blaisechantal
New member
hi, i was wondering if i could get some advice on how important going to a russell group is?
i posted on this page a while ago about changing my degree and moving university, but for some context; i was doing psychology at a large russel group uni. there was around 300 students on my course so it was very overwhelming to go to lectures, and difficult to get questions answered. i am also neurodivergent (AuDHD) and the uni were repeatedly forgetting to implement things from my support plan. for example, the feedback i was receiving on my assignments was poor and contradictory, and although i was meant to get extra 1 on 1 time to go through it, i was told that there wasn’t any staff available to do so. i also just wasn’t enjoying most of the course content. but i am very academic, with A*A*A* at A-Level, so i still managed to complete my first year with an average of 72% overall!
i have officially decided to move to a smaller, nearby university to do a different course called “education, sen and mental health”. it’s a lot more aligned with my interests and there’s only around 30 students in the class. the new uni have also been really great with getting my new support plan set up and have already arranged several induction meetings with me, offered me a personal tour, and signposted me to pastoral and wellbeing contacts. i never felt this welcome at the old university so i’m really excited to start and i’m feeling very relieved to hopefully be in a more positive environment.
however, my new uni isn’t a russell group like my old one, and isn’t ranked very highly overall on league tables. i think a lot of people perceive it as the “lesser” uni in the city. some of my friends at my old uni have expressed concerns that i might find it harder to get a job after finishing my new degree beacuse of this, especially because i had the opportunity to continue to study at the russell group, and just didn’t want to.
i am not sure what job i want to do yet, but i know id like to work with other neurodivergent young people. maybe in disability support, or do a postgrad degree to specialise in maybe SALT, teaching and eventually SENCO, or something else entirely. i might even get a few years of work experience and then covert back into educational psychology and pursue a doctorate.
so my question is, will having a degree from a lower ranked university impact my chances of going onto a postgraduate degree or a job??? will i be looked down on for leaving a russell group university after just a year?
thank you in advance
i posted on this page a while ago about changing my degree and moving university, but for some context; i was doing psychology at a large russel group uni. there was around 300 students on my course so it was very overwhelming to go to lectures, and difficult to get questions answered. i am also neurodivergent (AuDHD) and the uni were repeatedly forgetting to implement things from my support plan. for example, the feedback i was receiving on my assignments was poor and contradictory, and although i was meant to get extra 1 on 1 time to go through it, i was told that there wasn’t any staff available to do so. i also just wasn’t enjoying most of the course content. but i am very academic, with A*A*A* at A-Level, so i still managed to complete my first year with an average of 72% overall!
i have officially decided to move to a smaller, nearby university to do a different course called “education, sen and mental health”. it’s a lot more aligned with my interests and there’s only around 30 students in the class. the new uni have also been really great with getting my new support plan set up and have already arranged several induction meetings with me, offered me a personal tour, and signposted me to pastoral and wellbeing contacts. i never felt this welcome at the old university so i’m really excited to start and i’m feeling very relieved to hopefully be in a more positive environment.
however, my new uni isn’t a russell group like my old one, and isn’t ranked very highly overall on league tables. i think a lot of people perceive it as the “lesser” uni in the city. some of my friends at my old uni have expressed concerns that i might find it harder to get a job after finishing my new degree beacuse of this, especially because i had the opportunity to continue to study at the russell group, and just didn’t want to.
i am not sure what job i want to do yet, but i know id like to work with other neurodivergent young people. maybe in disability support, or do a postgrad degree to specialise in maybe SALT, teaching and eventually SENCO, or something else entirely. i might even get a few years of work experience and then covert back into educational psychology and pursue a doctorate.
so my question is, will having a degree from a lower ranked university impact my chances of going onto a postgraduate degree or a job??? will i be looked down on for leaving a russell group university after just a year?
thank you in advance
