Are there any other 'prestigous' universities in the UK apart from from Oxbridge?

[mids2019]

Are there any other 'prestigous' universities in the UK apart from Oxbridge?

My daughter was watching some American teen thing yesterday on Netflix and there was girl who's entire future lay on getting into Yale and Ivy League entrance was the be all and end all for this particular group of teenagers.

I know the US has a different HE system and culture but do we still have similar views in the UK in 2022? If there are prestigious universities in the UK how would you define this prestige? If we only allow Oxbridge the prestige label does this mean anyone who wishes to go a prestigious university has one (or two) Oxbridge or busy type application experiences then that ship sails?

Or maybe prestige is an archaic class ridden concept that is fading this millennium?

I was drawn to one of the RG v other university discussions and it may appear that the RG is being used as an artificial label to convey prestige in an HE environment where competition for Oxbridge is more intense than ever.

I* get the impression only these groups stay in London:

• those where their favoured or best offer is at Imperial/LSE/ UCL so it's about the institution and course per se not the city - the former eclipses the latter's downsides*

This was meant to be bold. And I agree with that - that is indeed rational

Sorry for the bold fails

But @Pinkdafodils there are equally “prestigious” universities outside of London. These students are not compromising.

@Ellmau i do think it’s important to look at acceptance rates per course rather than aggregated across subjects for unis, There is a massive discrepancy. At Oxford E&M is 6%, PPE 11%, engineering 16% whereas Classics is 40%, chemistry is 30% etc etc.

@Pinkdafodils I'm not the poster of the original point on that/ that you agree with but yes.

user1465390476
Agree with your point about the perception York and Exeter are ranked higher than Manchester and Leeds.

In terms of prestige, do Oxbridge and UCL do well across the board of subjects? Is that why they're prestigious?

Obviously Imperial is one of those prestigious universities but haven't included it in my comment as I am querying excellence across more than the Science/technical subjects.

Xenia - what you say about kids staying in London due to religious reasons is very true. There are also lots of white middle class kids from the most selective private schools choosing to stay in London. As you say, there are no hard and fast rules.

Why did all your three decide on Bristol by the way?

Re. looking at UCAS points/A level results achieved on entry as a guide to the most prestigious universities, the problem with that is that while it tells you something about the academic achievements to date of the teenagers applying, and being accepted, it tells you very little about the quality of teaching, or of the course, or of the research, or indeed of the graduates coming out of that university 3 or 4 years later.

All the pedagogic information available suggests that academic achievement is not linear. You get some DCs who are outstanding throughout, but much more common is to experience peaks and troughs. There are a myriad reasons for this, too many to go into here, but essentially there is far less direct correlation between school GCSE and A level results and degree class or progress to post-graduate degrees than is commonly assumed.

Agree with the comments re the likes of Exeter, Bristol etc they are no more 'prestigious' than the like of Manchester and Leeds. I'm drawn to the fact that the are in the south and the others 'up north', perhaps there is a mc bias for the south and therefore 'bigging up'?

Something to note also is that the grade requirements for these unis are all similar. Where a student fails to get into Oxbridge they will obvs go elsewhere, if they get their grades they will get their next choice prob another 'prestigious' uni, if they don't they are then scrabbling around in clearing where for the past couple of years there's been nothing. Additionally even Oxbridge now offer contextual, I read someone with B and Cs got offered a place. If the current system, where it is becoming increasingly difficult to select the very best then surely the field roll level and it'll be prestigious by name (I think we are already going there with unis becoming 'known' for specific courses eg Bath)

Oxbridge do not give contextual offers. They do have widening participation programmes but offers are standard.

@thing47 that is interesting. It implies that the sorting a levels is a bit capricious because it is just a snap shot in time.

I know the USA traditionally weighted aptitude tests highly. (Most known and used one called the Scholastic Aptitude Test.) The idea was to create a more level playing field for applicants across the country and to not disadvantage bright DC who were poorly taught. However, it is now believed that the SAT and ACT tests are unfair to disadvantaged communities and prestigious schools are declaring they are no longer necessary. I don’t know how admissions departments will sort through the numbers. It is likely to lead to more disgruntlement and suspicion. The more opaque and subjective the process, especially a high-stakes process that creates a lot of rejections, the more pressure there will be to justify choices.

So moving away from a snapshot of achievement at 18 to decide educational opportunities seems desirable…but how?

Ok 'widening participation' - still grades below their normal requirements

Agree with the comments re the likes of Exeter, Bristol etc they are no more 'prestigious' than the like of Manchester and Leeds.

NONE of these are 'prestigious'!

Look at global rankings of top Universities and they are nowhere to be seen (in the top 10 or 20 anyway)

www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2023

None of those are even in the top 50 globally

Nope applications considered within the framework of context of results. Offers are a different thing and those are standard across the board. This is a common (and irritating) misconception.

@Pinkdafodils you are back to QS rankings which are valid for sone fields and not others.

Only in response to the the so called 'prestigious' UK Universities mentioned below.

The UK has a handful of truly internationally recognised prestigious Universities.

Notwithstanding the limitations with the QS league table (as with other various league tables) if you are defining prestigious as in the top 1% of a table with 1422 unis then yes it’s just Cambridge, Oxford, imperial and UCL in the top 10. If we are generous and round up our 1% we can also squeeze in 15th placed Edinburgh.

Manchester 28th, Bristol 61st, both top 5%.

Leeds 86th

Exeter 163rd, ironically or aptly next to 162nd placed York.

Any uni in the Russell group of organisations should be "prestigious" I would have thought.

What 'prestige' do you think the Russel group branding might add?

I think York would fall in this bracket too though?

Just joining in! I posted a thread about computer science etc and I am now wondering if my dc will be disadvantaged by going to Sheffield (offer is lower than his predicted) rather than Bristol (expected offer would match his predicted).

What will be the impact on future prospects, if any?Bristol is a couple of places higher in the top QS league table and 11th for Comp Science in the UK.

Will Sheffield on his CV be seen as less desirable than Bristol? Genuinely interested in any experience people have, especially as recruiters and personally - if that makes sense 🤔

Sorry, sheffield is 13th and bristol 9th!