Do Russel groups matter ?
Hi, i’ve just received a contextual offer from the University of Liverpool and overall the uni is ranked decent out of the rest or the other russel groups, But im still waiting for a cardiff offer. I will 100% be aiming to go cardiff if i get an offer as it is the top 10 in its course, but the psychology course in liverpool is not looking too good. Should i worry about this?
Or is the fact its a russel group an indicator that it is a good university regardless of the ranking?
If i dont get an offer at cardiff, its between swansea and liverpool and im unsure which would be better for a psychology undergrad.
Or is the fact its a russel group an indicator that it is a good university regardless of the ranking?
If i dont get an offer at cardiff, its between swansea and liverpool and im unsure which would be better for a psychology undergrad.
Scroll to see replies
First of all more broadly no the Russell group does not matter and the experience will be no different for the average undergraduate student.
Second, what course are you applying for?
Third, the rankings matter just as little as the Russell group does, I would dissuade you from using these in your offer acceptance decisions.
Second, what course are you applying for?
Third, the rankings matter just as little as the Russell group does, I would dissuade you from using these in your offer acceptance decisions.
Go on what you think of the course. Being Russell group certainly isn't everything and the most important thing is that you get what you want from the course.
Original post by McGinger
"but the psychology course in liverpool is not looking too good."
What do you mean- that you don't like that course for some reason, or is this about what you think other people think about it?
What do you mean- that you don't like that course for some reason, or is this about what you think other people think about it?
I looked into it and its not ranked too high in comparison to other universities but im unsure as its different to each source
Original post by 04MR17
First of all more broadly no the Russell group does not matter and the experience will be no different for the average undergraduate student.
Second, what course are you applying for?
Third, the rankings matter just as little as the Russell group does, I would dissuade you from using these in your offer acceptance decisions.
Second, what course are you applying for?
Third, the rankings matter just as little as the Russell group does, I would dissuade you from using these in your offer acceptance decisions.
psychology!! 😞its just so stressful i have no idea where to turn to to decide since its such a big decision
Yeah but you don't have to make it yet and you have time to explore the courses more. Don't feel pressured to rush a decision
Original post by a5he
I looked into it and its not ranked too high in comparison to other universities but im unsure as its different to each source
Rankings are bunkum.
Are you really going to choose a Uni just because 'its in the top 10' of a guide sponsored by a newspaper designed to sell newspapers?
Rankings can never tell you if you will like that course, or enjoy being at that Uni - or have a great career or a happy marriage. And btw, they are totally ignored / despised by the Universities themselves - they know they are all utter nonsense.
Original post by a5he
psychology!! 😞its just so stressful i have no idea where to turn to to decide since its such a big decision
Right I'll stop you there.
As long as the course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) then there's not going to be huge differences in the course. The BPS have fairly tight requirements in order to get accreditation from them and so no matter whether you go to Cardiff, Liverpool or anywhere else that's accredited - you are likely to be spending the three years learning pretty much the same stuff. There is some flexibility, you might learn some things in a different way or do topics in a different order but Psychology is a course where the rankings mean very little and the Russell group even less so.
If you're hoping to be a clinic psych in the future, you're going to want a course which is BPS accredited. Beyond that, your decision should be about how it feels to you - go and visit them, judge the vibes you get, both are in sizeable cities with plenty to do. Get a sense of what's on offer from the wider university here. Still look at the course, look at the modules on offer - you might find one course has a much larger department and so a much wider variety of things you can specialise in during third year. But second and (especially) first year content is going to be extremely similar across many Psychology BSc courses.
Hope this is useful
Original post by McGinger
Rankings are bunkum.
Are you really going to choose a Uni just because 'its in the top 10' of a guide sponsored by a newspaper designed to sell newspapers?
Rankings can never tell you if you will like that course, or enjoy being at that Uni - or have a great career or a happy marriage. And btw, they are totally ignored / despised by the Universities themselves - they know they are all utter nonsense.
Are you really going to choose a Uni just because 'its in the top 10' of a guide sponsored by a newspaper designed to sell newspapers?
