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MANCHESTER VS SOUTHAMPTON for EEE

Hi guys. I applied for Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UCL, Southampton, Manchester, Warwick and Loughborough.

Got rejected from UCL, got offers from Southampton and Manchester and just had an interview for Loughborough so I should hear back this week. Not really keen on Warwick as it isn't good for my course.

At this moment, I'm going to firm Manchester and insure Loughborough, and I'm very sure I want to go to Manchester, but I don't like ruling things out without ample reason to.

Southampton is very good for my course, as is Manchester, and as much as I love Manchester, I would like to know more about Southampton, as I don't really know anyone who is applying there, goes there or has gone there in the past.

I'd appreciate if anyone could compare Manchester and Southampton for me, in terms of the environment, the campus and the people, as I have concluded that their courses are pretty much equally as good. I'm leaning towards more Manchester because I like their modules (compulsory and optional) and I hear their night life is very very good, plus I know people who go there, but again I kindly ask for your opinion.

Thank you :smile:
Original post by tommtomm
Hi guys. I applied for Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UCL, Southampton, Manchester, Warwick and Loughborough.

Got rejected from UCL, got offers from Southampton and Manchester and just had an interview for Loughborough so I should hear back this week. Not really keen on Warwick as it isn't good for my course.

At this moment, I'm going to firm Manchester and insure Loughborough, and I'm very sure I want to go to Manchester, but I don't like ruling things out without ample reason to.

Southampton is very good for my course, as is Manchester, and as much as I love Manchester, I would like to know more about Southampton, as I don't really know anyone who is applying there, goes there or has gone there in the past.

I'd appreciate if anyone could compare Manchester and Southampton for me, in terms of the environment, the campus and the people, as I have concluded that their courses are pretty much equally as good. I'm leaning towards more Manchester because I like their modules (compulsory and optional) and I hear their night life is very very good, plus I know people who go there, but again I kindly ask for your opinion.

Thank you :smile:

I too would appreciate an answer. I have offer from imperial too though but condition is v high. But Southampton Manchester are two options. Am leaning towards Manchester but want to give serious thought to Southampton.
Pls share your views.
Original post by tommtomm
Hi guys. I applied for Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UCL, Southampton, Manchester, Warwick and Loughborough.

Got rejected from UCL, got offers from Southampton and Manchester and just had an interview for Loughborough so I should hear back this week. Not really keen on Warwick as it isn't good for my course.

At this moment, I'm going to firm Manchester and insure Loughborough, and I'm very sure I want to go to Manchester, but I don't like ruling things out without ample reason to.

Southampton is very good for my course, as is Manchester, and as much as I love Manchester, I would like to know more about Southampton, as I don't really know anyone who is applying there, goes there or has gone there in the past.

I'd appreciate if anyone could compare Manchester and Southampton for me, in terms of the environment, the campus and the people, as I have concluded that their courses are pretty much equally as good. I'm leaning towards more Manchester because I like their modules (compulsory and optional) and I hear their night life is very very good, plus I know people who go there, but again I kindly ask for your opinion.

Thank you :smile:

Someone mentioned on one of the threads that Southampton EEE graduates r sought after by companies. What I would like to know since Manchester has a great reputation overall, are their graduates seen not at par? Thanks
Reply 3
Original post by madhavikum
Someone mentioned on one of the threads that Southampton EEE graduates r sought after by companies. What I would like to know since Manchester has a great reputation overall, are their graduates seen not at par? Thanks

apparently, Manchester is looked very favourably upon by employers. i attended a careers talk by them and they said that (for those who do the year in industry course), 98%, or thereabout, of graduates have job offers waiting for them by the time they graduate. So I'd argue that Manchester graduates are at par with Southampton graduates, if not better off. Furthermore, they have links with more companies than Southampton it seems. I've already pretty much made my mind up for Manchester. Plus, i hear Manchester has a far better night life. My cousin went to Manchester to study international relations i think and he's working in corporate finance (a REALLY high paying job) and he told me that he'd choose Manchester over Southampton any day of the week. So I guess my mind is pretty much made up already. Hope this helps!
Reply 4
Original post by tommtomm
apparently, Manchester is looked very favourably upon by employers. i attended a careers talk by them and they said that (for those who do the year in industry course), 98%, or thereabout, of graduates have job offers waiting for them by the time they graduate. So I'd argue that Manchester graduates are at par with Southampton graduates, if not better off. Furthermore, they have links with more companies than Southampton it seems. I've already pretty much made my mind up for Manchester. Plus, i hear Manchester has a far better night life. My cousin went to Manchester to study international relations i think and he's working in corporate finance (a REALLY high paying job) and he told me that he'd choose Manchester over Southampton any day of the week. So I guess my mind is pretty much made up already. Hope this helps!

