Do these universities have a good reputation?

[SausageCrush]

Dd is looking to do psychology in 2021.

We've looked at the ratings and factored in all sorts of things such as her predicted grades, T.EF. rating, graduate prospects, distance from home, campus, etc.

What we would really appreciate is some insider information about whether the following have good reputations, because that isn't something you can find out online. You need to know someone who works in academia or recruits graduates.

We might be over thinking this, but would appreciate any input on the following:-

Portsmouth
Leicester
Hull
Lincoln
Aberystwyth

We plan to visit them over half term. Just to add that these will be whittled down to become choices 3, 4 and 5. Her first choices are Cardiff & Sussex. We've already visited both of these.

Thank you!

@SausageCrush

Thank you all for your replies.

Dd got ABB in her most recent (AS) exams, but has recently been hit hard by a bereavement and is very fragile. She hasn't been to any lessons for three weeks now and what with this a the virus, I think we need to be realistic about her grades next year. She had a lot of catching up to do, but insists she wants to try. We live rurally and she's desperate to leave home and start her own life.

The list I gave earlier is from thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk and ranked in order of best (Cardiff is 15th in psychology) down to Aberystwyth (ranked lowest at 82.) Leicester is 45th.

She has been very keen on psychology for years, but doesn't know what she'll actually do with it in the future, although she's drawn to research.

Bristol is good for psychology if you are interested in research. ABB is not too different from their contextual offer.

My dd is at Lincoln studying bio med.

she has always felt settled there.
Plenty of good value accommodation, the town has everything you need.
The university itself seems to have a good level of teaching and facilities. Everything is within walking distance.
It's well worth a look around.

Lincoln felt pretty isolated when I was there around a year ago. Ditto Hull. There are cities with a lot more going on. Leicester and Brighton definitely. However I would aim higher as others have said. Also try and gauge how many students actually get training positions after graduating. There are way more grads than training opportunities.

I don't understand some of the comments on this thread. Leicester, Hull and Aber are well regarded pre-92 universities. I can't comment for psychology specifically, but those three universities are perfectly decent. When my DH applied for history, Hull was one of the ones he chose for his five, alongside Oxford (he got in) and others such as Exeter. I've never considered Hull as a rubbish university and I don't know where others are getting this viewpoint from. Whether you like the places is another matter, I've never been to Hull so I can't comment, and it's a very long time since I was in Leicester. I am not sure I would rank Sussex (which was established around the same time) above Hull or Leicester.

The thing that would worry me most about Aberystwyth is the isolation, but again, it's a long-standing university.

The only one on that list I'd be sniffy about is Lincoln, although I am sure the city is lovely (I've never been) because it is a "new" university and I don't know how it is considered by employers. Portsmouth was regarded as a very good poly, as were Bristol, Oxford and Nottingham) so if it's good for psychology I would have said it was well worth a look. Not a pretty city but plenty to do.

Sussex is on this list but not Hull - www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities-2019 in terms of the top list that are named. I think it is a reasonable list of where people who get high paid jobs whether in law, banking or any of the graduate recruitment schemes would take students from and is not a bad one to use particularly for those with no idea of what i"good" and where someone is likely to go from a state grammar or academic private school and might be tempted to thinking all universities are the same.

As a corrective to the ex-poly disdain here, I'd just like to mention the young person I used to work with who went into care as a child after some major family trauma, resulting in a total lack of family support. The Leaving Care team in that area played a blinder here. They spotted that my young friend was very bright and had huge potential and they found some money to support MYF through university, which made a huge difference to MYF's student years. MYF did a psychology degree at an ex-poly that would have some in this thread in conniptions, but got BPS accreditation. While doing this, MYF acquired a lot of relevant work experience, some paid, some voluntary, and then went to one of the top universities in the country for PG psychology, moving on afterwards to a job as an Assistant Psychologist in the NHS, which are really hard to get. Last I heard, MYF was training as a clinical psychologist, which is the Holy Grail for many psychology graduates.

I think she should set her sights higher than those unis with ABB.

Birmingham is AAB with a grade lower if she has an A at EPQ

If I were a student I'd prefer Swansea (ABB) over Aberystwyth. BPS accreditation and its a really nice uni.

I've no idea about current rankings but I went to Aber in 1987 and absolutely loved it from the start. The isolation that PPs have referred to us true but meant that students rarely went away at weekends and were very close. I did accountancy and went from there straight to training at one of the big four (then big eight) with several others and we lived in London - smooth transition despite three years of isolation.

Aberystwyth is 82nd in the complete university guide so near the bottom. Why not go somewhere better? Hull is 48 and Leicester 45. So none are top 30. Sussex and Surrey are much better.

Accountancy in the 80s is not Psychology in the 2020s.

The rankings change from year to year and from table to table, and universities are very savvy about how to play them. IMO the best things to look at are:

1. Course details - does it offer work placements/Study Abroad/professional accreditation? Interesting modules?
2. Student life - what are the facilities like? Does it offer campus accommodation? Is it a campus or a city uni? Decent sports facilities?
3. Distance from home/transport links
4. Cost of living/availability of part time work
5. Student support services - does it have a good Careers Service?

