One of the younger generation in my family (not my kid) is interested in going to London for school, and has reached out for advice... Having absolutely zero knowledge of their education system, academic profiles of different schools or employment outcomes (or lack thereof)... I was hoping that the WSO army of students and recent graduates could point in the right direction of actionable information. Brand recognition is obviously a positive, but please, please don't turn this into a prestige piss match.
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LSE, UCL and Imperial are the 3 main target universities. LSE is obviously much smaller and is focused on Econ / social sciences, while UCL and Imperial are more diversified and have very good quant and science programs. In terms of UK finance recruiting, all 3 will give you access to the full range of BB, EB, etc and are considered the main targets (along with Oxbridge). LSE does have better global recognition though. Others can chime in on that, but I have the impression that LSE is considerably tougher to get into.
In terms of campus, they are all located very centrally, but IMO Imperial > LSE > UCL (this is obviously subjective and there isn't that much of a difference). LSE tuition for non Europeans is £17K (~$25K) so it's quite a saving vs. a US school (although London COL does even things out). I have a lot of friends who did LSE (both undergrad and grad school) and they all pretty much loved it (and did well out of it). Know a smaller sample set who did Imperial / UCL (mostly Imperial though) and they also seems to have enjoy it.
Thanks, I really appreciate it. Do you mind if I PM you after I've read up on each?
of course, feel free to get in touch
I'd only take imperial for engineering, at least that's for consulting. From London unis, about 75% in the city, at least for consulting, seems to come from LSE or UCL, with the remainder coming from Imperial, and here and there a lost King's student. The split between Oxbridge/London/Rest/US is probably around 45/40/10/5
LSE has better recognition but the actual education seems to be not that great. Overcrowded and everyone is basically there to get a job in the City ASAP. For Imperial and UCL there's a lot more focus on the academic side of university, instead of being catapulted into the corporate world. If academia is of none of his interest whatsoever, I'd probably roll with LSE given its better international rep. In the end, if you get in to one of those, and do well, you'll have all your options open regardless of which uni specifically it is
Spot on, this is your answer. Don't know why other posters now throw in other schools outside of London as the OP specifically asked for London.
I'd probably aim for LSE / Imperial due to the stronger international brand as compared to UCL.
LSE alum here, so if you have some specific q's, feel free to drop me a msg.
How hard are these schools to get into? Because when I think LSE or Oxbridge, I think somewhere along the lines of Harvard. The kid is smart, into engineering, but not the greatest academic profile. He had a poor shot first time up, went mil and got his shit together. Is transferring schools once over there a possibility or are students locked in?
As above, LSE/Imperial/UCL are the general order of London schools. Wouldn't say any one is more difficult to get into than the other. In terms of employment opps, all of these schools will be looked at by London Finance/BB's etc, perhaps LSE & Imperial more so.
Location of all the schools is great, UCL/LSE are central and Imperial is slightly west.
From a social scene point of view, UCL seems a bit more fun than the other two but it is essentially what you make of it, you are in London after all. I turned down an offer from UCL (stupidly, I had no idea at the time of the reputation/importance of rep at the time) but I was really impressed with what I saw.
So those three schools in particular carry a good amount of brand weight for almost any pursuit?
They do within the UK, LSE has a better rep for Economics type subjects, Imperial a better rep for Engineering type subjects and UCL is a fair mix of the two.
Wrt a few of the other points mentioned in the thread, don't bank on transferring within the UK, I have never heard of anyone transferring to a top top uni, as it is so competitive to get in to these places in the first place (not to say it doesn't happen but it is rare).
In terms of entry requirements, quickly grabbed from LSE's economics course (probably one of the most competitive courses to obtain entry to):
2700 apps for 230 places.
AAA grades with an A in Maths.
Believe a set of straight A's in the UK is like a 4.0 GPA in the US but the conversion is inaccurate at best. But essentially, you need to be a top top student to be considered and then flesh that application out with good extra curriculars, be it sport or fundraising, which is highlighted in the applicants personal statement along with their motivations for pursuing the course.
More info for your relative here:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/howToApply/DepartmentalAdmissi…
Despite having lived there for a few years I do not understand the educational system much or really at all (I understand Hogwarts a lot more than the actual system...) but I'd aim for Oxbridge, particularly Cambridge but Oxford wouldn't suck by any means. Great towns and it just seems like they would be a cool place to go to university. And they're both an hour or so to london so it's an easy train ride in. I love London but it's a very expensive city for anyone, let alone a college kid. And maybe it's because I lived there as a working professional, but it just seems like a weird college experience.
Assuming your relative wants to come back to the U.S. at some point the Oxbridge name is also more recognizable. I don't doubt the other schools credentials but everyone recognizes the Oxford and Cambridge names whereas Imperial is more so known by Brits and people who lived there.
But like I said, I have no clue about the specifics of how to get in or what it's like.
Exactly. I was like "is Hogwarts not an option?"
That's what I'd think, but given his situation I wanted to get more info.
For finance (and also generally to be honest) the top targets are:
Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial, UCL, Warwick and Durham (probably in more or less that order).
These are all part of the "Russell Group", which is the group of the 24 top unis in the country. These are the unis that will give you a solid chance at getting into finance (some MUCH more than others). Also, the University of Bath and St. Andrews are both extremely good, they´re just too small to be in the RG.
You can PM me with specific questions if you want. I know a fair amount about the UK education system and how it works.
I definitely will, I appreciate it!
Agree with this.
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