Civil Engineering offers: Birmingham, Newcastle or Queen's Belfast?

[MsFogi]

DD3 has 5 offers for Civil Engineering which she has narrowed down to three: Birmingham Uni, Newcastle Uni and Queen's Belfast Uni - she has been to the offer days, loves them all and is having a tough time deciding between them. Can any of you let me have any thoughts on whether any of these are viewed as better/worse etc than each other or any thoughts at all really (we've got no engineers in RL to ask and there are so many stats on employability/student satisfaction/etc etc it is difficult for her to pick the final two). Thank you!

They're all good for the subject, I wouldn't waste time or energy researching stats - ultimately what matters is how she gets on with the place and the course.

Which place did she feel she would most enjoy living? Which is near/far from home, how does she feel about that? Is there any difference between them in modules? Any difference between them in industry leaning?

Make the choice about her preferences.

I think QUB is a specific choice which I would imagine you would know was a yes or no. Like wanting to go to uni on London (or deffo not).

I gather from other posts on this board that QUB is a great choice (and IIRC offers bursaries? I may be recalling it wrongly tho). But if you are in England then it’s a choice to go to uni a plane or boat ride away.

Otherwise Brum gets my vote over Newcastle; Newcastle is a lovely city and a good uni but Brum is more central, more opportunities for industry, bigger, probably higher rated if that matters.

Caveat: no civil-engineering-specific knowledge.

DD I second year at Queens, different course, but if you go from the mainland there is a bursary or £3k towards accommodation and travel for first year, found good uni owned second year accommodation for £89 per week including bills, has really enjoyed living in Belfast.

I went to QUB back in the day & it’s a great uni!!

however, 1of DS friends (English) went & found it very hard at first.

there is still quite the Catholic / Protestant separation ( though no where near as bad as when I was there in the 90s)

and as most people are from NI , a lot go home at weekends and she found halls emptied out & she was quite lonely initially. Also lots from same schools stayed in those social groups. She did eventually make friends but she found it hard.

Ah I bet it was a post from you I read before Fivegomad – that is really good and well worth considering. Not as a reason to go there maybe but certainly it would be a big plus.

Thanks for all the thoughts so far - she genuinely likes all three equally, hence my post, and doesn't seem bothered by the logistical issue of England-N Ireland!

DS has just turned down his offer from Queen’s as he prefers a course elsewhere. However he absolutely loved it both times he visited and it was a hard decision. We live in south east England and the journey to Belfast is marginally quicker than the journey to his chosen uni! Obviously more complicated though.

We were warned by our English tour guide student about the number of NI students understandably sticking in established groups and going home at the weekends. At the OHD though we were reassured that in every flat they put students from a mixture of locations.

DS is now thinking he might go there for a Masters! 😄

No idea on specific course but my dd (English) had Queens as her insurance we both really liked it. The £3000 bursary yr1 and cheap and plentiful accommodation yr2/3 was a big draw. Ultimately she firmed a higher ranked uni in a bigger city but it was close. We wrote out all the pros and cons, finances and course details. Ultimately she went with her gut and hasn’t regretted it.

@MsFogi Belfast really offers no advantage at all for civil engineering. Both Birmingham and Newcastle would be better in my view for an all round experience. Birmingham maybe with the edge but most employers won’t care. Newcastle is ranked quite a bit lower but I’d rather be there than Belfast.

DH ran a civil engineering consultancy and they were more interested in what grads could do in the real world of engineering, not academic engineering.

You said 5 offers, where are the other 2 from? Sheffield for example should not be discounted. Employability is partly down to course but partly down to how dc perform in tests companies use. Very good grads on paper are not always so good at solving problems or talking through issues regarding design solutions. They can just focus on the maths! Work experience can help with this and really get to understand the particular area you want to work in because Civils is huge. Also do an MEng.

@toooldforbratI've lived in Belfast for 20+ years now (originally from Co. Durham). Yes, there are still Loyalist/Republican issues but only in specific, localised communities. As a student at QUB, or Ulster University, you'd really have to go out of your way to have them impact you.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner- genuinely curious as to why you'd rather be in Newcastle than Belfast.

