The Student Room Group

UCL vs Warwick vs Durham vs Bath

I have received offers for Economics at UCL, Warwick, Bath and an offer for Econ and Management from Durham. My grades are already achieved so my offered are unconditional, and I am struggling to choose which university would be best for me. In terms of the course and career prospects, I believe UCL and Warwick are the best, whilst Durham and Bath are a level below but are roughly equal to each other.

However, I am also a competitive distance runner and running is something I want to pursue at uni. For this Bath and Durham have stronger running teams and Bath has amazing sport facilities. Warwick is decent but UCL seems to not be great - the team isn’t strong, there’s no athletics track nearby and less places to run (it has Regent’s Park near at least). However I have read they have a connection with a good athletics club at Parliament Hill (20 min cycle away). Also, the expense of living in London is a downside. Overall, Warwick seems to be a decent middle ground for me but I have also heard some not great things about it - bad area, a bit boring, not great nightlife etc.

Any thoughts for my situation would be much appreciated!
Reply 1
Original post by bris05
I have received offers for Economics at UCL, Warwick, Bath and an offer for Econ and Management from Durham. My grades are already achieved so my offered are unconditional, and I am struggling to choose which university would be best for me. In terms of the course and career prospects, I believe UCL and Warwick are the best, whilst Durham and Bath are a level below but are roughly equal to each other.
However, I am also a competitive distance runner and running is something I want to pursue at uni. For this Bath and Durham have stronger running teams and Bath has amazing sport facilities. Warwick is decent but UCL seems to not be great - the team isn’t strong, there’s no athletics track nearby and less places to run (it has Regent’s Park near at least). However I have read they have a connection with a good athletics club at Parliament Hill (20 min cycle away). Also, the expense of living in London is a downside. Overall, Warwick seems to be a decent middle ground for me but I have also heard some not great things about it - bad area, a bit boring, not great nightlife etc.
Any thoughts for my situation would be much appreciated!


Congrats to your offers, I think all of them are great - all are within top 30 in UK. I seriously doubt whether there is any significant bearing on career prospects and opportunities for further studies. So if I were you I would definitely take the same considerations as yours.
Bath ~ Durham > UCL > Warwick in meeting your sporting aspirations.
In terms of social life, maybe UCL > Bath > Durham (credit to Newcastle) > Warwick. But sadly so do accommodation and living expenses.
To me, Bath appears to be the choice for you.
Reply 2
Original post by cksiu
Congrats to your offers, I think all of them are great - all are within top 30 in UK. I seriously doubt whether there is any significant bearing on career prospects and opportunities for further studies. So if I were you I would definitely take the same considerations as yours.
Bath ~ Durham > UCL > Warwick in meeting your sporting aspirations.
In terms of social life, maybe UCL > Bath > Durham (credit to Newcastle) > Warwick. But sadly so do accommodation and living expenses.
To me, Bath appears to be the choice for you.

Sorry, I would like to clarify with you why you chose Bath if it has a rank (150-200), and not UCL which is listed as 20th in the world and therefore can open more doors in the future? I just received an offer for management from Exeter and Bath, and am having a hard time making a choice.
Reply 3
Original post by ppaden
Sorry, I would like to clarify with you why you chose Bath if it has a rank (150-200), and not UCL which is listed as 20th in the world and therefore can open more doors in the future? I just received an offer for management from Exeter and Bath, and am having a hard time making a choice.

Not too sure for management but in most cases bath > Exeter. And I know on rankings UCL is highly rated but it’s just the sport aspect that discourages me.
Reply 4
Original post by ppaden
Sorry, I would like to clarify with you why you chose Bath if it has a rank (150-200), and not UCL which is listed as 20th in the world and therefore can open more doors in the future? I just received an offer for management from Exeter and Bath, and am having a hard time making a choice.
i really doubt whether rankings of the above uni make so much difference? please spend some time looking at the academic staff profile of UCL, quite a portion graduated from low ranked uni.
Reply 5
I'd consider the following:
Nottingham (5th best research rating for Economics, on 88%. The Economics building looks very nondescript though).
Bristol (8th for research quality in Econ.)
Leeds (11th for research quality in Econ.- taught at the Leeds University Business School).

