Do you need to go to a Russell group university to get a good job

Pennywise

Of course you can get a "good" job without going to a RG uni. Plenty of people get "good" jobs from other unis, or having not gone to a uni at all.

What any degree from any Uni doesn't guarantee is a "good" job. If you choose a subject that isn't valued by employers, or you don't have work experience, or you don't have the right personality, or any number of other factors, you risk not getting a "good" job.

What is far more important are those other factors, i.e. choice of degree subject, A level grades, GCSE grades, work experience, hobbies, personality, ability to perform at interview, etc etc.

If you expect to walk into a "good" job just because you've a random degree from a random uni, you're in for a rude awakening. But, even if you have a RG degree, if it's a poor choice subject, or your other factors don't impress, you'll still struggle.

NBLondon

If a given organisation/scheme says they only take applications from specific universities/courses then they may have a reason and that reason may be rational or biased.

Depends on what you mean by "a job in banking" too. If you have set your sights on a six-figure sum in merchant banking then often the best start is having a father/uncle already in that business. If you mean working your way up in retail banking, possibly doing the exams along the way then a degree in a relevant subject from a redbrick or plate-glass university with a good work ethic is useful.

Being able to express yourself well in the application form and at interview is also important.

Wyndham

If you look at University rankings e.g. the Times Higher, the Guardian etc then you'll see that the top of the tables are a mixture of Russell Group and non-Russell Group. Quite a few of the others were in the 1994 group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Group (now defunct) - you'll see from the list that there are some 'big hitters' on there.

At the end of the day, University is about so much more than just the degree. You could go to a Russell Group university and be really unhappy, or you might go somewhere else and be really happy. A lot of it is personal choice, and what's right for you.

For what it's worth I've worked for both Russell Group and non-Russell group Universities, and in my experience (this is a personal view), the Russell Group often do a certain amount of sitting on laurels, and don't work quite as hard, basically because they don't have to. I work with IT systems, and have seen some shocking things within the Russell Group, where things just don't work or haven't been invested in. Other institutions are more likely to invest, as that gives them an edge, and it's all about student experience these days anyway

Right, time to get off my soapbox. Good luck OP whatever you do, but do take time to choose based on what you see and feel, rather than reputation.

Smodlet

NBLondon wrote: »

If a given organisation/scheme says they only take applications from specific universities/courses then they may have a reason and that reason may be rational or biased.

Depends on what you mean by "a job in banking" too. If you have set your sights on a six-figure sum in merchant banking then often the best start is having a father/uncle already in that business. If you mean working your way up in retail banking, possibly doing the exams along the way then a degree in a relevant subject from a redbrick or plate-glass university with a good work ethic is useful.

Being able to express yourself well in the application form and at interview is also important.

And there we have it: Jobs for the boys; the girls are still poking at that glass ceiling with ends of their mop handles.

We seem not to have heard from the OP for a while; if nothing else, let us hope he/she has learned something about grammar, punctuation and syntax from reading this thread.

Kentish_Dave

I’ve not heard the description “merchant banking” for quite a while, but in investment banking no-one gets a job through family nowadays.

There seem to be some outdated views around, and people happy to be very critical based on little more than prejudice.

ratechaser

Well just to stick my own oar in here, both my wife and I have reasonably senior positions in city banks.

She joined when she was 18 (and it was a proper 'merchant bank' back then and she had zero family connections to open any doors for her).

I joined my bank from a university that would need a good pair of binoculars to be able to spot a Russell Group institution.

I also currently employ an 19 year old in my team who is a rising star with a very bright future if she chooses to stick with it.

So it's possible that there may be a handful of grad schemes in a handful of banks that are up their backsides about specific universities, but I've not personally encountered them in the past 25 years...

Kentish_Dave

You can get good people from all over, but when positions on a graduate course are oversubscribed by over 100:1 then it’s far harder to make it through the sift with a less well respected degree.

I went to a pretty poor state comp before fortunately being accepted at a very good university, and know that there’s still a lot of work to be done to have both universities and employers spit diamonds in the rough amongst the very finely polished turds, but we’re a very, very long way from the top-paying jobs in finance going to braying idiots with the right family or the right school tie nowadays.