What is Aberdeen/ Aberdeen university like?

I am applying for the University of Aberdeen and also Queens Belfast for my Masters. Any opinions/ experiences?? Nightlife/ dorms/ studies/ the cities? :-)

Can I ask is it an Undergraduate Masters or Postgraduate Masters you've applied for? I've haven't been to Belfast (although I would like to), so can't compare. How ever I would say the University is the fifth oldest in the UK and Aberdeen is really nice but the incumbent Labour Council how run the city are pretty terrible.

I do not know enough about the city but I do not some things about the academic reputation of Aberdeen. Aberdeen University is a strange place, although it is an ancient university founded in 1495 and the third oldest university in Scotland and fifth-oldest in the English-speaking world it is stuck in the rankings in the middle of the pack of traditional universities. This is awkward in a sense that all other old and ancient universities (apart from University of Wales Lampeter now University of Wales, Trinity Saint David Royal Charter 1828) are highly ranked in the league tables. Finally, for a university with such a history it is not even part of the prestigious Russell Group of research intensive universities. In fact its research profile shows that Aberdeen has a moderate research rating (close to the lower ranked plate glass universities) and a relative low proportion of staff submitted (compared to other traditional universities).

According to complete university Guide 2016, Glasgow is in 30th, and Queen's, Belfast is in 36, and SOAS is in 43th.Recently, Academic Ranking of World Universities 2015, St Andrews is in the range of 301-400, but Aberdeen University is in the range of 201-300.
Do you think their ranking are very high ?

I am applying for the University of Aberdeen and also Queens Belfast for my Masters. Any opinions/ experiences?? Nightlife/ dorms/ studies/ the cities? :-)

Aberdeen ciry- Cosy yet certainly not too small. I'm a first year and I have never found myself the need to fetch a bus to go to anywhere yet! ( also, in my case, I love walking). The city is entering into a period of significant regeneration + upgrade as the Art Gallery is being refurbished and not reopened until late 2016. Marischal Square project ( the one adjacent to Marischal College) is an upcoming piece of ahopping greatness and modern side of Aberdeen. There is a chance that Union Street will be partly pedestrianised in the coming future. So when you arrive next year, there will be a lot of things to enjoy! Bars and clubs are quite expensive as are the bus fares ( higher than edinburgh) however if you are diligent you should not have to rely on buses so much.

Aberdeen university- the university from my views so far gives a good balance between teaching and research. If you are heading for a Masters, it depends on the departments you're looking to go for in Aberdeen. I think Aberdeen's strongest areas are in Law, History, Theology ( divinity), Business, Geology/Petroleum sciences and a fairly decent english literature department. The greatest strength I think overall is how close you can get to your lecturer. Undergrad tutorials are done with lecturers as a rule than with PHD students and markers generally encourage students to fetch personal feedback from them.

I wouldn't worry too much about overall rankings for Aberdeen, given how St.Andrews does so well with both research and teaching yet gets slumped on world rankings because of its modest size. Aberdeen *is* also modest given it has sth like 13,000 students. The Burgh and Glasgow are massive, their research will be better but will probs compromise a bit on the teaching hours.

Six ancient universities exist in the UK they are: Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh in the order of their foundation.

From these six universities Aberdeen and Glasgow are the weakest in terms of rankings. Aberdeen is usually ranked in the top 30-40 universities in the UK. So in that sense it is an outlier since there is a strong correlation in the UK between age and reputation/ranking.

Having said that Aberdeen is not a bad university but it certainly does not have the reputation of other ancient universities and is certainly not as reputable as some very young universities such as Warwick which was established only in 1965 (50 years old) compared to Aberdeen which was established in 1495 (520 years old).

True. The south have some exceptional unis like Warwick and Surrey which have underwent massive research grants that levels them to the top. However, what I think do matter, to take note again, is their sizes. Warwick, Glasgow, even Bath have siginificantly higher student numbers than Aberdeen. That makes Aberdeen similar, especially in terms of teaching and the sense of intimacy it gives- to places like RHUL, Lancaster, Goldsmith, St.Andrews, etc. Contrast this with Russell group unis where every single unis except for QMUL all are way bugger than Aberdeen.

Not being in a research group like the Russell group I think contributes to the odd research distribution for Aberdeen. It does not attract people from the Royal Society, British academy, etc. as readily as others. As a positive flipside perhaps, professors do not tend to move around the academic ladder so rapidly ( as in, jumping one institution to another to rise ranks)- something beneficial to early career researchers for sure. As a flipside, again, Aberdeen ( depending on your subject) may not contain the star professor out there. If you're looking for star people, Aberdeen do have some in areas like: Law, theology, history, geology and i forgot to mention- Medicine and Nutrition too. Howver, that is not consistent across all subjects.

Not really, Aberdeen has about 14k students which is similar to the number of students at Bath (~15k). And just because it's the same size does not mean the teaching standards are similar to the other universities you mentioned. Even the student/staff ratio will be different.

RHUL has ~10k students (15.3/1), Lancaster has ~13k students (13.7/1), Goldsmiths has ~8k students (14.8/1) and St Andrews has ~10k students (11.4/1). Aberdeen is really only similar in size to Lancaster of the universities you mentioned in terms of both student number and student/staff ratio (Aberdeen's is 13.4/1). And QMUL IS bigger than Aberdeen in the size of students, the only RG smaller than Aberdeen is LSE.

