Which university would you choose?

Hi everyone :smile:

I just have a small question. If you had offers to study mechanical engineering at Durham, Bristol or UCL...Which one would you be most tempted to choose?

I'm very interested to hear your opinions! thank you everyone who takes the time to post. ^_^

Reply 1

claireestelle

Original post by Froppy

Hi everyone :smile:

there's a fair few differences between those options, what is it you are looking for in a university?

Reply 2

Froppy

Original post by claireestelle

there's a fair few differences between those options, what is it you are looking for in a university?

Thanks for the quick reply! :biggrin:

Hmm... well i guess the location/setting isn't very important to me. I'm mostly interested in which would give me more job opportunities afterwards and looks the most impressive to employers.

Reply 3

Duncan2012

1. No difference.
2. Probably no difference.

FWIW I went to Durham and loved it. As above, it depends what you want out of the place.

Reply 4

eastendwannabe

If you only care about the reputation of the university, I would pick UCL, purely because it has a high status on a global scale and employers from everywhere regard it highly. That's not to say Durham and Bristol aren't as good, but they don't have the same prominence as UCL. Hope that helps!

Reply 5

Helloworld_95

Bristol, it's the one with the strongest engineering pedigree by a good margin.

Reply 6

Avaia

From the offers you gave, and on the sole basis of employment prospects after, I would say UCL

Reply 7

amystks

Original post by Froppy

Hi everyone :smile:

I think it would depend what specific modules you were looking for and who was going to teach them to you. Look at what each professor has got in terms of qualifications and then see if they teach what is right for you.
Alongside this, look and see if the place is right for you. If it isn't then don't apply there

Reply 8

engstu

Employment prospects after, won't make much difference as long as you do a placement year then that will give you a better chance of securing employment.

Tbh for mech Eng employers aren't really that bothered where u go, what they will look for is someone who is already good with the SOFTWARE e.g. matlab autocad etc as you will be using them alot.

Coventry uni has nowhere near the prestige of those unis you applied to but it has direct links to F1, Red Bull, Jaguar Land Rover etc. so for Mech eng I'd say the links matter more than prestige.

Ucl being in central london puts you closer for doing interviews etc but since most applications are done online, it won't make much difference in term of getting the interviews.

Have a look at the careers fairs and see whose there,

Durham was awarded Uni status at roughly same time as UCL, but has a history which predates it so is arguably more "elitist" and is seen as an oxbridge alternative. UCL has the London brand name. Tony blairs son went to bristol.

3 very different locations, so for me personally I'd pick Durham or Bristol as I don't like London. You might love london though and its international feel

Reply 9

engstu

Original post by Froppy

Hi everyone :smile:

Reply 10

Doones

Original post by Froppy

Hi everyone :smile:

Do you have said offers? Get the offers first :wink:

You have until May to decide. There. Is. No. Rush.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 11

Froppy

Original post by Doonesbury

Do you have said offers? Get the offers first :wink:

You have until May to decide. There. Is. No. Rush.

Posted from TSR Mobile

No, i don't have the offers yet :frown:

those were just a few of the universities which looked like they might be good and i also had the entry requirements for.

You're right though...it's quite a long way away >_< i'm probably stressing more than i need to!

Also thanks to everyone that replied to me question so far. You've given me lots of great info and advice! :smile:

Reply 12

Student-95

Original post by Froppy

Thanks for the quick reply! :biggrin:

Hmm... well i guess the location/setting isn't very important to me. I'm mostly interested in which would give me more job opportunities afterwards and looks the most impressive to employers.

Employers don't really care about where you went. As long as the course is accredited the content will be very similar anyway. Pick based on things like location, bursaries, social etc as they will actually make a difference.

If you want to be in a good position for employment then make you sure you get relevant work experience.

Reply 13

Helloworld_95

Original post by Student-95

Employers don't really care about where you went. As long as the course is accredited the content will be very similar anyway.

This is an absolute myth, the amount of content which contributes towards accreditation is a small fraction of the entire degree. Even for MEng programs where there are additional requirements such as the large group project, they will do these very differently. For example Imperial's Aero course does this through feasibility studies whereas Sheffield's is to design and build a UAV.