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Loughborough, Birmingham, Bristol, Warwick, Durham?

9 days left to choose my firm and insurance for university and I havent even ruled any out yet. The courses are: mechanical engineering (AAB), engineering (AAB), engineering maths (AAA), general engineering (AAA) and general engineering (A*AA) respectively. any recommendations based on employability, prospects or general uni life would be appreciated.

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Generally I’d put Durham, Bristol and Warwick top.
Original post by RobElliot
9 days left to choose my firm and insurance for university and I havent even ruled any out yet. The courses are: mechanical engineering (AAB), engineering (AAB), engineering maths (AAA), general engineering (AAA) and general engineering (A*AA) respectively. any recommendations based on employability, prospects or general uni life would be appreciated.

I picked uni of birm mech eng because it had more realistic grades for me, also at birm you do a mix of all engineering first year then specialize after. I liked bristol when i went too, but grades were too high. Durham doesn't appeal to me at all it seems rlly private schooley and posh. idk bout other two
Reply 3
Original post by _simone
I picked uni of birm mech eng because it had more realistic grades for me, also at birm you do a mix of all engineering first year then specialize after. I liked bristol when i went too, but grades were too high. Durham doesn't appeal to me at all it seems rlly private schooley and posh. idk bout other two

Thats fair enough, I got AAA in both mocks so im hoping to get atleast A*AA which would give me the freedom of any. i would like to make the most of this by going to the best uni possible and i think durham will look great on a cv, but then again i will miss out on the better social life at birm and am worried about not enjoying uni
Original post by RobElliot
Thats fair enough, I got AAA in both mocks so im hoping to get atleast A*AA which would give me the freedom of any. i would like to make the most of this by going to the best uni possible and i think durham will look great on a cv, but then again i will miss out on the better social life at birm and am worried about not enjoying uni


For engineering i think Bristol and Loughborough would look better on a CV, although all those unis have the accredited degree anyway so I think with any you will be fine. I found it hard with eng to compare cause first year everywhere looks exactly the same but going to the birm open day i was like ok this is what i want, also i actually went thinking i was gonna do maths then changed my mind on that open day lol. Also, i dont think this applies to you but as a girl i tried to google like the stats for boy to girl ratio to see if i would be isolated but tbh all of them are all male so didnt make a difference in the end. If instictvely you feel one you like then go with that and tbh if worst comes to worst theres always transferring, probs with covid more places will be open everywhere.

Good luck! :smile:
Reply 5
Original post by _simone
For engineering i think Bristol and Loughborough would look better on a CV, although all those unis have the accredited degree anyway so I think with any you will be fine. I found it hard with eng to compare cause first year everywhere looks exactly the same but going to the birm open day i was like ok this is what i want, also i actually went thinking i was gonna do maths then changed my mind on that open day lol. Also, i dont think this applies to you but as a girl i tried to google like the stats for boy to girl ratio to see if i would be isolated but tbh all of them are all male so didnt make a difference in the end. If instictvely you feel one you like then go with that and tbh if worst comes to worst theres always transferring, probs with covid more places will be open everywhere.

Good luck! :smile:

thank you, to be honest bristol would be a clear winner but they gave me an alternative course which i dont think i could do, i want that city life though so i am actually thinking about declining my offers and applying to sheffield for their general course as they have vacancies. or i could pray that they have vacancies on results day so i could go through adjustments, both options are risky af
Reply 6
Original post by lawcalling
Generally I’d put Durham, Bristol and Warwick top.


for engineering? Plus I'm not sure engineering maths is quite the same as the other courses which may be a huge consideration.
Reply 7
Does the engineering degree you have an offer for allow you to specialise - for example in Mech eng?
Reply 8
Original post by ajj2000
Does the engineering degree you have an offer for allow you to specialise - for example in Mech eng?

all the engineering degrees allow specialisation, warwick and birmingham do after a year whilst durham and sheffield do after 2 years
Original post by ajj2000
for engineering? Plus I'm not sure engineering maths is quite the same as the other courses which may be a huge consideration.

In general, rather than engineering specific! Sorry, I should have clarified.