I'm not a Psychologist but I've reviewed a lot of CVs and job applications in my time, and I'm never overly bothered with where the candidate studied - I'm more interested in knowing that they have a degree, what experience they have, and how strong their statement or covering letter in.

www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2020/09/title-235298-en.html
If you're going to look at ranking tables you need to look carefully at what they're ranking and look at more than one. Aberystwyth is a fine university if the location works for you.
I'm a psychologist, albeit an ancient one who has taken a circuitous route via a fair few university courses. Look for contact time, teaching model, destination of graduates. Personally I'd go for a BSc option, if available, as you might as well grapple with neuro and quant research methods from the outset if you're hoping to become a career psychologist and pursue a professional doctorate. You'll need lots of post-grad work experience before that anyway.
I'd have a definite preference for more established universities. Aber over Lincoln anyday. And I've lived in Lincoln

@Guymere

Aberystwyth is 82nd in the complete university guide so near the bottom. Why not go somewhere better? Hull is 48 and Leicester 45. So none are top 30. Sussex and Surrey are much better.

Accountancy in the 80s is not Psychology in the 2020s.

Agreed - that was for context - there were comments about Aberystwyth being an isolated place and an acquired taste, which it is.

I was surprised to see Aberystwyth this low for Psychology. There must be a reason for this.

It’s all very well for posters to say how they recruit psychologists but with over 82 universities offering this subject it’s very very clear thousands of students don’t get anywhere near being a psychologist or accessing training. Therefore overall quality of university (as Xenia posted) has to be a consideration for this subject. So many psychology grads have to look for other jobs and compete with all grads of all disciplines. Retraining in health roles is an obvious one but many other grads can do this too.

Aberystwyth is fab and safe. Highly rated for student satisfaction.

@Guymere

I was surprised to see Aberystwyth this low for Psychology. There must be a reason for this.

It’s all very well for posters to say how they recruit psychologists but with over 82 universities offering this subject it’s very very clear thousands of students don’t get anywhere near being a psychologist or accessing training. Therefore overall quality of university (as Xenia posted) has to be a consideration for this subject. So many psychology grads have to look for other jobs and compete with all grads of all disciplines. Retraining in health roles is an obvious one but many other grads can do this too.

I don't think overall quality has anything to do with it. What matters is the quality of the education and the reputation of the qualification.

Aber is very much love it or hate it (I loved it) but it's an established university with very high levels of student satisfaction.

Leicester / Hull - I'd probably veer more towards Leicester but either are perfectly decent.

Portsmouth - you couldn't pay me to live there.

Lincoln - too new, future too uncertain.

It seems an odd selection of unis for ABB.

I know quite a few students who went to or are at Lincoln. And they loved/love it there.

Are people sniffy about which university you go to for medical school as well?

Given that are medical degrees are conferred by the GMC surely it shouldn't make any difference where you gained your degree?

Gin, my doctor sibling though got a lot ou t of an Oxbridge medicine degree. I agree that in theory medicine is different but things like his professorship, professional reputation, private work etc I suspect are all enhanced by Oxbridge. If you want to be the leading person in your field it tends to help to have been to Oxbridge or a top 10 university.

I anot sniffy about anywhere. I just state facts about where employers recruit from. People even these days will look at the linkedin profile of someone applying for a job in their 30s and look at the level (as the recruiter views it in their head) of that university . People dating even will look at it. You might say more fool them but it is good to know people do this so you can either say I could not care less or say with those fairly good grades I will instead try to get into the best i.e top 10 or top 20 that I can, a list which has always been there even when I went - when I went there was nothing called Russell group but there was the usual pecking order of Oxford and Cambridge, Durham, Bristol and that kind of thing.

Although some law firms once people have at least AAB in decent subjects and 2/1 in every module of their degree or higher and who pass their pscy tests now don't look at the institution most employers do look at it.

Medical degrees are a different kettle of fish. Snobbery might make people think some Unis are above others, but a medical degree is a medical degree.

Lincoln has had millions invested, they are also building a new medical school and their facilities are very good. I do think the Uni will have a far better reputation in good time than it did in the episode of Inbetweeners. I certainly don't think its future is uncertain.

I was surprised to see Aberystwyth this low for Psychology. There must be a reason for this.

Aber tends to do relatively poorly in rankings like the Complete University Guide because its marmite location means it has to have lower entry requirements to get enough students. It also has a lot of very Welsh students who want to remain in Wales rather than going further afield to seek better employment opportunities which impacts on its graduate prospects rating.

In the complete university guide, these are two of the five main measures used in the psychology ranking, so it has a big impact on their ranking, especially as they also have blanks for a further two of the five measures (on research, which I would guess they perform quite well on now which would pull up their ranking, but at the data collection points in 2014/5 they had only been established as an autonomous department for three years at most which is probably why they are excluded from these two measures).

If you want to be the leading person in your field it tends to help to have been to Oxbridge or a top 10 university.

This very much depends on the sector and isn't a universal truth. I am one of the leading people in my field of study and I went to a post 92.

I just state facts about where employers recruit from. People even these days will look at the linkedin profile of someone applying for a job in their 30s and look at the level (as the recruiter views it in their head) of that university

This isn't a fact at all. It may ring true for some sectors and some employers but these perceptions are being challenged all the time because it is recognised that there are many reasons why some students don't attend an elite university

@Guymere

I do think psychology is a difficult subject because even a masters in it might lead nowhere much. So future plans as opposed to research (teaching at a university) need consideration. Surrey, for example, want ABB and offer a clinical placement year. I would look for this type of course and places like Surrey are a safe option.

I would second that. Go for a course with 1 year placement over any other.