University Reputation

IceBus · 22 Sep 2006 at 13:09

calnen said:
It just depends what you like. Personally I was sick of living in a city and was determined to move to a smaller one (than Leicester) - Hence the London unis were out of the question, along with manchester, nottingham and so on. I applied to places like Bath, Warwick and York along with Durham.

Just trying to say different people like being in different places. My sister did her degree in Cambridge and loved it, but it wouldn't have been for me. (Even assuming I got in.)

Defininitely. To me Nottingham was kind of the perfect compromise - you're in a big city, but you're out on your own at the campus etc.

As for unis by subject, have a look at http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityguide2006/0,,1595180,00.html

RandomTom · 22 Sep 2006 at 13:16

Unfortunately I really don't like universities of a huge size, I prefer community type ones, well basically just smaller / less busy than places such as Manchester. I loved looking round Chester & Lincoln universities but Lincoln is such a new uni that it's reputation is poor which I'm a bit annoyed about, because it's so low down it may get dismissed as a decent uni yet I'm sure it will increase with time, but do I risk it...

Hmm...

SaBBz · 22 Sep 2006 at 13:23

RandomTom said:
Unfortunately I really don't like universities of a huge size, I prefer community type ones, well basically just smaller / less busy than places such as Manchester. I loved looking round Chester & Lincoln universities but Lincoln is such a new uni that it's reputation is poor which I'm a bit annoyed about, because it's so low down it may get dismissed as a decent uni yet I'm sure it will increase with time, but do I risk it...

Hmm...

Have you looked at Bath? Assuming you have the grades to get in.

FunkyT · 22 Sep 2006 at 13:30

penski said:
It doesn't matter where you get your Computer Sciences degree. As long as you can say "Do you want fries with that?" or work a headset in a callcentre, you'll be set for life.

*n

Which uni did you attend to help you avoid McDonalds?

Von Luck · 22 Sep 2006 at 13:53

He's not commenting on a university education being relatively worthless, just the fact that a Comp Sci degree doesn't carry much weight in the IT industry.

Una · 22 Sep 2006 at 13:55

Von Luck said:
He's not commenting on a university education being relatively worthless, just the fact that a Comp Sci degree doesn't carry much weight in the IT industry.

Depends which part of the IT industry, it's a big area.

triggerthat · 22 Sep 2006 at 14:11

Can we keep on topic please

Thanks so far for your input.

Hugogo · 22 Sep 2006 at 14:20

If you have the personable skills to back up your degree where you went red brick or wherever else will soon melt into irrelevence.

crashuk · 22 Sep 2006 at 19:04

birkbeck university how would u classify that university? just looking at the guide and it isnt there, just been lookign at their master courses but cant find where they stand.

Una · 22 Sep 2006 at 19:05

crashuk said:
birkbeck university how would u classify that university? just looking at the guide and it isnt there, just been lookign at their master courses but cant find where they stand.

Never even heard of it

ironman · 22 Sep 2006 at 19:11

crashuk said:
birkbeck university how would u classify that university? just looking at the guide and it isnt there, just been lookign at their master courses but cant find where they stand.

Birkbeck are good, they are part of the University of London and my sister did a masters course there after her degree at UCL.

crashuk · 22 Sep 2006 at 19:21

gurdas said:
Birkbeck are good, they are part of the University of London and my sister did a masters course there after her degree at UCL.

so your saying its part of the red brick thing then?

ironman · 22 Sep 2006 at 19:28

crashuk said:
so your saying its part of the red brick thing then?

It's part of the 1994 group, whilst smaller than the russell group, the uni still has some kudos.

IceBus · 22 Sep 2006 at 19:37

crashuk said:
so your saying its part of the red brick thing then?

Most UoL unis are pretty well respected

Obviously the bigger names will ring bells more often (Kings, UCL, LSE etc) but Birkbeck is pretty well known.

ironman · 22 Sep 2006 at 19:41

IceBus said:
Most UoL unis are pretty well respected Obviously the bigger names will ring bells more often (Kings, UCL, LSE etc) but Birkbeck is pretty well known.

Kings, meh

Fr0dders · 22 Sep 2006 at 19:47

triggerthat said:
Hi guys,

I will be starting my second year at Kingston University next week. I am abit concerned about University reputation and how will be effect going for jobs or the impact it will have in the future. I enrolled on the Computer Science BSc however just recently I have changed to the MComp Information Systems degree which is a integrated undergraduate masters programme. I did achieve a First during my first year and I am enjoying it. The first year was very much of a easy ride for me personally as I had experience Java programming and other aspects. I do hold a lot of experience in the worldplace compared to other students, but will companies look down on me? I've recently noticed that a few students from Kingston have managed to secure placements at well-known organisations, such as Accenture for example.

Should I be worried? I had the intention of doing a MSc however not a Kington. Maybe somewhere with abit more repuatation prehaps would be a wise choice?

i know theres a huge 3 pages worth of posts, but for now i'm just gonna reply to the OP's post

I have a job doing 1st line support on the Service Desk for Torex Retail. They supply roughly half of all retail tills used in UK shops and are floated on the stock exchange. In the epos world, they are the daddys.

And you know what, i got the job without going university. What got me the job was the fact that id worked in a call centre for a few years, and had some IT experience as id been seconded to call centre's IT department for a few months.

In the IT world experience counts for everything, and degrees ( no matter from which uni) mean jack.

You shouldnt be worrying about what the reputation of your uni is, you need to be thinking about which will get you the best placement. As its from this experience your likely to get a job, not the degree itself.

theleg · 22 Sep 2006 at 20:16

Can someone explain the group thing pleqse.

triggerthat · 22 Sep 2006 at 21:38

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Group

Fr0dders · 22 Sep 2006 at 22:06

Lagz said:
University reputation is important for getting interviews. I know a few companies I have done summer internships with who got so many applications they just binned all those that didn't come from Oxbridge, Warwick, York and a few of the other 'top' universities.

Obviously reputation wont get you a job, but it will allow you to get your foot in the door, so to speak.

sorry but please see my above post

to the OP

dont let this put you off

i had no trouble getting IT interviews, and thats without any university attendance at all. I got there purely off the back of my experience, enthusiasm for the subject and employability

nothing to do with what university i went to.

Una said:
If you want to be a coder, try meet people from the industry. Contribute to an open source project, do google summer of code etc... You will get much further if people know that you are a good programmer and you can demonstrate a good portfolio of stuff you have worked on.

amen to that, just re-inforces about what i've been saying about experience being more important than what degree you got, or from what university.

IceBus · 22 Sep 2006 at 23:08

gurdas said:
Kings, meh

I've got a mate at Kings who only chose it because it was the best London uni for his degree. He hates the people who go there, he's only been in the SU about twice and spends all his time at SOAS.