Stop being a snob about Jordanstown

Buttoning up my raincoat and getting a degree in textiles from UUJ. Stretching out a cramp and getting a physio placement with UUJ. Doing my coursework in crayon because I go to UUJ. Watching an episode of Narcos and getting a degree in Spanish because I go to UUJ. Enough is enough.

Queen’s students need to change their ways. Too long have they sat on a high horse, gloating over Ulster University students like they are in any way superior. Truth is a university student is a university student and a 2:1 is the same wherever you get it.

Yes, Queen’s is “exceptional” in many regards and is a member of the prestigious Russell Group. And yes, as of 2013 it was ranked 12th in the UK for student satisfaction and is in the top 10 research based universities in the UK. And yes, this is something to be proud of.

Both of these guys to Queen’s

Have a clap, pat your back and throw one leg over your high horse. As an institution Queen’s is without a doubt one of the best in the UK. But that’s the university. Not the student. A 2:1 is a 2:1 to an employer and the Queen’s student who spends his Sunday sitting in the Hatfield skulling pints and laughing at the poor lad wearing a Jordanstown jersey will be no competition to the J-towner who’s in the library scouring through books, building a strong history of work placement on the side.

Face it, if you go to Queen’s you go to an exceptional university, but if you don’t put the work in the only exceptional thing that will come of your degree is your new found tolerance to alcohol. Don’t believe the hype? Just look at the Ulster University statistics. Over 90 per cent of their grads find work or go into further study within just six months of completing their degree. It is the second largest university on the island of Ireland.

And it has recently joined the ranks of the Times Top 100 Universities under 50 years old. The facts – be they as they may written in Crayola. UUJ could be collectively personified as an average-looking, practical person, grafting a living off hard work alone. The sort of person who is meek in their rising fame, and although proud doesn’t let rankings and numbers go to their head.

Smug bastards

Queen’s on the other hand could easily be viewed as the well endowed heir to a fortune, ignorant to those not born into the same circumstance as them. This is an image that has got to change. It’s cringey and doesn’t reflect well on the university. There’s been too much rivalry, too many pints spilt, too many brothers on the verge of war, and just far too many YikYaks for this to go on.

To quote Mean Girls, “I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school… I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy”. At the end of the day, regardless of what university you go, to the north of Ireland offers some top quality schooling.

So let’s stop slagging each other, swap jerseys and weep at the prospect of ever having to leave either of these fantastic institutions and enter the real world.