Mechanical Engineering at Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham and Bath

[FollowTheSong]

DC has offers for Mechanical Engineering at Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham and Integrated Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Bath. Required grades range from Astar AA to AAA. Does anyone have any insights to offer for these courses at these universities? No preference for campus or city university.

My DDs very good friend did mechanical engineering at Bristol and did a year abroad as part of MEng. Essentially all these are good universities - what campus/city did he prefer? Outcomes won’t be much different at any of them but lots of engineers get finance jobs!

He didn't have a specific preference and is pretty happy to go to any of these, which is making the decision a little difficult. Not currently looking to go into finance but who knows how he will feel in 4 years time!

I have two friends whose DC did engineering at Bristol recently and both enjoyed the degree and now have jobs — which is quite an achievement in today’s climate.

I'd look at other aspects of uni life eg housing shortages - Bath and Bristol in particular are very tricky /! expensive for accommodation. Especially for a long course this will be very stressful. Nottingham and Birmingham may not be as pressured.

@MrsJaminThe organised student with friends doesn’t find it stressful . They know they have to get on with it and they know the cost! Parents should too. My DD wasn’t stressed and no one we know was. I would say that Nottingham and Brum are cheaper but we don’t know if private landlords might sell up and what renters rights will do to the market. Bath and Bristol are attractive cities and certainly the university in Bristol is in the most expensive area! But parents can do their homework on this and it’s not a concern for everyone.

Hi, OP -

These are all very good options, so in that sense DS cannot go wrong.

For these courses I tend to think of Bristol and Bath together, giving Bristol a slight edge in prestige and Bath a slight edge for the student experience. I would put B’ham next, then Notts. The Complete University Guide has the same ordering

However one big issue is the Insurance choice. First, it looks like only Bristol typically wants an A star. Is that true for DS? How confident is he about that?

Also, the standard offer at B’ham is listed as AAB. You don’t mention that, but it is what I would prefer to see as the Insurance for an
A star A A Firm - two grades of slippage. If DS really has a B’ham offer of AAA, are you confident it is correct?

I would not expect Bristol or Bath to budge when results come. Other MumsNetters nay know about Notts. If B’ham’s listing of AAB as the standard offer is correct I think there is a decent chance they would take DS with those grades, even uf his offer is correct.

For me, the choice would be between Bristol and Bath for the Firm, depending on my confidence in the A star and my interest in EE; and between B’ham and Notts for the Insurance, depending on which would be more likely to take me at AAB.

UCAS will show the typical achieved grades of recent students, though some will be contextual (Bristol is very generous with contextual criteria) or reflect mitigation.

DS could also join the online forum The Student Room and ask current students in the relevant degree programmes what they know about slippage.

I hope this helps. Best wishes to him.

@poetryandwine The AAA offer from Birmingham is for the MEng programme. It's AAB for the BEng. It's possible that a grade slippage would still get you on to the BEng, which is certainly worth considering. Thank you.

He is of the same opinion that Bath and Bristol are ranked higher in terms of the reputations of their engineering departments with Brum and Notts just below those. As you say, all of those choices are great, he is very lucky.

I had a quick look at the HESA financial data and ChatGPT thinks that Birmingham is the most financially resilient of these. But given that the engineering departments in all of these universities are pretty strong, the financials of the university as a whole shouldn't matter too much for his course?

Ah, that explains B’ham.

In the knowledge that I prefer B’ham anyway, in DS’ shoes I would email or, at this juncture, ring, and ask if with grades AAB I would be offered an Insurance place on the BEng programme, having applied for MEng?

It is generally easy to move between the two, in both directions. The only caveat is that SFE will automatically extend the original loan by one year only from its original term.
If it is locked in for three years and DS changes to a four year programme, he doesn’t have the option of restarting a year or similar without making a special application ( which may be denied)

I don’t think any of these unis is in danger of closing in the next four years. It is nearly impossible to imagine Mech Eng being selected for targeted cuts. But eg Edinburgh, a brilliant place, is in the midst of cutting back annual expenditures permanently by 10%. Every single aspect of university life is affected. That could happen anywhere.

Just because you're an organised student with friends doesn't mean these housing crises wouldn't affect them 🙄 https://www.thesubath.com/voice/campaigns/housing/ www.bristolsu.org.uk/articles/bristol-students-reveal-the-hellish-experience-of-renting-in-bristol?ref=epigram.org.uk pretty silly to ignore this! And arrogant to think this wouldn't affect you just because you have friends. Plus I think the Bath course is poorer than straight mechanical engineering. I would swerve.

