The University of Edinburgh
(reviews)

Pros: The University is very well-ranked, the Law School constantly makes it in the top 20 best law schools in the world. Obviously, this makes the diploma more valuable and gives graduates higher chances of getting employed.
There is a breadth of resources in terms of library resources, booking study spaces, labs.
It is very international as far as the student and teaching bodies are concerned.
Edinburgh is constantly taking top stops in quality-of-life rankings.
Notable alumni such as Charles Darwin, Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Cons: Ranked among the lowest in the UK in terms of student satisfaction
Most professors non-responsive, being unwilling to give feedback and guidance apart from essay feedback (mostly focused on their own research)
Rigidity in changing courses, having to register in November for the second semester without the possibility to test the course or change the course after first week.
Disorganised: last-minute changes in teaching staff
Expensive
Very late result announcement (e.g. required to book graduation tickets before finding out final results)
Poorly trained IT staffers (e.g. unable to locate previously used software)

I’ve only been at the University of Edinburgh for 1 semester studying Economics and Finance, and have had the time of my life. The balance between work and leisure and sport is perfect I would recommend it for anyone.

Edinburgh University is one of the best universities in the world. The level of teach is outstanding and the opportunities given to students are beyond my expectations. The Go Abroad fund gives the opportunities to student to travel and pursue their interests during the summer.

Courses at the university were fantastic at all levels I attended. I spent a semester as an exchange student and had no trouble finding friends and colleagues in spite of coming in after most of my classmates had already started their programs. The administration ensured that we were all able transition properly to a British program, particularly understanding how the marking scheme works.

As a master’s student, I had fantastic seminars with wonderful professors and outstanding classmates. Most professors were wonderful with respect to feedback and willing to offer advice on term paper topics and drafts. However, communication was often lacking in my language courses (I was taking ancient Greek), which led to a great deal of difficulty with determining the expectations of postgrads compared to the expectations of undergrads in the same class.

Overall, the experience both times was wonderful. Even coming from a small undergraduate university, I found the atmosphere at Edinburgh welcoming, quite contrary to my expectations. Even with the trouble my classmates and I had with communication in one course, the rest of the department worked to ensure that we knew what was expected of us.

As far as the city itself is concerned, Edinburgh cannot be beat. The city has a fantastic history of its own, and the university offers ample opportunity to attend events both on and off campus. The cultural opportunities range across interests, and the organizations on campus provide a place for everyone to find a like-minded social group.

An important aspect of my time studying at the University of Edinburgh is that it was very much part of the city itself. Therefore, student life was well-integrated into the culture of a capital with many cultural and social features.

I was drawn to study at the University of Edinburgh as it has an established reputation (having been founded in 1582) and has had a marked contribution to intellectual life since its founding. This translated into departments with a strong research output. My time in the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology benefited from learning under academics who are leading in their research interests. A down side is a common one to all modern state universities, in that contact time was perhaps lacking. Despite this, there was a commitment to learning from fellow students.

The following opinion is based on studying in the School of Informatics. My experience in the University of Edinburgh has been great so far and I have been given all the support I have ever needed and some times even more.

The lectures, tutorials and courseworks provide cover a variety of different and mentally challenging courses. For the most part lectures and tutorials are well organised, however, here comes the slight annoyance – in several occasions now the courseworks have been far from polished and feedback on them was not presented in timely manner. Furthermore, in all exams I have sat so far the School of Informatics seem to take a significantly longer to grade our papers in comparison with other departments.

I am still giving it 4 stars because work has been done for improvement of the aforementioned problems and the Informatics department is renowned on world level, which gives you a nice ground for your career.

Not for a second have I regretted coming to this university. From the quality of education to the opportunities given to us, Edinburgh has no equal. The work is difficult, but this allows you to become truly immersed in your degree and become a true expert in your chosen field. Alongside this, the lecturers bring you to the forefront of research surrounding your subject, encouraging further interest. Lastly, the university gives a range of academic and non-academic opportunities which can further develop you as a person. All of this is set in the idyllic city of Edinburgh.

On the whole a very good university. It’s big enough to provide decent facilities for students -one example would be the mobile device clinic which provides students with free IT support with things like virus removal and software repairs. The teaching is generally good, but I’ve found the feedback and marking of essays to be a little hit and miss; especially in 1st/2nd year the postgraduates employed as tutors can give marks that need serious adjustment by the course organizers. Some staff can be disorganized and, while friendly, it hard to find time for additional support when needed. Finally timetabling could be improved – exam dates and course timetables are often not released until quite late which makes it difficult to plan ahead.

Studied philosophy at UEdinburgh as a foreign exchange student from America. Brilliant philosophy faculty, and straightforward evaluation structure. Overall, coming from a small, liberal arts college in America, I thought UEdinburgh was huge. This is good in terms of selection (courses, societies, etc.), but bad in terms of impersonal relationships. It was difficult navigating the social structures of a big university at first, mainly because I was so used to seeing my friends on a daily basis back in America. So I give UEdinburgh 3 stars, though I recognize that most of my quips have to do with my problems with big universities as a whole.

Also, UEdinburgh is a bit eclectic architecturally. Some buildings are beautiful, while others look like elephant vomit.

I loved attending the University of Edinburgh, and I still miss the campus, the city, the neighborhoods where I used to live, and the people I knew while I was there. If location and environment are a big concern, then I would say Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and well worth going to for University in spite of the nasty weather.

Many of the courses have a structure different from American universities. My courses had relatively few textbooks and expected students to do more independent research. The faculty were, for the most part, exceptional in their willingness to work with students to help them succeed. I also appreciated the relative lack of administrative interference throughout my degree course. I’ve known friends at other colleges who have had course requirements change midway through their program, and been forced to stay on an extra semester or even a full year to complete the new requirements. I had one disappointment in my final year when I was required to take one full 40 credit course instead of two 20 credit courses, which I would have preferred. I can also imaging cases were the autodidactic expectations might leave some students feeling abandoned. For myself, it was a perfect fit.