AIBU to think going to an RG university means absolutely nothing

Well it is because it’s not a Russel Group, and neither are the others you listed.

I feel most students choose a university that seems "most fun" rather than value for money. Social life is always what you make of it.

@DameDoggieDoo post 92 are the former polys and colleges of HE etc. There were other universities established in the 60s such as Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Essex etc. They are not RG but are still slightly older universities. Not that age frankly matters. Post 92 are more likely to do niche courses because these don’t need lots of research. They are often not research lead courses so not what you would find at Durham or KCL.

You pay the same amount in fees whether you go to a big brand university (RG, Bath, Warwick etc) or a run-of-the-mill one.

If a pair of own-brand or ordinary trainers cost the same as a big brand (eg Nike's), which would you chose?

You get better value for money at a big brand university because of the cachet of the badge.

And plenty of "new" universities (ex-poly's, post '92 universities, whatever you call them) are better for certain subjects / courses than any of the traditional ones (be it RG, Bath, St Andrew's or whatever) in the Top 10 or even Top 20. My DC is studying at a uni which is just inside the top 70 in the league tables, but happens to be Top 3 for the particular industry they hope to break into.

If I'm looking at CV's Oxbridge, and Russell Group stand out. Then there's another level and so on and so forth. We say degree not needed on all jobs and it's genuinely not, but they all add to the picture and make it more likely I'll interview you, especially at the start of your career when there's not so much concrete stuff on your CV.

Some people may think it made no difference, but you have no idea which jobs you may have been shortlisted for with better qualifications.

@R3s3t You are not really understanding that Lancaster might as well be RG! It’s similar to Bath and several others. You need to look at entry tariffs and research to see where it sits. I also think Lancaster attracts a slightly weather student than nearby Liverpool. That it is not RG is simply meaningless. It’s not Northampton or Derby.

Agree
People can study whatever they like for what ever reason but somebody poo pooed my comment that RGs commanded a higher salary
My facts were queried as wrong ?? With a comment that ‘it’s ridiculous to suggest that’
So now I’ve shown them to be true.

That’s why I bothered.

But there are 24 RG unis with some that score quite low compared to non RG unis on league tables. They aren’t all more employable- far from it. You’ve listed Bath, StA, Loughborough, Lancaster and Surrey as non RG alone….there are others with higher/ equal employability. RG does not equal better employability and wages by default. It’s ridiculous to suggest that.

If only

Agree @R3s3t
I forgot Liverpool was one of them. They are ranked at 49 so 27 lower than Lancaster and do have a lower salary despite being RG ( but they aren’t doing well at all in Maths it seems so not surprising )
Leeds was higher by£3000 RG but a lower ranking @31 than Lancaster
Sheffield same salary RG but a lower ranking @19 than Lancaster

This does prove as with other subjects I’ve looked at that the old RGs name carries some weight salary wise in overall stats despite their league position .

Of note of course league tables vary

Hope it helps Timpot.

@R3s3t In some vocational areas but not overall. Excluding Bath, StA, Loughborough, Lancaster and Surrey. Some RG are not as good as others but it’s not correct to say post 92 have the degees with more employable grads. IFS says otherwise. Of course courses only offered at Post 92 (eg nursing) will boost post 92 employability. Other courses can of course be great but it’s more patchy. RG, overall, has the edge. In some areas a very big edge as RG includes Oxbridge, LSE and Imperial. Post 92 don’t feature in world rankings.

Many non Russel group unis score higher in employability than Russel group unis.

No Lancaster was the same as Sheffield and higher than Liverpool. Both the latter are RG
and Lancaster isn’t.The RG that was higher ( Leeds)was only higher by £3k - the same amount Lancaster was higher than as regards Liverpool. Bar the big 3 or 4 it really means very little as this illustrates . Also people study maths for different reasons and different unis attract different types of students. Many people don’t care about £500 or £1k difference in money after 5 years either. Some want maths as a pathway into London banking others want to teach.

Its not just salary but employability. In my career a non RG uni CV would be bottom of the pile in most cases. And RG means 'research intensive uni'.

It matters if you are upper class or aspiring to be. I went to one and its been useful in dropping that fact in order to wind certain people up. Other than that no

Sorry missed update time

of £2500.

We were having a discussion on earnings v type of uni.
Timpot asked for some comparisons
Happy to do them

Whats more significant is that Lancaster for maths is at 12 or 14 on the League table and the three RGs in that list are all lower. Sheffields in the 30s but nevertheless the salaries are higher
meanwhile LJM which is quite a bit lower down the leagues than Uni of Liverpool but still in the same city are showing a salary difference after 5 years of

Not really sure what your point is. People choose maths for all sorts of things and bar Oxbridge the non Russel groups uni earrings are higher in that last chart and when the Russel Groups are higher it’s not by very much £500 a year in one case!

Second lot for you @Timpot

Ok. So this has been fun. I do like a bit of research and tbh it’s light relief as my niece has just realised she won’t be earning the £100k she thought she would….so bit of a melt down here.

Ive done two sets
I added LJMs to the first set as it’s in Liverpool as well, to see what the area difference might be
Plus I did the last lot you sent as well Warwick etc and added LSE as I know it’s a good one.

Those will not show a huge difference for maths. It’s fairly well known Cambridge, Oxford, Warwick and Imperial are THE maths unis. Below that, RG and a few others will be great and of course dc will get jobs.

St Andrews has “posh” dc from Scotland and abroad as well as rest of uk. That’s its market position though and also what its grads want after university. It’s also very choosy on entry standards.

Lancaster, Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool are all very similar so you would not expect huge variations. Also Liverpool has fairly low entry standards so often grad prospects follow this stat.

I’ll give it a go.
Im with my niece at the moment as she’s stressing about not getting some offers and so doing the same for her as money is her main modus operandi it seems.
I’ll do those once I’m finished

Do you not think that could be at least in part because St Andrews has a "posh" cohort with a high percentage of private school kids based in London and the South East, Reading is "in" the South East, whereas Lancaster is in the North West where salaries are lower?

Can you compare Lancaster, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool instead?

Discoveruni website offers comparisons in salaries ( employability etc ) based on same course at different Unis after a variety of years.

There’s a link from UCAS

My kids used this for their courses in extremely different subject areas
Zoology
Neuroscience
and Film Production
(and variations of the above )
it was clear what Unis got the higher salaries ( with the exception of Warwick in Film Production but that’s why the grade offers are lower ). Of note this is not the case for things such as Medicine as grads are on nhs salary pay scales.

So I had a go with Maths just now as it’s a subject that’s been flirting on the thread
I chose 4 random Unis of varying notoriety and ranking
Heres the results

After a while salaries ‘might’ even out as it’s all about the graduates themselves by then but you will see that at 5 years there is a significant difference.
As is clear, just like in the other subject areas my kids have looked at in the past, graduates from better Unis ie the top ones and RG realise higher salaries.