Is Strathclyde good for telecommunication engineering

mazdaspring

I am in final year and I will do master (would be MSc or Mphil) in Telecommunication (in Electrical and Electronic department). I have been searching for universities which are popular for this subject. Finally I decided to apply for Edinburgh, Southampton which you know they are very hard to get in if you dont get First. Also Surrey (they said "UK's largest and most well-known academic research centre in Mobile and Satellite Communication Systems" on the website) and Leeds.

I am thinking to apply more Universities to make sure I will get at least a place. So do you know about University of glasgow and Strathclyde. Which one is better. Which one is a bigger university (more students, bigger campus) I want to know about their facilities as well like good and new sport centre???, good quality of library???? I guess glasgow might be bigger but i am not sure about Strathclyde. Is it good University or just small university.

I have seen the ranking(i am not sure if it does matter much to care), Strathclyde is very good for Electrical and Electronic Engineering but the university ranking is quite down at the bottom. So i wanna ask in case there are someone is studying there now or have been grauated from there.

And overall, from 6 universites I have applied (and will apply). edinburgh, southampton, surrey, leeds, glasgow, strathclyde.
if you were me and got offer from all of them. which university will you go for. which city is the most vibrant to live (i might do MPhil and have to stay for 2 years). and If you only get offer from Surrey, leeds, glasgow and strathclyde, which university you will pick.


anyone please suggest me. (in fact, i will go and visit some universities before choosing. so please dont answer me "go to see the university". I just wanna see your opinion right now before visiting them.)

melancholly

university profiles A-Z on here:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityguide2008/0,,2027789,00.html

smaller selection of unis here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Uni_Guide/

as well as the city and uni facilities, i'd guess you have to do some project for your masters? if so, the actual academic members of staff with each department will be very important so that you will be able to do something you are interested in.

gozaimasu

mazdaspring wrote: »

I am thinking to apply more Universities to make sure I will get at least a place. So do you know about University of glasgow and Strathclyde. Which one is better. Which one is a bigger university (more students, bigger campus) I want to know about their facilities as well like good and new sport centre???, good quality of library???? I guess glasgow might be bigger but i am not sure about Strathclyde. Is it good University or just small university.

I have seen the ranking(i am not sure if it does matter much to care), Strathclyde is very good for Electrical and Electronic Engineering but the university ranking is quite down at the bottom. So i wanna ask in case there are someone is studying there now or have been grauated from there.

And overall, from 6 universites I have applied (and will apply). edinburgh, southampton, surrey, leeds, glasgow, strathclyde.
if you were me and got offer from all of them. which university will you go for. which city is the most vibrant to live (i might do MPhil and have to stay for 2 years). and If you only get offer from Surrey, leeds, glasgow and strathclyde, which university you will pick.

I would pick either Edinburgh, Glasgow or Strathclyde but only because I don't know anything about those English universities you mentioned. The student populations in all of these 2 cities are sizable - I don't know much about Edinburgh Uni, but it's a pretty city that seems decent enough to live in and the university has a good reputation.
In Glasgow, Strathclyde Uni buildings are all based in the city centre, student accom is plentiful and central. You can find out about facilities on their website https://www.strath.ac.uk
It's not as old as the other 2 Scottish universities you've listed, but it is still a good uni
Glasgow Uni is based in the west end - very studenty, very trendy and therefore more expensive to live in. As far as I can remember the library has 12 floors (!!) and the facilities seemed adequate. Again have a look on their website.

If you fall for the charm of old looking buildings and a bit of history, go for Edinburgh or Glasgow Uni. I'm sure you won't be choosing it solely on that though

I've *heard* that Strathclyde is good for Engineering in general - I knew a guy who graduated from there with a 3rd class degree, yet less than 6 months later he had a cushy job with a decent enough salary.

mazdaspring

gozaimasu wrote: »

Glasgow Uni is based in the west end - very studenty, very trendy and therefore more expensive to live in.


If you fall for the charm of old looking buildings and a bit of history, go for Edinburgh or Glasgow Uni. I'm sure you won't be choosing it solely on that though

I went thru their website already (Strathclyde) but there are not many pictures. I want to see a picture of the university as well including sport centre, library.

As u said above, do you mean Glasgow uni looks more posh???
Also as above (lower paragraph), do you include Strathclyde or you mean only edinburgh uni and glasgow uni?

do you think which one is better in your opinion between glasgow uni and strathclyde uni.


ps*** thanks for "melancholly" advice too. I am considering the staff too who i will do the project with.

weegie.geek

The west end of Glasgow's a great place to live. I lived there a couple of years ago. The uni's fantastic too, although I've no experience of their telecomms engineering.

gozaimasu

mazdaspring wrote: »

I went thru their website already (Strathclyde) but there are not many pictures. I want to see a picture of the university as well including sport centre, library.

Even just googling "strathclyde uni library" gets you quite a few good pictures so you should be able to see it that way; same for any other buildings. And if you go for a visiting day you'll be able to see all of the buildings too - I think they give group tours. Here's the library:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Strath_Univ.jpg

mazdaspring wrote: »

As u said above, do you mean Glasgow uni looks more posh???
Also as above (lower paragraph), do you include Strathclyde or you mean only edinburgh uni and glasgow uni?

