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Did you intentionally choose RG unis?

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Original post by Hedgehog1999
Putting a dampner on this thread - more and more major employers are removing university names from job applications to mitigate against bias and increase social mobility! Sorry folks but it is becoming less and less relevant in the real world of work if you went to a RG uni or not....


surely this cant be right, doesnt really seem fair that someone who's worked really hard, got great A-levels and managed to get into oxbridge for example and then manages to achieve a 2:1 is treated the same as someone who pissed about got C's in his a levels and scraped a 2:1 at some crappy local ex-polytechnic

surely this would only lead to firms shooting themselves in the foot by hiring less able/motivated graduates, cant really see how this makes any sense to anyone

and if it is true why the f*** am i revising for my a-levels/ going through the stress of applying to good uni's
(edited 7 years ago)
I chose the best universities that offered the course I wanted to do, which was a combined honours degree (in 2012/13, where it was much less common!) I applied for Oxford, Durham, Exeter, Birmingham and Newcastle. Which 'group' they were in didn't really affect my decision, but their general reputation was important.
Original post by Dynamic_Vicz
Well done! This should've been me when I was in year 11 :redface:


Thank you and are you a uni student now?
Original post by Strimpy
surely this cant be right, doesnt really seem fair that someone who's worked really hard, got great A-levels and managed to get into oxbridge for example and then manages to achieve a 2:1 is treated the same as someone who pissed about got C's in his a levels and scraped a 2:1 at some crappy local ex-polytechnic

surely this would only lead to firms shooting themselves in the foot by hiring less able/motivated graduates, cant really see how this makes any sense to anyone

and if it is true why the f*** am i revising for my a-levels/ going through the stress of applying to good uni's


You are going to a "good" university because you already checked it has the best course for you.

If you are good enough to get into a "good" university then you already have an advantage. You will then have spent your time at that "good" university making the most of the opportunities it offers you, through the course and extra-curricular. Those opportunities should enable you to present yourself as a highly skilled and employable candidate.

The particular name of that university is (or should be) irrelevant to a recruiter.

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Original post by IKEAPanda37
Only 2 (Cardiff and Newcastle), other 3 are Swansea, Leicester and UEA.

Because my choices of uni for translation are very limited, my decisions were all about the course; whether their Russell Group or not is irrelevant. I did look at Birmingham and Nottingham but they weren't anything special so I didn't apply
Oh cool. For which course?
Original post by ShiawaseNekox3
Thank you and are you a uni student now?

Haha :biggrin: no. I'm in year 13.
Original post by Dynamic_Vicz
Haha :biggrin: no. I'm in year 13.


Oh wow :smile: that's cool, what subjects are you doing? I'm planning to take Physics, Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry (which will probably be a mountain of workload :frown: )
Original post by jneill
You are going to a "good" university because you already checked it has the best course for you.

If you are good enough to get into a "good" university then you already have an advantage. You will then have spent your time at that "good" university making the most of the opportunities it offers you, through the course and extra-curricular. Those opportunities should enable you to present yourself as a highly skilled and employable candidate.

The particular name of that university is (or should be) irrelevant to a recruiter.

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Except within IB and PE roles. They have a very archaic and primitive approach when it comes to recruiting for intern and grad positions.

RG = Good
Anything else = Bad


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Original post by nemanuel96
I had turned down a £15k scholarship to get into an RG uni. Lol.


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Any regrets?
Original post by Dynamic_Vicz
Oh cool. For which course?


French, Beginners Spanish and Translation and Interpreting (only Translation at Cardiff)
Original post by ShiawaseNekox3
Oh wow :smile: that's cool, what subjects are you doing? I'm planning to take Physics, Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry (which will probably be a mountain of workload :frown: )
At AS I took examinations in the subjects you are thinking of doing. For A2 I'm studying for examinations in Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry.
Original post by nemanuel96
Except within IB and PE roles. They have a very archaic and primitive approach when it comes to recruiting for intern and grad positions.

RG = Good
Anything else = Bad


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I would say even most RG are bad for IB, you have a good shot if you are at top 6ish so the likes of Oxf, Cam, Imp, UCL, War ,LSE
Original post by Dynamic_Vicz
Any regrets?


It was a tough decision but it was one that I knew I had to do.
I'm not sure what it is that I want to do, whether it be going into IB, further academia or a completely different career path altogether (Law); so it was best to give myself all the possible options available by going to a great uni.


The uni was UEA btw. That's not to say that it is not a good uni but recruiters don't recognise it as much as e.g. Oxbridge, Durham, St. Andrews etc


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Original post by samendrag
I would say even most RG are bad for IB, you have a good shot if you are at top 6ish so the likes of Oxf, Cam, Imp, UCL, War ,LSE


Nottingham, Durham, St. Andrews, Exeter, Manchester can all land you in IB too.

(Special mention: CASS Business School. Not RG but really good.)


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Original post by nemanuel96
It was a tough decision but it was one that I knew I had to do.
I'm not sure what it is that I want to do, whether it be going into IB, further academia or a completely different career path altogether (Law); so it was best to give myself all the possible options available by going to a great uni.


The uni was UEA btw. That's not to say that it is not a good uni but recruiters don't recognise it as much as e.g. Oxbridge, Durham, St. Andrews etc


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Oh all right. If I was in that situation I believe I would've chosen the same decision as you. Do you mind telling the RG you enrolled into?
Original post by nemanuel96
Nottingham, Durham, St. Andrews, Exeter, Manchester can all land you in IB too.

(Special mention: CASS Business School. Not RG but really good.)


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Yea sorry forgot about CASS, yea im sure you could get in with all those uni's aswell but I think the majority comes from the top 6, correct me if im wrong.
Original post by Dynamic_Vicz
Oh all right. If I was in that situation I believe I would've chosen the same decision as you. Do you mind telling the RG you enrolled into?


I haven't enrolled.

The RG uni asked me to send my certificates but it got lost so they rejected me 3 days later. So here I am on my second gap year reapplying.


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I applied to high end RG unis last year and ended up turning them all down for Royal Holloway because none of them did my joint honours course and I didn't want to do straight psychology for the sake of reputation/research. Seems to have been a good decision so far! Some people might think it was stupid but it's a matter of which course you'll enjoy most as you are bound to apply yourself more :smile:
Original post by samendrag
Yea sorry forgot about CASS, yea im sure you could get in with all those uni's aswell but I think the majority comes from the top 6, correct me if im wrong.


You're not wrong. Those are top universities but we shouldn't disregard these universities too. I know of someone who had studied at Oxford, rejected by every other bank/consultancy apart from Lazard.

There's so much more to it than the name of your uni but yeah I think LSE have a huge advantage over others in terms of securing internships. I'll drop a link to show the stats.


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Original post by nemanuel96
You're not wrong. Those are top universities but we shouldn't disregard these universities too. I know of someone who had studied at Oxford, rejected by every other bank/consultancy apart from Lazard.

There's so much more to it than the name of your uni but yeah I think LSE have a huge advantage over others in terms of securing internships. I'll drop a link to show the stats.


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Of course you uni choice doesnt decide everything, you have to get internships, show interest, build a CV, get the grades etc.. but I think its a good start for shortlisting

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