Having spent the first 20 years of my life living near Newcastle and the last 20 in Belfast (with 10 years in London/Dublin in the middle), you could not, IMO, get 2 cities which are similar to each other.

Small, post industrial cities founded on heavy engineering; great nightlife, good local food and drink, and people with a good solid sense of humour and not inclined to take themselves too seriously.

Even the coastal weather is the same 🙂

I studied civil engineering at Newcastle. It was much too long ago to be of any use to your DD, and I'm likely to be biased. But honestly it doesn't really matter. She may as well draw names out of a hat! Maybe look up the research interests of the different departments to see if any inspire her? It doesn't always make a difference to undergrads, but in my experience it did at Newcastle.

@NorthernStar96 Ease of travel. Far more English based students who won’t go home at the weekend and just a better city in which to be a student, in my view. Students at 17 often forget they might want to come home to see friends for parties at 21 and other family events. It’s just easier being in England if you live in England.

I've got uni age nephews in NI and it does seem to be different to England in that the grammar school kids go with all their friends to Queens. Whereas in England that doesn't really happen due to the larger number of Unis. Going home every weekend seems to be more common as well.

Our daughter went to queen's from England and loved it. Herself and several English students have all settled down and got jobs in Belfast after their degree.

I don't know where you're located OP but for mine, the travelling, not only back and forth, but for her visiting friends at other universities (and taking city breaks overseas) has been incredibly easy, accessible and cost effective from both Dublin and Belfast - we have more experience of the former over 4 years as she is just finishing her UG studies there, but moving to start work in Belfast this Autumn. Like previous posters, both south and northern Ireland are full of students that remain after studies to take up their first posts.

Her own impression of Belfast, having stayed 8 weeks over 2 years' internship runs is that it has a great vibe, not so intense or touristy as Dublin (and definitely not like London), but encourages a good work/life balance. Lots of Queens/Ulster alumni, all lovely, hard working people. Like in Dublin, students do go 'home' over the weekends but this for her, hasn't been a bad thing, and there are plenty of different friendship groups to mix with if you are the sociable type. QUB is stunning, with good quality accommodation, though rentals are higher once in the professionals market.

As a Brummie myself having lived around much of the UK and London for the past 30 years, each time I visit Belfast, I cannot believe just how friendly and warm it is. Every time.

The bursary in Y1 at Queens is a nice touch to attract more non-NI students, with those achieving high A level results also benefiting from additional £ scholarships, subject permitting.

I would say it's not for everyone, is definitely not on the radar in the same way as other UK universities but from DD's cohort across STEM and humanities, those that are not going to PG studies, most seem to have gained solid placement/internship access at TCD and QUB (can't comment for other universities) and now gaining first rung opportunities in their respective sectors across the Island of Ireland, as well as roles on UK mainland.

Punches well above its weight (in my opinion) but this is purely from observing DD's year group.

Good luck to her on deciding!

@Treylime a key reason why lots of NI school leavers go to Queens or Ulster is the reduced tuition fees (£4.9k) compared to England/Scotland/Wales.

From my son's leaving year (Belfast Grammar school/june 2023), their year book showed a rough 50/50 split, with probably 40% going to Scottish and Northern English universities (Newcastle/Northumbria and Liverpool very popular - probably due to frequent easyjet flights).

My son chose Exeter - loves it there and we like it. Logistically though not the easiest to get from/to 😅

My dd didn’t go in end it was her insurance but we visited the uni 3 times and it’s cheaper (and more reliable) to fly to Belfast from where we are in NW than train to London. There’s a bus from Belfast city airport to uni takes about 15 mins.
The low cost of living and plentiful high quality student accommodation was another big attraction.
There also seemed to be lots of opportunities for placements and links with large employers.
Mine was interested in this which is open to students studying in NI https://nireland.britishcouncil.org/opportunities/study-usa
The going home thing we asked a lot of questions and they said they will place some English in accommodation together and all the halls have activities and trips and weekends. If you follow queens accommodation on facebook it list the schedule of activities each week.