Course vs University Reputation

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When you read ranking table, you need to think of how is the methodology related to your employability.
I personally recommend TopUniversities, you can have a look of the sites below:
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2018/economics-econometrics
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/employability-rankings/2018

Another choice is high fliers:
https://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2018/graduate_market/GMReport18.pdf

p.s Half of the people who replied you here have no experience of applying a job with their degree.

The ranking tables are such a mess. The first link says that's better Essex while the second one the opposite. The Guardian says york>essex>lancaster while complete universities say: york>lancaster>essex

Overall york seems to be the best-ranked uni.

Reply 21

sairosman

Original post by yt7777

I would usually say always go with reputation.

But, a joint degree in Economics & Computing sounds quite unique and opens a massive amount of job opportunities.

If both were the same course always go for reputation but in your case I would suggest going with Essex. You can always do a masters at a stronger uni after.

that's exactly why I'm so unsure about the choice. The only other uni that has economics combined with computing is st.andrew

Reply 22

sairosman

thanks to all of you guys, I'm probably going to choose Essex as the course is unique and very interesting. But I'm still unsure, I don't want to lose the opportunity to study at such a great and prestigious university like york. I will think about it till tonight.

Reply 23

username3434964

Original post by random_matt

So me getting a 2:1 at Durham is worst than me getting a 1:1 at Bangor (Where I transferred from).

Idk. I'm not saying what would be valued by employers etc, but what I would see as better.

I have no idea what course you did etc and I have no idea how employers would see it.

Reply 24

random_matt

Original post by Bill Nye

Idk. I'm not saying what would be valued by employers etc, but what I would see as better.

I have no idea what course you did etc and I have no idea how employers would see it.

Psychology, probably therapist route or research route.

Reply 25

dirt consider

Don’t do a course you don’t want to do because it’s at a good university, when you get halfway into second year and you’re swamped with assignments you don’t give a **** about from a course you don’t give a **** about you’re gonna regret your choice, and the last thing on your mind will be the prestige of your university. It’s very hard to do a degree, let alone a degree you aren’t even fully invested in

Reply 26

NiceEconTeacher

I graduated from LSE Econ a few years ago and started working in the digital sector afterwards. From my perspective, the Essex course seems to have much more career potential given this time and age. It also allows for more flexible career options and gives you two industry paths.

Things you learn in Econ is not very applicable to work to be honest, even for finance related roles. Unless you are looking to go into research or some really high end jobs which require even better degrees as an entry requirement.

In terms of rep and ranking, employers won't search up your university's subject ranking. To be honest, they won't bother as long as they have heard of your uni on your CV. Looking at overall rank York and Essex is pretty similar.

I say in the end, go with your gut and what you like. One of my mistakes looking back was choosing such a mathematical course which I did not enjoy as much at LSE.

Reply 27

yt7777

Original post by sairosman

that's exactly why I'm so unsure about the choice. The only other uni that has economics combined with computing is st.andrew

Yeah it depends also on your career aspersions, it would be harder to get into the IT industry with just an Economics degree, so having the Computing element to the degree is great if you see yourself going into it as a career? If you have no intention to, then possibly straight Econ at a better uni might be worth it, but if you have any slight want to pursue computing as a career then go for the joint degree.

Have you applied at St Andrews? It's an excellent university, better than both Lancaster and York and if it does your ideal course (like at Essex) why not go for it?

Also, in terms of tables, don't bother looking at the Guardian it's probably the worst one. You can't go wrong with Complete University Guide.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 28

DrSocSciences

That's a tough call. I opted for a PhD at a weaker university, because it was funded and therefore already structured (and also was in a pre-determined collaboration with a prestigious third party organisation), vs a more prestigious uni where I'd have just started with a blank sheet of paper. That was partly because I had young kids, and so was drawn to the path of least resistance. It's a decision I've had to justify at interviews pretty much ever since, and the issue is that if your preferred uni has a slightly weaker rep, you may not even get offered an interview. So rank your pro's and cons, attach a numerical value to each, calculate the 'better' option, and see you how you feel about that.

Reply 29

sairosman

Original post by yt7777

yes, i always been interested in economics and computer science. that's why i choose that course. About st andrew i don't have the grades that they're asking but i can try. The only big bad thing about st Andrew is that you have to study for 4 years instead of 3 as it is a Scottish uni. It's like loosing a year.
Right now I also got an offer from bristol that is even better than york. This is making me mad.

Reply 30

yt7777

Original post by sairosman

I've had a look at the course at Essex and it looks like 75/25 Econ/CS, but does still look good! What grades do you have? Possibly try for St Andrews, do you not think 4 years would be worth it?

Is that Bristol for straight Economics?

Reply 31

sairosman

Original post by yt7777

I'm an international student and my grades are different from a-level. I'm trying for St Andrew and I'll let you know.
I don't know about the 4 years because Scotland is the unique country of the whole world (maybe with just other few) of having the length of the undergraduate courses of 4 years. This is because their high school lasts only 4 years instead of 5. So while for a Scottish student is perfectly normal for a foreign student (Britain included) it could be a loose of 1 year. And this is not as good as in that year I could have applied for jobs or started a new master/graduate course.

About bristol i would study economics and management or just economics.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 32

sairosman

Original post by yt7777

nothing to do with St Andrew, now i have to choose...

Reply 33

jam277.5

Essex is far better than Lancaster for economics -- the former has some well-known researchers and are very good for game theory. Lancaster is just another uni with a decent course.

Of course this might differ from rep, but there's little to no evidence for these

I don't know what you want to work in but there's a few people with degrees from Essex in economics consultancies and the comp science element will help ya a lot with the stats side. Just get a masters after

Reply 34

AzureCeleste

Original post by sairosman

nothing to do with St Andrew, now i have to choose...

Make a list of pros and cons.
Think about the course.
If you applied for economics and computing, assumably you want to do both so why do you want to sacrifice the computing for a better uni?
Think about the cities as well, and the campus(is it a city uni or a campus one).
There are a lot of factors to consider.
Also future employers will prefer a 1st from one uni rather than a 2:1 from a higher ranked uni

Reply 35

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

It depends a lot on what your longer term plans are. For some career paths, "prestige" is important to get in to start with (for example, banking). For others, it may be a help for some specific grad schemes or something, but is largely unnecessary (for example, in engineering). For academia (i.e. continuing to a PhD as a first step) individual faculty who act as a supervisor/specific research groups/overall department "strength" in the field is more important (in roughly descending order). Without knowing what you are hoping to get out of your degree, it's hard to say really.

Also as noted, for a lot of paths, a 1st from somewhere will trump a lower classification from a "higher" uni, with a few exceptions that are mostly obvious (e.g. a 2:1 from Oxbridge/LSE will probably get you as far as a 1st from anywhere other than those places typically). Equally, "soft" variables like how much you like the area to live in, expenses etc, do make a difference in the "hard" outcomes (i.e. grades and hence classification); if you hate living somewhere and become very depressed, you are unlikely to do as well in exams as you could otherwise; if you have considerable financial strain and spend a lot of time anxious over finances, you will not be able to focus on your studies as well, and will again do worse. So these are well worth taking seriously into consideration...