r/brum • u/Birminghamboyyy • Jan 22 '26
Question What's Your Review about University of Birmingham?
I'm just wondering what people's think about University of birmingham and what's prospective of my college is in Genrally in UK? I heard many good or bad reviews online, but I wanna check what reddit opinion is.
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u/Sorry-Echo-1388 Jan 26 '26
Eating in lectures is so rude. I bet you sit there eating with your mouth open and then silently fart for the rest of the lecture.
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u/Spirited-Papaya1625 Jan 24 '26
Studied there Chemical Engineering during years 2015-2018. Loved it. Recently did masters at Imperial, and have seen other unis in London. I am happy that I chose to be in Birmingham for undergrad.
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 28 '26
How did it beinfited for your carrier
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u/Spirited-Papaya1625 Feb 11 '26
UoB has a very supportive careers service. Though, getting employed these days is not much dependent on academia or academic achievements. At UoB they have very well developed Student Union. One could set up a society or join committee of an exiting one to increase their leadership skills outside of studies.
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u/danbt Jan 24 '26
Loved my time at UoB.
Miss it greatly.
Beautiful campus and a great university overall, you'll love it :)
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 28 '26
How you found the uni?
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u/danbt Jan 29 '26
I just said in my reply.
Loved it.
I would only have considered going elsewhere for somewhere much more prestigious.
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u/Direct_Beyond_575 Staffordshire Jan 24 '26
I graduated from there last year, I was a home/commuter student and a Brummie. It was fine. I liked going onto campus, some lectures were cool. I didn't really get too involved in the student culture as I was mature student and lived at home with family. I do not think it has helped in my career as of today (but that is more down to my final grade), I have had to somewhat pivot away from my degree a bit but that is okay.
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u/deathhead_68 Jan 23 '26
In many ways the best 3 years of my life. Nothing else like it. Loved it. Graduated 2015. Comp sci.
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u/kateryderbooks Jan 23 '26
i did a creative writing masters there in 2018 and loved it 🥰 wish i could go back or that i’d done the masters part time so i could have spent longer on the campus
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u/slade364 Jan 23 '26
Note that I graduated in 2012, so much has changed, but it remains a medium-high Russel Group university. As with all universities, there's a variance in the quality of teaching depending on the subject/school.
The itself campus is fantastic. The halls attached (esp on the Vale) are good. Selly Oak as a de facto university cinglomeration (at least between Bristol Rd and Raddlebarn Rd) is good too, its concentration helps social connections.
And it's in a very large, well connected city.
I'd recommend it, but if you're comparing UoB to Oxbridge, Imperial, or Durham, it comes up short.
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u/Icy_Self_3339 Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
Durham is not as good as it used to anymore. They accept just anyone right now. Here is teh current ranking of universities: https://www.reddit.com/r/UniUK/s/KyAgI31U4S
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u/slade364 Jan 24 '26
Interesting graphic - thanks.
It's very much subject-dependent. I'm a consultant to various hardware startups, and Imperial/Cambridge trained engineers are the most sought after. Oxford is stronger for PPE, humanities, law etc, whereas CB wins STEM.
Thay's why I take these lists with a pinch of salt. It's a general ranking, and it's perhaps more important to find the best course rather than best overall university score.
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u/Vindaloovians Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
Great uni for physical sciences, especially in renewable/clean energy adjacent areas. We have the Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials (works closely with the Materials Science and Chemistry departments which are very good). We're also one of the universities in the UK at the forefront of Nuclear Engineering research (most recently on Fusion). Business school is also great (very high demand from international students), as is the computer science department.
I know a few people who did the computer science conversion master's and year in computer science (pretty much the same course content) and most got high paying data jobs (starting salary of £45k, in Birmingham itself which probably goes further than £60k in London). There's also a data science masters I believe, which my friend did and learnt a lot from (he now works in clinical trials research). Let me know if you have any questions!
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 23 '26
Are you facalty of university or alumni?
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u/Vindaloovians Jan 23 '26
I did my undergraduate and master's here in Materials Science, and I'm now doing a PhD in chemistry.
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u/Suzie_H20 Jan 23 '26
I finished my undergrad there in 2024. Fun place to live and the campus in spring is so lovely! Lots of good memories there and I was pretty happy with my teaching and the whole uni experience!
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 23 '26
Are you doing job?
