How important are University tables?

You'd be best to use a range of factors to decide what university to go to - rather than one single entity's league tables (either The Times or The Guardian). Use them as an indication, but they're not the be-all and end-all. Speak to friends, teachers and speak to students on open days, to find the place that's right for you. :)
 
50/50 said:
If two candidates applied for a graduate placement at goldman sach, one with a first or a 2.1 from a russell group uni, and the other with a 1st or 2.1 from an ex-poly, application number two will go in the bin because every other applicant is like the former, and thats what GS expect. Big well known companies can afford to be arrogant, and pick the cream, because they can.

But if they both went to the same university, and applicant one got a 2.1, but was the president of a society, and was well rounded, and applicant two got a first, but did nothing but study, applicant one has a much better chance.
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Yes I agree entirely, but there are exceptions as triggerthat's post highlights. Just because you may have got a 2.2 or 2.1 rather than a first from a 10-30 place uni doesn't necessarily make you worse candidate or less rounded than someone with a 1st from a top 10 uni. A CV doesn't always show how well a person can communicate or whether they would be suitable for the job, which is where the interview comes in.
 
PeterNem said:
Loughborough also has very good links with industry and fantastic engineering departments. It's also come on a lot in research and is joint first with Oxford for teaching quality. Yes, sport is a big thing, but there is a lot more to the success of Loughborough University than that.

It has a generally good reputation. I did a years internship with a large IT and management consultancy company. They took on 9 students, and 5 of these (including me) were picked from my course at Loughborough.
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That is true, but I read somewhere that The Times university tables were quite skewed and favoured certain aspects of Loughborough uni that weren't academic, or related to undergraduate courses. I'll see if I can find it.
 
I am slightly concerned about securing a placement at a blue-chip or large organisation considering the university I am attending isn't a top class University. I spoke to the careers department and after them looking over my CV, they said I shouldn't have a problem. Will the name of the University have a big impact when applying to top organisations?

Here's a copy of my draft CV.. Link
 
triggerthat said:
Here's a copy of my draft CV.. Link
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You need to proof read it. For instance....

You give a date range : "September – August 2003", but August comes before September.

Another example... you refer to "of Microsoft Office Professional XP, 200 and 2003". 200 should be 2000.

Generally however (keeping in mind as a recent graduate I'm not the definitive authority on CVs) it reads pretty well and most crucially, you have plenty of experience.

I'd drop the bold typeface on one of your bulleted points by the way, keep formatting consistent.
 
PeterNem said:
You need to proof read it. For instance....

You give a date range : "September – August 2003", but August comes before September.

Another example... you refer to "of Microsoft Office Professional XP, 200 and 2003". 200 should be 2000.

Generally however (keeping in mind as a recent graduate I'm not the definitive authority on CVs) it reads pretty well and most crucially, you have plenty of experience.

I'd drop the bold typeface on one of your bulleted points by the way, keep formatting consistent.
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Thanks for the check up. :)

As for the points, should I keep them all as the 4 star ones?
 
triggerthat said:
Hey,

When I started Computer Science, I wasn't entirely amazed at the facilities, however the department had a good reputation despite it being a small one (60 intakes for CS) And yes, Computer Science along with Maths are some of the hard ones at Bath.

What makes Bath a good university is the teaching quality, however you are certainly pushed in the deep end. Bath also has good links with the majority of the blue-chip firms and large organisations. I am jealous at the pay some of my friends are getting during their placement this year.

As for the BTEC comment, its not worthless if you get a Distinction :) I was luckily enough to get an offer on the course.

As for the league tables, I think to some extent the place you got your degree from can make a difference. However saying this, if you can prove that you can do the job and you are just as capable, or even better, depsite the fact some of the people applying for the same role as you are, come from red-brick universities, you can stand a good chance.

A friend of mine (who got a First from Bath) who is currently doing his placement at Goldman Sachs has a colleague who managed a 2.2 from southampton. Maybe because he went to southampton, I don't know. Maybe because he did really well in the interview / assessment days, possibly.
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I honestly have no idea what a BTEC is, I thought the guy was overemphasising it to be sarcastic and so responded in kind, didn't mean to cause any offence!

As far as placements go, not quite sure how your department are with them but I had loads of support in getting mine (biochemistry), shouldn't there be someone in your department to check over your CV/layout? I was also under the impression that all applicants from a department were told to use a standard CV template to make it easier for the employer. That was the case in my department anyways, I guess it isn't a uni-wide thing.

As far as the CV goes, as long as you have decent grades in your first year modules you'll get interviews, and that's when you are given time to shine :).

Edit: just took a look at your CV, impressive grades/experience, that'll be enough to get your foot in the door for any placement!

Also, british italians are simply the greatest people to walk the earth ;)
 
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Wallace said:
As far as placements go, not quite sure how your department are with them but I had loads of support in getting mine (biochemistry), shouldn't there be someone in your department to check over your CV/layout?
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I didn't go to bath, but at my Uni the support was there if you wanted it in the form of the Careers Office. However, I did everything off of my own back as I'm just that kind of person and didn't want any help.

Indeed, I was rather irate at the standard letter sent to me by my Uni whist I was on placement which referred to "their help" in finding my placement - they didn't do a thing and nor did I want them to.
 
Placements generally can be similar in terms of entry requirements to a graduate job, as bigger companies often use similar assessment systems for them.

From the 12 interviews I had last year, only a couple were really interesting in how well I was doing in my course, the rest were far more interested in how well I could handle team work, different personalities, how I can solve problems and all that, then acedemic grades coming second to that from what I could find. I found I was on the same level as any of the other candidates when I had assessment days, didn't matter what uni or courses they were from.
 
Agreed Davey.

I had interviews with Accenture and Microsoft and went on to accept an offer from Accenture (at that point I was only halfway through the MS recruitment process).

In both cases however I'm led to beleive (and can say so firmly about Accenture) that the procedure for applying and the interviews are the same as the graduate processes.

I've been told by several people that getting the placement is actually harder, as you'll be in a group of hundreds of people going for maybe 10 places, rather than a group of a few hundred people going for a hundred places.
 
How are you finding Accenture? Accenture is a company I have been strongly considering. How'd the interview/assessment stage go? How was the competition?
 
I'm just off out, but add me to MSN and I'll have a chat with you later. peter[at]nemeiksas[dot]com

edit: or email if you prefer, same address.
 
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