I suppose you could say it looks more "posh", it has a lot more history and character than Strathclyde. Glasgow Uni was founded in 1451, Strathclyde in 1796.

mazdaspring wrote: »

do you think which one is better in your opinion between glasgow uni and strathclyde uni.

In general I'd say Glasgow Uni is better overall (see league tables that Melancholly posted in the links above), but again I've heard some very good things about Engineering at Strathclyde.

The links that Melancholly gave above are very very helpful - have a look!

Elitist

Having attended both Glasgow and Strathclyde I personally prefer Glasgow Uni. I find the teaching much clearer and better organized. However, my friend does engineering at Strathclyde and the facilities they provide are very comprehensive. The engineering buildings are huge and she has loved her time there (and is also considering a masters there too). The sports centre has good facilities and the library is big (but suffers from sick building syndrome! The windows are tiny, lighting questionable especially if you're going to be there for an extended period of time and the ventilation needs work).

As for Glasgow uni, the library is fantastic (there is more than one in fact) and open from 7.15-02.00!!! Always good at exam time :jIt's only shut Christmas day, boxing day, new years and the 2nd Jan, pretty good if you ask me. (But obviously I am quite bias :rotfl:)
If you are going on reputation alone, Glasgow has a better reputation than Strathclyde purely because it has been established for longer and therefore is more well known. However, Strathclyde is highly acclaimed for its business school and engineering department, so really it's up to you.. If you think your future employer will be aware of Strathclyde's engineering department and the praise it gets, then go for there. If not, consider somewhere that is renowned for all departments.

Lol, I don't even know if I was any help at all there..

mazdaspring

Thanks for your information, Elitist

What subject did you do in Glasgow and Strathclyde?

I have checked the ranking for EEE department, Strathclyde is in the better rank than Glasgow uni. However the university ranking, Strathclyde uni is down to the bottom. Glasgow uni is much higher. I also can see that Glasgow uni looks more posh and should be better as the uiversity was established since 1400 something.

However, Glasgow uni dont have telecommunication engineering but Strathclyde has it. So I think I will have to be able to apply for Strathclyde uni only.

Is Glasgow city nice? vibrant? lively? big shopping centre?

oh, one more thing. Is the gym and sport centre @ Stratchclyde new or old?
Are there many good and new gyms in Glasgow city with not expensive pass?

sorry to ask a lot of questions. I might have to spend 2 years there. So I have to make sure it's good. I also care about the reputation of the university and the department as well.

Elitist

It was business subjects I did, so my engineering knowledge isn't up to much.

If it's shopping you're looking for then Glasgow's definately the place for you; there are more shops than you could shake a stick at! :rotfl:Also, because the Strathclyde campus is in the heart of the city centre you are less than 5 minutes from everything. I think that Glasgow is classed as the best shopping destination in the UK outside of London.

The sports centre has plenty of stuff, it's not brand new, but it's fairly new. I think that the membership is only £60 for the entire year, which is super cheap (considering I pay £30 a month!!). I don't think there are many gyms right in the city centre, but obviously you could google it, but to be honest there isn't going to be anywhere offering you membership cheaper than the university sports centre.

As for entertainment and night life you definately won't run out of things to do, there's a club or pub to suit every taste and you can enjoy cuisine from any part of the world.

Also, as someone mentioned before the west end is slightly more expensive to live in than other places, but if you attend Strathclyde then there are lots of places you can live that are walking distance to the university but substantially cheaper than staying in the town centre.

Obviously I can only comment on the two universities I mentioned because I have no knowledge of any of the other ones. Good luck with you application!

Edit: http://www.strath.ac.uk/sport/membership/ Here's the link for membership prices to the gym, it's £65, so I was pretty close with my guess

tbs624

My suggestion would be to pick the University on the basis of its departmental strengths - what the point in going to one with “pretty” architecture that’s further up the overall ranking, if the actual dept you want has less standing in the eventual workplace? Strathclyde’s engineering dept is renowned for its quality, and the Uni has a good reputation for its academic and research standards: EEE awarded a 5 in RAE and got a higher overall rating than Glasgow Uni in the overall scores at http://www.thegooduniversityguide.org.uk/ Good employment prospects for ex-Strathclyders - important unless you just want to spend the rest of your life floating about in academia.

Glasgow itself is a fantastic vibrant city: culturally the city is the base for the Royal Scottish Nat. Orchestra , Scottish Opera & the Scottish Ballet , there are theatres, cinemas, plus art galleries and museums galore. Plenty of pubs/clubs if that’s more your thing. Shopping - everything from Barras Market up to the expensive shops on Buchanan Street. Good rail links - Edinburgh just a short journey away, an airport if you need to escape on a cheap flight now and then, stunning countryside/mountains just up the road, and close proximity to the sea. The people are friendly, and there are three Unis in Glasgow so a thriving student population The city can have its darker side, but no more so than any other big city, and the winter weather can be grim but then it can be in many other parts of the UK.

Sports facilities: http://www.sportsunion.strath.ac.uk/
Couple of other sites to have a look at http://www.unofficial-guides.com/guides/strath.html (for student views-bit limited) and http://www.push.co.uk/
Also see http://www.unistats.com/

Good luck with your decsion

bondman008

hi, its encouraging to read so many of ur posts.. thanks!
I am planning to attend Strathclyde University for my Masters in Technology Management.
Anyone has some information about the Department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management at Strathclyde... especially wrt the final placements scenario... plz update here.. Thanks!!!

Cheers!!