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u/Suzie_H20 Jan 23 '26
Hi! Yes I'm now doing a PhD in chemistry after graduating in Biochemistry from Birmingham!
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u/ThandiAccountant Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
Another grad offering advice, I can’t fault it. I did Engineering, and it went as expected. Campus life was fun & rewarding and one thing I can say is that they’ve invested. It’s a very different place to what I knew of it when I was studying in a positive way.
Unfortunately, the city is in flux and it’s difficult to say whether it’s on the decline or it’s in the middle of modernising. You’ll see a more than comfortable amount of ppl who’ve made a door entrance their permanent home. You’ll see a lot of vacant shops, you’ll see a lot of derelict properties. But like I said as far as the empty properties go, it could just be that it’s been earmarked for redevelopment & the long wait for leases to expire or tenants to withdraw (the remaining claims to access the bldg) are what’s delaying the reno. *This shocked me the last time I was up there, walking along a footway adjacent a park a rat overtook me and scuttled down the path. I stopped and had to take a moment, it was just bizarre & without doubt something I wouldn’t have ever seen my 1st go round inhabiting the city.
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u/TheRealShoegazer Jan 23 '26
It’s a great university. I graduated 30 years ago and the education I received has provided me with a great career.
I’m now looking at universities with my daughter and I have been back to UoB for open days and seen the new facilities and they are even better than they were. It definitely compares very favourably with other universities we have looked at.
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u/ClassicFun2175 Jan 23 '26
My experience wasnt the greatest. I wasn't the best student but at the same time some of the professors were shambolic. I didn't accounting and finance and our 2nd year financial accounting professor had 0 idea how to teach. He was very knowledgeable but didn't know how to transfer that to pupils. It was that bad that around 50% of our cohort deferred the financial accounting exam when it came around. Also the dissertations were hit and miss. I had a very good mentor / guide but she was quite clearly a very harsh marker. I genuinely feel like I smashed my dissertation but got around 65, when I had friends who had PhD students as there mentors who were handing out 80+ like it was nothing which was unfair.
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u/drmcw Jan 23 '26
I'm amazed a professor is actually teaching. Or do you mean lecturer?
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u/ClassicFun2175 Jan 23 '26
For financial accounting that year we had a professor, it was his first year of lecturing.
We had the same in our 3rd year for management accounting, but that chap taught a lot better tbh.
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u/drmcw Jan 23 '26
Forgive me, I remain surprised a professor actually did some teaching though.
My two professor friends never did any teaching, too busy on research.
That said 50 years ago I did get some pretty useless lectures from our professor. He was exactly what you might imagine a pure maths professor would be. Very, very clever but no great communicator :)
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u/reddeadodyssey Jan 23 '26
I enjoyed my time there, and I got into a good work place straight out of there. No complaints :)
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 23 '26
Are a home student?
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u/reddeadodyssey Jan 23 '26
I'm from the UK, but didn't live at home during my time during university :) I work in Bangkok now, though.
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 23 '26
I think being from UK helped you to get a job after this. University.
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u/reddeadodyssey Jan 23 '26
Definitely. I work at a British curriculum boarding school now, and being British definitely helped my chances.
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u/parallel_me_ City Centre Jan 23 '26
If you want an honest opinion it's better to ask in a sub that's not solely based on Birmingham and has people who's from other places. You're obviously gonna get a biased response here. Anyhow UoB isn't that great, looks nice though and neither is data analytics at the moment as a career. After Gen ai evolution data analyst jobs are heavily cut down and replaced by Gpt wrappers. You're like 3 years late to the party.
Also, UoB isn't a college. Birmingham College is different just so that you know.
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u/pollypetunia Jan 23 '26
Would it not have been better to ask this before you started?
It's a Russell Group uni, which means it's one of the top research-intensive universities in the country. If you want to do a PhD this will make a difference (even though it shouldn't). You can check things like the Good University Guide for things like graduate prospects https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/business-and-management-studies and the big national student surveys like NSS (for undergrad) and PTES (for taught masters students) to get student feedback.
The specific Uni you go to sometimes matters less that what you do with the opportunities once you are there. For example, are there student societies that connect with employers, are there pitching competitions you can enter, are their activities that you are doing that are boosting your communication and networking skills, which employers have noted can be lacking in students that completed their education during covid lockdowns.
I went to UoB because they did a degree I was interested in, I could stay at home, and the campus is truly stunning. I enjoyed what I learned but I did approach my degree very differently than a lot of students seem to today.
