Which universities in the UK are “prestigious”? Or does it depend on the course?

[Icelolly44]

Is it related to general league tables, or league tables for the course? (These seem to change a lot year on year so are they reliable?)

Is it related to being Russell Group?

Does it matter if you go to a prestigious uni or not if you come out with a degree at the end of it from both?

Does it improve you employment chances or eventually the salary you can command?

If you have a likelihood of high grades, is it better to go to somewhere deemed more prestigious or with higher entry requirements than somewhere with a comparable course with lower entry requirements, if you got a good feel for both.

DD is panicking about which choice to firm for a science subject- with 5 offers of varying grades- she has narrowed it down to 4. Loved them all on offer days and would enjoy all. Should prestige or league tables make the final decision, or should it be where she may have a better social life?

I realise this is lengthy and basically there is no right or wrong answer. And that it really comes down to her.

Just interested in other people’s views and thought processes, and wondered if it may help her with her decision!

@Icelolly44 Do the courses give employment or further study stats? What is the outcome for students? Elite universities usually top these tables too!

Generally the higher the entry standard, the more desirable the course or university. However for some subjects there are universities that are particularly good but not so highly ranked overall. So it might depend what she is studying.

Social life is available everywhere. Again, what social life does she want? On campus or in a bigger city? Is a town enough? I would not choose purely on this, but city vs campus is a deciding factor when several courses are equal quite often.

Lastly, I’m not a fan of The Guardian tables. The Complete University Guide is better. Both for subjects and overall rankings. What subject does she want? Often posters have experience of a wide range of subjects and universities. Generally scientists are employable though!

Im sure you will get plenty of replies to this one!
My daughter is considering a course where the best (ranked three in the world) is a very middling university. But for her particular course is highly competitive. In the industry people would know, but no one else would be impressed.
I think your child should consider: the right course and modules that align with their interest; the type of uni - campus/big or small/ city or rural etc; how competitive it is and if they have the grades. One imagines you'd want the 'best' university that they could get into, but what is best for one child is not best for another.
I did not grow up here, but while I'd heard of Oxbridge and St Andrews, Bristol, LSE etc, I had no idea what RG meant. I would personally ignore that tag.

It is very course specific and relates to what career they want and where. A "prestigious" uni may be wider recognised globally but that is of little value if the subject is more niche and they are UK based. There are global league tables for subjects. A third from a "prestigious" uni is likely to open fewer doors than a first from "lesser" one.

It depends. What course and which universities?

Biology. Manchester, Leeds, Loughborough, Bath, Birmingham

Those are all good universities. Fairly similar I'd have thought in terms of prestige?

My dd picked a balance of prestige, interesting course and social life. She also picked places no further than 4 hours away so she could come home easily and cheaply.

I recruit a lot at a university (on non-academic side) and I couldn't care less what degree/grade/university someone has. Work experience, skills and common sense are so much more important. Go for a uni location that DD likes best and the course that looks most interesting.

Work experience that is relevant to biology is not particularly easy to get. The specific Science/biology degree and the skills learned on the course are usually what the science employer wants. Not working at LIDL.

The universities @Icelolly44 are fairly equal. All respected. However if she wants a social life, Loughborough is an odd choice. Bath isn’t in the city but all the others are near/in lively cities. None are a poor choice. All produce employable grads. If she wants a social life away from the campus, Loughborough has zero. Manchester is obviously lively. Leeds and Brum not far behind.

I disagree that Loughborough has zero social life away from the campus.

I agree the campus is great, but when my DD was there she regularly went clubbing in Loughborough. When she graduated she and her friends paid for hotels there for a week and took a week off work so they could revisit their old haunts and re-live the student days. (The actual Graduation ceremony was delayed from the previous year due to Covid).

Those are all of similar standing but for a course like Biology she would do well to focus on a university that has research opportunities for undergraduates - or maybe in an area where there are term-time jobs a plenty for students in the industry,

As a PP has mentioned scientific fields really require degree specific knowledge, so irrelevant PT jobs won't matter unless she doesn't want to work in the field.

They all are good for biology. Three are large cities, the other two little places. This will massively change the experience for your DD. Does she like action, movement, noise, people, shops, clubs? Does she prefer small groups, beautiful surrounds, close to green spaces, pubs?

Dd also plays sport regularly for a team so that was also part of the decision making process!

At Loughborough is notoriously hard to get into teams unless she’s at a very high standard as it’s a renown sports university. The others have sports clubs too.

Sporty kids can be disappointed with L - they're often used to being 1st team and suddenly they're on the uni 5th or 6th or lower team, so bear that in mind.

I'd say same for Bath!

Birmingham is a large university and my DS did not make any uni teams after football trials. He does, however, play for his Halls.

Upthread, distance from home was mentioned. These are pretty spread out. Are there any which would be more expensive and awkward journeys home if required?

In my experience both professionally and with my own children I would strongly suggest a course which includes a year of work experience. It’s harder but students come out with not just a degree buy real work place experience which makes them more mature and attractive to employers. The work placements are not ‘handed to them’, but good Unis have links with employers which help a bit.Bath offers some good courses and a lot of employers (science) recruit from there. You will also find alot of students end up with a job offer from their placement or an easier route into a grad course.

I have a law degree from a RG, nowt special IME and I’m glad my son doesn’t want to go there.

Thanks, yes I think all offer this which we thought was important too

Yes Bath is significantly further, but higher in other areas!

Thanks, we are aware of this and it is a factor definitely

I would say campus and course rank highest for her, then sports, then nightlife lower down. She enjoys going out but is not a massive party animal

Thanks, yes I agree definitely