Anyone familiar with the University of Manchester?

[FordPrefect]

I am currently a freshman at a university in the US, however I am considering studying in the UK to get an undergraduate Masters degree and I was wondering if anyone can give me some insight on Manchester or some university/colleges and their physics departments.

I am not necessarily at a shortage of information (I have exhausted google out for the past week or so), but rather, skeptical of the validity. These "top 100" rankings don't do much justice for me because I really don't learn much about the universities from them. When I visit the universities sites, of course, they all advertise only the positives about the institutions. So really, what I am getting at here, is to see if anyone can answer some specific questions regarding Manchester (or any other similar university you may suggest I look into).

Questions such as:
What is the reputation of the physics department at Manchester, in regards to people within the UK? Are the research opportunities decent, or as rewarding as some other institutions? What are the standards for a US student to be accepted (the requirements on their site are nothing I understand)? What is the campus like (I was very surprised to find that the only decent images of the campus on google were of the same 2 or 3 buildings!)?

And any other general information would be very much appreciated.

Thanks, -Ford

 

[cristo]

I am currently a freshman at a university in the US, however I am considering studying in the UK to get an undergraduate Masters degree and I was wondering if anyone can give me some insight on Manchester or some university/colleges and their physics departments.

I am not necessarily at a shortage of information (I have exhausted google out for the past week or so), but rather, skeptical of the validity. These "top 100" rankings don't do much justice for me because I really don't learn much about the universities from them. When I visit the universities sites, of course, they all advertise only the positives about the institutions. So really, what I am getting at here, is to see if anyone can answer some specific questions regarding Manchester (or any other similar university you may suggest I look into).

Questions such as:
What is the reputation of the physics department at Manchester, in regards to people within the UK?

The physics department at manchester is held in pretty high regard. I'm not sure how much you know about the history of the university, but manchester as it is now was formed a few years ago by the amalgamation of the victoria university of manchester and UMIST, so it's pretty big! See wiki, for example, for more info, and for 'famous' graduates.

Are the research opportunities decent, or as rewarding as some other institutions?

I'm not sure about this, but I will say that, in general, there are less "REUs" in the UK than there are in the US (if any).

What are the standards for a US student to be accepted (the requirements on their site are nothing I understand)?

Well, you obviously didn't look on their website properly! A few clicks away from the physics website is this: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/international/country/display/index.htm?id=67550&page=2

What is the campus like (I was very surprised to find that the only decent images of the campus on google were of the same 2 or 3 buildings!)?

Manchester isn't a 'campus' university in the strict sense of the word. It is in the city, and thus the campus consists of university buildings scattered around. Though, the majority of the buildings are on one of the major roads coming out of manchester (oxford road) and roads off it. Other than that, I'm not sure what you want to know about it.

 

[FordPrefect]

Wow, thanks for that link! You are right...I obviously didn't look properly.

Yeah, I know I said I was going to ask for specifics then ended up being very vague with the questions, but you pretty much covered what I wanted to know, thanks.