@MrsJamin I'm curious as to why you think the Bath course is poorer than straight Mechanical Engineering. The course is no longer accepting UK students as of now whilst Brum and Notts are still open for applications on their Mech Eng courses.

Your last sentence is good news for that Insurance idea at B’ham, OP. However I think it is still best to ask (if interested)

PS As a STEM academic I think the integrated degree is just as valuable as the Single Hons, particularly from such a highly ranked School of Engineering as Bath. It’s certainly different but hardly lesser.

Some doors close, others open.

my DD graduated from Bath last year and DS is at Bristol. Neither have ever had an issue getting a house so that’s rubbish. They are both very pricey though I will agree with that.

DS and mates left it until August to arrange a house last year and still had no issue. DD didn’t want to do a placement year and so rented a room with two strangers again nonissue.

@BeyondamountainandovertheseaYes, all this scaremongering really isn’t helpful. Organised and resourceful students find somewhere to live in Bath and Bristol. Not cheap near the uni at Bristol if you want to fall into lectures and live 10 mins from the uni, there’s a price attached. A bus ride away, not so bad.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/may/12/thousands-of-university-of-nottingham-staff-told-they-are-at-risk-of-redundancy

might be worth looking into a bit more detail

I would separate university-level financial risk from course-level evidence. For engineering, ask each department directly whether any cuts affect lab access, workshop time, optional modules, placement support or accreditation over the next four years. If the answer is vague, that tells you more than another ranking table.

This is good in theory but I am not sure how far ahead these answers are known.

At Edinburgh the 10% overall cutbacks were (allegedly) to avert a crisis, and certainly were not predictable in Schools three years earlier. So these questions could have been answered rosily.

Accreditation for existing standard courses would not be affected. I think these universities are strong in engineering. Options probably are not a deal breaker either unless a student is looking for something very special but that’s a bit of a risk at any time.

Bristol and Bath are expensive cities, but Bristol in particular is very vibrant and excellent if you’re into music (Bath is excellent for classical music actually) close to each other too. Nottingham will be a lot cheaper

<fires up the ol' clearing spreadsheet>

If it helps at all, last year Bristol and Bath did not go into clearing for engineering. Birmingham went into clearing for BEng only and Nottingham was in clearing for elec eng but not mech eng.

Has Nottingham given him an (unprompted) lower offer for the BEng alongside the MEng offer?

Is he interested in a placement year? Whilst the onus is on the student to arrange these, Bath provides a lot of support to find them vs many other unis (though DS didn't list your other three choices so I can't compare Bath to those).

Whilst all cities listed will have substantial amounts of student housing, the difference in cost certainly is a factor that could be stressful, no matter how organised and friendly a given student is!

@SheilaFentiman Thank you for the clearing info. That's quite interesting. Yes, Nottingham did also include a BEng offer but Nottingham is probably the least likely to be chosen of the four.

As for a placement year, he's less keen because it will stretch the degree to 5 years and possibly would rather apply for summer internships but those are even more competitive. At the Birmingham offer holder day, he was told that the uni runs engineering specific industrial days involving potential interviews with prospective employers.

Fair point. I would treat the answers as a stress test rather than a guarantee. If a department can say clearly what is protected now, who owns placements, and whether accreditation/lab time is insulated from cuts, that is useful. If they cannot answer, that uncertainty should probably sit alongside rankings and accommodation cost.

@TravisWritingCoach Who owns placements? Placements are by student application. The firms decide who they want. The universities advertise and often dc need to apply for tens of thrm or find their own. Universities offer guidance on cv but don’t curate the placements and line students up for them.

Exactly this and applying from a particular uni gives you no more right to work placements than anybody else. Students have to apply for hoards and hoards of placements to get one and are competing with students from across the country. Think it took my son nearly 70 applications and the one he got has students from a variety of unis. He’s from a uni far lower down the league table than those listed in the OP but has been successful with students from unis mentioned in the OP and others not.

It’s down to how proactive you are, other experience on your cv and being able to manage applications whilst studying.

Yes, you are right, thanks for clarifying. That is the distinction I should have made. I meant the quality of placement support, not ownership of the placement itself: employer events, advertised opportunities, CV/interview help, deadlines and how clearly students are prepared to apply. The student still has to do the applications and compete for them.