No - Southampton is WAY better than Manchester for this course (EEE) - Employers are keen on Soton graduates rather than Manchester.
Manchester is on par with ucl with this course - Southampton is ranked higher than these two.
Reply 5
Original post by tommtomm
Hi guys. I applied for Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UCL, Southampton, Manchester, Warwick and Loughborough.

Got rejected from UCL, got offers from Southampton and Manchester and just had an interview for Loughborough so I should hear back this week. Not really keen on Warwick as it isn't good for my course.

At this moment, I'm going to firm Manchester and insure Loughborough, and I'm very sure I want to go to Manchester, but I don't like ruling things out without ample reason to.

Southampton is very good for my course, as is Manchester, and as much as I love Manchester, I would like to know more about Southampton, as I don't really know anyone who is applying there, goes there or has gone there in the past.

I'd appreciate if anyone could compare Manchester and Southampton for me, in terms of the environment, the campus and the people, as I have concluded that their courses are pretty much equally as good. I'm leaning towards more Manchester because I like their modules (compulsory and optional) and I hear their night life is very very good, plus I know people who go there, but again I kindly ask for your opinion.

Thank you :smile:
I do EEE, UoM.

I was considering applying to Southampton but decided against it because of their highly niche area of expertise within EEE.
If you are interested in Power/High Voltage Engineering you should choose Southampton. I know many Southampton grads working for companies like National Grid, Scottish Power, or one of their distribution companies.

Every other research theme in EEE - Choose Manchester. Manchester has had a very strong focus on digital electronics and computer architecture, historically, and robotics. A very large percentage of graduate employees at the big-semi firms - Arm, Intel, Graphcore, Mediatek, and in robotics/mechatronics at Jacobs, Sellafield, Textron, etc. are Manchester graduates. They are also fantastic for theory too, that is if you are interested in very very mathematically abstract stuff like tomography, signal processing, and control engineering.
I do EEE, UoM.

I was considering applying to Southampton but decided against it because of their highly niche area of expertise within EEE.
If you are interested in Power/High Voltage Engineering you should choose Southampton. I know many Southampton grads working for companies like National Grid, Scottish Power, or one of their distribution companies.

Every other research theme in EEE - Choose Manchester. Manchester has had a very strong focus on digital electronics and computer architecture, historically, and robotics. A very large percentage of graduate employees at the big-semi firms - Arm, Intel, Graphcore, Mediatek, and in robotics/mechatronics at Jacobs, Sellafield, Textron, etc. are Manchester graduates. They are also fantastic for theory too, that is if you are interested in very very mathematically abstract stuff like tomography, signal processing, and control engineering.
I have to disagree, Southampton is a great reputation within the digital electronics industry especially, and talking to people in the industry they do find Southampton more recognizable, and iirc it has the highest intake to companies like arm.
While for digital electronics Southampton no longer does much research, research does not reflect on the undergraduate teaching quality which is very strong at soton
So Manchester may make more sense for a masters or PhD but I think Southampton makes more of it for undergrad
It also seems from what I know Manchester is more for the high voltage stuff rather than soton, where soton is for low voltage
(edited 9 months ago)
Reply 7
Original post by tommtomm
Hi guys. I applied for Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UCL, Southampton, Manchester, Warwick and Loughborough.

Got rejected from UCL, got offers from Southampton and Manchester and just had an interview for Loughborough so I should hear back this week. Not really keen on Warwick as it isn't good for my course.

At this moment, I'm going to firm Manchester and insure Loughborough, and I'm very sure I want to go to Manchester, but I don't like ruling things out without ample reason to.

Southampton is very good for my course, as is Manchester, and as much as I love Manchester, I would like to know more about Southampton, as I don't really know anyone who is applying there, goes there or has gone there in the past.

