university rankings

OP

Original post by ajj2000

Reliable for what purpose?

Best for your course? Best for employer perception? Best to impress friends and family? Best support and an enjoyable course? They are all somewhat different questions.

I doubt and of the league tables are brilliant - would take the complete uni guide over the guardian if you are stuck.

best for course.

Reply 4

Muttley79

Original post by alevelstudent743

best for course.

They are all a waste of time. Look at the course content on the uni website - which is most interesting?

Reply 5

OP

Original post by Muttley79

They are all a waste of time. Look at the course content on the uni website - which is most interesting?

how is it a waste of time when the rankings also matter??😭

Reply 6

totallyfine

9

They really don't though. For example, in Art and design there is barely a 15% difference in the top 40 postions on the Complete University Guide rankings. That is meaningless.

Things that are more important include course content, location of university, emplyment porspects and grade requirements.

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 7

Muttley79

Original post by alevelstudent743

how is it a waste of time when the rankings also matter??😭

They don't at all - they can't be replicated and are mathematically flawed.

For example, Engineering - you stand a better chance of getting a job by going to a non-RG degree and taking a year in industry. The League tables don't tell you that.

Medicine - all degrees are equivalent.

Many jobs interview institute blind and just look at experience and your degree classification.

Reply 8

Picnicl

15

The Guardian is well known as having a left wing leaning so I wouldn't use them as my source. They choose to use a 'Spend per student' criteria, for example, which is irrelevant in my opinion because if a university already has great facilities it has no need to have a particularly great spend per student criteria. That criteria particularly has an unfair effect on large universities.

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 9

totallyfine

9

Original post by Picnicl

The Guardian is well known as having a left wing leaning so I wouldn't use them as my source. They choose to use a 'Spend per student' criteria, for example, which is irrelevant in my opinion because if a university already has great facilities it has no need to have a particularly great spend per student criteria. That criteria particularly has an unfair effect on large universities.

Exactly!
People will always pick and choose the statistics that support whatever they have already emotionally decided, and ignore the bits they don't agree with.
So it is better not to rely on them but instead decide what is important to you and what you want and go from there..

Reply 10

A Rolling Stone

Original post by alevelstudent743

which university ranking website is more trustable?
the guardian or complete university guide?

the Times University Guide is best

The non-existent kind in my opinion, I wouldn’t worry that much about university rankings.

Reply 12

A Rolling Stone

Original post by Talkative Toad

The non-existent kind in my opinion, I wouldn’t worry that much about university rankings.

i know this is the main woke opinion on this matter, but if you look at the unis at the bottom like London Met and UEL... would you really be happier there than the ones nearer the top??

Reply 13

ajj2000

Original post by alevelstudent743

best for course.

that makes it a bit clearer - which course?

If we looked for the best universities by course for career prospects and crowdsourced knowledge from employers and other universities my belief is that you would see pretty different lists for (say) physics, engineering, law, history etc.

I don't think its a meaningless question but not sure that there is any good source to get this information.

Original post by A Rolling Stone

i know this is the main woke opinion on this matter, but if you look at the unis at the bottom like London Met and UEL... would you really be happier there than the ones nearer the top??

If I like the course better, yes.

For example many universities I see (unless I’m not looking deep enough) for languages it just looks like you’re doing and English and History joint honours degree but in a different language. That’s not the type of stuff I’m interested in (If I was, then I may as well apply for such degree and do it in English or at a push French, not in French and Spanish).

I rejected RG uni offer because the degree just felt like doing a history degree in a foreign language (based on me seeing the modules) combined with the fact that I didn’t go to an open day for that uni.

University I am at (non-RG, although it’s ranked higher than the RG university for languages I think this year but that’s besides the point) is better for me. Almost no literature (literature as in stuff similar to what you’d do in English literature but in a foreign language) involved, the course isn’t mainly centred around History (it feels like I’m actually doing a languages degree as opposed to a History/English Literature degree in a foreign language). In addition I like the modules, there’s more of a focus on things like grammar and research, translation (optional), linguistics (partially optional), preparing for the workplace/transferable skills etc.

Pick a university you enjoy, forget about rankings in my opinion.

Reply 15

OP

Rankings certainly matter, in a sense, to some extent—there's a reason that Oxford and Cambridge are regarded as the best universities for its ranking right.

Reply 16

OP

Original post by ajj2000

that makes it a bit clearer - which course?

If we looked for the best universities by course for career prospects and crowdsourced knowledge from employers and other universities my belief is that you would see pretty different lists for (say) physics, engineering, law, history etc.

I don't think its a meaningless question but not sure that there is any good source to get this information.

architecture. i’ve already sent off my UCAS and got half of my offers back im still waiting on two universities. i want to chose the highest ranked university to why i asked such a question.

Reply 17

Muttley79

Original post by alevelstudent743

Rankings certainly matter, in a sense, to some extent—there's a reason that Oxford and Cambridge are regarded as the best universities for its ranking right.

Not for getting a job! Several students have got Engineering roles over Oxbridge grads because they have the work experience and up-to-date knowledge.

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 18

OP