoir engineer, i'll effectively be settling for second best.).

Had you been an actual field engineer who had gone through the graduate recruitment process and then got experience i'd consider you a peer/someone with something to contribute.

You have absolutely no experience wrt the graduate recruitment process and have clearly displayed that fact, that's why you're being treated as simply another a-level student (which you are).
(edited 8 years ago)
Let's ignore the dick measuring contest above and focus on the important factors in your decision....

It rains less in Newcastle and we have more Greggs per capita.
Original post by Oilfreak1
Except I do have a job and had offers to work at BP (reading comprehension?).

Why am I not working at BP? I want to try and break into IB, an industry infinitely more competitive than the oil and gas industry.

Had you been an actual field engineer who had gone through the graduate recruitment process and then got experience i'd consider you a peer/someone with something to contribute.

You have absolutely no experience wrt the graduate recruitment process and have clearly displayed that fact, that's why you're being treated as simply another a-level student (which you are).


Yeah but you don't work for BP? I could say I *could* work for X and Y but I don't because I don't. You work In a totally related role to what you trained for... In a totally different industry to what you are talking about.

You are no better than somebody with a degree in dance studies who claims they *could* work at the Bolshoi yet works as a assistant manager at new look :curious:
Original post by RME11
Yeah but you don't work for BP? I could say I *could* work for X and Y but I don't because I don't. You work In a totally related role to what you trained for... In a totally different industry to what you are talking about.

You are no better than somebody with a degree in dance studies who claims they *could* work at the Bolshoi yet works as a assistant manager at new look :curious:


I'm sure you could had you actually held an offer for a role (you don't, you're studying A-Levels), as could the individual in dance studies if they actually held the offer. I didn't fail become unemployed and claim to be able to work there if life was fair, I received an offer - wanted to try for another role. Got an alternative job (that was as if not more competitive to secure) more relevant to this role and less restrictive to my leaving (temporary contract though they're trying to force a permanent contract on me), got accepted to one of the best unis in the world. And would consider it a failure to become a reservoir engineer.

It was in essence an incredibly productive gap year which was necessary as the course I wanted would only hand out offers to candidates who already hold a degree. Learned a lot from my job - btw being in charge of multiple departments, attending meetings on the implementation of a multi-million pound budget, helping with financial risk analyses is not equivalent to a New-look assistant manager, my pay is not reflective of this either. And I can't wait to tackle my Masters at Imperial.

Not necessarily a totally different industry, and if we're comparing IB to reservoir engineering then the latter would most certainly be the New Look in your analogy. The reasoning for my shift is being approached by an associate in energy project finance who thought i'd enjoy the fiscal side of the industry more (he was right), In the likely event that I fail in my pursuit of IB i'll go into reservoir engineering (hence me going to ICL instead of LSE). So by the time you graduate I'll be:

A) a successful investment banker/financial professional in Reserves Based Markets.
B) a reservoir engineer with 3 years experience while you're applying for grad schemes
C) Homeless addicted to crack
D) Dead
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Oilfreak1
I'm sure you could had you actually held an offer for a role (you don't, you're studying A-Levels), as could the individual in dance studies if they actually held the offer. I didn't fail become unemployed and claim to be able to work there if life was fair, I received an offer - wanted to try for another role. Got an alternative job (that was as if not more competitive to secure) more relevant to this role and less restrictive to my leaving (temporary contract though they're trying to force a permanent contract on me), got accepted to one of the best unis in the world. And would consider it a failure to become a reservoir engineer.

It was in essence an incredibly productive gap year which was necessary as the course I wanted would only hand out offers to candidates who already hold a degree. Learned a lot from my job - btw being in charge of multiple departments, attending meetings on the implementation of a multi-million pound budget, helping with financial risk analyses is not equivalent to a New-look assistant manager, my pay is not reflective of this either. And I can't wait to tackle my Masters at Imperial.

Not necessarily a totally different industry, and if we're comparing IB to reservoir engineering then the latter would most certainly be the New Look in your analogy. The reasoning for my shift is being approached by an associate in energy project finance who thought i'd enjoy the fiscal side of the industry more (he was right), In the likely event that I fail in my pursuit of IB i'll go into reservoir engineering (hence me going to ICL instead of LSE). So by the time you graduate I'll be:

A) a successful investment banker/financial professional in Reserves Based Markets.
B) a reservoir engineer with 3 years experience while you're applying for grad schemes
C) Homeless addicted to crack
D) Dead


Wow very nice, I hope it's not the last option :innocent:

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