I'd appreciate if anyone could compare Manchester and Southampton for me, in terms of the environment, the campus and the people, as I have concluded that their courses are pretty much equally as good. I'm leaning towards more Manchester because I like their modules (compulsory and optional) and I hear their night life is very very good, plus I know people who go there, but again I kindly ask for your opinion.

Thank you :smile:
Hi, so i know a few people that are studying both at Southampton and Manchester and they are both having a great time. Both cities have nice bars and student life. I think Manchester is bigger so i assume it has more shops and things to do than Southampton.
I was also told that life at Southampton is better if you are an engineering student because Manchester is a bit hard on you-- also someone told me that Southampton has some greater facilities than Manchester for engineering.

May i ask what a levels and predictions did you have and when did you receive a rejection from UCL?
Reply 8
Original post by JustBenjamin
I have to disagree, Southampton is a great reputation within the digital electronics industry especially, and talking to people in the industry they do find Southampton more recognizable, and iirc it has the highest intake to companies like arm.
While for digital electronics Southampton no longer does much research, research does not reflect on the undergraduate teaching quality which is very strong at soton
So Manchester may make more sense for a masters or PhD but I think Southampton makes more of it for undergrad
It also seems from what I know Manchester is more for the high voltage stuff rather than soton, where soton is for low voltage
I agree that the quality of teaching here is not the best, however, how one perceives is very subjective. If you cannot quantify a metric accurately you cannot use that for comparison. If quality of teaching is what you are after, you should choose a more elite, smaller, teaching-focused university like Durham or St. Andrews, although I am not sure if they offer engineering specialities, I think they have a single "General Engineering" option.
Also, yes Manchester has the famous "High Voltage Laboratory" but the research group that does research in the power engineering side within the HV group is very small. Most of them are involved in tomography and the EM fields side of things.

I strongly disagree with the other comment saying Soton has better facilities than UoM. One of the reasons I chose the University was because of the annual research expenditure in Engineering. UoM has a £451M engineering building, the most sophisticated facility for
a non-profit University research institute in Europe.

And if you are like me, into the theory side of EEE, you should ideally choose neither, but among the two, definitely Manchester.
I agree that the quality of teaching here is not the best, however, how one perceives is very subjective. If you cannot quantify a metric accurately you cannot use that for comparison. If quality of teaching is what you are after, you should choose a more elite, smaller, teaching-focused university like Durham or St. Andrews, although I am not sure if they offer engineering specialities, I think they have a single "General Engineering" option.
Also, yes Manchester has the famous "High Voltage Laboratory" but the research group that does research in the power engineering side within the HV group is very small. Most of them are involved in tomography and the EM fields side of things.

I strongly disagree with the other comment saying Soton has better facilities than UoM. One of the reasons I chose the University was because of the annual research expenditure in Engineering. UoM has a £451M engineering building, the most sophisticated facility for
a non-profit University research institute in Europe.

And if you are like me, into the theory side of EEE, you should ideally choose neither, but among the two, definitely Manchester.
Hmm to be honest from what I heard while Southampton is not perfect for theory, they are good at teaching electronics even if they don’t do much research there, so for undergraduate it might be good. I know of people who rejected Cambridge for Southampton for the ability to specialize into electronics, and since they found the teaching quality to be good.
In terms of st andrews i believe they don’t offer engineering. Out of curiosity since you say neither, which university would you say is best for undergraduate theory?
Reply 10
Original post by JustBenjamin
Hmm to be honest from what I heard while Southampton is not perfect for theory, they are good at teaching electronics even if they don’t do much research there, so for undergraduate it might be good. I know of people who rejected Cambridge for Southampton for the ability to specialize into electronics, and since they found the teaching quality to be good.
In terms of st andrews i believe they don’t offer engineering. Out of curiosity since you say neither, which university would you say is best for undergraduate theory?
Any University with a very strong department of mathematics/physics, well endowed with alumni donations and trust funds, and a very broad Liberal curriculum with flexibility - so, essentially only Oxford and Cambridge. Manchester has fantastic Physics and math departments, but the bachelor degree in EEE has been given "Professional degree" status like Law and Dentistry because of some accrediting needs from IET. Such, there practically remains very little choice in module selection. Also, most of its research funds in engineering come from the industry, making the research themes very industry-based. One good thing is, the program is very mathematically heavy, much more than it needs to be to produce practising engineers. That, in a way, prepares students for theoretical research later.

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