How much does univeristy affect graduate prospects?

8

Im looking to apply to Chemical Engineering through UCAS Extra and im not too sure which universities i should apply to. The main thing im looking for is good graduate prospects and being able to get a job after graduating as I've been told its very difficult. Some of the univeristies that are currently there are: Queen Marys, Southampton, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester.
(If it helps i currently have an unconditional from Nottingham but am yet to accept/decline)

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 1

University of Sheffield Students

Official Rep

16

Original post

by Kiwi176

Im looking to apply to Chemical Engineering through UCAS Extra and im not too sure which universities i should apply to. The main thing im looking for is good graduate prospects and being able to get a job after graduating as I've been told its very difficult. Some of the univeristies that are currently there are: Queen Marys, Southampton, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester.
(If it helps i currently have an unconditional from Nottingham but am yet to accept/decline)
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hi Kiwi176,

Something that can be beneficial to your degree is having a year in industry. By being able to gain some experience working a company for a year, you can gain industry related knowledge and network with working professionals. This is something that you can see if the other unis have an option for as a year in industry is popular in the University of Sheffield.

The uni also helps you find a placement through the Career Connect portal and weekly emails on available placements and CV workshops and 1 to 1 sessions on tailoring your CV and cover letter.

If you have any specific questions about Chem Eng in Sheffield or life in general, just let me know!

Jivanthika

Reply 2

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post

by Kiwi176

Im looking to apply to Chemical Engineering through UCAS Extra and im not too sure which universities i should apply to. The main thing im looking for is good graduate prospects and being able to get a job after graduating as I've been told its very difficult. Some of the univeristies that are currently there are: Queen Marys, Southampton, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester.
(If it helps i currently have an unconditional from Nottingham but am yet to accept/decline)
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Formally it shouldn’t make a huge difference due to the way most graduate roles are advertised nowadays. Lots of companies (if not most) won’t ask about university name in interviews or during filtering.

That said when you look at prestigious & higher salary employers (often the salary at grad level is £2-£5000 above average, but post grad scheme salaries grow much faster & average at a higher peak in certain industries & employers…), there are very clear trends which universities are most highly represented. Additionally if you look at the more unique opportunities such as research funding etc. again some universities perform better. I do think a lot of this is a mixture of the types of students with higher A-level attainment and thus typically at stronger institutions, are more likely to grind early careers which leads to disproportionately being recruited, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy…

That said there is a lot to be said for being surrounded by ambitious hard working individuals, it will help pull you up. i do believe the world class research universities bring a huge benefit in terms of employer connections & a greater emphasis on rigour which might make the degree tougher but makes you a stronger graduate, then more likely to get employed at stronger employers…

Of the universities you listed for engineering: Soton, leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield are the ones id recommend, all roughly equivalent followed by Brum & Manchester (again these are also excellent), then Queen Mary

Reply 3

Picnicl

17

Nottingham has the highest average entry grades and student satisfaction of all those universities for this subject.

Reply 4

Kiwi176

OP

8

Thanks all of you have replied, greatly appreciate it, I am planning to do a year in industry and hopefully summer internships between years. However i’m not sure about doing a masters, how much do you recommend it/how much would it help me. From my conversations with a few people I got the idea that your placement can heavily affect your graduate prospects but not sure about having a masters.

Reply 5

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post

by Kiwi176

Thanks all of you have replied, greatly appreciate it, I am planning to do a year in industry and hopefully summer internships between years. However i’m not sure about doing a masters, how much do you recommend it/how much would it help me. From my conversations with a few people I got the idea that your placement can heavily affect your graduate prospects but not sure about having a masters.

I strongly recommend a placement year & a masters. Its one extra year for what may well be a 40-50 year career, and pragmatically the student debt is structured may not even cost you anything extra…

•

placement year adds a lot of value to your CV as well as teaching you what you want in a professional role

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Masters does a few things: the grad market is so competitive it is basically now “standard” at lots of companies, a suitable masters also meets the full academic requirements for professional registration aka chartership, it provides opportunities to learn more focused & specialist expertise, the specialist modules at university are very heavily weighted to final year & masters year, so gives you the extra opportunity

Reply 6

Kiwi176

OP

8

Original post

by mnot

I strongly recommend a placement year & a masters. Its one extra year for what may well be a 40-50 year career, and pragmatically the student debt is structured may not even cost you anything extra…

•

placement year adds a lot of value to your CV as well as teaching you what you want in a professional role

•

Masters does a few things: the grad market is so competitive it is basically now “standard” at lots of companies, a suitable masters also meets the full academic requirements for professional registration aka chartership, it provides opportunities to learn more focused & specialist expertise, the specialist modules at university are very heavily weighted to final year & masters year, so gives you the extra opportunity

Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it!!

Reply 7

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post

by Kiwi176

Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it!!

Id also note most universities allow people to move flexibly between placement and straight through as well as BEng or MEng. So if you enter on a BEng straight degree you will almost certainly (provided you’re on track for a 2.1) be allowed to change, on both placement and masters. Of course you should clarify with all your options but im yet to see this not be an option (except at the very very small number of universities that only offer MEng such as Oxford, Cambridge & Imperial)

Reply 8

UniOfSouthampton

Official Rep

7

Original post

by Kiwi176

Im looking to apply to Chemical Engineering through UCAS Extra and im not too sure which universities i should apply to. The main thing im looking for is good graduate prospects and being able to get a job after graduating as I've been told its very difficult. Some of the univeristies that are currently there are: Queen Marys, Southampton, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester.
(If it helps i currently have an unconditional from Nottingham but am yet to accept/decline)
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hi @Kiwi176,

Great to see Southampton on your list!

Have you seen the careers and employability page on the chemical engineering course? There's a list of career pathways, links to work experience opportunities through our Careers, Employability and Student Experience team, and some stats that might help.

Our Careers team is available in person or online for students to chat to advisers 1-to-1, get advice on applications, help build and check CVs, get you set up with a mentor, and more. Definitely worth checking out. We also have the UoS Career Hub which is an online resource with a CV review tool, mock interview simulators and more.

The Chemical Engineering course has an optional year in industry if you're interested in having work experience during your degree. Or you can choose to go for the MEng, which is the integrated master's (and you can add on a year in industry too!). The MEng meets the educational reqs for Chartered Engineer status, which can give your CV a boost as well.

To add to your list of things you're looking for, make sure you look at the life in each city as well - what would suit you best? Where would you like to spend 3 or 4 years?

Hope that helps. Let us know if you have any more questions about the course or life in Southampton. Would love to help.

Bea
University of Southampton

How much does univeristy affect graduate prospects?

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