Which one?

betrobakes

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ftbworried

Ooooo difficult. I always usually would go for the uni with a better reputation (after all, it has a better reputation for a REASON) BUT industrial experience is a MASSIVE boost to your employability. I've just checked on the Manchester website and it doesnt say anything about a optional year out- which is odd because a lot of courses at manchester offer an industrial year if you choose so.

Have you tried mailing the contact for that course at manchester and see if you can do an 'unofficial' work placement as part of your fourth year? (i.e. take a year out between your 2nd and 3rd year). Even if you dont want to do this- Manchester should at least be aware of the fact that their courses without IE options are uncompetitive.

It is really difficult, do you know anyone who's been to Aston? How did their job hunt go?

My BIL went to an 'ex-polyyech' but did an industrial year. He's an assistant manager in a retail store now (9 years on!), not exactly the high flying businessman he thought he would be. His uni sent him on an industrial placement in a factory though! You need to make sure the company where Aston is sending you offers valuable experience!

Check out the places where Aston send their industrial placement students, the quality of the placement matters too. IMHO you might find it difficult to get a place on one of the top-rack industrial placements (Accenture and the like) coming from Aston- whereas it might be easier if your degree is from a bigger university.

Now fees cost so much you have to be VERY careful that the fees offer a reasonable return on your graduation!

matt.forster_2

I personally would choose the uni with a better reputation.. In your summer vacation, or perhaps a gap year big companies such as PWC and Deloitte will probably take you on to do a 6-8 week internship scheme if youre at a highly regarded university, for example. Further on in your career potential employers may feel that even though an aston university graduate may have a little more experience, the graduate from manchester may have been taught better.
Visit the universities on open days, get a general vibe for the places. Aston is a very small (the smallest per student i believe) campus uni. I'm not too sure whether manchester is campus or city, you may have a preference to the type of university.
It might also be worth checking out the tables on the Times and the Guardian websites.
Hope this helps.

Blacksheep1979

Manchester is an excellent university and the business school is very very good (am currently doing joint honours with business). Would avoid ex polys etc like the plague - I'm currently in my third year and have been applying to jobs with merchant banks (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs etc) and all the candidates they ask to interview are from decent uni's such as Manchester, LSE, Nottingham, Imperial etc. Tbh I don't think they give much weight to ex-poly degrees. Same goes for other employers my father and his friends who are in the engineering business don't tend to hire folks from there (unless lots of experience and proven track record). Think in general you're giving yourself a leg up going to a proper university which will save you several years on the career ladder. And its all well going oh but its the xth best business school in the country, but if the employer doesn't know that it does you no good.

si1503

Blacksheep1979 wrote:

Would avoid ex polys etc like the plague

I wouldn't be quite so critical towards ex-polys if I were you. Certain ex-polys are doing rather well at offering particular courses. I'm at the Nottingham Business School which is an academic school of Nottingham Trent and IMO the course is ran very well! I know people on other courses here and they are not so impressed, but the business school is very decent in my view.

Obviously a degree in business/finance from LSE, Manchester or Warwick, is going to have more value than the equivalent one from Trent, however I wouldn't say to avoid them like the plague, there is more to walking in to graduate jobs than just having a degree from the Russell Group. I'm not disagreeing with you, just felt obliged to reply to the anti ex-poly remark, considering I attend one.

ftbworried

...but choosing to go to an academic uni for an academic course is ultimately good moneysaving. Edging your bets with an ex-polytech is bad moneysaving because you are less certain to recoup your losses. Like BlackSheep points out- its not whether Aston HAVE a better course than Manchester it whether employers THINK that Aston has a better course than Manchester. You seem like you like the business school at Trent but will you have to devote a paragrah on your covering letter to explaining that 'actually you know, Trent has a very good business school - it's not like you might think'? How can you change an employers (perhaps incorrect) perception about your university before they screen out all the ex-polytechs? It's tough, but perhaps a (good) year in industry might do it.

si1503

Some very valid points above. I am certainly aware that getting a grad job is going to be extremely difficult, as if it wasn't difficult enough already due to the unfavourable S & D conditions. Funnily enough I did actually apply to Machester to do Economics but was unsuccessful, not totally sure as to why as my grades were within their criteria, but i did underachieve in my first year at college (C/Ds) which i chose to re-do, so perhaps that had some influence on their selection. Certainly given the choice, I would go to Manchester due to what the above poster said about a companies perceived worth of a degree from Manchester being higher than the equivalent qualification from an ex-poly, it is by far the smartest choice from a monetary perspective.

Blacksheep1979

si1503 wrote:

I'm at the Nottingham Business School which is an academic school of Nottingham Trent and IMO the course is ran very well!

I don't doubt the course is ran well, but the point is, is the content comparible to that of other traditional universities and are the degrees marked to the same stringent levels? That is why employers are dubious about ex-polys. And myself after seeing pieces of work that have been handed in by an ex-flatmate who went to an ex-poly and the marks their work received I can tell you these worries are not unfounded.

Until you see both sides of the coin ie do a course at both an ex-poly and a real university you can't really comment on whether they are comparible.

3plus1

If you can get into Manchester, go there. It has a better overall reputation, which will probably be more important for your career prospects in the long run. Apply for internships every year, get them, do them in your uni vacations and you'll be employable (assuming you pass the degree too;)).

I am in the uncomfortable position of trying to get a graduate job, and have found that many companies are looking for internship experience. I spent one year of my degree abroad working, and I'm not convinced it's done me any favours. If I could do university again, the one thing I would change is to apply for internships rather than work to cover my expenses. The intern experience puts you ahead of the other candidates.

Don't graduate until June... Still time to keep looking for a job, so it's not all bad.;)