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University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
Birmingham

Is Birmingham a top university?

I could get into Oxbridge if I wanted to but I don't think that it would be right for me, and so I was looking at others such as Bristol, Bath and Birmingham. Is Birmingham a very good university, because I'm worried I should take Oxbridge if I have the chance. I want to do sociology btw. Thanks
Original post by erindanuta
I could get into Oxbridge if I wanted to but I don't think that it would be right for me, and so I was looking at others such as Bristol, Bath and Birmingham. Is Birmingham a very good university, because I'm worried I should take Oxbridge if I have the chance. I want to do sociology btw. Thanks


So this is very hard to answer.
Reputation/prestige wise Oxbridge then the likes of UCL, Warwick, Durham, Imperial, LSE etc.
then you have the likes of Bristol, Nottingham, Bath, Manchester, Kings etc.
then you get to Birmingham, alongside the likes of Southampton, Leeds, York, Exeter etc.

I would say its a very good uni & it takes in top students but its difficult to say its a "top" uni, this is a grey area, where are you drawing the line. (also this doesn't factor in lifestyle, subjects, students union etc. everyone has different expectations as to what they want).

I would say there is something to prestige but you need to look broader than that alone.
University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
Birmingham
Reply 2
Avatar for adam271
adam271
21
By TSR standards it is not a top university.
But it's not a former polytechnic so it does have prestige.
Original post by mnot
Reputation/prestige wise Oxbridge then the likes of UCL, Warwick, Durham, Imperial, LSE etc.
then you have the likes of Bristol, Nottingham, Bath, Manchester, Kings etc.
then you get to Birmingham, alongside the likes of Southampton, Leeds, York, Exeter etc.


Birmingham is not less prestigious than Manchester!
Have you ever been to UoBrum? The management are soooooooooooooo prestigious & snooty it's unbelievable.
Original post by Anonymous
Birmingham is not less prestigious than Manchester!
Have you ever been to UoBrum? The management are soooooooooooooo prestigious & snooty it's unbelievable.

Yes, it is less prestigious than Manchester. Manchester is a top ranked University and currently stands at 29th in the world.
Original post by cheerIeader
Yes, it is less prestigious than Manchester. Manchester is a top ranked University and currently stands at 29th in the world.


If we take a look at the complete university guide's tables from 2017, we can see Manchester is quite far behind in 25th.
https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?year=2017

If we look at the timelines, we can see that Birmingham has been a stable top 20 for quite some time, Manchester has only had more recent progress.

As I see it, pretentiousness is more related to history, and Birmingham has a far more solid history than Manchester. Even if they can claim to have been around for 1 year longer looking back at their original colleges, Birmingham had a far broader history, at earlier points than Manchester.


https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/name/manchester/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats puts Manchester at 57th, which table are you getting 29th from? (Yes Birmingham is lower down, but it has traditionally been a global top 100, but not this year sadly)
Original post by Anonymous
Birmingham is not less prestigious than Manchester!
Have you ever been to UoBrum? The management are soooooooooooooo prestigious & snooty it's unbelievable.

Yes I have visited UoB, and i have many friends who studied their... Manchester's reputation is historic, lots of Nobel laureates. They're probably more well known for the sciences then management specifically, but im not sure this point is really relevant to OPs post, especially given they are interested in Sociology.

Birmingham is a very good uni and im sure the people who study Management their are "snooty" this doesn't make it more prestigious than Manchester tho.
Reply 7
Avatar for SaDe7
SaDe7
16
Original post by erindanuta
I could get into Oxbridge if I wanted to

Humble, much?
Original post by SaDe7
Humble, much?

Getting into Oxford isn't hard, hun.
Reply 9
Avatar for SaDe7
SaDe7
16
Original post by cheerIeader
Getting into Oxford isn't hard, hun.

Yeah, I guess it varies considerably between different courses. What deters you from Oxford?
Original post by SaDe7
Yeah, I guess it varies considerably between different courses. What deters you from Oxford?

The fact that it's robotesque and how intense/excruciating they make University life for people. There has to be a social aspect involved and Oxford inevitably gives less of that to its students because of the workload.
Reply 11
Avatar for SaDe7
SaDe7
16
Original post by cheerIeader
The fact that it's robotesque and how intense/excruciating they make University life for people. There has to be a social aspect involved and Oxford inevitably gives less of that to its students because of the workload.

Surely if you're devoting 3-6 years of your life and £10,000s of debt to go to university, you should be passionate enough to put that much work in at any university, let alone Oxbridge? You can definitely fit a social life with their level of workload if you organise your time effectively and get an optimal work/life balance and it's not like a university with tens of thousands of students has no opportunity to have one.

University helps prepare you for the world of work most of the time and most of those who graduate from Oxbridge go into research, academia etc., where the skills you develop in managing the workload are invaluable. But at the end of the day, if it's not for you, it's not for you. You could talk to some current students there or attend open days to get a more well-informed opinion on what it's like to decide.
Original post by SaDe7
Surely if you're devoting 3-6 years of your life and £10,000s of debt to go to university, you should be passionate enough to put that much work in at any university, let alone Oxbridge? You can definitely fit a social life with their level of workload if you organise your time effectively and get an optimal work/life balance and it's not like a university with tens of thousands of students has no opportunity to have one.

University helps prepare you for the world of work most of the time and most of those who graduate from Oxbridge go into research, academia etc., where the skills you develop in managing the workload are invaluable. But at the end of the day, if it's not for you, it's not for you. You could talk to some current students there or attend open days to get a more well-informed opinion on what it's like to decide.

Yeah....the issue is it is 3-6 years which truly is a long time. Might as well enjoy the experience. I'm just saying most people (including the smartest) avoid the absolute top Universities just because they know it's going to be a super intense experience and not even because it isn't manageable but because they'd prefer to have a slightly more chilled experience at University.
Original post by mnot
Birmingham is a very good uni and im sure the people who study Management their are "snooty" this doesn't make it more prestigious than Manchester tho.

I was talking about the management structure of the uni, not the business school.
Original post by Anonymous
I was talking about the management structure of the uni, not the business school.

I would imagine the type of people in the management are pretty similar at all Unis with a strong research focus. It will be a board of people of whom have been leading researchers at the uni, or are alumni who have been in very senior positions of an industry, or successful entrepreneurs. There probably are probably not even that snooty, just people who are very diligent and good at what they do and are attempting to continue to allow the University to thrive...

Not sure why snooty university management is becoming a factor either, tbh students almost never interact with these people, might shake your hand on graduation or send out a mass email with their footnote on.

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