Thinking out loud - uni decision

[Stu]

Morning folks (or indeed evening for myself), I've been up most of the night mulling this over and browsing various websites...

I'm off to uni this autumn after having 2 gap years working in IT, basically I want to do something different.. meet new people etc.

I've got 6 unconditional offers in front of me for the following uni's... bradford, staffs (2), loughborough, coventry and derby.

Well we can ignore bradford, coventry and derby as I just used them to fill the ucas form up

That leaves me with 2 choices:

1) Staffordshire uni - Network engineering - 4 year Sandwich course
2) Loughborough uni - Computer systems engineering - 4 year Sarney as above

This is where the dilemma starts..

The course at staffs looks great, CCNA and CCNP included ... I've had a look at the course material and I'm pretty familiar with it all due to working with networks and completing a few mcp's over the last 2 years.

However Staffs uni is pretty low down in the league tables (70th ish), and overall doesn't have a great reputation... also stafford itself is a dump. Although the accomodation is pretty new, and priced well.

Another major bonus at staffs is on site parking for first year halls of residence students... which means I can take my motor

Right on to loughs...

Good points:
- Way way way... better reputation than staffs. Rising in the league tables year by year... up as high as 13th iirc. Only 2nd to oxbridge in teaching standards.
- great campus with loads of sports and clubs on offer etc
- 15mins from me by train

Bad points:
- the course looks awful, not what I was wanting at all (was subject to change )... I don't want to be learning about circuits, lazers and god knows what else! It is very very vague, and I feel it fits the bill of "todays boring computer degree" perfectly.
- no parking at all... basically I would have to sell my car. (maybe this is a good thing, another 4K capital + ~£2K less p/a running costs ....am I kidding myself thinking I can run this at staffs ? )

Not really looking for a definite answer folks, just your thoughts on the matter I guess.

I mean, is it worth stomaching a pretty shabby course (hell I might even enjoy the course, physics was always abit interesting at ALevel ) ....for a greater uni on the CV + better social life and community...

...bah, Im starting to write dribble now...

Look forward to reading your thoughts !

Cheers, stu

[Applecrusher]

i am currently doing ccna and am in unit 3 its damn hard stuff but its good...
id say go with the one with ccna in it as ccna is quite good fun and the other, by the sounds of it aint that good....

just my 2 cents...
good luck!

[Allen]

Chose the course, not the Uni/social life. You're there to study, anyway. Ok, so Staffs might be a dump, but you'll only be there for a couple of years. Get the better qualification behind you and you'll be laughing.

[Russ]

mate, a degree at oxford or bolton, is still a degree. dont really matter where you go aslong as you do the course that YOU want to do. + you have two years IT work experience, you could get your degree in a fish market and still have more chance then people who went to oxford with no exp.

[Slick]

Go loughborogh, or you might be regretting it thining you could've allways done better. A 3rd from a good uni is better than a 1st from a crap one, stafford is a dump and there's no nightlife. Most unis will let you transfer course when getting there within the first few weeks so you'll probably be able to find a course you like anyway. As for the car, it seems stupid being a student with a car, way too expensive, just leave it at home.

[DaBeeeenster]

I'd say a couple of things:

- Do not underestimate the importance of a decent area to live and a decent social scene. Uni is as much about learning life lessons as it is getting a degree.

- I agree with Slick Go for a uni with a decent reputation. It counts for a lot more.

- What on earth are you on about regarding the parking?!?!?! You are not studying in Soho are you! I'm sure you will be able to park you car nearby and walk!

Basically, what to do with your car should not be a priority!

[directhex]

ignore the car, it really shouldn't be a factor. you can't afford to run it anyway. one of my main reasons for not going to warwick was that if you DON'T have a car you're shafted.

and not all unis are equal in employers' eyes. if you go to an employer with a computing degree from a Bisshop Grosseteste (hairdressing) College, you're not gonna set an impression you want to set.

[Stu]

Right ok, i'll sell the motor (was pretty sure I was gonna have to do this anyway ) ...can't really leave it at home, + the area ain't great around here.

The problem with the loughs course is that the first year is a generic "electrical engineering" year... so no matter where you switch its gonna be the same. Things don't really improve in years 2 or 3 either.

And slick, are you really sure that a 1st from staffs would be better than a 3rd from loughs ? :0 ...I'm pretty sure I would be able to get a decent grade looking at the course material at staffs.... where as loughs looks like ALevel physics (which I got an E in )

[Lead_Head]

heres a helping hand...

I'll buy the vtr off u??

