Do uni names matter?

so im wanting to study at uni for economics, im not sure what i'll do after in terms of jobs, but im not sure about if i were to go into an economic-related job, would they care about what university i go to? ive done a bit of research, apparently the bigger corporate firms have a ranking list of universities, but at the same time i doubt ill go into banking or something. im only asking bc idk if i should go on a gap year and apply to higher tier unis that i was initially wanting to go to (eg bath, bristol) or settle for something 'lower'. ive still heard as many good things about these 'lower-tier' univerisites but im not sure if it'd give me a disadvantage when applying to jobs in the future

You are using somewhat vague terms like "economic-related job" and "corporate firms" without being specific about what you are looking at.

Yes, investment banks and management consultancies have target uni lists. I would not consider these "economic-related" jobs. Anyone with any degree can go into those roles, as long as they go to a target uni and get appropriate work experience and prepare for interviews etc. Plenty of people do classics, music, biology, etc and go into those jobs.

Economics related roles are things like economics service positions in the civil service, economic policy related roles in e.g. NGOs, central banks etc, and so on. Those are the roles that only economics grads can do.

Other roles and companies do not care where you went to uni. Big 4 accounting firms don't care where you studied, generalist grad schemes at other major multinational businesses don't care where you studied, etc.

It literally only matters for investment banking and management consulting. If you aren't aiming for those, go wherever you wish. The primary differentiator in that case will be your work experience and how well you prepare for assessment centre activities and their psychometric tests.

Unfortunately most employers like to select from the Russell group universities

What about Nottingham? Bath's only 48th in the country for research quality in Economics, according to Thecompleteuniversityguide. Nottingham's 5th. Leeds is 11th.

In addition to the above poster's great explanation of the careers landscape & requirements, it should also be noted that even with some of the more elitist industries like investment banking and strategy consulting, it's still possible to get in from places below the likes of Bristol/Bath/etc.

It's more that it gets progressively more difficult for an average student at each university to get into these fields as you go down the university rankings. People still get in from lower unis than the ones you mentioned, it's just the top unis account for a disproportionately large % of the recruitment intake in these very specific industries.

What about Nottingham? Bath's only 48th in the country for research quality in Economics, according to Thecompleteuniversityguide. Nottingham's 5th. Leeds is 11th.

You are using somewhat vague terms like "economic-related job" and "corporate firms" without being specific about what you are looking at.

Yes, investment banks and management consultancies have target uni lists. I would not consider these "economic-related" jobs. Anyone with any degree can go into those roles, as long as they go to a target uni and get appropriate work experience and prepare for interviews etc. Plenty of people do classics, music, biology, etc and go into those jobs.

Economics related roles are things like economics service positions in the civil service, economic policy related roles in e.g. NGOs, central banks etc, and so on. Those are the roles that only economics grads can do.

Other roles and companies do not care where you went to uni. Big 4 accounting firms don't care where you studied, generalist grad schemes at other major multinational businesses don't care where you studied, etc.

It literally only matters for investment banking and management consulting. If you aren't aiming for those, go wherever you wish. The primary differentiator in that case will be your work experience and how well you prepare for assessment centre activities and their psychometric tests.

so im wanting to study at uni for economics, im not sure what i'll do after in terms of jobs, but im not sure about if i were to go into an economic-related job, would they care about what university i go to? ive done a bit of research, apparently the bigger corporate firms have a ranking list of universities, but at the same time i doubt ill go into banking or something. im only asking bc idk if i should go on a gap year and apply to higher tier unis that i was initially wanting to go to (eg bath, bristol) or settle for something 'lower'. ive still heard as many good things about these 'lower-tier' univerisites but im not sure if it'd give me a disadvantage when applying to jobs in the future

Both Nottingham and Bath are very good for economics, roughly in the top 5-10th range of UK universities in terms of economics course quality and economics/finance-related careers.
Firstly, the complete university guide is useless, if you don't believe me look through their ranking methodology and see for yourself. Second, why would the OP care about economic research quality, they're not doing a PhD. Research quality barely impacts undergrads.

Hi, from previous posts which I have read on UK universities for economics, you have placed the University of Exeter below both the University of Bath and the University of Nottingham. I was wondering, as a student who will be studying Economics at the University of Exeter this September, how big the difference is between these universities in terms of desirability for employers in consulting? Thank you

In addition to the above poster's great explanation of the careers landscape & requirements, it should also be noted that even with some of the more elitist industries like investment banking and strategy consulting, it's still possible to get in from places below the likes of Bristol/Bath/etc.
It's more that it gets progressively more difficult for an average student at each university to get into these fields as you go down the university rankings. People still get in from lower unis than the ones you mentioned, it's just the top unis account for a disproportionately large % of the recruitment intake in these very specific industries.

hi sir, just wanted to come back in for an update lol. I was predicted A*AB with a B in maths and my offer was accepted by Bath (my first choice university) and Southampton who I chose as my insurance. I did get these same grades on results day but unfortunately bath declined my offer which I just had to accept and move on with. Im going to southampton at the moment and I have been enjoying it and am very thankful, although im very worried about whether going here negatively effects my chances of competition in competitive fields (i.e. investment banking), since its not the most reputable university for economics. truthfully i dont even know if investment banking is the career path i want to go into, seems perhaps too stressful for me. ive been exploring into fields of managment consulting and policy making but im not quite sure yet. is going to a less reputable uni going to effect my chances of being a competitor in these fields? if so would you have any advice on how to make myself more of a competitive candidate?