Which university should I select? MSc in Biotechnology

Hi there,
I'd like to pick your brains on the university choices that I've got. I've received offers from University of Bath, Lancaster University and University of Birmingham for a master's program in Biotechology. I am somehow confused to choose which one based on their rankings, student life, work opportunities, etc. I would appreciate it if you guys could help me out with picking any of the universities mentioned and give your reasons for that. Which one and why?
All the best,
Mohi

Hi @Mohi2021

Great to hear you're considering studying your postgraduate degree at the University of Bath!

I don't study Biotechnology in particular, so I can't give you my opinion on the course. But near the bottom of this page there's a video from a student who studied the course which you might find useful: https://www.bath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-2021/taught-postgraduate-courses/msc-molecular-biosciences-biotechnology/

As a current student at Bath, hopefully I'll be able to help by telling you a little bit about student life at Bath. Bath itself is really beautiful, and a very safe place to live. There's a huge amount of green space both in the city and around the university, which makes it a really great place to live in the current climate. There's also a huge number of student groups and societies at the university and many of these are adapting to the restrictions to ensure that we can still meet other students with similar interests. For example, over my time at university, I've tried martial arts, cooking, knitting, and a lot of volunteering!

Feel free to ask any questions you have about student life, I've been here for 5 years so hopefully I'll be able to answer!


Meg
Msc Applied Clinical Psychology

Hi there,
I'd like to pick your brains on the university choices that I've got. I've received offers from University of Bath, Lancaster University and University of Birmingham for a master's program in Biotechology. I am somehow confused to choose which one based on their rankings, student life, work opportunities, etc. I would appreciate it if you guys could help me out with picking any of the universities mentioned and give your reasons for that. Which one and why?
All the best,
Mohi

Bath or Birmingham
I guess Bath you're looking at MolBioscience and Birmingham MolBiotech. I got no idea about Lancaster uni.
Hope it helps!!

Hi there,
I'd like to pick your brains on the university choices that I've got. I've received offers from University of Bath, Lancaster University and University of Birmingham for a master's program in Biotechology. I am somehow confused to choose which one based on their rankings, student life, work opportunities, etc. I would appreciate it if you guys could help me out with picking any of the universities mentioned and give your reasons for that. Which one and why?
All the best,
Mohi

Also, I was wondering if it's easy to find student jobs while I study in Bath? And what's career opportunities like in particular in Bath after students graduate?

By the way, I have been swimming and doing martial arts (Sanda) for more than 7 years. Do you know any societies doing these two particular sports?

Bath or Birmingham
I guess Bath you're looking at MolBioscience and Birmingham MolBiotech. I got no idea about Lancaster uni.
Hope it helps!!

If you have no idea about Lancaster, how can people trust your decision to choose the others?


It's not our job to pick, that's yours given how big of an impact this could have on your life for a year. What anyone on here should be doing is offering to answer any specific questions you have on any of these universities. I did my own Masters in Biosciences at bath so I'd be happy to answer any specifics.


I could help with these. During my own masters I was working so much I didn't have time to take on a student job, given yours will also be in the biology department I'd say you might struggle to find the time to commit to any significant number of hours.

Bath is quite big on sports, they were pretty proud of all the Olympic medals their alumni won in 2016 when I was there. They have a large Olympic size swimming pool and I don't know for certain, but would expect there to be plenty of active martial arts clubs on campus

If you have no idea about Lancaster, how can people trust your decision to choose the others?


It's not our job to pick, that's yours given how big of an impact this could have on your life for a year. What anyone on here should be doing is offering to answer any specific questions you have on any of these universities. I did my own Masters in Biosciences at bath so I'd be happy to answer any specifics.


I could help with these. During my own masters I was working so much I didn't have time to take on a student job, given yours will also be in the biology department I'd say you might struggle to find the time to commit to any significant number of hours.

Bath is quite big on sports, they were pretty proud of all the Olympic medals their alumni won in 2016 when I was there. They have a large Olympic size swimming pool and I don't know for certain, but would expect there to be plenty of active martial arts clubs on campus

I just gave my opinion that's it and I have no intention of giving some wrong information.
So after reading about Lancaster who offers MSc Biomedicine. My opinion is that MSc Biomedicine is a bit different from Biotechnology.
Now it depends on his bachelor's degree also (Biotechnology or biomedical science or related) and if he is an international student.
If you go by ranking then it should be in this order Birmingham, Bath, and then Lancaster. And my opinion is that don't look at the ranking as a whole, have a look at the course content and the research projects.

But I would rate Birmingham and Bath over Lancaster (Just my opinion).

and I completely agree with you QuentinM and I meant no offense to anyone.

Hi @QuentinM

Thank you for your message. I do agree with you that many aspects should be taken into account when it comes to choosing a university. I think you can put me on the right track as I am also going to study Molecular Biosciences (Biotechnology) at the University of Bath. On the uni website there is not much information about how the course runs and what specific syllabus we are going to follow.

I can only see a little information on the course structure but not that detailed. The course units are comprised of compulsory units (Advanced in molecular biotechnology, Broadening horizons, Research project 1a, Research project 2) and optional course units (Medical biotechnology and plant biotechnology). I suppose you've studied the exact same course units and would appreciate it if you could throw some light on the course syllabus and your personal ideas on the course or any heads-up that you may think is useful to know.

Thanks a lot for your guidance.

Best,
Mohi

I didn't study the same units (mine focused more on developmental biology and neuroscience), I was however part of the student academic representative team during my time there when the course leader changed the Masters structure from the old system to the current one, so I have some knowledge of how the course runs.

The course will feature several compulsory units that you mentioned, and it looks like you get the choice to do a single optional unit (which is quite a departure from what I had, which was 4 choices). I remember "research project 1" was a short project you do in your first term to build up some lab skills, whilst project 2 was your final project, done over the summer, hopefully in a lab (hopefully by next year restrictions will have eased enough to allow this to happen!). You will get a chance to apply for specific projects in specific labs at some point in the first term iirc. It looks like all the other compulsory units are large enough to span your first and second term (October 2021 to April/may 2022). "Broadening horizons" is all about giving you a bunch of skills to prepare your for a career in biotech, like pitching ideas, teamwork etc but in the context of biology ideas.

I can't really remember much more (sorry it was 2017 when they did this and I think it might have changed a bit since they first introduced it). If you have any further questions please let me know.

Thanks for the info @QuentinM
Have you got any information about getting into a PhD degree after you graduate from MSc in Biosciences (Biotechnology) at the University of Bath? Is that difficult to get a fully/partially funded PhD at Bath uni?

PhD's are a completely different kettle of fish, usually they are only advertised as specific funded projects if a supervisor wants to apply for, or has secured the funding. If you do a masters there you may be told of opportunities during your final project, and it can be a benefit to you if they know who you are and that you work well etc.

If students opt for studying PhD's after they graduate, would that be a feasible option at Bath uni or it depends on many factors? I mean, generally speaking, is it easy to get admission for a PhD program at the University of Bath, or is it a difficult procedure?

It does depend on many factors, generally there isn't anywhere in the UK that you could say it was "easy" to get admission onto a PhD program. It depends on who is applying for funding at what times, and whether you are a decent candidate or not for their project

@QuentinM Totally agree with you but I'm wondering what would be the future career opportunities for a student being graduated in Biotechnology or any biology field of study? Studying a PhD is one thing, finding a job is another. If you don't mind me asking, are you working at your same filed of study? What would be your recommendations for someone who will be graduated next year in Biotechnology? Studying a PhD or working in...?