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Aston vs. Birmingham

As above really, both instituitions are ranked quite high for the course I have applied to, Business and Management. So which one as a place to live and study do you think is the best? Pros and Cons? Etc Etc.

ps. I have yet to visit both instituitions...!

All contributions much appreciated..!! :smile:

Reply 1

Smigs

aston (disclaimer i attend this uni):
- small, pretty closely knit - there's only about 5,000 students, so everyone is a friend-of-a-friend. whether or not this is desirable for you i don't know, but i love it.
- excellent location _right_ in the centre of birmingham. zero transport costs in your first year at least!
cons: - most of the campus accomodation is poor.. liveable, but poor..
- the student guild is... struggling. we're constantly working to resolve this, but it remains an issue, albeit not one that's immediately visible to the average student.

birmingham:
- massive university, which is probably good but in a very different way to aston..
- has its own train station! :wink:

cons: - not in the centre of brum...

both of them are, of course, in birmingham, so whichever you choose you'll get all the benefits that come with that...

Reply 2

Akhoza

I would recommend b-ham since its a red brick university and im sure its ranked far higher by employers

Reply 3

G_H_G

Aston is red brick aswel last time I checked. They are not too far apart in the rankings either.

If you are going to do business or something closely related, you should go to Aston as their business school is better than B'ham's

Reply 4

Smigs

Akhoza

I would recommend b-ham since its a red brick university and im sure its ranked far higher by employers

while aston isn't usually classed as a 'red brick', it isn't a former poly either; it was granted a university charter in 1966, and the colleges that preceded it go back to 1875.

aston is ranked very highly with employers, as far as i know this is one of the biggest selling points of aston! hehe.

Reply 5

gas_panic!

12

University of bham is better, but i know that aston has a really good business school so i don't know what you should do!

Reply 6

adzguest

gas_panic!

University of bham is better, but i know that aston has a really good business school so i don't know what you should do!

Aston Uni has the highest graduate employment rate in the entire country and some of it's Business Courses are rated up there with the best in the entire World (not just this country)

I'm in the Computing school aswell however and although it's not as bad as people say (infact it's hard to distinguish between the Bsns and Computing schools as they seem so similar), then Birmingham is possibly better.

In short... if you want Business... definately Aston.

If not, then you will have to look closer.

Reply 7

Crinny68

If its business and management you're looking for then Aston is definately the place. I'm visiting tomorrow and thereis going to be a brand new purpose built business school opening in Jan 2006!!

Reply 8

Crinny68

If its business and management you're looking for then Aston is definately the place. I'm visiting tomorrow and thereis going to be a brand new purpose built business school opening in Jan 2006!!

Reply 9

Alchemy

10

The new business school, is an extension of an existing building. The majority of it wil, be offices, if im not mistaken, however their will be student amenities. It looks a nice building so far, construction is coming along well last time I was at uni.

Aston's BAM course is, im not mistaken again, on of the highest employed courses in the country in terms of business.

Its also a very flexible course, although I have no means of comparison between Bimingham and Aston as tbh I never even considered Birmingham uni when I was applying due to my GCSE mathematics C. (which wasnt a problem at Aston).

Reply 10

igneouscarl

I'm at Aston Uni.

Comparisons between Aston and Birmingham are very difficult- because they are two very different universities. Aston, as has been said, is far smaller than Birmingham- which means that the social, societies and academic aspects are very different.

On the social scene I have always percieved Birmimgham to be far more organised (I have a couple of friends there as well as going to their Judo club every week for a year). This is necessary due to the larger amount of students- and the costs of their sports is FAR greater than Astons btw. Aston on the other hand can best be described as...collective anarchy (? agree fellow astoners?) Thats always been part of the attraction for me- small dedicated commities put their heart and souls into running excellent clubs but at the same time anarchy often reigns.

I would recommend b-ham since its a red brick university and im sure its ranked far higher by employers

- I'm afraid it isn't as easy as that. Aston may not be a traditional red brick but it does have an excellent employment record for graduates (especially ABS).

So pros of Aston and the Business School:

> Access to the city
> Excellent graduate employment record
> Superb placement possibilities
> A good array of societies and clubs
> A small, open community of diverse people
> A student body that is (on the whole) fiercely loyal to their Uni (responses to proposed UCE, Birmingham take overs as examples).

Cons of Aston:

> A struggling guild trying to find its feet and a new direction (which I'm sure it will, eventually)
> Constricted in size by limited space- each new building reduces green space (sorry guys I loved those trees)
> Top up fees about to take effect
> Aston needing to find its nieche

Reply 11

oliviasmith05

Birmingham! Im tryin to decide between Birm and Manchester!

Reply 12

Smigs

igneouscarl

Aston on the other hand can best be described as...collective anarchy (? agree fellow astoners?) Thats always been part of the attraction for me- small dedicated commities put their heart and souls into running excellent clubs but at the same time anarchy often reigns.

yeah collective anarchy is a very good description :smile:

Reply 13

Lil Lee Lee

2

Agreed!

Go for Aston, it's just better! Not that I'm biased or anything....

Putting my sensible head on, I'd say definitely visit them! You'll only find out then whether you'd like to live there and whether you think you'll like the course

Reply 14

Laura_Boo

5

Hey

I have the same problem, cant choose between b.ham and aston.
I also want to do Business Management.

It seems Aston is best for academic purposes? But B.ham has better accomodation and social life??

Help!

Reply 15

YouKnewThat!

1

Laura_Boo

Hey

I have the same problem, cant choose between b.ham and aston.
I also want to do Business Management.

It seems Aston is best for academic purposes? But B.ham has better accomodation and social life??

Help!

No. Birmingham is one of the best universities in the country and has an excellent academic reputation. Aston is newer, I think an ex-polytechnic.

Reply 16

G_H_G

YouKnewThat!

No. Birmingham is one of the best universities in the country and has an excellent academic reputation. Aston is newer, I think an ex-polytechnic.

Oh dear

...

Whatever you do. Do not listen to this guy.

Reply 17

igneouscarl

Well Aston was established 1966 as a Uni (so it says on my hoody). Aston has the business and academic reputation to punch far above its weight. Accomodation will never be its strong point (who cares, you only remember the good bits of it- i.e finding yourself mostly naked in a stare well after 'a few pints', not sure what happened there....) but the social life is only as good as you make it anyway.

Reply 18

YouKnewThat!

1

G_H_G

Oh dear

...

Whatever you do. Do not listen to this guy.

Err.. I said I think Aston is an ex-poly. We all make mistakes...

Birmingham is in the Russell Group anyway.

Reply 19

G_H_G

YouKnewThat!

Err.. I said I think Aston is an ex-poly. We all make mistakes...

Birmingham is in the Russell Group anyway.

Who cares about that as an undergrad?

The fact is, Aston's business school is supposedly better than Birmingham's. However, Birmingham has a better overall reputation for most other subjects.

Aston vs. Birmingham

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