Mumsnet University League Tables 2021

[Aslockton]

Just as a bit of fun, but also because Mumsnet has a wealth of knowledge and experience, would you be able to compile your own university league table. This is on the back of people saying Durham is better than Manchester.

This can be for all universities, or for a specific subject or area (top 10 Northern universities). I would love to see Xenia's top 10 law universities, or the best universities for engineering or marine biology etc.

I'll start...

My top non-Russell Group universities:

1 St Andrews
2 Bath
3 Loughborough
4 Lancaster
5 City
6 SOAS
7 Surrey
8 Sussex
9 Reading
10 Dundee

Top 10 London Universities

1. Imperial
2. LSE
3. UCL
4. Kings College
5. Queen Mary
6. City
7. SOAS
8. Royal Holloway
9. UoA

10. Brunel

How about this one - turns out the coolest students

Brighton
Leeds
All drama and music schools
Bristol
London unis
Manchester
Liverpool

Ok not very scientific that one. We def need more art and performance unis on these lists

@lastminutetutor, I have no idea what the variety of medical education is at UEA, but there are places for afternoon tea in Norwich, which is not massive as cities go?

UEA is a relatively new medical school (founded in the 90s) but I get the feeling it has already risen through the ranks. It's one that seems to get a lot of press (as with the Environmental Science Department) for research etc.

And it's very hands-on with the hospital basically being on the university campus, and the students doing clinical work virtually from the offset.

Very surprised at Bristol turning out cool students. Are you sure you don't mean UWE?

Stirling uni for a lovely campus. Travelled to it years ago from the South East, worth the journey.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 sounds ideal for dc1. I have a feeling school will try to push high status institutions but dc1 just wants to be out there seeing patients.

@lastminutetutor

sashh as a parent Keele graduation ceremony sounds fab and who can argue with squirrels, just need to decide which child to persuade to go there.

Yes UEA might fit the brief too Marching Frogs.

Yes as my mum used to say, you don't care about the others, just your own child.

If you have a child who wants a campus uni it really is a sort of university / village hibrid with shops, pubs, post office there are even allotments.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

Very surprised at Bristol turning out cool students. Are you sure you don't mean UWE?

That can be Bristol/uwe

It’s the eco-ness of the city, live music, art scene that I think helps turn out cool students

Anywhere with those elements can go on the list?

Most expensive (living costs, socialising etc.) outside of London:

Oxford/Oxford Brookes
Bristol
Bath
Anglia Ruskin
Brighton

Top 10 vet schools in England (no particular order as students grateful to just get in)

1. Bristol
2. RVC
3. Liverpool
4. Nottingham
5. Surrey
6. Cambridge
7. Harper Keele
8. Aber RVC

😊

@lastminutetutor tell school to keep their silly opinions to themselves 😊. No medical school is 'better' or more prestigious than another (F1 positions are given out blind of where you went). Have you ever asked a doctor where they studied ?
Most important thing is they like the style of course. And UEA is a fantastic, modern course. It's a tough 5/6 years so they may as well enjoy it.

Yeah I live in Durham and it’s had lots of stories recently about local students who attend who are bullied for being from up north, and it’s known you are often very looked down on if you haven’t been to a fee paying school. That's shocking in the 21st Century. I have a really good friend whose DP was at Durham in the 80s (from a NE background). It was at the time of the miners' strikes etc. He used to get asked to buy the rounds in local pubs as he did not stand out as being a Durham student and therefore didn't get the abuse that others would have received!

It’s the eco-ness of the city, live music, art scene that I think helps turn out cool students

Anywhere with those elements can go on the list?

Start a list with those criteria, then there is!

@Newgirls

How about this one - turns out the coolest students

Brighton
Leeds
All drama and music schools
Bristol
London unis
Manchester
Liverpool

Ok not very scientific that one. We def need more art and performance unis on these lists

If someone isn't cool before they go to university, they won't come out cool.