Bath's research quality isn't so good for Economics (48th on 72%). And Warwick only has a research intensity for all subjects on average of 59% too, which is 44th.
Source: TheCompleteUniversityGuide.
(edited 10 months ago)
Reply 6
Hi , Congratulations For those amazing offers. Please do you mind sharing what your A level scores were. What else worked in your favour to receive those offers? Did you do EPQ, work experience (where) ,Moocs etc? I would be grateful for any other info that you can share.
Reply 7
Original post by Vani123
Hi , Congratulations For those amazing offers. Please do you mind sharing what your A level scores were. What else worked in your favour to receive those offers? Did you do EPQ, work experience (where) ,Moocs etc? I would be grateful for any other info that you can share.

Hi, apologies for the delayed response. I did IB and applied with achieved grades - 44 with 777 HL (including 7 in HL Maths AA which is important for econ). Honestly, I didn’t have any work experience that I thought was worth mentioning in my personal statement. I mainly talked about books, my extended essay for IB, my maths coursework which was based on econ. I also mentioned a behavioural finance MOOC. My grades were probably the most important factor though.
Reply 8
Original post by bris05
I have received offers for Economics at UCL, Warwick, Bath and an offer for Econ and Management from Durham. My grades are already achieved so my offered are unconditional, and I am struggling to choose which university would be best for me. In terms of the course and career prospects, I believe UCL and Warwick are the best, whilst Durham and Bath are a level below but are roughly equal to each other.
However, I am also a competitive distance runner and running is something I want to pursue at uni. For this Bath and Durham have stronger running teams and Bath has amazing sport facilities. Warwick is decent but UCL seems to not be great - the team isn’t strong, there’s no athletics track nearby and less places to run (it has Regent’s Park near at least). However I have read they have a connection with a good athletics club at Parliament Hill (20 min cycle away). Also, the expense of living in London is a downside. Overall, Warwick seems to be a decent middle ground for me but I have also heard some not great things about it - bad area, a bit boring, not great nightlife etc.
Any thoughts for my situation would be much appreciated!

Hey, If I was in your position I would go for either UCL or Warwick. UCL is usually considered a top 5 school in the UK and has a strong reputation in Economics. I absolutely understand the worry about living in London, it is a mega city and life there can get very expensive. Warwick is the exact opposite of that since it is kinda located in the middle of nowhere. The student life can sometimes be less lively than in other cities but I certainly wouldnt say it is boring. It also has a great reputation for econ based subjects, usually ranked in the top 5/6. The fact that it is a campus uni has got many advantages as it is full of mostly students. If you are craving a night out in a bigger city you can always go to Coventry or Birmingham. I talked to some people who study there and all of them seem to be happy with their life in Warwick. I am not sure I can advise you about the running clubs within these schools but I am sure UCL will provide a lot of good options as well since it is a big university with a lot of connections and London will always provide the most options because of its size. Both Durham and Bath are great universities but not as highly regarded in the econ/finance sphere. UCL and Warwick are target schools for a lot of employers like banks and consulting firms.
Reply 9
Original post by bris05
I have received offers for Economics at UCL, Warwick, Bath and an offer for Econ and Management from Durham. My grades are already achieved so my offered are unconditional, and I am struggling to choose which university would be best for me. In terms of the course and career prospects, I believe UCL and Warwick are the best, whilst Durham and Bath are a level below but are roughly equal to each other.
However, I am also a competitive distance runner and running is something I want to pursue at uni. For this Bath and Durham have stronger running teams and Bath has amazing sport facilities. Warwick is decent but UCL seems to not be great - the team isn’t strong, there’s no athletics track nearby and less places to run (it has Regent’s Park near at least). However I have read they have a connection with a good athletics club at Parliament Hill (20 min cycle away). Also, the expense of living in London is a downside. Overall, Warwick seems to be a decent middle ground for me but I have also heard some not great things about it - bad area, a bit boring, not great nightlife etc.
Any thoughts for my situation would be much appreciated!

