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Civil engineering applications at Edinburgh, Warwick and UCL

Hi there !!
My name is Ali, i'm actually applying for an engineering course for the 2016 entry (taking a gap year). I'm studying in the French educational system, and the requested grades that i've been emailed are, in order of difficulty :
Edinburgh>UCL>Warwick.
I applied to study civil engineering(undergraduate) and i was wondering which school of the 3 is the best : i heard about Edinburgh about as a solid schools for engineering and sciences. Concerning UCL, it doesn't appears to be as good in engineering as it is in others fields (soc, med...) and the quality of the learning wasn't that good. However, concerning CIVIL ENGINEERING, i found this relative document from The Guardian who says that it's one of the best schools in UK for this field. Here is it :

http://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2014/jun/03/university-guide-2015-league-table-for-civil-engineering

On ther other side, some people told that the quality of the undergraduate courses is similar for most schools and the rankings are really signifiant for Masters.
For Warwick, it seems to be an awesome school, but i didn't hear a lot about it in this field.

So i'm considering the 3 choices(but mostly WW and UCL) but i have many questions relative to my lack of knowledge about the UK system, that's why i'm posting this hoping for you to help me <3. So :

Is it true that the overall prestige of a school is more important than anything considering an undergraduated course? Because, if it is, i think UCL is definitely the best school of the 3. but also, if it is, then i should give priority to the quality of the learning, teaching, and all relatives to this (labs, libraries, students reputation...) and for this point, UCL doesn't seem to be that good, a lot criticize their mechanical engineering course and maybe it's the same for Civil(?). Warwick seems to be the best, the degree description really impressed me.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/h200/

Also, i'm intending to go to US for Master or phD(if i do one :tongue:

) and if it's possible, have an exchange at third year. What are the partners of UCL for civil engineering? because i didn't find anything ...

Those are the only questions that hit my mind for the moment, but if you have any informations about courses or schools(related to courses of school) i would be very grateful.
Thanks in advance !!! hope to hear from you soon.

UPP

hi~
I will be prospective ph.D student at Warwick on this year. I also consider several universities because I've got offer from all of them.
However, I choosed a Warwick university since I saw the bright future of the University even though they are now not on the list in this field.
The league table will be change and I will make it.

Reply 3

skycitybjh

I will also be phd prospective warwick student in 2015. I applied a few university and I got conditional offer all from them. But I choose Warwick even though it doesn't show up in the field league table. I expect the future of the Warwick university becasue I will make it.

Reply 4

username1553813

Through reputation, Warwick and UCL equate. Overall, they are academically stronger than that of Eburgh. However, Eburgh is fantastic too. I'd first say, that wherever you end up, you'll be coming out with a leading degree- in which case you should therefore look at the course structures and decide which one you love the most- and then get down to the nitty gritty. I think you should go for Wwick or UCL, because Wwick has a strong rep for the mathematical related subjects, and their course is much more open as all engineers do 2 years of pure engineering and in the 3rd year, you specialise- in which case, if after two years you decide you'd rather do mechanical than civil, then you won't be forced away into completing a degree you are not content with. UCL has a awesome, weird civil eng structure which is acc really different to other unis, and is extremely exciting.

Again, they're all so fantastic so I guess you should visit them all and decide what one suits you the best. Imo, i'd choose between UCL and Wwick. Good luck.

Reply 5

kilojoule

Original post by AliRachidi

Is it true that the overall prestige of a school is more important than anything considering an undergraduated course? Because, if it is, i think UCL is definitely the best school of the 3. but also, if it is, then i should give priority to the quality of the learning, teaching, and all relatives to this (labs, libraries, students reputation...) and for this point, UCL doesn't seem to be that good, a lot criticize their mechanical engineering course and maybe it's the same for Civil(?).

Generally, overall prestige of the uni is more important for undergraduates, and the research quality of the specific department becomes more important for grad school. UCL has pretty decent civil engineering labs and libraries, although much smaller than unis like Cambridge because space is so limited in London. The course itself has a very unique design, where you do several week-long scenario projects over your first two years. It helps consolidate what you have learnt in lectures and apply them to real-world problems, often with the help of engineers in industry (e.g. Arup). In that sense, it gives a more holistic education than most other unis.

Original post by AliRachidi

Also, i'm intending to go to US for Master or phD(if i do one :tongue:

) and if it's possible, have an exchange at third year. What are the partners of UCL for civil engineering? because i didn't find anything ...

UCL has a strong study abroad partnership with UIUC for civil engineers. There are also limited spaces for Columbia and University of Washington. Besides the American ones, you have those in Europe (ETH Zurich), Singapore (NUS), Hong Kong (HKUST), and a few more, but those are the popular ones.

Feel free to PM me if you need more info on UCL civil engineering :smile: