The "Ask a Durham Student" Thread :)

I actually think Bristol has more beautiful buildings, and on bigger scale, than Durham. Trying to choose which one is better is almost like saying is Oxford better than Cambridge?

Durham is the 10th best university IMO, but for superficial prestige it edges Warwick, and matches Bristol and Edinburgh.

I'd say its higher than 10th for physics. Its more like
Cambridge
Oxford
Imperial
Durham/Manchester
UCL/St Andrews.

The head of Physics at Nottingham was both Oxford and Harvard educated, so it can get very confusing which department is best.

Because the educational background of the head of department determines how well the department is ranked among others...?

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The head of Physics at Nottingham was both Oxford and Harvard educated, so it can get very confusing which department is best.

We had first year lab demonstrators that were Harvard and Cambridge educated. Our head of department is way better http://star-www.dur.ac.uk/~csf/homepage/cv.pdf

Yes, but they weren't professors?

My professors were too.

As long as a university can boast such high calibre professors, the department ranking isn't that important IMO.

Both have some very modern buildings and some very historic, Harry-Potterish buildings. For law, while the Wills Memorial Building (Bristol's Law school) is stunning and iconic, I'd prefer Durham's purpose-built school for practical reasons.

I believe it's silly to say, for law at least, that any of Durham, UCL, KCL, Bristol, Warwick and Nottingham is better than the other. Someone gunning for a TC will most certainly not find an employer saying "Well, he goes to Durham, so I'll pick him over the fella going to Nottingham". Oxbridge and LSE may have an edge, and to a lesser extent UCL (always in my opinion), but other than that it's very pointless to say that one is fifth and the other is sixth and so on.

Some people think the entry requirements provide a fair comparison, but I oppose that. You can't possibly compare them objectively. Bristol has a class of about 370, while Durham has a class of 270 and Nottingham even less at 170 (numbers are approximate). Obviously Bristol would be (a lot) more competitive if it had 170 places and Nottingham less competitive if it had 370 places, and so on for every school.

-That's for law but I believe it applies to most other courses as well.-

Overall, I'd advise anyone aiming at these universities to be careful on what they base their decisions on. For me, Durham was never an option in reality due to its location. I would never be able to survive in such a small city! Bristol is an amazing city and that made me choose it as my insurance (I did for a moment regret not opting for KCL as my insurance due to London, but I am very happy with Bristol now!). Other factors would include prices, opportunities in terms of careers and similar factors.

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Your numbers are a bit out, at least for Durham. Class size for Durham this year just gone was 206/7.

But a fair point nonetheless.

@*Stefan* The Bristol Law students look so hot and classy, I am jealous.

Bristol's actually has loads of good looking people this year as well. I'm pleasantly surprised (not that it matters anyway )

@*Stefan* The Bristol Law students look so hot and classy, I am jealous.

I haven't seen so many hot at UCL so far .

Bristol laws starting salary is 19k, Durham law is 24k...

And that means what? When we got asked what we wanted to do upon graduation today, not even half the class said barristers/solicitors, so they obviously have different aspirations. Bristol also has a substantial number of international students in the LLB course which may factor in (after all, it's still 170+ more people were talking about).

Only Oxbridge and LSE truly have an advantage over the rest, UCL a little but not much. Durham and Bristol are about level for Law in the eyes of top MC firms.

Imho, it's mostly Oxbridge that has the certain advantage and that is understandable (no matter how open large firms are trying to prove themselves to be). LSE and UCL are on a very similar level (also helped by their location) and then the remaining top schools follow closely.

As for the salary bands, here's an interesting detail: - LLB (part time) ,Manchester Metropolitan University: average salary after six months £30.000.
- BA Jurisprudence, Oxford University: average salary after six months £21.000. Sounds about right I think!

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