Need help narrowing down uni choices for Mechanical Engineering

Maybe look into courses with a foundation year, this will give you a lot more options with SL Maths.

Its not financially viable for me + one key point of doing IB and coming to the UK is shaving an extra year off

Realistically the majority of engineering degrees in the UK without a foundation year require HL Maths, because engineering is necessarily a mathematical field. So that's probably going to be the main constraint, especially if you can't consider a foundation year. You'll have to check the entry criteria of any courses you're considering carefully!

I’m aware of that, and the unis I’ve mentioned all accept math SL. What I need the help of more experienced people with is narrowing down the four options have to two based on other considerations.

I'm an international student applying for September 2025 entry for first year entry to mechanical engineering.
I take the IB diploma and am predicted 7s in Physics HL, Chemistry HL, and Math AA SL. For mainly financial reasons I don't want to apply for foundation.
I've locked in the following three choices:
Uni of Surrey
Cardiff
Warwick
As for the last two choices, I have a few options. If y'all know any other good unis which accept a 7 in math AA SL for mech eng please let me know too.
The options I have in mind are Exeter, Lancaster, Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Nottingham.
I would appreciate help in narrowing down and any further suggestions. I value a safe city, and don't care about clubs, pubs and that kind of 'student life'.

What do you mean by 'locked in'? None of those three are regarded for Engineering.

I am confined by my subject choices and have deemed these three to be worthwhile enough to be good enough to apply to.

They aren't 'good' for Mech Eng though.

By what standard? Aren’t you being a bit harsh here?

I teach Maths - lots of my students go on to do Engineering degrees. No-one opts to go to these unis.

I teach Maths - lots of my students go on to do Engineering degrees. No-one opts to go to these unis.

Due to my subject choices, I am confined to unisthat accept Math AA SL; I wanna make the best out of my chosen subjects regardless of whether they are ideal in hindsight.
What do you suggest then? Which is the best out of the bunch I have available to me?

which one do you see them going to the most? just curious

Lots - Bath, Loughborough [both have good placement schemes] and Brookes [one of the few whose course includes EVs and brilliant for Motorsport]
RG is not relevant for Engineering - and some so-called elit unis e.g. Oxbridge have very out-of-date courses which are not good prep for working in industry these days.

Surrey, Cardiff, Nottingham, Birmingham, and I think Warwick all offer placement years; that has been a criterion for me in my choices.
I’m glad to hear ranking and supposed prestige is not everything in engineering. Where can I go from here with these choices?

Lots - Bath, Loughborough [both have good placement schemes] and Brookes [one of the few whose course includes EVs and brilliant for Motorsport]
RG is not relevant for Engineering - and some so-called elit unis e.g. Oxbridge have very out-of-date courses which are not good prep for working in industry these days.

I want to work in Motorsport, but ouch I didn’t apply to either brookes, bath or lobo 🫠

Brookes has the original Motorsport degree designed with the industry and the ddepartment has just moved into brand-new facilities. They excel in Formula Student too.