Another side note: My two engineering flatmates at Bristol love their course and are always talking about their connections to industry for dissertation qs/employability. Seems to be a solid shout.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by ajj2000
for engineering? Plus I'm not sure engineering maths is quite the same as the other courses which may be a huge consideration.


Oh yeah dont do engineering maths cause its not the same as a proper eng degree, bristol tried to sub me for that when i applied there so i just withdrew my choice from them
Original post by RobElliot
thank you, to be honest bristol would be a clear winner but they gave me an alternative course which i dont think i could do, i want that city life though so i am actually thinking about declining my offers and applying to sheffield for their general course as they have vacancies. or i could pray that they have vacancies on results day so i could go through adjustments, both options are risky af


I think if u go through adjustment u can still keep your original offer, obvs if city is what u want then Birmingham is best choice imo, but it sounds like you preferred the other unis so idk
Reply 12
Original post by _simone
Oh yeah dont do engineering maths cause its not the same as a proper eng degree, bristol tried to sub me for that when i applied there so i just withdrew my choice from them

its mad they've done that to so many people, its almost as if youre applying to oxbridge when you apply to their engineering courses so i think ill sadly decline
Reply 13
Original post by _simone
I think if u go through adjustment u can still keep your original offer, obvs if city is what u want then Birmingham is best choice imo, but it sounds like you preferred the other unis so idk

thing is with adjustment i think i need to put a lower offer to be able to qualify, so i coudnt put durham down. i think i prefer when the uni is integrated in the city like bristol as im worried about the campus 'bubble'
Original post by RobElliot
its mad they've done that to so many people, its almost as if youre applying to oxbridge when you apply to their engineering courses so i think ill sadly decline


I presume you applied for Mech Eng at Bristol? Mech Eng and Eng Maths are just about their two strongest and most popular courses. Contact them and ask if you can transfer in the second or third years, if a vacancy appears on the Mech Eng course. If so, then maybe it comes back up the rankings for you.
Reply 15
Original post by threeportdrift
I presume you applied for Mech Eng at Bristol? Mech Eng and Eng Maths are just about their two strongest and most popular courses. Contact them and ask if you can transfer in the second or third years, if a vacancy appears on the Mech Eng course. If so, then maybe it comes back up the rankings for you.

yes thats right, when i rang them up they said that its not possible to transfer to mech course at any time partly due to the fact that theyve already rejected you for it. i was thinking of applying again next year but i dont think anything would increase my chances.
Original post by RobElliot
yes thats right, when i rang them up they said that its not possible to transfer to mech course at any time partly due to the fact that theyve already rejected you for it. i was thinking of applying again next year but i dont think anything would increase my chances.


Yeah its so annoying, i think the other city ones you applied to are loughborough and birmingham, tbh warwick has nothing cause its im coventry and durham is not like a huge huge city, still more then warwick tho
Original post by RobElliot
yes thats right, when i rang them up they said that its not possible to transfer to mech course at any time partly due to the fact that theyve already rejected you for it. i was thinking of applying again next year but i dont think anything would increase my chances.


Ah, that sucks. All I know is that when I worked there, they considered those two courses about their most prestigious and hardest to get into. I think if the engineering maths course takes you to where you want to go career wise, and you like Bristol, you should consider it. Is the course content really very different?
Reply 18
Original post by threeportdrift
Ah, that sucks. All I know is that when I worked there, they considered those two courses about their most prestigious and hardest to get into. I think if the engineering maths course takes you to where you want to go career wise, and you like Bristol, you should consider it. Is the course content really very different?

engineering maths still has vacancies and most of the offer holders didnt originally apply to it, yeah there are around 30 students and you dont have lectures instead you are in classrooms where you do theoretical work and the main point is that its accredited for maths and not engineering
Reply 19
Original post by _simone
Yeah its so annoying, i think the other city ones you applied to are loughborough and birmingham, tbh warwick has nothing cause its im coventry and durham is not like a huge huge city, still more then warwick tho

yeah the annoying thing is i like the warwick and durham courses the most but i come from a small town so i dont really want to go to another one. Although i feel like it would haunt me to choose a uni for its better night life

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