英國大學經濟科問題

robertozelta

我想係英國大學讀econ，宜家收到offer...
分別係 manchester, nottingham, royal holloway 同southampton
好難選擇
有D人話manchester overall出名D，前竟可能好D。但上綱ranking完來係最低
上綱睇唔同ge ranking table 又好大分別，都唔知用咩作準。

有冇人可以比下小第意見!!

4eyesDad

Congrets.
Ranking is only one of the factors.
The environment of the university for the next 3 years of your life is probably more important.
Manchester and Nottingham are in the industrial Midland. And yes, Manchester is more famous as an industrial centre and as a university. Manchester is also a famous football city, and a centre full of good Chinese restaurants.
Royal Holloway is part of the London University. The university name is famous but the college name is, by comparison, not the first half of any ranking. London is nonetheless a wonderful place to spend 3 years of your life as a city but the college itself may not give you a full "university campus experience" because there are numerous colleges in different parts of London and they don't have anything substantial in common other than administratively part of the London University name. Please check the location of Royal Holloway College campus and see if you like it.
Southampton is a sea port in the southern part of England. It's a pleasant and more relaxed place among your choices and is more likely to give you a university campus feel.
I hope it helps.

robertozelta

Thank you very much for your answer
It really helps!

Many people said that Nottingham is a good university and i would like to put it as my firm choice even I know the crime rate is rather high. ( Manchester or Soton as insurance)
In fact, I applied Economics and Finance for Manchester. Would you see it as a similar choice as pure Economics? Which one do you recommend? ( I properly would like to work in finance field in the future )
However, one of the problems of Nottingham is it requires me to get 7.0 in IELTS overall ( including reading and writing both 7 ). This is a quite high standard for me and I do not have much confidence to meet it. I just sent them an email to ask if i can still be considered if I cannot meet the given requirement.

All my offers require similar level of grade (AAB) and Royal Holloway is the only university which gave me a slightly lower requirement grade (ABB) than the others.

To be honest, I really don't want to end up in Holloway as many people said that, by comparison,  it is not as good as the other 3 universities that i applied.
However, if I do not put Holloway as insurance. That means my firm and second choice both require the same level of grades. (AAB)
This might be rather risky because both choices could be rejected if i failed to reach AAB this summer. And need to go for clearing.....( As Economics is a highly competitive subject, I do not think I can get a place in some good/decent unis in clearing)

Do you think it is a wise choice to do that or should I play safe to put Holloway as an insurance?
I would be happy to go to Nottingham but i also don't mind to go either Manchester or Soton.
I really do not want to go to Holloway.

Some people said Manchester university is a good choice if I want to work in Hong Kong in the future. Probably because it is more famous globally than the others? Any ideas? Or it does not really matter?

I am terribly sorry for more questions but i hope you can help ~_~

4eyesDad

Insurance means you get something if the other (best) option doesn't work out. So there is a valid point in choosing Holloway as an insurance. Afterall, it is a decent place.
You said you don't like it. That by itself is a powerful motivation to make you work hard to get the best grade possible for your first choice.
Manchester, Nottingham and Soton are all solid universities. Crime is everywhere in the world, and I really don't think any major city in the UK is significantly worse than in Mongkok (but if you are a female - you should take the usual precaution before going out at night in any big city anyway).
Manchester is more famouse because it has a business school for graduate students, etc.
Read each course description carefully and choose the description which you are more comfortable with or the one you like most.
Economics is a big subject, even within it contains "finance", or "monetary economics". You must be very strong in maths to take it. (And it can at times be very dry.)
Employers do not take much notice between "Economics and Finance" or "Pure Economics".
The important thing is you enjoy your course and, as a consequence, you can shine.     
A strong reference letter from your professor can mean a lot!