To have not picked the Russell group university?

[Mrsknackered]

Read a couple of threads recently about 'top universities' and 'Russell Groups' and wondered if I've made a mistake.

The Russell Group was 27th this year for the course in the rankings but the non-Russell group was 4th. Overall, I much preferred the non one anyway, but I've seen so much recently about the importance of it

I got into both (and another non-Russell) and picked the one that ranked 4th.

Have I made a mistake? Do you think it still matters so much to a mature student?

Find a course you like and a place you like and go there.
You are a free thinker, embrace your life.

Ahungrymum yes, it does well in the medical field. Nursing/midwifery and other health related courses rank higher than a lot of RG University's repeatedly.

In all honesty, two years ago I would have been thrilled to study at Leeds. But in all due respect, we are a low income family, I have two small children and I am a couple of years older than most there, I think socially I would have found it hard also. They have a huge amount of private educated undergraduates. My good friends housemates were all nice, but they weren't aware that a lot of what they said was very offensive, and I imagine they aren't around people who pull them up on it very often (pikey, chav, etc)

DS did a STEM subject at an an ex-poly. The applied focus of the course (not just: how do we do this? but: why do we do this rather than that?) has stood him in good stead, and the year's excellent sandwich placement meant he had no difficulty in getting in to his chosen career (he applied for and was offered jobs requiring "experience"), and is earning very comfortably. So I do think you have to look at your subject, your career choice, and not just rank Oxbridge > RG > uni > ex-poly.

Child nursing it won’t matter a fig. You’ll become like gold dust once you’re qualified and have a little experience under your belt.

Yes, considering the shortage of nurses I'm sure it doesn't matter where you do your training as far as getting a job is concerned.