Do what league tables say really matter?

rosel100

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So, does what league tables like the Guardian and the complete university guide say really matter? Or is it more important in terms of where your uni ranks for that particular subject?

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LaTruite

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It is definitely much more important to see how good your uni is doing for the particular subject. Don't worry too much about the general rating for the university.

For the reference, I got accepted to Edinburgh and Sheffield but was definitely going to Sheffield, because the subject at Sheffield ranked much higher than the one at Edinburgh. Your future employers will most likely know if the department at your university is doing very well, so the university's general ranking won't be as important.

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kate-Bush

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(Original post by rosel100)
So, does what league tables like the Guardian and the complete university guide say really matter? Or is it more important in terms of where your uni ranks for that particular subject?

Subject tables matter a lot more but if you set your standards high, aim to find a Uni that's high in the league tables as well as in the subject tables (like sussex

)

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RenéDescartes

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I use the QS University rankings, and THE World University rankings because they provide allow us to see how 'good' UK universities are in realtion to the rest of the world. QS is better for subject rankings, and THE is better for research rankings. I think they do matter especially if you want to do research.

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Ak4753

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(Original post by LaTruite)
It is definitely much more important to see how good your uni is doing for the particular subject. Don't worry too much about the general rating for the university.

For the reference, I got accepted to Edinburgh and Sheffield but was definitely going to Sheffield, because the subject at Sheffield ranked much higher than the one at Edinburgh. Your future employers will most likely know if the department at your university is doing very well, so the university's general ranking won't be as important.

Lol no it's not. If this were true more civil eng students would choose Manchester over Princeton because it has a higher ranking for civil eng, but they don't. More econ students would choose nyu over brown, given it's rank in econ, but they don't. Rep matters more.

Your future employers will care very little about subject specific rankings or rankings in general; these tend to be highly influenced by student satisfaction which is subjective. They recruit most where they know best.

Disclaimer: They recruit people, not schools.

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RenéDescartes

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(Original post by Ak4753)
Lol no it's not. If this were true more civil eng students would choose Manchester over Princeton because it has a higher ranking for civil eng, but they don't. More econ students would choose nyu over brown, given it's rank in econ, but they don't. Rep matters more.

Your future employers will care very little about subject specific rankings or rankings in general; these tend to be highly influenced by student satisfaction which is subjective. They recruit most where they know best.

Disclaimer: They recruit people, not schools.

I would choose NYU over Brown anyday; Brown is meh in terms of overall reputation and rank.

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LaTruite

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(Original post by Ak4753)
Lol no it's not. If this were true more civil eng students would choose Manchester over Princeton because it has a higher ranking for civil eng, but they don't. More econ students would choose nyu over brown, given it's rank in econ, but they don't. Rep matters more.

Your future employers will care very little about subject specific rankings or rankings in general; these tend to be highly influenced by student satisfaction which is subjective. They recruit most where they know best.

Well you can't ignore the major differences between universities in the UK and in the US. Reputation of the school matters a lot more in the US and the particular subject is barely important at all. Like you said, American students care so much about the reputation that many tech students would rather choose Brown over Caltech because Brown is in the Ivy League, even though Caltech ranks much much better. My point is that you should definitely aim for the Russell Group universities (which usually have the best reputation and is the best university for a particular subject anyway), but if you're stuck between two, you should choose the university that is doing better in the particular subject.

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Ak4753

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(Original post by RenéDescartes)
I would choose NYU over Brown anyday; Brown is meh in terms of overall reputation and rank.

Not to US employers. Brown is immensely more selective than NYU. Most people, given the chance, would choose Brown.

