Warwick or Edinburgh

[marine04]

My son is lucky enough to have five offers for biological science. His favourite on paper is Warwick and having seen it for the second time today and chatted to some of the academics, he still really likes it and would be happy to firm it (he'd insure Kent). Edinburgh was his aspirational choice and they are asking for a grade higher than Warwick although they are lower in the league tables. For various reasons he's not seen Edinburgh University yet, although he's been to the city as my daughter is in Scotland. We are meant to be visiting in April but I think now he's confirmed that he likes Warwick he won't be too bothered about visiting and realistically for family reasons it would be difficult. He would prefer a campus set up (he's dyspraxic and organisation and finding his way around trips him up sometimes). I suppose I am asking if anyone has any experience of the biology set up in Edinburgh and if there are any compelling reasons to go there. I would hate for him to miss out just because it's a hassle to get there; we could make it happen somehow. Thanks.

I wouldn't go to London because of the gang culture and stabbings. Oh wait, it's not everyone there then?

YourEggnog - have you seen how the university dealt with the people responsible for the messages you allude too? My son is at Warwick and I know as a fact the student body were horrified by this incident.

Edinburgh might well drop grades spontaneously as you get close to the April deadline for English students.

My DD wa initially offered AAA, then they sent her a new offer of AAB Early April, they downgraded again to ABB.

They want the £9250 fees from English students.

For those who say Warwick is a cultural wasteland, it actually has an excellent Arts Centre on campus which offers a variety of productions. The RSC at Stratford is a short drive away which offers 3 theatres. I am not sure, however, that Warwick can compete with the cultural variety that a capital city like Edinburgh can offer.

I also sense from my DD’s friends that the social life at Warwick is limited and I hear that a lot leave for the weekend because there isn’t much to do especially if you don’t like clubs. On the plus side Leamington is a lovely town to live in for 2nd year.

Edinburgh certainly has more prestige

Historically maybe but not nowadays

In the 2019 world university rankings for life sciences, Edinburgh is ranked at #19. Warwick is at #224.

www.rsb.org.uk/education/accreditation/institutions

Warwick's Biological Sciences course is listed as Accredited. I can't see the University of Edinburgh on the list at all, nor is there any mention of RSB accreditation on Unistats. This may or may not be important to an individual applicant, of course.

marchingfrogs Neither are Oxford or Cambridge...to name but a few

Someone mentioned 4 yr courses in Edinburgh and how your son would be better off doing a masters... it would be a masters. In Scotland, the majority of university degrees are masters.

The highest ranked universities in the UK for life sciences are: Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, Imperial and Edinburgh.

While it is a good thing that universities who don't have a long standing reputation in life sciences seek RBS accreditation when creating new departments or new degree programmes in the area, I don't think anyone would argue that the universities accredited by RBS listed below have a higher international or international reputation than those listed above:
www.rsb.org.uk/education/accreditation/institutions/Accreditation

I can't comment on the relative academic qualities of Edinburgh v Warwick Uni, but I'm struck by some of the comments about Warwick being a cultural desert and there being nothing to do at the weekend. . How can anyone go to Warwick Uni and not notice the massive arts centre smack bang in the middle of campus,
( which is currently undergoing huge investment) ? Theatre, comedy, gigs, classical concerts, cinema, art gallery - what more do you want? Plus great sporting facilities
Edinburgh is a wonderful city, my god daughter is at the uni and loves it. Remember Edinburgh is a capital city and it ridiculous to compare it to Coventry in that sense. Coventry can't compete with London either. Having said that, Coventry is not that bad, its a lot better than when I came here in the 1980s. We do have theatres, music venues, arts festivals, an amazing cathedral. Birmingham is 20 minutes on the train, London is an hour.

It maybe depends on your child. Edinburgh is a fantastic city and wonderful for students. But I would imagine the quieter students might prefer a campus.

Edinburgh as a city is amazing though in terms of culture/interests.

Science degrees at Edinburgh are generally not masters degrees, those that are are five years long (the equivalents in the rest of the U.K. are four years). Four year arts and humanities degrees are MAs, like the other Scottish ancient universities (of which Edinburgh is the youngest, having been founded as recently as 1583).

Direct entry to second year is possible with A*AA in Biology, Chemistry and either Mathematics or Physics.

The difference between on campus arts and activities is the fact that it’s limited regarding choice. Cities have almost unlimited choice in different neighbourhoods. Of course they are different in terms of what’s on offer and a large city will always have more. That suits some students and others wouldn’t be remotely interested!

As for world rankings, these are very subjective. Do employers here even look at them? There isn’t much difference between the universities in uk rankings so look at course content and where DS wants to live!

As for world rankings, these are very subjective. Do employers here even look at them?

In both Warwick and Edinburgh, the majority of students who pursue careers in biological science will go on to do postgraduate study rather than go directly into employment.

There has been quite a few suicides at Warwick 12 this year. No not considering Warwick.

There has been quite a few suicides at Warwick 12 this year.

Could you link to the source of this info, please?

Got the year wrong but....

At Bristol University, for example, there were six student suicides in 2017. The university committed an extra £1 million annually to a new student wellbeing service with the hope to reduce this figure.

At Warwick University, a Freedom of Information request by the Boar found that from 2013 to 2016, 482 ambulances were called to the campus; 12 of these were in response to suicides or attempted suicides. According to another Freedom of Information request, the University spent spent £11.92 per student per year on counselling as of 2016.

The Office of National Statistics figures show 95 recorded university student suicides for the 12 months to July 2017 in England and Wales.

This is lower than for the general population of similar ages, but does not include suicides among students at further education colleges.

Since the 1950s there has been limited data on student suicides.

A report published last autumn showed the numbers of students disclosing mental health problems had increased fivefold in a decade.

Up until now detail on things like age clusters, people's undergraduate or postgraduate status, or comparison with similar-age people who did not enter higher education, has not been available.

There were more than 2 million students studying at a university in England or Wales in the 12 months up to July 2017, meaning the suicide rate was 4.7 deaths per 100,000 students.

Suicide rates were higher among young men than young women.

I think we all worry about this. Even the student room has a list of unis with highest suicide rate. Warwick is third on their list.

At Warwick University, a Freedom of Information request by the Boar found that from 2013 to 2016, 482 ambulances were called to the campus; 12 of these were in response to suicides or attempted suicides.

That's 12 incidences - not all of them actually involving a death - over 3 academic years. 12 too many, yes, but not 12 last year, though.

However,

While over the three year period between 2013/14 and 2015/16, 12 ambulances were called for this reason, seven ambulances were called to campus during the Term 1 of this year alone

theboar.org/2019/03/drastic-increase-in-ambulances-called-campus/

Still no suggestion of 12 actual suicides in 2018.

Ignore the rankings, they are crazy anyway, they are comparable so it comes down to course content, location, costs (Coventry is cheap for second and third year because unlike what the name suggests it's not in Warwick! Someone above didn't realise this when they claimed it wasn't in a big city.)