Kupika.net

Lyncheh

Right. In around 2 months or so I'll be applying to universities. The course I want to take is not totally obscure, but nowhere near as widespread as say...Maths or Law. Sorry, this is going to be tl;dr.

So far I have found 3 courses at universities I would not detest (the other ones are too skanky, too expensive to live there, etc) These universities are:

University of Birmingham
University of Central Lancashire
Swansea University (in Wales)

Now, for a while I seemed set on University of Birmingham, though I've yet to visit it. I go to Birmingham monthly, it seems safer than its reputation, it's about an hour on the train from where I live (useful for visiting my parents mother and friends once in a while.) That would be my firm choice, I thought.

However. I can apply to six universities to start with, so I started searching and found University of Central Lancashire (UCLan.) This seemed easier to get in to (the Birmingham course has 5 places..) and had pretty much the same course as the Birmingham one. Now, I have no burning desire to move up North () but it seemed nice enough and I thought that I'd put it as my second choice. (I didn't know about its reputation or ranking at this point. )

But just yesterday, thanks to UCAS's crappy search system, I found another university which offers the course. Swansea University. It sounds totally naff. But when I look at what it offers, the little student village right on the coast, the cheap cost of living, the chance to move to another (albeit only slightly different) country, the students' opinions of it...it seems really good. Plus the course lasts 3 years including a year abroad instead of 4 years including a year abroad, which will save some debt later on. It seems really, really good. Even better than Birmingham.

Now, my dilemma is this. UoB is a top ranking university. In some league tables it's only 5, 6 places below Oxford and Cambridge (the top universities.) It generally has a very good reputation because it's a redbrick university (as opposed to a modern ex-polytechnic.) Swansea is generally not in the top 25, but came first in student satisfaction in one poll. UCLan is like in the 70s LOLOL but I'm not too bothered about that one anymore.

Should I aim for the more prestigious university, or the one that sounds better? Asssuming I could meet my offers for both, which is better - a good reputation or (what I think may be) a better student experience (for me personally)?

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Lyncheh

Lol, why I thought Kupika would think anything about anything I don't know. This isn't even 'reply if you've had MS', this wasn't even specified as needing to be relevant to you. You all fucking suck.

Though looking back I'm probably the stupid one for thinking kupikids would understand/reply to this. ><

automerge cba

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noodlespirit

I've been thinking about it, to be honest. I just didn't want to reply until I knew what to say. ^_^

But, then again, I live in the USA so I know nothing about the UK...^///^'

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Sanyu

I've been thinking about it too. I enrolled back in high school this year with a set goal in mind: to get into our state's most prestigious university. I changed my mind a little after when I spoke to some students from that uni. Their courses are actually less intense than the one I'm attending now, and they're all about theory, which isn't the best thing in practical courses that require more - post-graduation - than sitting in an office processing paperwork or something ^^; I'm not in that field at my current university so I can't compare personally, but I'd say you'd get more real experience from a university that focuses on its students rather than just being prestigious.

I can't say whether a lack of reputation would be a huge difference as the one I'm going to now - though not the top university by far - has a name for itself and affiliations with international universities, etc. If your less-prestigious university has that, then I think it has plenty reputation enough. ^^ I think the qualifications are becoming more important than where they come from.. I've heard things about one of our less famous unis here being a fantastic one in terms of substance, but I would never attend, it doesn't look any good to me.. When I was making decisions, the nurse I used to see almost everyday said he thought this one was better than the prestigious one. If you're planning on studying "abroad" (?:P) then I think that would be an up for you in terms of qualifications, and even if employers were looking primarily for prestige, with that experience you'd be on the same level as a prestigious graduate without it.

I don't think prestige is worth losing a better experience, if you think there's a good chance you'd have one in the other uni. You have to spend years there, might as well spend them doing something most fulfilling.

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Timelord

Edit

inb4war

Lyncheh

Nice edit. 'War', lol, like it's serious business or something. I have better things to do. o__O

~~
I think I agree with this. I've now heard from several people that the university attended is very important in things such as law, medicine but less so for courses such as the one I wish to do (I'm becoming a TEFL teacher, and as in many countries there are people working without a TEFL degree in these jobs, a TEFL degree from any university without a bad reputation (De Montford and Liverpool John Moores are some of our worst) will give an advantage to some extent.

So I guess I'm just going to wait until the open days, and then I'll finally know. It's going to bloody cost me to go on the train to Wales though, I only have a provisional driving licence. Baww.

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Timelord

Aha, minus Sanyu, as she's the oldest (bar hina). pmolol

Tbh, it doesn't matter to most as they don't have anything helpful to say. Talk to Connections or something Not "kids"

Lyncheh

Worst advisors ever, the ones in reality and the ones over the internet. All painfully unhelpful. It's a sad day for schools and colleges when the career advice of random people on the internet beats theirs. ;|

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Sanyu

I'm not the oldest lol. I've also been at uni for a grand total of.. *drum roll* 3 months. If I can form an opinion, I'm sure others can too. I'm not even doing my course for job prospects and I can still offer an opinion on the POV of job prospects @_@

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Oroborus21

The reality is that having a "higher brand" on your diploma probably won't matter so you should choose the school that will give you the best and most enjoyable experience which from what you said seems to be clearly Swansea University.

You didnt actually say the course you want to study, (unless i missed it). One reason to opt for the larger more prestigious university might be if its easier to get into a further post-doctorate or later school for something else that is part of your overall plan.

On a personal note, I think a person like you might tend to stay low-key and more or less on the down-low at a large university (if it has large classes) and while you will undoubtedly make some good friends and have a nice social life etc., I think if you went to a smaller school you would feel just a bit larger there if you know what i mean. I also think the other kinds of students who opt for the smaller school will be more on the free-side and less the cookie-cutter or super-career minded types that you might find at the big university and thus more like yourself.

The main thing to keep in mind is that your college life has actually very little to do with your later career or future and yet everything to do with it but not for the reasons you might think. So what is most important is that you just enjoy it as much as you can.

http://kupika.com/club/college

Also to pass along the best college advice I ever got:

From Miss Allen: In College, not everything you are going to learn will be in books.

From Dean Guiterrez: If you meet people who didnt come to college to meet other people, just fuck em and go on your way, there's always someone else that came to school who wants the experience that you do. (paraphrasing)