The Student Room Group

Bath vs King electrical engineering, please help!

I’ve been offered to do electrical engineering at both places but I can’t decide due to financial reasons. (I come from a low income family) I know that Bath has much better graduate outcomes for graduates doing engineering and overall is much better than KCL for engineering. However, the government has just increased the uni tuition to £9535 which doesn’t help and paying for accommodation at Bath much is very expensive.

I live in London so going to KCL would be much more financially viable as i would only have to pay for travel and tuition frees.

So if anyone would give there option on what they would do in my situation and tell me if the added student dept is worth going to bath or better to stay in London.
Original post by Franco131233
I’ve been offered to do electrical engineering at both places but I can’t decide due to financial reasons. (I come from a low income family) I know that Bath has much better graduate outcomes for graduates doing engineering and overall is much better than KCL for engineering. However, the government has just increased the uni tuition to £9535 which doesn’t help and paying for accommodation at Bath much is very expensive.
I live in London so going to KCL would be much more financially viable as i would only have to pay for travel and tuition frees.
So if anyone would give there option on what they would do in my situation and tell me if the added student dept is worth going to bath or better to stay in London.

Hi Franco,

Thanks for reaching out with this. Choosing a uni is a really difficult decision and many students will be feeling conflicted, especially with the rise in fees and cost of living. I would keep in mind the following:

Your tuition fee loan is a loan which you will only start paying back in small increments once you start earning above a certain amount, and many people never pay off their full amount as it is written off after a certain number of years.

Uni is about setting yourself up for the future you want. I would recommend prioritising which course looks the most appealing to you first and foremost as this is what you will be doing for the next 3-5 years, which location/campus you feel more at ease and at home in, and yes the cost of accommodation both in halls and afterwards in the city.


Did you know you may be able to get a bursary or scholarship from us in Bath? Here is where you can take a look at them.

I would pay particular attention to the Bath Bursary, the Accommodation Bursary and the Gold Scholarship programme as these are designed for students from lower-income backgrounds who are concerned about the cost of their studies, to help them out. They're very easy to apply for, and so I'd definitely recommend taking a look to see what you're eligible for. If you are swaying towards Kings, then please do check out their website to see if they have something similar!

Personally, I was a student here at Bath a few years ago and genuinely loved my time here. It has a lovely community feel, the city is filled with oldy-worldy georgian architecture, lively shops and green spaces to visit, and Bath has one of the best industrial placement schemes in the country which will add a lot of value to your grad CV.

I hope this helps - however your decision is yours and its important to go with what feel right for you 🙂

Best of luck!

Holly
University of Bath
Original post by University of Bath
Hi Franco,
Thanks for reaching out with this. Choosing a uni is a really difficult decision and many students will be feeling conflicted, especially with the rise in fees and cost of living. I would keep in mind the following:

Your tuition fee loan is a loan which you will only start paying back in small increments once you start earning above a certain amount, and many people never pay off their full amount as it is written off after a certain number of years.

Uni is about setting yourself up for the future you want. I would recommend prioritising which course looks the most appealing to you first and foremost as this is what you will be doing for the next 3-5 years, which location/campus you feel more at ease and at home in, and yes the cost of accommodation both in halls and afterwards in the city.


Did you know you may be able to get a bursary or scholarship from us in Bath? Here is where you can take a look at them.
I would pay particular attention to the Bath Bursary, the Accommodation Bursary and the Gold Scholarship programme as these are designed for students from lower-income backgrounds who are concerned about the cost of their studies, to help them out. They're very easy to apply for, and so I'd definitely recommend taking a look to see what you're eligible for. If you are swaying towards Kings, then please do check out their website to see if they have something similar!
Personally, I was a student here at Bath a few years ago and genuinely loved my time here. It has a lovely community feel, the city is filled with oldy-worldy georgian architecture, lively shops and green spaces to visit, and Bath has one of the best industrial placement schemes in the country which will add a lot of value to your grad CV.
I hope this helps - however your decision is yours and its important to go with what feel right for you 🙂
Best of luck!
Holly
University of Bath

Hiii, I’m a prospective student applying to bath.
I’ve been doing a bit of research and would like to ask how the university of Bath check if you are eligible for a contextual offer through free school meals. I know Bath gives you a contextual offer if you were eligible for free school meals in the past 6 years. However, on UCAS they asked if I have ever been eligible for free school meals and I put I don know” because I’m unsure. I would like to ask if the uni go out of their way to check if you have been eligible in the past if you answered “I don’t know” so that they can give you a contextual offer? Also, how does Bath check if you are eligible for a bursary/ scholarship because I know that unites check with student finance England to check your household income but I haven’t applied for student finance yet as my school says you do this later after you get your offers from the universities which confused me a lot. My friend got a contextual offer because he was on free school meals but in my case, I’m unsure if would also get a contextual offer. Sorry for so many questions buy my last question is, does the uni of Bath let you if you are eligible for the gold scholarship or bursary on your UCAS offer? I ask because this would drastically change my choice for which uni i would go to (as my firm choice) if i could get a scholarship. Thank you so much!

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