Manchester or UCL?

[BaconAndAvocado]

DS1 has decided he wants to put down Manchester as his firm and UCL as insurance for MEng.

I'm a little shocked as I was under the impression that UCL is a highly prestigious Uni, one to open doors in the future?

He said he's gone with Manchester because they have a year in industry and he prefers the department.

Does anyone know anything about Manchester Uni or the MENg course?

Thanks........stress levels are running high and he hasn't even taken his exams yet

[BaconAndAvocado]

Rose teehee DS did tell me about the lecturer/porn star but, no, surprisingly that wasn't what swayed his decision

Househunting to still be in your Uni town 10 years later is a great reference!

The only possible disadvantage to him going to Manchester is the distance as we live in East Kent. That said, DH seems to think DS won't be wanting to come home too often.........

[rightsaidfrederickII]

You really have nothing to worry about with him going to Manchester. It's a fantastic uni, and in fact the birthplace of chemical engineering is the university - the first chemical engineer worked there and taught the first chemical engineering course there.

The work placement will do wonders for his employability - it will give him the experience that graduate employers want to see, and it's common for placement students to get a graduate job at the same company. Compare and contrast the employability stats...
unistats.ac.uk/subjects/employment/10007798FT-200/ReturnTo/Search
unistats.ac.uk/subjects/employment/10007784FT-UMNCENSING14/ReturnTo/Search

As for the distance from home, it's only two hours on the train from Euston to Manchester Piccadilly, plus however long it takes to get to Kent - perfectly doable for a weekend. Invariably students who are well settled and happy at university go home less frequently than those who are struggling to settle, so not coming home very often is actually a good sign in many ways, even though you may miss him! When I was a student, I enjoyed university so much that I used to dread the holidays(!). Holidays add up to about 5 months of the year, so you'll still be seeing a fair bit of him regardless of where he goes.

[whatwouldrondo]

bojo as I understand it your DD is doing a Masters, on my recent London Masters too, most students were living at home. Most were funding it themselves, no loans, no bursaries, so it was a means to an end and they had had a taste of independence anyway.

At undergraduate level that is not so true, since most undergrads want a taste of independence. A lot of undergrads are from the greater London area because they realise that they still want the big city, and would find it limited and a bit homogenous elsewhere, but most still want independence. I knew of none living at home on the undergrad level of my course at another London uni you mention nor did my DD's and her peers at UCL. Of course as at any uni there will be undergrads who do chose a local university because for various reasons they want to be at home, and that may mean they are not predisposed, let alone facilitated to mix much socially but I am sure all our universities are large enough for there to be plenty of students who do. I was shocked when I saw the leavers destinations for my old selective school far away from London that so many were going to the local not especially highly ranked uni.

The diversity I referred to was the student body as a whole though, and not just the London area students. A lot of private school pupils do prefer the traditional enclaves like Bristol and Nottingham, to name the universities most popular at my DDs' private school , so the student body tends to be more of a mixed crowd who are seeking something different, from all sorts of different backgrounds.

There are more overseas students, London is their main aspiration but at around 30% at UCL they are certainly not in the majority and my DD appreciated the cultural diversity she was able to experience. A lot of the top unis have a high proportion of overseas students, 22% at Manchester, 25% at Warwick, 22% at Bath but it rarely gets mentioned in reviews of those unversities

Socially my DD and her peers partied far and wide, the east end is the current focus of most student social lives though they went south of the river too. They also partied with students from the other London unis, despite the obvious rivalries, networks do build up. The night bus network is extensive and these days a shared uber can actually work out cheaper. Actually in the holidays even being here on the outskirts of London is no barrier to going up to and home from town and even the Royal Holloway students out in the wilds of Egham join in getting home on the first train.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

I think Manchester has a fabulous student life. If we weren't local it would be top of my list for DD.

Will it be UMIST? That has a great reputation.

[RockyRoadster]

UMIST no longer exists. It merged with Victoria University to become the University of Manchester.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Really? What/where was Victoria University?

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Ignore me. Have googled and I'm up to speed

[RockyRoadster]

You can read all about the history on this university webpage:

www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/history-heritage/history/victoria/

I hope that link works

[RockyRoadster]

I was a bit slow there!

[Eustace2016]

I went to Manchester University. I don't think it is worse than UCL. UCL does take a lot of London students (we live in London) where the family for cultural reasons doesn't want the children leaving home (plenty of boys in my sons' school) and London does have some of the higher paid jobs generallly so never a bad idea to be in London but Manchester is good.

Also look at the offers - Manchester has a higher requirement so that probably shows is better than UCL in terms of the offers made to him.

[bojorojo]

DD2 is an undergrad in London. I agree undergrads travel all over the place in London. That was my point. Some students just don't want that. They like their entertainment handy. On her course the overseas students are 40% and lots of the others do live at home but quite a few have a slightly older age profile and are settled.

On DD1s course, it is way more expensive to do it in London so it is not particularly attractive to people from other cities where the course is available. They can save £5,000 by doing it elsewhere. Even so, people are commuting from Cambridge, Kent, Sussex etc to do the London based courses. I know this is not typical but, as you can see from your old school destinations, whatwouldrondo, people are choosing local universities more and more. People can be very risk averse and there often young people are not discerning about the university they attend. I think some local employers support the local universities so the students do get jobs. This is seen as beneficial to a risk averse student who does not want to move away. People choose to go to a university with people like them. This was starkly obvious on offer days when DDs met other students at two northern universities.

Basically, students end up going to the university and City that ticks most boxes for them. But they all have different labels on the boxes!

[TheMightyMing]

I'm from Manchester and have lived here all my life, I didn't go to uni though. I can tell you that the Manchester student life is great, I frequented many of the pubs and clubs as a youngster. The student area is relatively compact and safe for a big city, cheap to get around etc etc.