University of Exeter vs University of Leeds

I am an offer holder from both Exeter and Leeds but I'm and international student and haven't visited either campuses.
University of Exeter - Business Economics (38 IB points)
University of Leeds - Economics and Finance (35 IB points)
University of Manchester - International Business, Economics and Finance (36 IB points)

In terms of courses, I like all of them, though I am not sure which university is considered employable and is well respected if that makes sense? Please help!

Reply 1

ExeterStudentRep

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous #1

Hi Anonymous, I'm a current student at the University of Exeter, and although I don't study economics, I can perhaps offer some advice to help with your decision.

Firstly though, congratulations on receiving an offer for your chosen courses! All the universities you've listed are part of the Russell Group, which means that generally they will enjoy a similar reputation as part of a research intensive group of universities, which is viewed favourably by employers. Regarding your future prospects, it can be helpful to look at the graduate outcomes for the particular course or subject that you are looking at, as often universities can have particular reputations for certain subjects. As an example at Exeter, you can find a range of information on the performance of our business school here. This includes being listed in the Top 5 for Graduate Prospects in Economics in The Complete University Guide 2024, and being awarded UK Business School of the Year by The Times in 2022. You might find it useful to compare these kind of awards and performances across the other universities you have applied to. At the University of Exeter, we also have a dedicated careers service called the Careers Zone, that can help you with employability throughout your degree (and even after you graduate!) - this can include interview practice, help with CV or cover letter writing, access to internship schemes and lots of other support. You can find information on their services here.

As well as graduate prospects, it's also important to consider other differences between programmes, such as where they are located and what the student life in the city is like, or what the quality or style of teaching experience is like. For example, Exeter is much closer to the coast than the other locations and also has a Gold TEF award (Teaching Excellence Framework - used to assess universities on the quality of their teaching). If you'd like to learn more about studying economics at Exeter, and hear directly first-hand from a current student's perspective, you can send messages on the platform Unibuddy here (just make to search by subject area first!).

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be happy to try and help you.

Kingsley
University of Exeter Student Ambassador