The bumper thread of University League Tables discussion - includes an info post

why is manchester so **** i feel like dropping out !

Has anyone seen the Maths table? Keele, Central Lancashire and Stirling in the top 10? I don't think so pal. Looking at the CUG rankings for maths these are in the 30's, 40's and 60's.

The Maths ones are shocking, I think this is the same table as the one with Bangor in the top 10 (which didn't have a Maths department).

Leicester 36th, Bath 36th (considered one of the best in the country), Loughborough 43rd All three were in the top 10 2/3 years ago; even last year Loughborough were 31st, and Bath were 14th.

The swing in university league tables is bad, but the subject tables see jumps of 20 in one year. It's ridiculous.

LOL. Serves to prove that Student satisfactions + 'face time' =/= quality of the department. Manchester and York way down at 48 and 50 respectively too. Incredible!

Don't know if you saw my post a couple of days ago, but Manchester was 48th and Manchester Met 49th. Pretty close!

Interesting question

I would honestly use the same universities as you but tweak them a bit.

1) Cambridge/Oxford
2)
3) UCL
4) Imperial
5) LSE
6) Durham
7) Warwick
8) St Andrews
9) Edinburgh
10) Bristol
11) Kings
12) Lancaster (might be a bit bias since I have firmed )
13) Nottingham
14) Sheffield
15) Newcastle
16) Leeds
17) Exeter
18) Manchester
19) York
20) Bath

This is pretty accurate, however nowadays i'd throw Glasgow, Birmingham, Leicester, Sussex and SOAS into that mix too.

Don't think Leicester merit a position in it as their average entry requirements aren't high enough (mid-high 300s usually), although they tend to fare quite well on league tables so it must give its students a decent time. Others I'd agree with.

Meh from interviews with some graduate schemes, fairs and dinners this year I picked the brains of some recruitment people from various firms ('Big 4', energy companies, finance, media etc)

(Bear in mind I didn't go to any recruitment stuff for the top investment banks and law firms which are apparently more picky. However I do know someone who has a job at a very good law firm not at a 'target uni' apparently it's 'silver circle')

However I noticed a pattern


Oxbridge
'good unis'
others

When asked about good unis it varied so much between each company that I couldn't really compile a list. Some said they wanted 'russel group/red brick universities' but they had people on their teams who wer neither. Someone said 'what we want is that proof that you're intelligent. A degree helps you out but it's not the be-all-and-end-all. A lot is the interview, your experience etc)

I went to the Law fair here at Ox earlier in the year and spent quite a bit of time with people from various firms, including a champagne event, general drinks, snacks and a presentation etc and other crap after the fair.

The thing is whilst, admittedly, Oxford was kind of dominant most of the recruiters made it pretty obvious that after a certain level, uni does not matter so much as interview performance and EC's. Oh and luck.

Essentially your degree means little in this day and age, its so damn competitive you need some internships etc to even stand a chance. For Law specifically, to complement your account.

Oh definitely - I don't think we disagree I think once you've got to an interview stage it's very much the candidate and not where the candidate studied - but there was an admittance in the fair I went to (not as glitzy as yours!) that Oxbridge was still the standard.

Don't think Leicester merit a position in it as their average entry requirements aren't high enough (mid-high 300s usually), although they tend to fare quite well on league tables so it must give its students a decent time. Others I'd agree with.

Does anyone have access to the most recent Times University guides? Wouldn't mind seeing the top 40....

Hey guys, just wondering - how ''prestigious'' would you classify Royal Holloway as? Could you say it is in the same league as Exeter, KCL, Bristol, Newcastle?

Below King's Bristol and Exeter, in terms of current reputation/prestige. Not that this really matters though.

Haha, I keep on getting paranoid about this. The Guardian English subject table ranks Brunel, Anglia Ruskin and Chester ahead of Royal Holloway. Royal Holloway is ranked #30 while London Met is ranked #31.

Way to go, Guardian!

But overall, would you say that Royal Holloway is a good university?

Did you not notice the career after 6 month column?