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QS World Rankings 2018 just out - bad news for UK universities

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Of interest to me specifically are
Nottingham who still have not replied to me
Manchester who made me an offer
Newcastle who made me an offer
York who made me an offer
Leeds who I might yet still apply to
Dundee who have very low entry requirements but tend to keep scoring high are they actually any good?
Glasgow who you can get into with BBB but I think that is only for scottish Students I think been English I would need A*A*A*A*A* with 95+ average doubt they would accept four A levels from an english student has to be 5 and also SSS in STEPS 1 2 and 3.

Manchester offered me AA and taking into account their international reputation and general other factors it appears they would definitely be a strong education.
Nottingham look Strong to and I think I could do well there but no response.
York having offered me AB Is where I stand a 25% chance of ending up. i am definitely getting the A grade for Math. then it is 50/50 whether I get an A further Math or not.
It is also 50/50 if I get the B grade if Manchester still take me anyway. so I would say 75% chance of Manchester 25% of York unless Nottingham offer me AB in which case 100% chance of Nottingham. Also if I apply to Leeds and they offer me AB then York are gone from the equation.

would York be alright could I still get a decent education from York?

could I potentially get into a masters/PHD at Oxbridge with a first from York in Math?
Reply 21
Original post by Luke7456
Of interest to me specifically are
Nottingham who still have not replied to me
Manchester who made me an offer
Newcastle who made me an offer
York who made me an offer
Leeds who I might yet still apply to
Dundee who have very low entry requirements but tend to keep scoring high are they actually any good?
Glasgow who you can get into with BBB but I think that is only for scottish Students I think been English I would need A*A*A*A*A* with 95+ average doubt they would accept four A levels from an english student has to be 5 and also SSS in STEPS 1 2 and 3.

Manchester offered me AA and taking into account their international reputation and general other factors it appears they would definitely be a strong education.
Nottingham look Strong to and I think I could do well there but no response.
York having offered me AB Is where I stand a 25% chance of ending up. i am definitely getting the A grade for Math. then it is 50/50 whether I get an A further Math or not.
It is also 50/50 if I get the B grade if Manchester still take me anyway. so I would say 75% chance of Manchester 25% of York unless Nottingham offer me AB in which case 100% chance of Nottingham. Also if I apply to Leeds and they offer me AB then York are gone from the equation.

would York be alright could I still get a decent education from York?

could I potentially get into a masters/PHD at Oxbridge with a first from York in Math?


I would say Manchester > Nottingham > York > Leeds > Newcastle > Dundee etc...

Could you afford the 40K fees for an Oxbridge masters - only 10K of which will be student finance funded?
Original post by Voi
I would say Manchester > Nottingham > York > Leeds > Newcastle > Dundee etc...

Could you afford the 40K fees for an Oxbridge masters - only 10K of which will be student finance funded?


The Oxbridge thing is more a sign of quality then an actual ambition eg If I Know that a degree from university X would be good enough to be realistically considered for a Masters at Oxbridge then I have nothing to worry about.

I will likely to a four year integrated masters where ever I end up. So doing a masters at Oxbridge probably wont happen but at least if I know I would be high enough quality to get stand a chance of been accepted then the education is good.

I plan to take Math as far as I need to, in order to be able to do what I want. Every time I hear off people who have done what I want to do they Normally are Phds so I think I will need a PHD however if I find a degree/ Masters is sufficient then no need.

I would like to do a PHD at Mit really I mean that is the place to be but probs unrealistic.
I've come to think that international rankings like QS are more of a hindrance than a help, particularly for those considering undergraduate study.

My biggest issue with them is that they try to judge thousands of unis with varying specialities and sizes, not to mention extremely different cultural environments, with exactly the same criteria.

They're also skewed way too much by how well known an institution is, and this skews the tables towards bigger unis in large cities. For example, Manchester spanks St Andrews' bottom red raw in this ranking, but anyone who knows anything about UK unis can tell you that St Andrews is pretty damn good in its own right and has many of its own strengths and distinctive qualities.

People here tend to look down on the use of student satisfaction ratings in national rankings, but at least it's concrete data about teaching from people who have first-hand experience of the institution and its teaching. The QS ranking doesn't measure teaching quality at all and instead puts a massive emphasis on "academic reputation" (40%). It seems this is based on a survey of academics around the world. That means that someone who chooses to study history at Manchester instead of St Andrews based on this ranking is basing their decision on the opinions of people who know next to nothing about the places aside from a couple of research papers they might have read.

