18-05-2003 18:54									#1
	Star's Uni choices, opinions and advice wanted Suffering from ads?

The time for choosing a university edges ever closer and what's a better way to get a feel for a place than ask a huge forum full of well traveled, smart people?

Yes, I am this bored.

Below are my choices for university so far in order of preference and where they are located. Any opinions or funny stories about them would be appreciated, as well as any other destinations I may not have considered (in the UK).

1) Edinburgh University (Edinburgh, Scotland, UK)
2) University of East Anglia (Norwich, England, UK)
3) University of Bristol (Bristol, England, UK)
4) Cardiff University (Cardiff, Wales, UK)
5) I dunno
6) I dunno

*place I wanted to go to*) University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

	18-05-2003 18:56									#2
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Well, I'd heard that the Huffington's dominate the footy leagues at Edinburgh, while the Scathsby's are the dominating force at East Anglia, but I confess that I'm not very familiar with Bristol or Cardiff.

	18-05-2003 19:01									#3
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What do you want to do, subject-wise?

I did my undergrad in Edinburgh and it was a pretty nice place to be a student.

	18-05-2003 19:03									#4
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NYU. Come here. You can't resist.

	18-05-2003 19:11									#5
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Boris, that was one well concealed come on...

	18-05-2003 19:12									#6
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I wanna do Biochemistry primarily but would not be adverse to taking a similar, related subject.

And boris, smookie, I keep telling you. I gotta see the cash before you see the ass.

	18-05-2003 19:13									#7
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Concealed...?

	18-05-2003 19:20									#8
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damnit boris...now i dont know what to say.

A. that was sarcastic
B. i cant believe i misspelled concealed (which i dont know if i did or not)

	18-05-2003 19:24									#9
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Starchild, snookums, I told you--I won't pay full price for something that is so obviously in in the Previously Viewed bin.

MRT, it's spelled correctly, though "well-concealed" should have a hyphen.

	18-05-2003 19:25									#10
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damn you for making me question my own spelling! and then pointing out poor grammar. although by now you should just ignore all grammar in my posts considering i never adhere to the rules of it.

	18-05-2003 19:26									#11
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Is a van Gogh or Picasso any less valuable just because millions of people have seen it?

	18-05-2003 19:27									#12
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quote: Originally posted by Starchild Is a van Gogh or Picasso any less valuable just because millions of people have seen it?

We're talking "viewed" as in the $ .99 rental at Blockbuster, hon.

	18-05-2003 19:30									#13
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Says the man who would have to pay someone to press his play button.

	18-05-2003 21:43									#14
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I think UBC is pretty good in biochemisty. If you want to go to UT, you might as well try U Wat, uless UT has a better biochem program. It's campus dependent, though.

	18-05-2003 23:54									#15
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Choose your subject then choose your university. Even a good university can be crap in some departments. And some departments in under-rated universities can be at the top of the pile.

Unfortunately I can't be arsed to see how good some Biochemistry departments are.

	18-05-2003 23:57									#16
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Big studie scene in the East Midlands - I'd take a look at Loughborough or Nottingham Trent to see how well the subjects are covered.

I doubt they'll be better than Edinburgh - but CHECK.

Wild horses wouldn't drag me to the Bristol scene. Too many people and not enough outlets for fun. Yeuk.

	19-05-2003 00:00									#17
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Midlands accents are terrible.

	19-05-2003 00:09									#18
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quote: Originally posted by Boddington's Midlands accents are terrible.

And almost unheard in Loughborough, where the student pop outnumbers the locals.

A far more important reason for avoiding the East Midlands is the level of street violence.

It's not for wimps.

	19-05-2003 00:28									#19
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Don't think Starchild would fit in there then.

	19-05-2003 00:45									#20
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Anyone know of any corporate sponsorship programmes for undergraduates in which a company pays full or part of university costs in exchange for you becoming their whore afterwards?

My family has been mentioning this recently as their subtle way of saying "Do we look like we've got £3000 to spend on you sweety?"

	19-05-2003 01:28									#21
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Starchild: Here are a couple of things that might help:

This is the Times overall University RankingTimes University Ranking

This is the published list of departments greaded "excellent" for teaching by the QAA Degree courses rated excellent.

They don't have Biochem on there, because it's done by department, so just look at Biology and Chemistry, as I presume it is jointly taught.

The HERO site might be of help too, other than that, look at prospectuses, either online or in paper, and then visit the ones you like. It's the usual way, but it works well IMHO.

UEA gives nice easy offers (or at least it did for my friends that applied there) and Edinburgh comes up very highly on everything about sciences I've seen.

	19-05-2003 01:32									#22
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quote: Originally posted by Cruddy A far more important reason for avoiding the East Midlands is the level of street violence.

That's only really Nottingham that's that bad. When it comes to violent crime, the big cities, London, Birmingham and Manchester are the bad ones. Northampton's fine for crime, but the Uni is absolute ****. I'd like to see someone find a worse one.

	19-05-2003 01:33									#23
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Oh yes, I've been doing my research. Edinburgh and UEA want the same grades for Biochemistry (A-Level: BBC with A-level chem and biology). Edinburgh is also rated 5* in Biochemistry.

It doesn't hurt that everyone I mention my uni choices to raves about Edinburgh and how good it is.

	19-05-2003 01:36									#24
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quote: Originally posted by Starchild Anyone know of any corporate sponsorship programmes for undergraduates in which a company pays full or part of university costs in exchange for you becoming their whore afterwards?

They're called co-op or internship programs, most unis in Canada offer them for the sciencey/engineering type fields.

I'm taking a variation of the co-op program, after my third year my school hooks me up with a company in my field and I work for them for a year, then come back and take my last year.

My brother is entering honours Mechanical Engineering at the Uni of Waterloo co-op, and how it works there is 4 months school/4 months work, etc for 5 years.

	19-05-2003 01:39									#25
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Starchild: 5* is research rating, and doesn't really affect undergrads at all. Look at teaching quality ones. However, there is no substitute for going there and seeing for yourself if you like it, would fit in etc.

	19-05-2003 05:58									#26
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So what you're saying is... it's wiser to evaluate your uni choices, and pick the one that best suits your interests, rather than simply go to the one that's nearest to you?

Damn! If only I would've known!

	19-05-2003 21:28									#27
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WALES

.

Economics Aberystwyth

	19-05-2003 21:38									#28
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I had a great time at Birmingham and they have a very good Biochem dept (well they did when I was there, not sure what it's like now)

Out of your list Bristol is a really cool place. My brother failed a Biochem degree there. It's slightly full of sloany Oxbridge rejects though.

	19-05-2003 21:51									#29
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You should be careful of the Times ratings. For example, I did my physics undergrad at Edinburgh and my postgrad at Durham (where I had to teach), so I am fairly well placed to compare the two. While Durham is definitely better for research, I thought the teaching at Edinburgh was first rate while that at Durham a little lacklustre (they let me teach for God's sake!). The Times review would have you believe it is the other way round, and I think this is mainly because of their rather bizarre criteria for 'good'.

	19-05-2003 22:49									#30
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Some thoughts on ratings:

Teaching ratings are NOT about how good teaching is, but about how consistent it is ie atre all the forms filled in correctly

Reasearch ratings do not directly affect undergraduates, BUT good ratings show you that the department is full of good staff AND that they are well managed; this should mean that that they are also good at most other things that they do

Before you choose make sure you visit - most people's choices are gut feel and you can only do that in person