I really don't think you can lump universities like Lancaster and St Andrews with Aberdeen. Both those universities do so much better on every indicator than Aberdeen. Aberdeen really isn't that strong for research...

True, and I do concede that Aberdeen is weaker in terms of research comparing to those institutions. I would be cautious in reading and relying solely on the overall score for research fiven by the times guide- a more precise way of doing that would be to refer to the REF 2014 results.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/ref-2014-results-by-subject/2017594.article

Edit: When i lumped RHUL and the others with Aberdeen I'm referring to the intimacy and campus structure, as are the methods of teaching that these institutions shares similarities in. As opposed to bigger places like KCL and other provincial/flagship unis where the environment won't be the same as the ones I lump together- to include Aberdeen given it's a campus university. Teaching standards do improve in smaller/medium sized institutions overall IMO. Given how in the NSS 2015 ( national student survey) the top ones were the specialists/mediums like Heythrop College, Brighton medical school, St.Andrews, RHUL. Hence, for research, I wouldn't compare Aberdeen to say, st.andrews ( good difference!) but will compare them on teaching standards because that is to me, more important.

Unlike other more well known institutions, Aberdeen from my experience and student:staff ratio, gives a balance between teaching and research. Which can mean- a taught masters course will probably be better than a research based one. For graduate studies, everyone needs to look at the actual faculties and related factors- you can absolutely have a bad supervisor from the top ones- even if they are star professor. Having, in my case, in my old university having heard of horror stories from distraught master/phd students in trying to meet their supervisor.

There's really not that much difference.. in the Times Higher Education table, Aberdeen places 46th whereas in in the one I linked, it places 43rd.

Yes, but even still Aberdeen does not perform well in the NSS so again it is not comparable (it ranks 63rd). The universities you mentioned may perform well in the NSS and are all campus universities however this does not mean that all campus universities will have similar teaching styles/standards. Correlation does not imply causation. Furthermore, I would not compare the teaching standards of Aberdeen to St Andrews to be similar because of the difference in student/staff ratio as well as NSS scores. To be honest, there really isn't much in similarities except that they are both ancient universities.

Yes, anecdotes are good but the point of qualitative data (as provided by the Times and Sunday Times) is to quantify the information and make valid comparisons between institutions. I agree with you that it's important to look at the actual faculties and professors though, I just felt like misinformation was being spread in some of your posts.

I agree overall with your reading. If there is something I want to chip in, that would be, for students looking at NSS as a guide for how they think they'll get in uni, taking it with a pinch of salt is wise. NSS results, unlike research quality and entry standards, tends to swing between years a lot. I hope I didn't commit grave misinformation by putting more nuances.

There is anoter thing...and that is funding. Masters and research degrees generally wants people to apply for some kind of funding. Aberdeen, comparing with the other ancients of Scotland, does not have as big a funding infrastructure as the bigger ones + St.Andrews. Not to say that my lovely Aberdeen is poor ( because it is not), but the endowment size difference say, between Glasgow and Aberdeen is fat. Again, this changes rapidly with each faculties. Because Aberdeen is energy. < This info matters more for postgraduates than undergraduates, however.

Another thing to add is regarding the Student union in Aberdeen, it is great in terms of the numbers of societies and activities offered. However, it does not yet have a bar or an attached clubbing or great entertainment facility with subsidised student cost. This facility will come in the next 2 years or so.

Also, as a side thing, for undergraduates, if you're applying to a Scottish university, then expect big exams twice a year. English/Welsh/N.Ireland places generally slam their exams at the end of the year.

I had big exams twice a year in England? I thought the Hub had a drinks bit, I know the one in town is shut down. There is a pub I think I think at hillhead house. There is a couple of pubs on King's Road behind thecampus where people used to drink and a pub in old aberdeen close to Blackwells.

Another thing with Aberdeen is that you go a general biology / chemistry / physics course in your first year and then you gradually specialise.

I agree overall with your reading. If there is something I want to chip in, that would be, for students looking at NSS as a guide for how they think they'll get in uni, taking it with a pinch of salt is wise. NSS results, unlike research quality and entry standards, tends to swing between years a lot. I hope I didn't commit grave misinformation by putting more nuances.

There is anoter thing...and that is funding. Masters and research degrees generally wants people to apply for some kind of funding. Aberdeen, comparing with the other ancients of Scotland, does not have as big a funding infrastructure as the bigger ones + St.Andrews. Not to say that my lovely Aberdeen is poor ( because it is not), but the endowment size difference say, between Glasgow and Aberdeen is fat. Again, this changes rapidly with each faculties. Because Aberdeen is energy. < This info matters more for postgraduates than undergraduates, however.

Another thing to add is regarding the Student union in Aberdeen, it is great in terms of the numbers of societies and activities offered. However, it does not yet have a bar or an attached clubbing or great entertainment facility with subsidised student cost. This facility will come in the next 2 years or so.

Also, as a side thing, for undergraduates, if you're applying to a Scottish university, then expect big exams twice a year. English/Welsh/N.Ireland places generally slam their exams at the end of the year.