These days I really struggle to see the point to international rankings other than as a marketing tool for unis and a source of revenue for the firms that produce them.
Reply 24
I don't get how KCL is ahead of LSE and some others like Warwick or Bristol. I get that it is a London uni but I swear it's not really that competitive. The rankings seem a bit off tbh. I know stuff like IIT in India is super competitive as opposed to other Unis placed higher (similar stuff in South Korea and Japan as well I think). I guess its just hard to judge all Unis fairly/accurately as they are all so different in their respective countries etc.
Original post by Nirm
I don't get how KCL is ahead of LSE and some others like Warwick or Bristol. I get that it is a London uni but I swear it's not really that competitive. The rankings seem a bit off tbh. I know stuff like IIT in India is super competitive as opposed to other Unis placed higher (similar stuff in South Korea and Japan as well I think). I guess its just hard to judge all Unis fairly/accurately as they are all so different in their respective countries etc.


Maybe you should think about the fact that the ranking isn't just based on entry competitiveness? Have a read of how they actually decide on the rankings before criticising.
Reply 26
Original post by Luke7456
I assume CS is computer science or chemical engineering?

anyway how long ago was this degree standards have changed a lot since then. We now have a large group of the population going to university who would have been considered not bright enough previously.

or people that just do not put the work in. I remember my course where people went out drinking most of the time and literally put in barely any effort I spend the lectures playing computer games or doing whatever learned the exams the night before almost from scratch wrote essays etc the day before and still came out with a 2:1. I know a lot of students who did this.

its not surprising with 35-40% of young people going to university there are a lot of lazy students or people just that bright etc. and the universities need them to graduate so the standards have been seriously dumbed down.

maybe back in your day this was not so much the case and degrees still had rigor.

However these days a lot of joke degrees I really do not think portsmouth is good for Maths. I think the Acid Test comes down to if I got a weak first in the degree/ integrated Masters would an application to a post grad at Oxbridge be realistic?

My general feel is
Imperial Yes
St Andrews Yes
Durham Yes
Warwick Yes
Bath Yes
Bristol Yes
Edinburgh Yes
Lancaster Yes
Glasgow Yes
Nottingham Yes
UCL yes
Exeter possibly
Newcastle Yes
Leeds Yes
Birmingham Possibly
Surrey Possibly
Loughborough Unlikely
Dundee nope
Sussex nope
Manchester Yes
York Possibly
Southampton possibly
Cardiff Possibly
Liverpool John Moores No Chance
London Met no chance
Portsmouth No chance
Nottingham Trent No Chance
manchester Metro No chance.


44% of MAST applicants from York have received an Offer from Cambridge in recent years.
There have been no applicants from Portsmouth, LJM, NT or ManMet.
Sussex though (one of your "nopes") has a 50% Offer rate.
And the Offer rate for applicants from Imperial is also 50%.

The point is if an individual applicant has a strong application then Cambridge is reasonably likely to make an Offer no matter what their prior university is.
Original post by Doonesbury
44% of MAST applicants from York have received an Offer from Cambridge in recent years.
There have been no applicants from Portsmouth, LJM, NT or ManMet.
Sussex though (one of your "nopes":wink: has a 50% Offer rate.
And the Offer rate for applicants from Imperial is also 50%.

The point is if an individual applicant has a strong application then Cambridge is reasonably likely to make an Offer no matter what their prior university is.


York hmm did not think the figure would be that high but thought it might be okay for Cambridge wow as high as 44%. Okay i guess I should not be worried about going to York then it sounds like if I put the work in I can still get a very strong education from York.

I think where I really want to go more then anywhere is MIT in the US however I doubt you would know about that.

The Oxbridge thing is more a sign that the degree is quality rather then specifically wanting Oxbridge.

so there wont be a significant difference in the level of Math I learn at York compared to Manchester?
Reply 28
Original post by Luke7456
so there wont be a significant difference in the level of Math I learn at York compared to Manchester?


I have no specific knowledge of the content of either course.
And Labour wants to make unis "free" (its not free obviously, someone has to pay) making unis recieve less money. There's been a long term trend of our technology falling behind making US universities overtake us.

Also its natural that countries in the east will rise up in the ranks with their best universities as they get richer and are able to improve facilities, so the data does have some flaws.

