Choosing a UK university for physics wrt international PhDs

[Lutzee]

Hey,

I am in the process of choosing which univeristy I want to go to do my first degree. I am am also thinking about doing a PhD after I finish my first degree. I would like to do this PhD at a good international university in the US or in wider europe e.g MIT. With that in mind could somebody please tell me if:

a) If these universitys are recognised internationally for physics

b) Which is the the most best recognised internationally i.e. which one am I most likely to get into a good university abroad with a first degree from that university.

c) If you would think of any of them as academically weak

The universitys I am choosing from:

UCL (University College London)
Manchester University
Warwick University
Nottingham University

Thanks for your time.

 

[cristo]

They're all decent universities (top 20 or so). However, since you're already thinking that you'll want to do a PhD at institutions of the likes of MIT, it seems strange that you wouldn't apply to the best universities (cambridge, oxford, imperial, etc..)

 

[Lutzee]

They're all decent universities (top 20 or so). However, since you're already thinking that you'll want to do a PhD at institutions of the likes of MIT, it seems strange that you wouldn't apply to the best universities (cambridge, oxford, imperial, etc..)

My sister went to cambridge and really hated it. It kinda put me off...

I also thought that as long as I got a 1st from a russel group uni I would be OK

 

[cristo]

Fair enough, as long as you've got a reason! Yea, you should be fine with a first from any of those universities. However, note that to get into US universities' grad schemes it's not as easy as simply applying (which you also have to pay for over there!): you need to take two extra exams (called the GRE). Whilst this doesn't matter now, you should make sure you find out about these way before you are thinking of applying, so you can study for them. I considered applying to the US, but found out about the GRE way too late which would mean that studying for it would probably have affected my degree grades.

 

[Lutzee]

So, to clarify you are saying as long as I get a 1st from one of those Unis, a good GRE score, do a good interview and good references from lecturers etc then I should be OK to do a PhD at a good US university e.g. MIT, ivy league etc

 

[Vanadium 50]

Lutzee, the short answer is no. Nobody is guaranteed a spot at MIT or an Ivy. Each department (graduate admissions are done by individual departments) in those schools gets hundreds of applications for a dozen - perhaps two - places. It's possible to nothing wrong pre-grad school and still not get in.

 

[Lutzee]

Lutzee, the short answer is no. Nobody is guaranteed a spot at MIT or an Ivy. Each department (graduate admissions are done by individual departments) in those schools gets hundreds of applications for a dozen - perhaps two - places. It's possible to nothing wrong pre-grad school and still not get in.

In that case would you say that I would be on an equal starting point with everyone else(if I got the above?)