• Question: What university would be the best for a STEM career?

    Asked by Elan to Shruti, Mark, Faranak, Douglas, Charlene, Alistair on 4 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Shruti Turner

      Shruti Turner answered on 4 Mar 2019: last edited 4 Mar 2019 4:23 pm

      That’s an almost unanswerable question I think. There are many universities that specialise in STEM subjects, but there are many universities that are good ad one, two or only a few STEM subjects and others good and lots of them. The best university for you for a STEM career is made up of a combination of things: is it in the right part of the world/country for you? Are the fees right for you (you don’t want to spend all your spare time working to afford it!)? is it good for the specific subject you want to do? are you going to get the grades to get in? is it the right fit for you – this is more abstract and a personal feeling. It could be the best university in the world on paper, but if you don’t like it when you visit then it’s not the best university for you. You have to do what’s right for you!

    • Photo: Faranak Bahrami

      Faranak Bahrami answered on 5 Mar 2019:

      As Shruti mentioned, it is not really possible to answer this question. There are many other questions that you need to ask yourself first.

      – What subject do you want to do?
      – What are the requirements to get into that uni?
      – Are you going to stay in the UK?
      – Do you care about student life as well?
      – Do you even like that city/country that the university is located at?
      – If outside the UK can you talk the language/ can you learn it?

      Just when choosing a university, don’t feel like because the name of the university is not on top of the table for the best universities, then it must be a bad university. Those university league tables are based on many things and not only how good they are on the subjects they do. Also, one uni might be on top of the list and very famous, but not very good for the subject you want to do. So keep all of these in mind when you choose it. Also, I think you should definitely go to the open days and see how you like the university campus, I think it’s also important. You want to do a degree in a good uni but you don’t want to hate the place for the whole time you are studying there 😀

    • Photo: Alistair McConnell

      Alistair McConnell answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      I feel both Shruti and Faranak have answered this incredibly comprehensively, I do not think I can add much. I would just say go look around the universities talk to people who have been to different universities and done different degrees and gather all the information that you can before making a decision and even if you worry that you have picked the wrong degree you can often change over (I did).

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