The Student Room Group

2017 Russel Group 3-Tier Rankings

This is by no means official or published, but these tiers have been made by many UCAS Supervisors in various schools and colleges, including mine and 9 other schools/colleges within North London.

What are your thoughts?

Tier 1
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
London School of Economics and Political Science
Imperial College London
University College London
Kings College London

Tier 2
University of Bristol
University of Warwick
University of Durham
University of Exeter
University of Southampton
University of Nottingham
University of Birmingham
University of Manchester
University of Edinburgh
University of Leeds
University of Glasgow
Queen Mary University of London

Tier 3
University of Cardiff
University of Newcastle
University of Sheffield
Queen's Belfast University
University of Liverpool
University of York

Universities that UCAS Supervisors believe should be in the Russel Group:
-University of Surrey
-St. Andrews University
-University of Bath
-University of Loughborough
-University of Lancaster
(edited 6 years ago)
Looks good to me-I agree on the unis that should go into RG, what tier do you think they'd be in if they did-I'd say st Andrews+bath either 1 or 2 idk enough about the others to say
What's the point of a ranking list of RG universities? The name itself already means nothing.
Original post by Zino98
This is by no means official or published, but these tiers have been made by many UCAS Supervisors in various schools and colleges, including mine and 9 other schools/colleges within North London.

What are your thoughts?

Tier 1
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
London School of Economics and Political Science
Imperial College London
University College London
Kings College London

Tier 2
University of Bristol
University of Warwick
University of Durham
University of Exeter
University of Southampton
University of Nottingham
University of Birmingham
University of Manchester
University of Edinburgh
University of Leeds
University of Glasgow
Queen Mary University of London

Tier 3
University of Cardiff
University of Newcastle
University of Sheffield
Queen's Belfast University
University of Liverpool
University of York

Universities that UCAS Supervisors believe should be in the Russel Group:
-University of Surrey
-St. Andrews University
-University of Bath
-University of Loughborough
-University of Lancaster


imo KCL isn't really a tier up from quite a few of the ones in tier 2, but that's coming from a STEM perspective
Original post by 0xFFFFail
What's the point of a ranking list of RG universities? The name itself already means nothing.


I agree the name doesn't necessarily mean better than non RG but it can look better for some employers in some fields.
What the heck is KCL doing in top tier?
Original post by Dwarf-Shortage
I agree the name doesn't necessarily mean better than non RG but it can look better for some employers in some fields.


This is true, so rather than ranking RG universities by whatever arbitrary measurement was used for this list would employer bias be the only really relevant one?
Original post by 0xFFFFail
This is true, so rather than ranking RG universities by whatever arbitrary measurement was used for this list would employer bias be the only really relevant one?


Difficult to say, the universities in the RG are on average better than non RG but not because they're in RG it's because they were well established and funded and were good universities before joining RG-targeted to join it, this led to employer bias which then lead to RG being further worshipped which leads to higher entry standards and more funding etc-cycle repeats making the name RG sounds holy.
By Entry Standards

Tier 1 (592-537)
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
Imperial College London
London School of Economics and Political Science

Tier 2 (519-471)
University of Durham
University College London
University of Glasgow
University of Bristol
University of Edinburgh
University of Warwick
University of Exeter

Tier 3 (432-421)
Kings College London
University of Manchester
University of Leeds
University of Nottingham
University of Newcastle
University of York
University of Birmingham

Tier 4 (407-387)
University of Sheffield
University of Cardiff
Queen Mary University of London
University of Southampton
Queen's Belfast University
University of Liverpool


As for the non-RG universities you mentioned:
St. Andrews University (525) - Tier 2 (would be the highest but is closer to tier 2 than tier 1)
University of Bath (479) - Tier 2
University of Surrey (438) - Tier 3 (would be the highest but is closer to tier 3 than tier 2)
University of Lancaster (402) - Tier 4
University of Loughborough (400) - Tier 4
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 9
dont think KCL deserves to be in tier 1
Reply 10
Original post by XOR_
By Entry Standards

Tier 1 (592-537)
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
Imperial College London
London School of Economics and Political Science

Tier 2 (519-478)
University of Durham
University College London
University of Glasgow
University of Bristol
University of Edinburgh
University of Warwick
University of Exeter

Tier 3 (432-421)
Kings College London
University of Manchester
University of Leeds
University of Nottingham
University of Newcastle
University of York
University of Birmingham

Tier 4 (407-387)
University of Sheffield
University of Cardiff
Queen Mary University of London
University of Southampton
Queen's Belfast University
University of Liverpool


As for the non-RG universities you mentioned:
St. Andrews University (525) - Tier 2 (would be the highest but is closer to tier 2 than tier 1)
University of Bath (479) - Tier 2
University of Surrey (438) - Tier 3 (would be the highest but is closer to tier 3 than tier 2)
University of Lancaster (402) - Tier 4
University of Loughborough (400) - Tier 4


Interesting comparison in terms of entry standards - but I don't think University of Southampton or Queen Mary deserves to be in Tier 4?
And York seems to high...
It's interesting how much the university rankings are shifted each year
(edited 6 years ago)

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