My Uni's dropped 60 places since I applied. Here's why I don’t mind.

Now that we have results day just behind us, and clearing reaching its conclusion, many uni students reflect on their own experience opening their results letter and frantically checking UCAS Track. I was ecstatic when I knew I was going to Aberystwyth University. However in the two years since, Aberystwyth has been sliding down the league tables, going from 50th when I first started looking to 110th in the 2016 league tables. As such, I often get asked whether I would have gone somewhere else had I known what would happen to our ranking. To be perfectly honest, if I had to make that same decision again knowing what I know now, I’d still pick Aberystwth.  

University is what you make it

Without diminishing world leading universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Durham or Warwick, being accepted into one of these universities isn't a future proof guarantee of success. For most people, University is the first time that most people have access to a wide network of people in almost every profession and industry you can name. To just turn up to lectures, complete the assignments, and take exams is to waste the 3+ years you spend immersed in this network of people. It’s probably the best time in a person’s life to get involved in a host of extracurricular activities, from bizarre sports such as Octopush, to stand up comedy or student politics. Not to mention the variety of internships and volunteering opportunities that being at university opens up to you. Going to a university at the bottom end of the league tables means that there might be a bit more of a struggle to get on the first rung of the career ladder, but if a student takes advantage of all their uni has to offer, it’s far from impossible.

The Quality of Education is still high

Considering that the university has fallen so far in the rankings, it wouldn’t be an unreasonable expectation that quality of teaching will have fallen dramatically also. However, looking at the actual metrics used, the drop appears far less pronounced. Student satisfaction with the quality of teaching has dropped from 92% to 86%. Not exactly a huge drop. At the same time, the percentage of students who enter a relevant career within 6 months of graduating has actually increased by 2.3%. Anecdotally, I feel that at least within my department (Computer Science), the course is of a high quality with a great focus on teaching us how to be professionals in IT and Software rather than just academic computer scientists.

Trend towards companies not caring

EY recently made the news that they were dropping their degree classification threshold for graduate recruitment. This is part of a general trend that has been going on for years, of there being a gradually decreasing emphasis on the importance of a university degree. After all, with almost 50% of young people going to university, and an ever increasing portion of those coming out with a first class degree, experience is becoming the most important thing for a student. Going back to what I mentioned earlier about university being what you make it is becoming even truer – you could go to the worst university in the country, yet still build yourself up enough experience to set yourself through societies, volunteering, and self-employment to make you the sort of candidate that firms want to take on.

The Aber Effect

With all the above, there’s one important thing that means I would still have chosen Aberystwyth that has nothing to do with the university. For me, it’s the absolute ideal town to study in. Compared to my peers at city universities, my rent is incredibly cheap (just above £2k for the year, bills included). I have both the beach and the Welsh countryside practically right on my doorstep. This isn’t something that can be quantified and turned into a league table ranking, but for me it was the main draw that brought me to Aberystwyth. As a town, it has an incredibly unique culture due to the incredibly high student-local ratio and its relative isolation, and there’s nowhere else I could see myself studying.

This feeling isn’t something exclusively enjoyed by Aberystwyth students – I’m sure the similarly maligned Trinity St David, West of Scotland or Worcester universities have students that feel the same, as do universities further up the league table. The point I’m trying to make here is that there are factors that can’t be measured that cause people to choose one university over another, and that the league table isn’t the be all and end all of choosing where to go to university.