Rankings can never tell you if you will like that course, or enjoy being at that Uni - or have a great career or a happy marriage. And btw, they are totally ignored / despised by the Universities themselves - they know they are all utter nonsense.
yeah youre right sorry i dont know where to depend on for choosing unis
Original post by 04MR17
Right I'll stop you there.
As long as the course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) then there's not going to be huge differences in the course. The BPS have fairly tight requirements in order to get accreditation from them and so no matter whether you go to Cardiff, Liverpool or anywhere else that's accredited - you are likely to be spending the three years learning pretty much the same stuff. There is some flexibility, you might learn some things in a different way or do topics in a different order but Psychology is a course where the rankings mean very little and the Russell group even less so.
If you're hoping to be a clinic psych in the future, you're going to want a course which is BPS accredited. Beyond that, your decision should be about how it feels to you - go and visit them, judge the vibes you get, both are in sizeable cities with plenty to do. Get a sense of what's on offer from the wider university here. Still look at the course, look at the modules on offer - you might find one course has a much larger department and so a much wider variety of things you can specialise in during third year. But second and (especially) first year content is going to be extremely similar across many Psychology BSc courses.
Hope this is useful
As long as the course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) then there's not going to be huge differences in the course. The BPS have fairly tight requirements in order to get accreditation from them and so no matter whether you go to Cardiff, Liverpool or anywhere else that's accredited - you are likely to be spending the three years learning pretty much the same stuff. There is some flexibility, you might learn some things in a different way or do topics in a different order but Psychology is a course where the rankings mean very little and the Russell group even less so.
If you're hoping to be a clinic psych in the future, you're going to want a course which is BPS accredited. Beyond that, your decision should be about how it feels to you - go and visit them, judge the vibes you get, both are in sizeable cities with plenty to do. Get a sense of what's on offer from the wider university here. Still look at the course, look at the modules on offer - you might find one course has a much larger department and so a much wider variety of things you can specialise in during third year. But second and (especially) first year content is going to be extremely similar across many Psychology BSc courses.
Hope this is useful
tysm!!
Original post by McGinger
Rankings are bunkum.
Are you really going to choose a Uni just because 'its in the top 10' of a guide sponsored by a newspaper designed to sell newspapers?
Rankings can never tell you if you will like that course, or enjoy being at that Uni - or have a great career or a happy marriage. And btw, they are totally ignored / despised by the Universities themselves - they know they are all utter nonsense.
Are you really going to choose a Uni just because 'its in the top 10' of a guide sponsored by a newspaper designed to sell newspapers?
Rankings can never tell you if you will like that course, or enjoy being at that Uni - or have a great career or a happy marriage. And btw, they are totally ignored / despised by the Universities themselves - they know they are all utter nonsense.
Your last sentence is not completely true. Warwick, Exeter, Strathclyde and many, indeed most others, ardently manipulate the NSS data to their advantage, in order to maximise their ratings. it's an imperfect process, with a lot of lag, and plenty of internal politics, but basically, it's what every Director of Strategic Planning is doing in every uni, to a greater of lesser degree. That's the reason Exeter and Warwick have risen so high in the rankings, despite, on paper, not fitting the 'very old' any big city profile of most of the RG. Strathclyde was a completely adequate poly, but when it got uni status and invested in playing the NSS game, its reputation rose.
Very few universities don't care about them - Oxford and Cambridge don't put any co-ordinated effort into managing their scores, because they are too arrogant/shambolic administratively to co-ordinated it. Bristol used not to care (because the VC didn't), but with a change of VC, lo and behold they bring in the expert who had created Exeter's rise in the ratings.
Oh, and if you're visiting with family go to:
Cardiff - Pen and Wig pub, or Santiago's Tapas if you're feeling fancy
Liverpool - Elif on Bold Street - busy but food great & good value
afterwards for something to eat.
Cardiff - Pen and Wig pub, or Santiago's Tapas if you're feeling fancy
Liverpool - Elif on Bold Street - busy but food great & good value
afterwards for something to eat.
