Ranking Scottish unis from best to worst (to prove a point)

So before anyone says anything, let me explain. Often on this site, i see (mainly English uni students) talk about how "X is better than Y", "Z is overrated and W is underrated" and "X, Y and Z are better than U, V and W" etc etc.

So really, i wanted to do this to see if there is any truth/point in uni rankings, by asking, in your own opinions and experiences, how you rank Scottish unis. Again this isn't about criticizing other unis, this is about how much point there is in things like national and world rankings. So here are mine:

Tier one: St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen
Tier 1.5: Dundee (still really good but maybe not in the same vein as the others)
Tier two: Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde and Stirling
Tier three: RGU, Caledonian and Napier
Tier four: Queen Margaret, Abertay, West of Scotland and Highlands & Islands

This is for overall, and you can mention things like what you consider the most important aspect (prospects, teaching etc) and whether you look at rankings.

Again, just an experiment, thank you!

I'll be honest, i think this is important because i used to be one of those people who was a ranking watcher. This was because when i was first applying, there were and are a significant group of people that essentially worshiped uni rankings, demeaning those who went to one lower than themselves. So, as someone new to the uni process, this scared me into thinking I had to apply somewhere that was highly ranked to be successful. After I told myself however that this is silly, I started thinking about how many people took rankings seriously when choosing a uni and potentially making a huge mistake of applying somewhere more 'respected' and regretting it as opposed to applying somewhere 'lower down the table' and going to a uni more suited to them.

So overall, this is about how people use rankings to judge how good universities are and whether they are used too much, or rather how accurate these rankings may be by seeing how others judge unis in their own opinion.

(edited 10 years ago)

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Reply 20

Yammy

Original post by Sir Fox

Dundee has a number of departments and subjects that are in the top tier UK wide, some even world class. This includes medicine, dentistry and life science/pharmacology/biological research (all world class), and law, engineering, and art and design.

I'm not an expert on uni reputation, but I am not aware of any world class subjects at Strathclyde or Heriot-Watt, despite both doing reasonably well (HW) and very good (Strath) nationally.

That's why, purely subjectively, I'd put Dundee a notch above those two.

Yeah fair enough I guess. I did hear HW is pretty strong for Chem eng, and strath chemeng as well as business. But then again its hard to compare engineering vs life sciences.

Reply 21

MathsAndCoffee

1 - St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow
2 - Strathclyde, Heroit Watt
3 - Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling
4 - RGU, Caledonian, Abertay
5 - UWS, UHI

Reply 22

Sir Fox

Original post by MathsAndCoffee

1 - St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow
2 - Strathclyde, Heroit Watt
3 - Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling
4 - RGU, Caledonian, Abertay
5 - UWS, UHI

Strathclyde and Heriot Watt better than Aberdeen and Dundee? :lolwut:

Reply 23

MathsAndCoffee

Original post by Sir Fox

Strathclyde and Heriot Watt better than Aberdeen and Dundee? :lolwut:

I'm going on entry requirements for most courses and how close they are to the central belt.

Reply 24

Sir Fox

Original post by MathsAndCoffee

I'm going on entry requirements for most courses and how close they are to the central belt.

That doesn't make any sense at all in determining how good a university is.

Reply 25

cambio wechsel

Original post by Sir Fox

That doesn't make any sense at all in determining how good a university is.

His avatar is sideways on. Had you entertained high hopes?

Reply 26

MathsAndCoffee

Original post by Sir Fox

That doesn't make any sense at all in determining how good a university is.

It's my personal preference. So long as I'm happy with it's all that matters.

If you only accept a higher calibre of Student, they will be more likely to succeed in there education and therefore receive and complete a good degree.

If a university is closer to the central belt, their more likely to receive grants and research funding from abroad. Which provides money to invest in the Student Experience. Taking your example Aberdeen will lose a lot of funding from the likes of Shell and BP over the coming years, as a lot of oil rigs are beginning to be de-commissioned and this is not considering withdrawal from the European Union.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 27

MathsAndCoffee

Original post by cambio wechsel

His avatar is sideways on. Had you entertained high hopes?

For a man of the church, your quite picky when it comes to young boys.

Reply 28

cambio wechsel

Original post by MathsAndCoffee

For a man of the church, your quite picky when it comes to young boys.

well your (or you're) the first person to accuse me of that.

Spoiler

Reply 29

Airmed

Original post by Sir Fox

Strathclyde and Heriot Watt better than Aberdeen and Dundee? :lolwut:

This was my reaction also.

Reply 30

Kevin18294

For general quality of educational experience.

Tier 1 - Strathclyde, GCU, Dundee, Aberdeen
Tier 2 - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Open University
Tier 3 - Napier, UWS, Heriot Watt, Abertay,
Tier 4 - UHI, QMU

Reply 31

aggiem

Can anyone give me a reason why QMU is always so low on the list?
I am applying to them alone for physiotherapy in 2018 die to location and y2k family but I always thought they were a good uni in that subject.

Reply 32

Babyplease

Original post by aggiem

+1

I want to apply for Business because I like the accommodation and I've got a friend there. But everyone tells me to go to Exeter Bath or St Andrews so I don't know :s-smilie:

Reply 33

Airmed

Original post by Babyplease

+1

I want to apply for Business because I like the accommodation and I've got a friend there. But everyone tells me to go to Exeter Bath or St Andrews so I don't know :s-smilie:

Tbh, you should not be applying to a uni because you like the accomm and you know someone there. Course content and structure should be extremely high on your list of priorities for a good uni for you.

Reply 34

aggiem

it is a relatively new uni, 10 years old, soaybe that is partially why.
I have heard many good things about it recently though.

Reply 35

Babyplease

Original post by Airmed

I mean, he told me that the teachers really care about the students and its a good environment. The program is likely to be the same as in other unis although St. Andrews program is way better

Reply 36

Babyplease

Original post by aggiem

it is a relatively new uni, 10 years old, soaybe that is partially why.
I have heard many good things about it recently though.

You think so? At least it does appear in thecompleteuniversity ranking although its number 104 hahaha

Reply 37

Snufkin

Universities Forum Helper

One wonders whether all these people who've put UHI at the bottom actually know anything about the place. It does some great courses (its Gaelic, heritage and marine sciences degrees are particularly well regarded in the UK and abroad).

Reply 38

Anndee

Original post by Snufkin

Thank you for that, I fully agree. Depending on your field, UHI is one of the top places in the UK, for example one of its research centres came first in Scotland in the field of Area Studies in the REF 2014. At international conferences, people talk to me about the high quality of research and programmes UHI offers in our field, and I wonder if people simply think „new uni, can‘t be good“? Or maybe the structure with different centres and academic partners just doesn‘t suit the traditional league tables very well?

Reply 39

SocialStudiesETC

Tier 1: St.Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow
Tier 2: Dundee, Aberdeen, Strathclyde, Stirling, Heriot-Watt
Tier 3: Caley, Napier, Abertay, West of Scotland
Tier 4: Highland and Islands, Queen Margaret

I understand the explicit ranking of such universities, for example, Edinburgh and Glasgow are miles, miles ahead of the West of Scotland. However, Abertay is two tiers lower than Edinburgh and co. yet is one of best universities in the world for game designs, certainly the best in Europe. So when you’re comparing universities, it is absolutely essential you compare departments: everyone parties at every campus uni, everyone can get a 2:1/firsts at the above unis, anyone can enjoy the same subject at different universities, what matters is you go to an open day and find as much information as possible.