I think a lot of people choose Brighton because they want to be cool/edgy or whatever; my son wanted to like Sussex because of the course, but hated Brighton because it was "too try hard" (he also disliked the campus and Brutalist architecture, so an all round no for him).

just need to decide which child to persuade to go there
The whole family dropped my DS off at a Swansea open day, as it was on the way to our holiday. DH, DD and I spent the day around the beach etc etc, and were raving about the place when we picked him up. Needless to say, DS decided not to put it down as one of his choices!

When DS2 was doing the rounds of the university open days they had to offer Law, the option of a year abroad, a welcoming music society and Ultimate Frisbee. He ended up at Birmingham, with a year in Adelaide and lots of Frisbeeing in both countries.
He liked the Law dept at Durham on the open day but found the atmosphere on campus a bit too "Hogwarts".
He described Leicester as the most genuine feeling of all the places he looked at and chose it as his insurance over Leeds and Warwick. Leeds was a bit too close to home and Warwick's Music Society made it very clear that grade 5 cello wouldn't get him into their groups.

.

Afternoon tea? Bath.

Someone said above Oxford was most expensive - that might well be right for going out but Oxford and Cambridge are some of the cheapest for those who don't live at home by the way because you live in college all 3 years in many cases and you don't pay rent in the holidays. So I think eg the rent is about 50% of what Bristol Halls are for example.

Back in the day students in Oxford and Cambridge used to get the same grant as London ones.

@nightvision

Not my list, but QS top10 medical schools in UK. (World ranking in bracket): Year: 2021

1 Oxford (2)
2 Cambridge (4)
3 University College London (10)
4 Imperial College London (12)
5 King's College London (23)
6 Edinburgh (24)
7 Manchester (42)
8 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (44)
9 Glasgow (49)
10 Bristol (64)

LSHTM isn't a medical school really, though it does have a lot of students who are already qualified doctors but who are pursuing further study to gain knowledge in a particular specialisation.

It is also a graduate-only university so it's very hard to compare it with universities which offer a full range of undergraduate degrees. For Masters, it is very highly rated – the course DD has just completed there is ranked behind only Oxford across the UK.

@ErrolTheDragon

It’s the eco-ness of the city, live music, art scene that I think helps turn out cool students

Anywhere with those elements can go on the list?

Start a list with those criteria, then there is!

See above

Surely all students are a bit ‘try hard’ to be cool. That’s the age group. Surely Brighton unis and colleges for example will turn out slightly more eco aware and arty students than many others. Oxbridge etc maybe makes them more traditional than cool?! It’s not a scientific list by the way.

I’m amazed Nottingham med school isn’t on that. Seems to be incredibly popular.

QS rankings don't have anything to do with undergraduate education, as is apparent from the fact that one of the top ten medical schools listed isn't a medical school (i.e. it doesn't have a medicine degree you can take to qualify as a doctor). They're about "reputation", research impact and number of academic staff per student, the latter making no reference to whether those staff have any involvement in teaching students.

Don't take any notice of other league tables for medicine, either, as they all place too great an emphasis on entry standards (average UCAS tariff of entrants), which automatically pushes Scottish universities right to the top because Scottish Highers/Advanced Highers carry far more UCAS points than A-Levels do.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

Yeah I live in Durham and it’s had lots of stories recently about local students who attend who are bullied for being from up north, and it’s known you are often very looked down on if you haven’t been to a fee paying school. That's shocking in the 21st Century. I have a really good friend whose DP was at Durham in the 80s (from a NE background). It was at the time of the miners' strikes etc. He used to get asked to buy the rounds in local pubs as he did not stand out as being a Durham student and therefore didn't get the abuse that others would have received!

Yeah it's shocking and I was surprised when I first moved here, at students who mock locals. Last year some students got removed from the University as they set up a whatsapp group dedicated to a competition of sleeping with the poorest student: www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/23/durham-university-withdraws-freshers-place-over-abhorrent-online-posts

Sad that these types of students who have gone to fancy fee paying schools turn out this way!

Top uni for leaving as happy, fulfilled young adults who then go on to get good jobs and had a great time at uni .
University of Kent.