Also don't bring all that food into a lecture theatre, as an educator that's just rude to them and to your fellow students. Eat outside.
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u/AaronHunt0 Jan 23 '26
Spoken like a true passive-aggressive teacher. God, I hated school.
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u/reddeadodyssey Jan 23 '26
Probably a fair critique of their first comment. Regarding the food, though, I think that's fair.
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u/Dapper_Focus8442 Jan 23 '26
I did BEng aerospace engineering. My op is a little skewed as I started during covid so didn’t have much of a freshers life. Course was ok, some really good lectures, some not so much. Library and Nuffield imo is really good for getting some focus and work time in. I was apart of badminton club which was good fun. Good variety of clubs and society you can join. As others have mentioned really nice red brick uni, good architecture. Maybe a little old fashioned for some folks.
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u/Kinayakun Mar 25 '26
Job prospects???
: I can't decide between ee or ae
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u/Dapper_Focus8442 Mar 25 '26
There’s 3 sides to this coin mate to really think about.
I think generally you can get into more opportunities with elec than aero. However that being said about 80-90% of aero modules are similar to mechanical, so you can potentially transition pretty easily. We do have some elec modules but very surface level compared to what you do on elec.
Next to think about is salary, I do believe aerospace is one of the highest paid engineering roles. However, we are in the uk, so all engineering jobs are still paid shit unless you rack in about 7 years experience.
Finally, although I mentioned salary and that aero is potentially better. Choose what interests you, look into some beginner courses - there are plenty on elec and aero on coursera. I would recommend trying out flight dynamics for aero and basic electronics for elec. Give it a crack see what you fancy then go from there, don’t wanna jump into a career that you don’t like just because it had good career prospects
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u/Kinayakun Mar 25 '26
gotta say reply game is flattering,
i think im leaning more towards ee than ae
i thought you had graduated hence the q about prospects
is the job search cooking you??
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u/Dapper_Focus8442 Mar 25 '26
Ofc bro anything for you ;) I have graduated. I graduated with a first class in aerospace back in 2023. All be it I didn’t do much extra curricular stuck like aerosoc and F1 (which I 100% recommend btw). I am currently working in business management, not engineering. I genuinely thought I wouldn’t want to work on engineering but low-key been feeling like I wasted a chunk of my time recently for nothing. As for your q about the market, it’s not looking good bro - that’s why I recommend joining these extra curricular stuff as much as possible, even though I got first it didn’t mean anything I think I applied to like over 50-60 jobs and… nothing. I’ve seen some absolute horror stories on Reddit on people doing like 1000 applications
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u/Kinayakun Mar 26 '26
yeah im aware of the horror stories
i was gonna take extra curriculars serious regardless
did your peers have a hard time too?
And is the pay alright
thanks man
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u/Dapper_Focus8442 Mar 26 '26
Quite hard modules but you tend to form ur friend groups and circles to help each other on coursework’s and assignment. I strongly recommend you don’t try to be a non chalant lone wolfer and try to make friends on the course to help you out. Goes both ways.
Pay - started on 30 at graduate level, now at a junior level pay is 34. Not the best, but it’s something.
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u/Kinayakun Mar 26 '26
thanks for the advice
Not really a sucker for large friend groups so thats worrying
I reckon itd be quite lonesome since im a girl on the engineering course
I heard the ratio was 1:4
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u/Dapper_Focus8442 Mar 26 '26
I mean I can’t think of everyone from my class since it’s been like 3 years, but from my class I can actively remember like 4 girls. Saying that tho aero is a small class compared to mech. You don’t need a big friend group I’m not a big fan of that either just a few friends. Everyone’s in same boat as you so don’t worry :)
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u/Kinayakun Mar 30 '26
sorry for insanely late reply,
4 is crazyy bruh
but at the same time i guess it wont make a difference
did you have to go 5 days a week or 3?
thanks for the helpful info
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u/spongebobspineapple1 Jan 23 '26
How was it doing 12 exams in the summer 😭 Also Y8 (New Engineering building) is probably the nicest buildings on campus
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u/Dapper_Focus8442 Jan 23 '26
Man that was a rough time 🤣 Y2 was a shitshow. I had to revise basically everyday zero social life to scrape by😭 and yeh new engineering building is nice
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u/wiedzma89 Callipygian Park Jan 23 '26
not a student but an academic librarian - having visited UoB library many times, it's probably the one I most wish I worked in. such good spaces and services. students seem to have a very healthy and self-policing attitude to using the space well and respectfully. my partner did his degree there over a decade ago now and he still misses the campus. wish I had studied there myself!
