Physics at UCL, Bristol or Bath?

[onnek]

Can someone help me choose which university to go to? I'm planning to reply to my offers pretty soon.

UCL seems to be the best choice right now because of their prestige. They're also in London, so it should be easier to find work experience, etc. But then UCL's physics department is only ranked 14th according to the Times, but then again, they're ranked number one above Imperial and Oxford according to the guardian in 2007 (although I find this hard to believe)...Are these rankings even credible?

Bristol seems to have a better physics deparment (ranked 6th according to Times). However, they aren't ranked as high in the Guardian and are also not too well-known outside the UK.

Bath seems to be well known for science and engineering, and also seems to have good work placement programs, etc. They also have one of the best sports facilities in the UK (which is quite important to me as I play a lot of sports)...But then I was offered 30 points in the IB, which seems really low. They're also not in the 20 for physics according to the Times.

Right now, I'm planning to put UCL as my firm choice and Bath as my insurance choice.

Anybody been to any of these universities who can give me some advice?

 

[onnek]

I will be an undergraduate next year, btw.

 

[Sojourner01]

I don't recall hearing anything remarkable about Bath. Bristol I believe dabbles in a fair bit of quantum interference work and is building a quantum 'clean room' for sensitive experiments. UCL has a generally good reputation in pretty much everything, but then that's only because they're university of london and thus are old. Imperial however are very good.