Uni Dilemma

studentphil

Going on reputation, UCLAS is thought of a second rate university (though it is probably fine). Manchester university is considered to be one of the finest universities in the Uk especially for sciences. So at the moment on her CV or if she is looking at going into the profession then Manchester looks streets ahead.

But Sheffield university and York University were considered nothing places 25 years ago and are now considered as very good, so in 10 to 20 years maybe UCLAS will be considered wonderful.

If she is looking at the profession then make sure she goes for a course that is BPS approved.

seaweasel

studentphil wrote: »

Bigger means that it will loose its homely feel and it will become more impersonal, therefore, is bigger really better?

Yes it is. Apart from the academic side of the choice (which is obviously important), I think it's a better idea to go to a larger university in a larger city. Going to Manchester instead of a small town will hopefully allow her to become more independent and confident, as well as give her more scope for meeting new people, pursuing her interests, and probably having more fun. I think an important part of university is developing as person and going off to live somewhere different with new people for three or four years is a great way of doing this, and it's something that some (although by no means all) students who go to university in their home town, or nearby, can miss out on to an extent.

studentphil

seaweasel wrote: »

Yes it is. Apart from the academic side of the choice (which is obviously important), I think it's a better idea to go to a larger university in a larger city. Going to Manchester instead of a small town will hopefully allow her to become more independent and confident, as well as give her more scope for meeting new people, pursuing her interests, and probably having more fun. I think an important part of university is developing as person and going off to live somewhere different with new people for three or four years is a great way of doing this, and it's something that some (although by no means all) students who go to university in their home town, or nearby, can miss out on to an extent.

I agree with that, but the problem is with a big university is no one knows you, they ae not very personal, often teaching hours are very limited as they just dont have the rooms to give every student 15 hours a week contact time.

Personally I like somewhere to have a friendly feel and for you not to feel that you are just at a degree factory.

studentphil

Just reading that bit above on first choices, she does not want UCLAS as first choice with maybe an offer of CCD and Manchester as a Second choice at AAB because if she misses the offer for UCLAS then she is going to left without without an offer if she misses the UCLAS grades.

Your second choice should always be lower grades than your first choice.

Alikay

It depends what she wants to do with the degree. If she knows that she wants to work in psychology specifically, then yes, a degree from one uni may be seen as better than another. But if she wants to work somewhere more generally related to her subject, well I'd say its better to choose somewhere she'll be happy and can get a good degree and valuable life experience.

It sounds as if she likes the course at Preston as well as the location better than Manchester, so seems a good reason to choose that one.

Oldernotwiser

I think that the football analogy's spot on. No disrespect to Preston but it's pretty second division. It's not the done thing nowadays to talk about some universities being more prestigious than others but that is the case. The calibre of students going to Manchester will also be higher so the seminars and group work should be more interesting and challenging. I also can't see that Preston's Psychology degree is accredited by the BPS and as Kittimary's said, that's the most important thing.

Manchester's a great place to be a student; theatre,music,clubs and wonderful student facilities . Preston's a place to escape from in my opinion (apologies to any Prestonites reading.)

3plus1

It's a fairly simple question to answer.

The University of Manchester has the better reputation, in general. I don't know about psychology specifically, but just in general, Manchest Uni wins hands down. Now, if your daughter decides at the end of the three years she doesn't want to stay in psychology; that she wants to go off and do a random graduate job, she will have no chance, with a degree from an ex-poly.

At Preston, she might be happy and get a better degree? Well, doesn't means she'll get a first. I got straight As all throughout secondary school, and did several crash subjects too - have an insane amount of UCAS points, but the style of marking at university turned out to be very different, and for me, the highest grade to aim for is a 2:1. A first is impossible for me, and I'm not stupid or lazy. I'm at a very prestigious uni, so that 2:1 is going to stand me in good steed, but if I got it from an ex-poly, I would be at the bottom of the "Just Another Graduate" pile.

I know a few people at Manchester, who love the city. And they've got very different personalities - I know one loud, outgoing heavy drinker there, and I also know a quieter tee-total person. Both love the place.

Manchester is bound to be better for your daughter, in terms of looking ahead... but only if she really doesn't hate the place. You can do well at a university you mildly like, but it's a huge struggle if you actually hate it.

Blacksheep1979

studentphil wrote: »

I agree with that, but the problem is with a big university is no one knows you, they ae not very personal, often teaching hours are very limited as they just dont have the rooms to give every student 15 hours a week contact time.

Personally I like somewhere to have a friendly feel and for you not to feel that you are just at a degree factory.

I'm sorry but everything everyone has said about 'large' universities or 'top rating' ones not spending time on their students, is from my experience of two 'top' universities (manchester and warwick) absolute tosh. You get what you put in - ie you bother to make contact with the lecturers etc then they will remember you, talk to you, help you etc.

Also on the 'liking' a university front - you cannot tell from a quick one day visit which one you are really going to like as you don't get to see the true university and what life is like there.

I'd say both on the reputation front and the social side that manchester has more to offer. There is much more that the town offers and more that only a large university can offer, with more sports teams, societies etc. As long as you walk into it with your eyes open and make the most of it I find it hard that almost any student wouldn't like manchester.

melancholly

a big university does not necessaily mean there will be fewer contact hours and teaching hours - that is entirely dependent on the department. it's not a fair generalisation at all! all teaching staff will offer office hours when any student can drop by and ask questions - most student fail to take advantage of this but it is a very useful thing to do. find out about lab classes, number of lectures, tutorial size, access to computers with required software, statistics classes etc. in a degree like psychology it's not all about how many people are on the course.

i would politely suggest that phil's experiences on university (discussed at great length on other threads) are perhaps unrepresentative of what students experience.

it's also all entirely personal - some people thrive in a small place while others feel suffocated. some people love the independence of a big city and others just get scared by it and can't cope.

the guardian webiste has league tables of everything you could ever want to know - from the standard ones through to teaching ratings from students. it has lots of info and links ot things like university papers etc - well worth a few hours of browsing.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/chooseadegree/

studentphil

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

I'm sorry but everything everyone has said about 'large' universities or 'top rating' ones not spending time on their students, is from my experience of two 'top' universities (manchester and warwick) absolute tosh. You get what you put in - ie you bother to make contact with the lecturers etc then they will remember you, talk to you, help you etc.

Also on the 'liking' a university front - you cannot tell from a quick one day visit which one you are really going to like as you don't get to see the true university and what life is like there.

I'd say both on the reputation front and the social side that manchester has more to offer. There is much more that the town offers and more that only a large university can offer, with more sports teams, societies etc. As long as you walk into it with your eyes open and make the most of it I find it hard that almost any student wouldn't like manchester.

I think you will find room space is a huge issue at many larger universities and it really is an issue and so sometimes departments have to have two lectures and one tutorial rather than one lecture and two tutorials as they just do not have enough tutorial rooms available to offer that many tutorials.
Which does reduce the the perrsonal feel of the place.

Plus, at a larger university given student numbers you may get a tutorial with 15-25 people in compared to a tutorial of 8-12 at a smaller place.