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CinnamonSmol

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I don't care too much about league tables, they change each year and are highly subjective, though I will look at the tables for certain subjects to get a quick vibe of which uni's might be better than others. Ultimately though, it matters to me more about the course content, the style of teaching, the university and how much I think the uni suits me and will help me form contacts for a good job.

some people think its strange that I personally prefer Birmingham over St Andrews but I know that I'll be happier there (plus both are good for the subject I want to take, I doubt 5-8 place difference in different tables will create an extreme different in my future)

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RenéDescartes

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(Original post by LaTruite)
Well you can't ignore the major differences between universities in the UK and in the US. Reputation of the school matters a lot more in the US and the particular subject is barely important at all. Like you said, American students care so much about the reputation that many tech students would rather choose Brown over Caltech because Brown is in the Ivy League, even though Caltech ranks much much better. My point is that you should definitely aim for the Russell Group universities (which usually have the best reputation and is the best university for a particular subject anyway), but if you're stuck between two, you should choose the university that is doing better in the particular subject.

No one who is capable of getting into Caltech (smart people) would ever choose Brown over Caltech; Americans aren't that stupid lol. Ivy League means absolutely nothing; it's a sports association ffs.

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LaTruite

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(Original post by RenéDescartes)
No one who is capable of getting into Caltech (smart people) would ever choose Brown over Caltech; Americans aren't that stupid lol. Ivy League means absolutely nothing; it's a sports association ffs.

Unfortunately, I know people who has chosen Brown over Caltech. And I agree, Ivy Leagues means nothing, but I feel like a lot of Americans have been brainwashed by the entire system, and it is definitely sad.

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Ak4753

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(Original post by LaTruite)
Well you can't ignore the major differences between universities in the UK and in the US. Reputation of the school matters a lot more in the US and the particular subject is barely important at all. Like you said, American students care so much about the reputation that many tech students would rather choose Brown over Caltech because Brown is in the Ivy League, even though Caltech ranks much much better. My point is that you should definitely aim for the Russell Group universities (which usually have the best reputation and is the best university for a particular subject anyway), but if you're stuck between two, you should choose the university that is doing better in the particular subject.

- The reputation of the school matters a lot in the UK for corporate professions (eg. finance/corporate law). There will be people who disagree with this, but then I'd need them to explain why certain UK institutions which we all know a) have significantly more FTSE firms visit them than others b) Are overrepresented at those firms despite applications being open to all. For sectors like engineering etc. where the demand is actually above the supply in some areas, of course, institution matters less.

- There are differences in international rep between Russel group unis. moreover, there are universities outside the Russell group which wipe the floor with half the RG (eg. Bath). This Russel group tag is, when talking about the most highly regarded schools, useless and tells us very little about the regard of specific schools--The Russel Group ranges from the G5 to York.

- Noone in their right mind would choose Brown over Caltech for reasons of prestige.

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Ak4753

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(Original post by RenéDescartes)
No one who is capable of getting into Caltech (smart people) would ever choose Brown over Caltech; Americans aren't that stupid lol. Ivy League means absolutely nothing; it's a sports association ffs.

LOL that's what I was thinking when I saw that. Like does this person KNOW CalTech??

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RenéDescartes

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(Original post by LaTruite)
Unfortunately, I know people who has chosen Brown over Caltech. And I agree, Ivy Leagues means nothing, but I feel like a lot of Americans have been brainwashed by the entire system, and it is definitely sad.

Ask them what type of crack they're smoking.

Maybe they chose Brown because they want to study Arts and Humanities, and Caltech's Arts faculty is meh?

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RenéDescartes

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(Original post by Ak4753)
LOL that's what I was thinking when I saw that. Like does this person KNOW CalTech??

Meth makes people do weird things.

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Zalvager

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The guardian league tables are a joke.

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Deliciate

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think people only care about the unis that are consistently high in the league tables, the ones with large & random fluctuations arent as rated

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Heyok

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It does matter only for TSR people.

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Duncan2012

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(Original post by LaTruite)
Your future employers will most likely know if the department at your university is doing very well

Haha, do you honestly believe that?

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random_matt

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Yep, your average TSR user is a societal drone who get sucked in by buzzwords and numbers, and believe me, going to a prestigious university sucks balls.

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