Original post by 04MR17
Oh, and if you're visiting with family go to:
Cardiff - Pen and Wig pub, or Santiago's Tapas if you're feeling fancy
Liverpool - Elif on Bold Street - busy but food great & good value
afterwards for something to eat.
Cardiff - Pen and Wig pub, or Santiago's Tapas if you're feeling fancy
Liverpool - Elif on Bold Street - busy but food great & good value
afterwards for something to eat.
tysm!!!
Original post by 04MR17
Right I'll stop you there.
As long as the course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) then there's not going to be huge differences in the course. The BPS have fairly tight requirements in order to get accreditation from them and so no matter whether you go to Cardiff, Liverpool or anywhere else that's accredited - you are likely to be spending the three years learning pretty much the same stuff. There is some flexibility, you might learn some things in a different way or do topics in a different order but Psychology is a course where the rankings mean very little and the Russell group even less so.
If you're hoping to be a clinic psych in the future, you're going to want a course which is BPS accredited. Beyond that, your decision should be about how it feels to you - go and visit them, judge the vibes you get, both are in sizeable cities with plenty to do. Get a sense of what's on offer from the wider university here. Still look at the course, look at the modules on offer - you might find one course has a much larger department and so a much wider variety of things you can specialise in during third year. But second and (especially) first year content is going to be extremely similar across many Psychology BSc courses.
Hope this is useful
As long as the course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) then there's not going to be huge differences in the course. The BPS have fairly tight requirements in order to get accreditation from them and so no matter whether you go to Cardiff, Liverpool or anywhere else that's accredited - you are likely to be spending the three years learning pretty much the same stuff. There is some flexibility, you might learn some things in a different way or do topics in a different order but Psychology is a course where the rankings mean very little and the Russell group even less so.
If you're hoping to be a clinic psych in the future, you're going to want a course which is BPS accredited. Beyond that, your decision should be about how it feels to you - go and visit them, judge the vibes you get, both are in sizeable cities with plenty to do. Get a sense of what's on offer from the wider university here. Still look at the course, look at the modules on offer - you might find one course has a much larger department and so a much wider variety of things you can specialise in during third year. But second and (especially) first year content is going to be extremely similar across many Psychology BSc courses.
Hope this is useful
They may use them for all they are worth - but they still believe they are a nonsense - including Bristol, Warwick etc.
Its in the same silly calibre of artificial marketing games as the institutional crawling for 'University of the Year'.
Original post by threeportdrift
Your last sentence is not completely true. Warwick, Exeter, Strathclyde and many, indeed most others, ardently manipulate the NSS data to their advantage, in order to maximise their ratings. it's an imperfect process, with a lot of lag, and plenty of internal politics, but basically, it's what every Director of Strategic Planning is doing in every uni, to a greater of lesser degree. That's the reason Exeter and Warwick have risen so high in the rankings, despite, on paper, not fitting the 'very old' any big city profile of most of the RG. Strathclyde was a completely adequate poly, but when it got uni status and invested in playing the NSS game, its reputation rose.
Very few universities don't care about them - Oxford and Cambridge don't put any co-ordinated effort into managing their scores, because they are too arrogant/shambolic administratively to co-ordinated it. Bristol used not to care (because the VC didn't), but with a change of VC, lo and behold they bring in the expert who had created Exeter's rise in the ratings.
Very few universities don't care about them - Oxford and Cambridge don't put any co-ordinated effort into managing their scores, because they are too arrogant/shambolic administratively to co-ordinated it. Bristol used not to care (because the VC didn't), but with a change of VC, lo and behold they bring in the expert who had created Exeter's rise in the ratings.
Ahh this makes so much more sense! I was excited about my liverpool offer, so my friend said to search into it and i found all this out about them ranking lower than others and it freaked me !! tysm !
Original post by McGinger
Rankings are bunkum.
Are you really going to choose a Uni just because 'its in the top 10' of a guide sponsored by a newspaper designed to sell newspapers?
Rankings can never tell you if you will like that course, or enjoy being at that Uni - or have a great career or a happy marriage. And btw, they are totally ignored / despised by the Universities themselves - they know they are all utter nonsense.
