Loughborough University - 7th in ranking??

[mybestideasarealwaysatnight]

I see that hat Loughborough is 7th in the list (Complete Uni Guide) behind Durham, for example, even though for several subjects that I looked at, Loughborough are asking for lower entry grades and the accepted students held lower grades (according to UCAS) than on other, similar courses at lower ranked unis (those are still top 20).

Bit baffled - why is this?

QS world rankings are flawed @mybestideasarealwaysatnight there are various reasons to.do with their methodology, but essentially theyre open to charges of subjectivity (academics 'vote' for fellow academics) and they disproportionately favour institutions which focus primarily on science subjects. T here's literature on this if you're interested and to be fair QS have recently tried to address some of the concerns that have been voiced, but for now I would.still.advise anyone to treat them with caution.

We looked at liberal arts there which was really high up the league tables for liberal arts - then discovered they literally had about 7 students each year group for liberal arts so guess they are all entering the surveys etc.

What Uberalla said

I went to Loughborough and there were plenty of elite students who had got in with lower offers - that's one aspect of Lboro that is relatively unique (I think). The ones I met were smart enough but spent crazy number of hours training / traveling / competing

It is first in the world for Sports Science and I think it ranks high for engineering too. My son dreams of going to Loughborough because of the sports programme and facilities, as well as the Sports Science course too. For him, it is basically the equivalent of Oxford or Harvard! He has received an offer (hurrah) but he now has to work hard to get the grades because the sports science offer is A*AA. It is globally competitive. Fingers crossed x

I have copied a post I wrote in 2023 about Loughborough

I have NC, DH is a head of a dept at Loughborough and I am retired from that most desirous of places according to MN a Russell group University. I can honesty say I think Loughborough is an excellent University and they always do well in the student satisfaction survey. They don’t have to be sporty. We don’t live in Loughborough due to having to live where we had a bit of a fairer commute for both of us but it’s a decent market town and I have obviously spent some time there. DH and I met working in a different RG University and I honestly think they often rest on their laurels, I will leave it at that.

@BennyBee I just wanted to wish your DS best of luck, it’s pretty amazing there. DH used to see Paula Radcliffe running on campus and he and I met Jessica Ennis once. We also met the Jamaican track team though sadly Usain Bolt was not with them at the time.

I’ve posted extensively on here about my DS’s journey to get to Loughborough. He was rejected originally with predicted AAA for Sport Science, that’s how competitive it is. It is exactly as you say the equivalent to Oxford or Cambridge for Sport. He actually got A star AA in his exams so took a GapYear, worked full time and reapplied. He got offered within a couple of weeks and started last September. He absolutely loves it and he is literally living the dream he wanted for so long. He is helping to coach one of the AU football teams as well and is so happy. If I can help in any way please message me.

Congratulations to your DS! Fingers crossed for mine. I am glad that Loughborough is meeting your DS's expectations. Was there nowhere else that he would consider going? Did your DS have an "insurance" place? We are still trying to work one out - he has offers from Leeds, Newcastle, Surrey and Exeter. We liked Surrey best at open day but Exeter is ranked higher.

As others have said it is known as somewhere that the sporting elite go to. These athletes are often spending crazy hours training as well as gaining good grades in their academics. Loughborough recognises this and therefore offers lower entry criteria for elite athletes.

So the first time he applied, he firmed Birmingham and had Surrey as Insurance. We were incredibly impressed with Surrey. The cohort is tiny and I think tbh would have suited DS better but he had his heart set on Loughborough. He ended up not going to Birmingham as he wasn’t happy at all with the course, the Uni and the city itself (we live in a tiny town in rural Norfolk and it was just too much for him).
He then got the grades he needed for Loughborough and applied again for there and Bath. He only just had the grades for Loughborough and above for Bath so we were quite optimistic and Loughborough offered really quickly thank goodness. If they hadn’t offered he was then going to add Surrey again. Tbh we didn’t look at Exeter or Newcastle as he didn’t want to be that far from home (Newcastle is about 6/7 hours from us as is Exeter). He can do Loughborough in about 2.5.

Just here to add that Loughborough is well known for its STEM Teaching and Learning methods and research. Probably the best in the UK and internationally renowned.

BTW I agree with @thing47 about the QS rankings.

Yes, Surrey did look fantastic at the open day - nice campus, friendly and helpful students, good academics, great sports facilities, just positive all round.

I wasn't aware of the cohort size. How do you find that information?

They told us at the offer holder day. I can’t remember off the top of my head what it was but it was small. All the lecturers seemed to know each student personally as well, they were talking to them about specific parts of their course. As amazing as Loughborough is, DS has had 1 meeting with his tutor since September so there is definitely no personal touch there.
Don’t get me wrong, the opportunities DS has had at Loughborough have been brilliant but he is a very little fish in a very very big pond. I think he might have been better the other way around.

That actually makes me feel even better about having Surrey as insurance - thank you! I did think it had more of a "sport" emphasis and Leeds/Newcastle had more of a "science" emphasis. Anyway, I looked it up on the official stats and, roughly, Loughborough has 2000 students and Surrey 600.

I am surprised that your ds has only had one meeting with his tutor since September. When my DC was there, there were very regular meetings with his tutor and there were also a lot of events, both formal and informal where the lecturers and students socialised. As I said, my DC still goes back a couple of times a year and meets with his old lecturers as well as his other student friends.

I have a child at there doing sports science, (first year) she has been desperate to go there since she was about 15. (Stereotype sporty, constantly training etc) Her insurance choice was a sports related course with lower grades at Loughborough, she was that desperate to go there.
And yeah, we regularly get messages about sports people she meets and she gets to compete alongside European champs

My dad had a lifetime of industry and academic research in engineering; he rated Loughborough very highly (and he was generally a bit of a pessimist, thinking the undergraduates he sometimes taught at Imperial weren’t as strong in maths as they would have been 20 years earlier).

A great student experience and Amazon sports facilities … a good buzz from the campus life.

If you want pure academics, there are certainly stronger universities - but it’s a great all-round choice.

Its very high on DD’s list although she really was hoping for a university with a beach nearby! 😂

edit: Amazing not Amazon!

Mine is also first year Sports Science, he was also desperate to go and applied for both sport science courses. Then took a Gap Year and tried again and applied for the pure Sport Science course and got in. I would say maybe they know each other but possibly not with a cohort that big!!

As far as I know there has been only 1 meeting. DS is a bit of an over sharer so tends to tell me when he has meetings.
It was right at the start of Semester 1 that he met his actual tutor. He spoke to him by email once but nothing else.
It’s an amazing Uni and an amazing course but with a cohort of that size, it’s not as personal as other Uni’s.

This is sadly a trend, OP, as academics are so overworked. I would hope that DS could arrange a meeting with his tutor if needed, however

Few years back now but one of mine went to Loughborough but doing a construction course. It was absolutely brilliant, the industry links they had helped massively. Although not exactly a thriving city the way Manchester is it suited my dc.

Absolutely! He’s not bothered at all, it was more in response to the other poster who said her son saw their tutor loads.
It’s a huge Uni with a huge cohort and only a certain amount of tutors.

Apologies, @mrsconradfisher , for getting your name wrong