[Dreamscape]

Right, i went to stafforshire uni, so i'm assuming as your talking about Network engineering, your meaning the stafford campus? The octagon(where all the computer/networking school is) had been refitted fairly recently when i went there, so probably hasn't been done again since. Cant really comment on the teaching in the computer school cause only had 1 computer lecture. The engineering teaching i felt was poor just my opinion though. There is NO night life in stafford. Think there might have been 2 night clubs when i was there, i hated them both, suppose it depends on what ya like. That was about 5ish years ago,so it might be a fantastic place now, but i doubt it.

If you want to ask me anything bout staffordshire uni feel free, i'll do my best to answer.

[Agent]

Have you been to Stafford uni ?

I was put off by the league tables ratings, but i went to the open days there, and the uni is amazing. The teachers know what they are talking about, they have a HUGE amount of facilities on site (which includes a CISCO center), and the accommodation is literally across the road (a 2 min walk).

If you look into it further, look at the league rankings for computer only related courses and pass rate : they are in the top 10 in Europe iirc.

I'm not sure which course I'm going to take yet, its between the networking one, and computer games design. Ive been accepted to both, but I'm 90% sure that its the uni ill be going to (even though Ive got into Aston university, and Birmingham (not UCE, the main one).

If you decide to go, i may see you there next year, who knows ?

There is some more open days coming up, ill probably be attending them to, so if you haven't seen it i urge you to go. I was very impressed by the place

The only thing which is a huge let down is the surrounding area. Its nice (i don't know why some of you think its a dump, some of the areas were very posh ?), but there is ZERO night life, which is pretty disappointing for me as I'm a die hard cluber. It means catching the train to brum to get some real nightlife, although this is only a 30 min trip, its worth noting. I'm pretty lucky though, as my house is in between Staffordshire and brum (closer to brum), so its easy enough for me to stop off there.

I just have the dilemma over which course to start now

Good luck though mate, i know how hard the choice is !

[Stu]

Nick - won't be selling for 4/5 months yet but you've got me on msn

Agent - you have renewed hope in staffs for me! seriously I was under the impression it was awful. I'm going to the staffs open day 2moro so shall report back Network eng does look great though.

Another rumour I've heard is that theres hardly any women at the stafford campus ...but I'm not sure how this can be true when nursing is done there

Unless they're male nurses o_O

Dreamscape, thanks for that... the lack of nightlife is not a huge turnoff as I've never been a clubbing beer monster... but it would be a tad boring to have nowhere for a night out.

Can anyone comment on the sports / community there etc ? ...I wouldn't mind getting involved with a couple of them if I go there.

[Agent]

There is very few females on the computing campus, yes, but like you said the nurses campus is just up the road. Lucky ive got a G/f so i dont have to worry

I didnt know there was an open day tomrrow, but pop along to it, it will be worth it. Make sure you ask loads of complicated questions, and bring unix and linux into it if you know anything about the OS. I was pretty impressed when i was being given proper answers to my questions on it. They have a room full of unix based PC's to

Let us know what you think of it

[Dreamscape]

I agree with the go to the open day. You shouldn't make a decision with out having visited the place and checked it out. I would also ask about the halls, cause when i went there the nice new shiny ones across the road were all taken up and i was living in a tower block owned by the uni about 20 mins drive away in rush hour ( there was a free bus). I had heard theyed gotten rid of them, but pays to ask.

[Aaron]

Go loughborogh, or you might be regretting it thining you could've allways done better. A 3rd from a good uni is better than a 1st from a crap one

That's, quite frankly, BS.

My friend has a 2:2 in Maths from Oxford and he found it incredibly hard to find a job. He graduated in May 2003 and he'll be starting (as an accountacy trainee) in Septemeber 2004. A third from anywhere is still a third.

Another friend of mine has a 1st from Middlesex University (I think only Luton Uni is lower in the league tables). He has had a number of job offers, which is all the more surprising as his degree is in Computing and the IT sector isn't exactly booming at the moment.

Maybe in a smaller company, they might weigh up where you got your degree from but in large companies all they care about is your grade. They might consider an Oxbridge degree to be slightly better but generally everything is done on a yes/no, black/white basis. It's the same with what subject you got your degree in. For most positions, they don't care whether it's in nuclear astrophysics or outdoor pursuits, as long as you got good marks.

It sounds like you've got a tough choice. Rubbish course or rubbish nightlife? Depends on the kind of person you are and your reasons for doing a degree, I guess.

[Swafe]

you wont get any girls, so youll only meet new men at uni, its 99% male on computing and it courses

i really dont want to take it or computing any furthur, a level is far enuff for me i cant be bothered with it no more, but if it good for you, go for it the qualifications are great on a CV