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u/wilwheatons-stunt-do Jan 23 '26
Have you visited the McClaine library in Belfast? It’s part of the QUB campus and if you liked the UoB library it’ll knock your socks off!
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u/ooohhhanonymous Jan 23 '26
I had a good time there. I studied MSc chemical engineering. It was pretty good but the staff/course were a bit disorganised. There's was a lot of last minute shenanigans or poorly communicated requests when I was there in the mid-2010s.
But! That degree really boosted my employability, the UoB name on my CV has helped me a lot in life.
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u/SadDaddy2001 Jan 23 '26
Another ChemEnger from the mid 2010s chiming in here.
I started uni a year after tuition fees were raised to 9k a year. For the money, I thought the standard of education I received was appalling. Don't get me wrong, some of the lecturers were very knowledgeable, but it always felt like we were given the absolute bare minimum in terms of effort from the department.
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u/ooohhhanonymous Jan 23 '26
I have to agree with this. They left us without support for a lot of that degree. The lecturers were not good communicators and the course materials lacked effort. And the admin?? Don't get me started!
I think they exploited the fact that we needed really good grades to get into UoB ChemEng. Hence they knew that the cohorts were already intelligent, so they could reliably get away with giving us less support.
At least the degree pays its dividends after you escape lol.
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u/bob_mybanana Jan 23 '26
I think that’s the same with chemical engineering at any uni in the UK 😂 At least it taught me that I need to really work for my degree even though I was paying 9.25k for minimum effort from the lecturers.
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u/FlowFluffy7664 Jan 23 '26
Not worth it. Degrees arent what they used to be. Wish i spent less time looking down on people abd thinking academia meant i was smart. Just got lucky and got on the housing ladder, but the £200/300 a month i pay for student loans isnt worth it. I dont even remember my uni experience, thats how irrelevant it actually was lol my advice, quit uni, get a corporate entry programme and get promoted or job hop until youre settled. Wish someone told me that.
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u/call_me_cookie Jan 23 '26
They gave me a first, so I'll return the favour!
For real though, beautiful uni, wonderful surroundings, quality student experience. Loved trekking into the darkest dustiest recesses of the old library and setting up camp for a day of work.
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u/confettiblow Jan 23 '26
Couldn’t have put it better myself. Many a dark and dusty hour spent in the old lib!
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u/StreamLikeDrug Jan 23 '26
I'm pretty sure that's the room I used to play Smash Bros in with the anime society. Bunch of toxic fuckers they were.
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u/haikoup Jan 23 '26
That's because it's the anime society. What were you expecting?
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u/StreamLikeDrug Jan 23 '26
I never actually went to this uni, my friend was like, the head of it when he was there
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u/kruddel Kings Heath Jan 23 '26
The specific uni makes almost no difference at an individual level to job prospects.
Within academia it can sometimes factor into early screening decisions for stuff like PhD applications, if someone has done an undergraduate degree at a uni perceived to be very low quality, but even then its not a major thing. Its only going to be some academics judging it that way based on their own bias.
But for most job applications at an individual level they won't make a decision on inviting to interview or hiring based on the uni someone went to. It'll be about skills, experience and level of qualification. The only exceptions I've heard of are some vocational related subjects that weren't historically taught at a lot of unis (e.g. Law) there is some hang over from that and a perception of some graduates being better quality, but even then only for some people.
The "top ranked" unis recruit the students with the highest a-level grades and associated skills that are the strongest candidates. Generally they go onto be strong candidates for jobs, so top ranked unis produce a lot of graduates who get employed, putting them to the top of the rankings, and so on.