Congratulations ! Please may I know your stats ? Xx
Go to where you will have the best uni experience. The degree itself is going to be very similar at every uni, people are just blinded by rankings. I chose to not apply to London for Econ because I wanted a campus and strong sports teams and facilities, and I just firmed Bath.

Besides Bath is cool because you get to do a year in industry, which a lot of people get job offers from after they graduate. Just make the decision you wont regret, and don't be swayed by rankings or ranking obsessed people.
Reply 11
Original post by Jjsjjsjssjsj
Go to where you will have the best uni experience. The degree itself is going to be very similar at every uni, people are just blinded by rankings. I chose to not apply to London for Econ because I wanted a campus and strong sports teams and facilities, and I just firmed Bath.
Besides Bath is cool because you get to do a year in industry, which a lot of people get job offers from after they graduate. Just make the decision you wont regret, and don't be swayed by rankings or ranking obsessed people.

What do you mean by blind rankings? They were created for a reason, although I do not deny that the ranking says everything about the university. I received an offer to study at Bath and I have already confirmed it and made it my firm choice. And I constantly doubt whether I made the right choice, because there was another option to take a gap year, study 1 year 1 A level and go to Kings, which is much more famous. It’s just that in my course, and this is business management, Bath is not a bad university, and I don’t really want to lose a year, but I still have doubts and negative thoughts about whether I made the right choice. What do you think?
Original post by ppaden
What do you mean by blind rankings? They were created for a reason, although I do not deny that the ranking says everything about the university. I received an offer to study at Bath and I have already confirmed it and made it my firm choice. And I constantly doubt whether I made the right choice, because there was another option to take a gap year, study 1 year 1 A level and go to Kings, which is much more famous. It’s just that in my course, and this is business management, Bath is not a bad university, and I don’t really want to lose a year, but I still have doubts and negative thoughts about whether I made the right choice. What do you think?
I think you're cooked. Is English your second language?
Reply 13
Original post by Jjsjjsjssjsj
I think you're cooked. Is English your second language?

Yes it is
Reply 14
Original post by ppaden
What do you mean by blind rankings? They were created for a reason, although I do not deny that the ranking says everything about the university. I received an offer to study at Bath and I have already confirmed it and made it my firm choice. And I constantly doubt whether I made the right choice, because there was another option to take a gap year, study 1 year 1 A level and go to Kings, which is much more famous. It’s just that in my course, and this is business management, Bath is not a bad university, and I don’t really want to lose a year, but I still have doubts and negative thoughts about whether I made the right choice. What do you think?
Don’t worry about this, Bath and Kings are the same level for econ these days, kings econ is nothing to shout about and Bath have great employability with the placement years as well. King’s is only regarded highly because of its old reputation which is on the decline. Honestly you’re probably better off at Bath and you might enjoy it more having a campus uni experience.
Reply 15
Original post by Jjsjjsjssjsj
Go to where you will have the best uni experience. The degree itself is going to be very similar at every uni, people are just blinded by rankings. I chose to not apply to London for Econ because I wanted a campus and strong sports teams and facilities, and I just firmed Bath.
Besides Bath is cool because you get to do a year in industry, which a lot of people get job offers from after they graduate. Just make the decision you wont regret, and don't be swayed by rankings or ranking obsessed people.
I got Econ offers from bath (with placement) and a joint economics and geography offer from LSE. I know that the uni experience at bath will be clear of LSE especially because I’m a national swimmer too. Just struggling to make a choice because LSE is LSE if u understand what I mean
Reply 16
HI, can anyone recommend any useful maths based MOOCs to study? thanks
Original post by leyito43
I got Econ offers from bath (with placement) and a joint economics and geography offer from LSE. I know that the uni experience at bath will be clear of LSE especially because I’m a national swimmer too. Just struggling to make a choice because LSE is LSE if u understand what I mean

I'm ngl straight econ pretty much everywhere is probs more respectful than economics and geo even if it is at LCE

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