University of Abertay, Dundee

Legacy_user

My daughter is considering applying to this university and I was just wondering if anyone can advise if it has a good reputation and what Dundee would be like to live in?

Simon_Wallace

My wife went there, I believe they have excellent new facilities these days. Dundee has a nice compact city centre with loads of stuff on for students, I'm sure she would enjoy herself.

Cheers
Simon

Albert2

One of my nephew's has just finished first year there.

He's enjoyed it loads, education is what he expected and social scene exceeds (is that a good think though ?) :rotfl:

City itself , as said previously, has all you'd need and not too sprawling. In the main students (from everywhere) are welcomed also.

Seem to be plenty in part-time jobs there also.

ailuro2

Great place to be a student- any help needed on areas to live etc, drop me a PM- anywhere in the actual city centre or west end is fine- a few other areas not so good to live in.

Public transport is pretty good, so she won't need a car.Abertay is situated in the city centre so well served.

System

ailuro2 wrote: »

Great place to be a student- any help needed on areas to live etc, drop me a PM- anywhere in the actual city centre or west end is fine- a few other areas not so good to live in.

Public transport is pretty good, so she won't need a car.Abertay is situated in the city centre so well served.

Thanks for that. DD will probably be in Alloway Halls in her first year but will be looking somewhere else to live for the next 3 years. We are considering purchasing a property in Dundee when that time comes as our own mortgage will be paid off by September 2008. Knowing our luck though prices will have rocketed by then and that might not be feasible.

sharkmark

I'd have a glance at the university league tables for the subject that your daughter is studying in.... the overall league table in the Times (this is still flawed but probably the most reliable) can be found at ....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/displayPopup/0,,102571,00.html

However I would strongly recommend you look at the subject table rather than the overall table (which places Abertay at 57th overall - middle ranking which is not too bad)

I work in the university sector so am quite familiar with these tables...I think the one thing which is important to point out that they have a very high staff to student ratio (e.g there are lots of students to each staff member). This might mean it is difficult to see much of your academic advisor as they'll be looking after a lot of students.

The high student to staff ratio is common in a non-research focused university - (e.g Abertay concentrate on teaching subjects rather than trying to research them as well.)... This is sometimes ok for Undergraduate students but it may mean you won't always have state-of the art equipment for science subjects because the university does not receive research income to be able to buy it. Also it perhaps might mean that the lecturers will not be very active in researching their subjects.

I am generalising here as without knowing which subject they are interested in then it's difficult to say how good/bad Abertay are.

Also you can try https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk which is an excellent source of info from real students...bear in mind that most people are extremely biased toward the university where they studied (the universities program our minds to be loyal!!!) so anyone posting on the student room website will usually be a little biased but nonetheless it's a great site for extra info

Wherever she ends up I hope she has a good time and good luck!

System

DD is hoping to study Forensic Science and has offers from Dundee, Central Lancashire and Staffordshire and of the three she seems to have taken to Dundee the most both in terms of the city and the course content. Apparently the ratio of students to staff in the course is 17:1 and the prospects for employment are good.

However it is the overall experience that we want her to benefit from and hopefully at the end she will have a good degree from a good university with not too much debt of course.

I was glad to see from Albert2 that there will be opportunities for part-time work too though we are hoping BHS (her current part-time employer) will allow her to work in Dundee during term time and work over here during the holidays - I know M&S allow some of their students employees to do that.

amandada

She could study in a far worse place than Dundee!
The city has undergone a massive regeneration in recent years, and there's been huge investment in the "student quarter" with lots of purpose built affordable accommodation for students too.
It's been a long time since I was a student in Dundee, but I'm born and bred, so if there's anything I can help with, give me a shout:)

ailuro2

Dundee has always been a bit slower on the property market than other areas, but does catch up eventually.

This past year it was up by around 17%- whatever most areas did last year, Dundee will do this year, so another year of higher prices looks to be on the way.

There is always a fluid market in flats for students though, as so many people do the same thing as you intend.:D

missjennipenni

Pam17 wrote: »

My daughter is considering applying to this university and I was just wondering if anyone can advise if it has a good reputation and what Dundee would be like to live in?

Ive lived there, its good a good social scene for students :beer:

seaweasel

Abertay doesn't have a very good reputation, however it does have strengths in certain areas (such as game development I believe), as with many new universities. I had a few friends that went to university in Dundee and to be honest it wouldn't be my first choice of city to live in. However I haven't lived there personally and it might have improved in the past few years.

In terms of leaving home to go to university in Scotland then I'd say Glasgow or Edinburgh would be top of the list for cities, but obviously it depends on other factors such as university choices, courses, accommodation etc.