Bath vs Leeds vs Bristol vs Sheffield

I wanted to compare these universities to make a more informed decision to study Aerospace Engineering.
City life is not my criteria - I don't care about the city.
I care about and want to know more about the following:
- The department
- Quality of teaching
- Student experience in university in terms of academic support
- Post-course career support
- Student satisfaction
- Cohort of students

Most importantly - future career prospects.

Please people really want to know your opinions on this ?

Thank you !

Hey
I got to bath uni and tbf I would recommend it. It’s not in a big city but u can still catch a quick train to Bristol if u wanted, the teaching at bath uni I won’t lie to you they genuinely care about their students especially the tutors and we are always offered support in our work. There’s so many clubs and society’s for you to participate in and the uni is very big on sports and offers a lot of events to do with that. Hope that helps

I wanted to compare these universities to make a more informed decision to study Aerospace Engineering.
City life is not my criteria - I don't care about the city.
I care about and want to know more about the following:
- The department
- Quality of teaching
- Student experience in university in terms of academic support
- Post-course career support
- Student satisfaction
- Cohort of students

Most importantly - future career prospects.

Please people really want to know your opinions on this ?

Thank you !

I wanted to compare these universities to make a more informed decision to study Aerospace Engineering.
City life is not my criteria - I don't care about the city.
I care about and want to know more about the following:
- The department
- Quality of teaching
- Student experience in university in terms of academic support
- Post-course career support
- Student satisfaction
- Cohort of students

Most importantly - future career prospects.

Please people really want to know your opinions on this ?

Thank you !

Hey! I've been at Sheffield for 4 years now and I've absolutely loved it. I know you said you're not fussed about knowing about the city itself but it really is a great friendly city and we have loads of parks and are only a short drive from the peaks. Sheffield is one of the best value cities to live and study in the UK as well - living costs are 10% lower than the UK national average and 25% lower than London.

Unfortunately I can't speak for the course you are wanting to take but I have always felt very supported during my time here and the lecturers are always keen to help or talk through things, it's definitely not a feeling of "us and them" or anything like that! We have Career Connect and the Jobshop which are online and physically in our SU building too and they provide really good support for jobs both whilst at uni and after you graduate.

Let me know if you have any other questions! Happy to help!

Emily
- MA Psychology of Music

Thank you for replying!

I wanted to ask, how is the situation after COVID in the university. How have things changed or have they?
Are real physical lectures back or is it like a mixture of online and offline lectures?

Hi @Starlord1 ,

Great to hear you are considering making Sheffield one of your choices for uni!

Whilst I do not do your course, I am currently a 3rd year Psychology student at the University of Sheffield, so I thought I might be able to give you a bit more information about what studying and living in sheffield is like in general.

I have studied at Sheffield for 3 years now and I am set to graduate this year. My time at Sheffield has been really great (albeit impacted by covid!)

During my time studying at Sheffield I have found the teaching really great! I have had different lecturers for a lot of my modules/topics and I have found that this allows for all the lecturers to be really passionate and enthralled with the topic they are teaching. A lot of my lecturers have particular areas of expertise and tend to give lectures on those which is really great as you can ask specific and in depth questions and really get an idea of their field.

Regarding help and academic support for students, I have found the staff really approachable. In all of my modules we have online anonymous question boards where you are able to ask a question about anything you are unsure on and the lecturer will get back to you. This is also really handy for seeing other questions that have been asked which you might not have thought about/want to pursue further. All my lecturers also have personal email addresses and office hours (usually 1-2 hours a week) which you can book into to discuss anything you are struggling to understand or again want to explore in more detail/learn more about that there might not have been time for during the lecture. You can also ask questions and get support at the end of lectures - most leave 5-10 minutes for any questions you might have.

For teaching style and satisfaction, each lecturer is different with some preferring interactive lectures and others preferring the typical lecture style. This will be very much dependent on the individual. However, I have found that there has been a great variety - with both styles often incorporated which is helpful if you like to mix things up/really dislike one way of teaching. I also had tutorials/workshops on my course which is a bit more 1-1 than the big lectures with the whole course cohort are - these provide a great opportunity to ask questions and gain support from the lectures/staff themselves. Overall I have found the teaching at Sheffield supportive and helpful. Most are really interested in their topic area and want to share and extend their knowledge but also gain your insight and questioning. I have found it a great place to learn and engage with the teaching staff.

For future career prospects this might be quite different for each course, however on my course we usually received a monthly email letting us know of opportunities to advance our employability e.g. interview practise, CV skills but also extra curricular stuff you can get involved in to put you ahead of your cohort e.g. advanced courses/work experience/placements. For example I was able to get a part time job at the university itself through these communications which have greatly improved my employability and opened up more opportunities in terms of career prospects. We also have a great careers service at Sheffield which are really helpful in advising you on job opportunities, applying, work experience etc. I have linked their website here for you - https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/careers if you would like to take a look! They can give advice on applications and what you can do after graduation. I have found there is lots of support available if you are looking for it!

In regard to Covid - covid mostly affected my 2nd year at university as all my lectures were moved online which was difficult to adjust to. However, in my third year (covid was still about) I noticed a massive change. All of my lectures are in person again which is great for interacting with the lectures and asking any questions or for clarification. Tutors are also now moving more 1-1 appointments back to face to face. However there is also the option to do this online if this is something you prefer - it is really up to you and discussing any concerns with a tutor is a great option! I cannot speak for all courses, however all of my friends on different courses are also back in person and doing physical lectures rather than being online. Coming back in person was something that Sheffield University prided itself on doing as quickly as possible when it was safe to do so!

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions please let me know!

Ella
BSc Psychology
University of Sheffield

Thanks a lot for the detailed info..

I have offers from Bath, Bristol, Sheffield and Exeter INTO programme all from psychology programmes. As I have learnt your review about Sheffield Psychology, do you have any idea about the other ones? I am really struggling choosing amongst them .. So any commend will be appreciated a lot .