Which is a more prestigious university- Exeter or Sheffield ?

It might surprise you, but Exeter and Newcastle have around the same percentage of students from independent schools. It may be more romantic to believe that the Northern unis cater for the brightest of the Northerners (many of whom are socially deprived), and Exeter caters for the third brightest of the Southerners (from affluent families), but this is fundamentally untrue. Firstly, there are a shed load of Southerners who study at Newcastle and these other places. Indeed, I am as Northern and working class as they come and I study at Exeter. People move around nowadays because it's no longer 1923.

What actually distinguishes Exeter and Sheffield and Exeter and Manchester is that Exeter mostly offers AAA and sometimes AAB. Let's say you want to do English Literature. You can happily get into Sheffield with AAB (its nominal offer) and they'll probably take you with ABB. Exeter's offers are AAA and A*AA (and they mean it—some girl on here was rejected from the uni for Lit because she only got A*AB). Manchester has some good courses, and Sheffield do too, but on the whole Sheffield and Manchester are AAB to ABB universities. Sheffield and Manchester are for the people who couldn't get into Exeter, as it were.

Bright northerners?........I've never met one.

No - I did my research.

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2015/education-training#sorting=rank+region=140+country=208+faculty=+stars=false+search=

Both Exeter and Sheffield are in the top 100 - 150 world universities. Not bad indeed but certainly not outstanding either.

One has to ask why you want to go to a prestigious university. Either it is because you want bragging rights or because you have a preformed opinion that it will provide better prospects and opportunity. I certainly believe that studying at the world's top universities provides the later along with connections to people of influence (if that is your bag), but for anything that isn't right at the top, employers really aren't bothered whether you studied at Manchester, Leeds, Exeter, Sheffield or any other middling red brick university in the country.

We have just hired a chap from the world famous Bolton University. He is awesome!

Bright northerners?........I've never met one.