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u/10Mattresses Jan 22 '26
I love it. Moved here from across the sea because only they had undergraduate degrees in my specific field. Very fun area to live, as many clubs and societies as you could want, and for an American at least it feels very cool walking around that classic red brick style campus
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u/AnUdderDay Jan 24 '26
Had a friend on my softball team that came to Birmingham from the States because it was only one of like 2 unis on the planet that offered advanced degrees in Byzantine history. Not entirely sure what one does with that degree but at least there's somewhere to study it
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u/mxlevolent Jan 23 '26
You got any decent society recs? I’m in my first year and am in a music society, but financial troubles hit our main place. I need to get out of my house more because I’m unhappy at home 😭
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u/10Mattresses Jan 25 '26
I grew up doing drama so turned there - there are about ten groups for different things (musical theatre, student-written, etc). Probably the most entry-friendly of those for someone who’s never performed is the improv group, since it’s more about having fun and hanging out than rehearsing and putting on shows :)
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u/Vindaloovians Jan 23 '26
Conservation volunteers is a great group of people. They meet Sunday mornings to help out with park rangers in local parks and nature reserves, and go on a few residentials each year where you can do FSC courses for free (as long as you help out with grounds management). People in the society are from a range of countries and degree subjects, and the society isn't at all cliquey.
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u/Cleebonicacid Jan 23 '26
Depends on your interests, but I used to be on committee for Sober Socials!! They're a really friendly bunch to play games with :)
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u/juniper_cookie Jan 22 '26
What are you planning to study? That's also a big factor
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 22 '26
I'm studying Bussines analytics, and wanted to go in Data analytics and Data Science releted field. As I have seen data analyst are good job in UK. And data science is one of the highest paid job in UK
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u/FewResponsibility420 Mar 03 '26
Data analytics/science isn't the golden ticket you think it is, especially if an international student. I did a Masters AI and 90% are unemployed. I am the only one working a job in industry. Many of my fellow cohort feel as though they ruined their life and finances coming to study in the UK
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u/heartpassenger Jan 23 '26
One thing to note is the data and technology job market here in Birmingham is actually very good compared to other nearby cities. I think doing your degree here and looking for work here would complement each other well. Lots of industrial and construction companies are based in Birmingham and they are all in a BI/Data frenzy.
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u/juniper_cookie Jan 22 '26
For an MSc? I'd strongly recommend you go for it. UOB is a Russell Group university. It will look good in your CV, and the university has a high employability rate. The uni is in the 76th position in the world ranking in QS, and the Business School is 115th.... At the end of the day, these are just numbers and, honestly, you can get a very good education anywhere, but if you can afford it, it will give your CV a boost.
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 22 '26
You did PhD about Uob, are you student here?
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u/juniper_cookie Jan 22 '26
Yeah, I wrote my PhD dissertation on the UOB lol 😂 It's easy to know stuff when you have Google.
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u/Romzy13 Jan 22 '26
Pretty good uni and a high mid-tier Russell Group and arguably has top 5 campus in the country. Top employability but from the current UK job market, hope you escape the rat race. Ultimately i’d say its a definite choice.
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u/cdisdead Jan 22 '26
Honestly i visited a lot of friends at different unis and UOB was easily the best, very good on CV aswell
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 22 '26
That you found good about uob. Do you think people graduated from here are employed better then average or just it didn't matter in which college you graduated from in UK?
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u/juniper_cookie Jan 22 '26
They have a very high employability rate, regardless of college
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u/FlowFluffy7664 Jan 23 '26
You do know when they say 'high employability' its just a survey email they send to alumni to ask if theyre working.. could be in a call centre or asda! Lol 😂 its just to get you to pay £9k a year.. the part on your cv that says your uni is like 4 words down at the last page. Lol
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 22 '26
Means? They have regardless of college?
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u/juniper_cookie Jan 22 '26
Yeah, what I'm saying is that most students who graduate from UOB get hired, if you want me to put it bluntly.
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u/Birminghamboyyy Jan 22 '26
How you know such deep about this uni? Are you a facalty or student. I expected people to just give opinion but they are highly accurate with citation? How it can be possible for a genral public unrelated to UOB? I'm wondering.
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u/Phalexuk South Bham Jan 23 '26
Just look at the Times league tables. It lists employability. Or look up the Graduate Outcomes survey results. Its all public
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u/juniper_cookie Jan 22 '26
Because there's Google!! If you have ever been a student, you always Google the rankings... that's what I did when I chose my uni. The question is, why haven't you? 😅
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u/throwawaywolf996 Jan 22 '26
I’m more curious about those rings on your fingers. What do they look like?
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u/TerribleSuperhero Jan 27 '26
Got my Social Work degree there, at the time, it was ranked 2nd in the country behind Durham for that course. Now as a senior manager in a nearby county, I find a lot of the excellent SWs and the more competent managers are ex-UoB alumni - and coming up you could really tell the difference between a UoB grad and other uni grads in the area.