Are you really going to choose a Uni just because 'its in the top 10' of a guide sponsored by a newspaper designed to sell newspapers?
Rankings can never tell you if you will like that course, or enjoy being at that Uni - or have a great career or a happy marriage. And btw, they are totally ignored / despised by the Universities themselves - they know they are all utter nonsense.
think some American universities have opted out of participation in rankings altogether
Original post by threeportdrift
Your last sentence is not completely true. Warwick, Exeter, Strathclyde and many, indeed most others, ardently manipulate the NSS data to their advantage, in order to maximise their ratings. it's an imperfect process, with a lot of lag, and plenty of internal politics, but basically, it's what every Director of Strategic Planning is doing in every uni, to a greater of lesser degree. That's the reason Exeter and Warwick have risen so high in the rankings, despite, on paper, not fitting the 'very old' any big city profile of most of the RG. Strathclyde was a completely adequate poly, but when it got uni status and invested in playing the NSS game, its reputation rose.
Very few universities don't care about them - Oxford and Cambridge don't put any co-ordinated effort into managing their scores, because they are too arrogant/shambolic administratively to co-ordinated it. Bristol used not to care (because the VC didn't), but with a change of VC, lo and behold they bring in the expert who had created Exeter's rise in the ratings.
Very few universities don't care about them - Oxford and Cambridge don't put any co-ordinated effort into managing their scores, because they are too arrogant/shambolic administratively to co-ordinated it. Bristol used not to care (because the VC didn't), but with a change of VC, lo and behold they bring in the expert who had created Exeter's rise in the ratings.
surely Oxford and Cambridge don’t even have to try with rankings given their teaching staff to student ratio and extraordinary endowment wealth from the past but also alumni fund raising in the present and for the future
Original post by 04MR17
Oh, and if you're visiting with family go to:
Cardiff - Pen and Wig pub, or Santiago's Tapas if you're feeling fancy
Liverpool - Elif on Bold Street - busy but food great & good value
afterwards for something to eat.
Cardiff - Pen and Wig pub, or Santiago's Tapas if you're feeling fancy
Liverpool - Elif on Bold Street - busy but food great & good value
afterwards for something to eat.
excellent suggestions!
Original post by MedMama
think some American universities have opted out of participation in rankings altogether
You can't 'opt out' when the metrics are gleaned from publicly available data. Most metrics come from things like the National Student Survey (or equivalents) and data that can be found from returns the university makes to HESA etc. The international ones simply use national equivalents.
The question for universities is 'How much effort do we want to put into managing our league table position?'. And that largely depends on how much they want to get overseas students, as league tables are pretty much all overseas students go by.
(edited 3 months ago)
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Uni help!!!!
- University ranks
- Going to a non-russell group
- Need help for career
- Cardiff or KCL for psychology
- Law help
- Masters requirements
- Edge hill or Liverpool university
- can i do law with a 4 in maths
- ADVICE NEEDED - LAW russel group
- Surrey university
- Do I still have a chance?
- Training contracts
- Russel group help….
- failure
- Am I able to get into a russel group with these grades?
- biomed at RG uni or non RG
- University of Birmingham or Birmingham City University (UOB OR BCU)
- Problems with university option
- A level choices for law
Latest
Trending
Last reply 9 hours ago
UCAS Applications + Uni Applicant Thread Directory for 2025 **Official Thread**Last reply 1 month ago
Fastest and Slowest Offer Holders Thread for 2025 EntryLast reply 1 month ago
Official Offer Holder Thread Directory 2025 EntryLast reply 1 month ago
i'm studying psychology but i don't know where to apply toLast reply 2 months ago
How do I get a buzzword for UCAS application?Last reply 2 months ago
My teacher wrote me an horrible reference, even when telling her I'm applying for medLast reply 2 months ago
I got an offer but haven’t met gcse requirementLast reply 2 months ago
Year 13s: where are you at in your university decision making?Last reply 2 months ago
havent sent off my ucas yet and i have low-ish predicted grades dont know what to do
