Is going to an upper mid-range university still worth it?

All Russell Group unis, so I wouldn't turn your nose up at any of them. Definitely worth it, especially for a course like chemistry

Queen Mary is part of the Russell group, but it's NOT RSC accredited, which is important if you want to become a Chartered Chemist (which is what most research chemists are!).

I've also got an offer from QMUL for Chemistry, but only recently found out the Chartered Chemist thing recently.

Having witnessed the dreaded "unsuccessful" message come up on my UCAS page for both my first and second university choices, I'd like peoples' opinions on whether obtaining a degree from an upper-middle range university is still an economically sound decision given the increase in tuition fees and the abysmal jobs market?

To give a you little more information to go on: I've applied to study Chemistry and I'm currently holding offers from Leeds, Newcastle, Southampton and Queen Mary, University of London. As I say, I'd like to know your personal view of whether studying my subject at one of the aforementioned universities is worth getting into £30,000-£40,000 worth of debt?

Thanks for taking the time to consider my question.

Thank you very much for sharing that info, I didn't know that either. Do you happen to know whether the other universities I mentioned are RSC accredited? Or how I can find out if they are?

No it isn't worth it. If you don't go to Oxbridge, you will die.

Upper middle range? Really?

http://www.rsc.org/education/courses-and-careers/accredited-courses/index.asp

Here's the link, it's near the bottom is the alphabetic list

I was talking about from an economic point of view; there's not much point in paying £30,000+ to get a degree if I subsequently struggle to get a graduate level job. In any case, I was asking whether people thought this was likely to be the case, not asserting that it was.

As for the upper middle range thing, there are 117 universities in the UK and according to most league tables Leeds, Newcastle and QMUL are ranked 30-45th this put's them between the 25th and 50th percentile which can be accurately described as the upper-mid range.

I thought that the Russell group was just a research funding lobbying group.

Stop reading the Guardian. If you achieve well in a respected degree from an "upper middle" (lol) university, the only thing stopping you from getting a good job would be if you are an insufferable tit who has the people skills of a brick.

I don't read the Guardian, but numbers don't lie.

I don't read the Guardian, but numbers don't lie.

you were either born yesterday or you're just trolling now.

lol what do you expect? I joined this forum to get some advice and I've been negged 40 times and counting for telling somebody asking intrusive irrelevant questions to mind their own business.. I've seen people deny the Holocaust and get negged less than that! This forum is clearly ridiculous, so I've stopped taking it seriously.

Not to mention negged 15 times for merely asking the question in the first place.

So I assume that you would therefore be of the opinion that taking up a place to study my subject at one of these universities would be worth the financial outlay?

What were your top two choices

I was talking about from an economic point of view; there's not much point in paying £30,000+ to get a degree if I subsequently struggle to get a graduate level job. In any case, I was asking whether people thought this was likely to be the case, not asserting that it was.

As for the upper middle range thing, there are 117 universities in the UK and according to most league tables Leeds, Newcastle and QMUL are ranked 30-45th this puts them between the 25th and 50th percentile which can be accurately described as the upper-mid range.