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First Class Degree Help

Hello,

I wonder if all the university courses are the same or not - for example if I do LLB in for example Oxford is it the same as the course LLB in Law in any other university? For example if you get a first class degree in Oxford and others get First class degree in other universities - does it mean they've got the same degree in just 2 seperate educational institutions and that's all?

If so, why are Oxbridge classified better universities in different ranking systems, is that because they're teaching is better and students have got more chance of getting a better degree than in other universities?

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Reply 1

Jasper.Paterson

No. If I import a bottle of champagne for 100s of pounds and buy a cheapo one from Sainsburys they wouldn't taste the same.

Reply 2

clad in armour

Jasper.Paterson

No. If I import a bottle of champagne for 100s of pounds and buy a cheapo one from Sainsburys they wouldn't taste the same.

thats not really fair now is it

Reply 3

Lachlan

Its very difficult to accurately measure one degree against another. However a degree from a top Uni will probably teach you more, it will have harder exams and have better students. A 2:1 or a First from a top Uni is accepted to be harder to achieve than a 2:1 or a First from a poorer Uni.

Reply 4

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Course content tends to vary from university to university, so what might be on offer at Oxford may not be on offer at another university and vice versa.

Btw, at Oxford, you get a BA Jurisprudence, not the LLB :smile:

Reply 5

noonespecial

Jasper.Paterson

No. If I import a bottle of champagne for 100s of pounds and buy a cheapo one from Sainsburys they wouldn't taste the same.

That's actually a good analogy, except ridiculously exaggerated.

At the end of the day it's still champagne, whether you've spent £100 or £10 on it - there will always be the snobs, experts and people who like to think a certain way (with generally good reason) who think £100 is much better than even £80, you will get some £10-£20 bottles that taste just as good as a £100 one, but because they've not got the long-standing brand or the facility to make the best champers, people might not agree.

A metaphor for degrees.

At the end of the day, it's your choice, you'll have spent 3 years doing a degree which isn't just something that you want to get to improve your job prospects - you've done it because you enjoy studying, wanted to further your education and enjoy your time.

Reply 6

Jasper.Paterson

noonespecial

I feel the analogy works if you're talking about the difference between Oxford University and Chichester University or Thames Valley or an ex poly.

No?

Reply 7

Jasper.Paterson

clad in armour

thats not really fair now is it

I feel it is. I'm not biased, you can see from my sig that I'm not an oxford applicant.

Reply 8

KirstyK

If you come in the top 10% of your class you're going to be well taken care of, regardless of the school.

Reply 9

RyanT

No of course not - or why would different degrees have different entry requirements?

Beyond oxbridge I don't think employers would differentiate between any plate glass or earlier universities unless it's a specialist institution such as LSE or Imperial. It will start to kick in when comparing ex-polytechnics though - although somewhat unfairly as some have great teaching records.

Reply 10

vahik92

Jasper.Paterson

No. If I import a bottle of champagne for 100s of pounds and buy a cheapo one from Sainsburys they wouldn't taste the same.

No not at all, however if universities offer exactly the same course with exactly the same examinations - if 2 students one from Oxford one from other uni get the same grade then they are in terms of education equal - in terms of that specific course - aren't they?

Reply 11

vahik92

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Ok, let me ask the question differently.

In year 11 all students each year do GCSEs and those GCSEs are exactly the same - everyone in the country for example does the same Maths examination and at the end gets a grade - what about universities - do students in all unis have got the same examinations?

Reply 12

Masterz

vahik92

nope , what it is two same courses have different content so say if your doing an accounts degree in oxford(probably dont do it) they might teach you a lot more than what you would get in say wolverhampton

Reply 13

TerryTerry

I'm very confused as to what you're actually asking.

The exams are not the same for every university student in the country; it's not like A-levels. Each exam is set by the individual university and marked internally and checked externally by another university.

The exams are roughly the same difficulty although different universities might have different course content. All universities will make you take the 7 core qualifying modules and a lot of the good ones make you take Jurisprudence as well. The rest is taken from a pool of options which might include, say Competition/ Company/ Public International Law and so on. The pool you can choose from will be wider/narrower depending on the university.

The percentage of people who receive firsts/2:1 etc. changes each year and is different for each university. Oxford and LSE might have say 15% of firsts for one year, 10% the next. Usually the percentage is much lower at other universities and ranges from 3-7%. You might say the fact that Oxford students receive more firsts/2:1s shows that the overall quality of student is higher than another at university or you might claim the teaching is higher.

A first from a good university is usually always regarded as better than a 2:1 from another university.

Reply 14

NDGAARONDI

Jasper.Paterson

No. If I import a bottle of champagne for 100s of pounds and buy a cheapo one from Sainsburys they wouldn't taste the same.

I wouldn't say that to UCL law students claiming that there are other university courses far superior to theirs. They wouldn't like it.

Reply 15

NDGAARONDI

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Btw, at Oxford, you get a BA Jurisprudence, not the LLB :smile:

It's still a law degree. You don't spend three years learning jurisprudence.

Reply 16

TheQueenOfComputerScience

TerryTerry

The exams are not the same for every university student in the country; it's not like A-levels.

Actually A Levels arnt all the same either, some exam boards are alot easier to get good grades with than others! There is just less variation as it is exam board dependant as opposed to University dependant. :p:

Reply 17

The_Lonely_Goatherd

NDGAARONDI

It's still a law degree. You don't spend three years learning jurisprudence.

I know, I was just pointing out to the OP that the degree title you are awarded is different, since I got the impression that the OP didn't know this :smile:

Reply 18

Jasper.Paterson

NDGAARONDI

I wouldn't say that to UCL law students claiming that there are other university courses far superior to theirs. They wouldn't like it.

Good job I'm not a UCL Law student then.

Reply 19

Jasper.Paterson

vahik92

I'm not sure that Universities take the same examinations, they award their own degrees. This is why your degree is not awarded by an examining body.

I was under the assumption that the exams taken at each University are specific to that University.