EDIT: Not to mention how American unis have ridiculous fees so they get way more revenue.
(edited 6 years ago)
I don't think international rankings matter at all unless you plan on moving to a different country after your degree
Original post by Doonesbury
No UK university in the top 4, with CalTech replacing Cambridge in 4th place:
1 (1) : MIT < tops the ranking for the 6th year in a row.
2 (2) : Stanford
3 (3) : Harvard
4 (5) : CalTech

And, worse, 51 UK universities have dropped places in the rankings. QS says : "this reflects prolonged funding cuts, the increasing use of adjunct faculty, improvements from other nations, and concerns about the potential impact of Brexit;"

Of the UK universities in the Top 10:
Cambridge is still the top placed UK university, now in 5th place (was 4th).
Oxford remains 6th
UCL remains 7th
Imperial up to 8th (was 9th)

Selected others (previous year ranking in brackets):
23 (21) : KCL
24 (19) : Edinburgh
34 (29) : Manchester
35 (37=) : LSE
44 (41) : Bristol
57 (51=) : Warwick
65 (63=) : Glasgow
78= (74) : Durham
82= (84) : Sheffield
84= (75=) : Nottingham
92 (77) : St Andrews < biggest UK faller in top 100

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2018

Where's your university?

Do you put more importance on international rankings like QS or UK rankings like CUG/Guardian? Why?

Edit to add: in better news, Oxbridge tops the table for Global Employer Reputation. With Cambridge #1 and Oxford #2 ahead of Harvard and MIT.


I suspect Cambridge were dragged down by Land Economy :biggrin:
We need to hurry up with a hard far right Brexit to make Britain great again.
Original post by Kravence
I don't think international rankings matter at all unless you plan on moving to a different country after your degree


I might be abandoning my plans to do a degree here full stop it is looking highly likely that Corbyn will get in and if he does not when the older generation go we will be left with this only.

The younger generation are anti semetic on mass anti american and want to take the side of ISIS against America.

I will have no choice but to leave.
I never really know how much stock to put into these international rankings, as they always seem to excessively value US/UK and then other anglophile institutions over others. I find it hard to believe Ulm and l'X don't outstrip Manchester, for example (not to impugne the latter but...)...or Northwestern for that matter :s

Still, it's amusing to see Princeton only one above Cornell. STEM coming to getcha yo :tongue: (yes I know Princeton has maths, Cornell has everything else though)
Original post by Luke7456
I might be abandoning my plans to do a degree here full stop it is looking highly likely that Corbyn will get in and if he does not when the older generation go we will be left with this only.

The younger generation are anti semetic on mass anti american and want to take the side of ISIS against America.

I will have no choice but to leave.


Congratulations on the writing the stupidest thing I've witnessed all day, and one of my coworkers had to be told to turn the handle after twisting the lock to open a door.
Original post by artful_lounger
Congratulations on the writing the stupidest thing I've witnessed all day, and one of my coworkers had to be told to turn the handle after twisting the lock to open a door.


Corbyn has said we should negotiate with ISIS, and called Hamas friends whilst calling for Trump to be banned from the UK.

By implying we should try to talk to ISIS but we cannot entertain talks with the President of the US is in my book a clear sign of taking the side of Terrorists over that of America.

The youth vote is overwhelmingly supportive of Corbyn and a lot of the youth I speak to have pure hate for Jews and Americans.
I don't know who said it or where but alot of university students find university easier than A Levels.

The exceptions being Oxbridge and about 4/5 othertop end Russell group uni's depending on course.

Original post by Luke7456
I might be abandoning my plans to do a degree here full stop it is looking highly likely that Corbyn will get in and if he does not when the older generation go we will be left with this only.

The younger generation are anti semetic on mass anti american and want to take the side of ISIS against America.

I will have no choice but to leave.


Honestly?

Abandon your plans anyway

The fact you could seriously state that you think the younger generation are Anti-Semitic must make you ignorant and stupid on an astronomical level
Original post by Luke7456

I doubt most students there spend their time falling over getting drunk.


Unfortunately Downing College does in fact, exist.
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 39
Honestly couldn't care less. In Natural Science subjects it's less about where you go but what you do during your time at university and after that ultimately matters. No 2:1/1st, no PhD, no scientific career. Doesn't matter if you are from Oxbridge or Birmingham. The field levels out.

It's all about playing the game, not where you play the game.

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