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【Help】LSE or Imperial

Hi,

I've got offer from LSE MSc Political Science and Political Economy and Imperial MSc Risk Management and Financial Engineering.

Could you help me to choose and which one do you prefer?

Thanks a million for your help!
Reply 1
They're completely different courses.
What is it that you actually want to do - both in terms of what you learn during your master's, and where you want to work afterwards?
Reply 2
Avatar for Wei
Wei
OP
Original post by sj27
They're completely different courses.
What is it that you actually want to do - both in terms of what you learn during your master's, and where you want to work afterwards?


Thanks. The thing is I don't have clear ideas abt what I want to do after, so the decision is pretty tough for me. :frown:
Reply 3
Original post by Wei
Thanks. The thing is I don't have clear ideas abt what I want to do after, so the decision is pretty tough for me. :frown:


Well, I'm not sure anyone here is going to be able to give you any clear advice then :dontknow:. Both courses will be good but in completely different ways and (probably) lead you into quite different jobs. Have you thought about trying to work for a year or two to get a better idea of what you want to do rather than rushing straight into a master's (I'm assuming you're coming straight out of undergrad here?)
Reply 4
Original post by Wei
Hi,

I've got offer from LSE MSc Political Science and Political Economy and Imperial MSc Risk Management and Financial Engineering.

Could you help me to choose and which one do you prefer?

Thanks a million for your help!


My guess is that you're Chinese so would probably feel more at home with Imperial though there are still a lot of Chinese at LSE (plus Chinatown's closer)!

In terms of the course, Imperial's is quite expensive at around £30K (not sure about LSE but can't see it being much cheaper) and would give you a good grounding for a quant job.

Check out these books by two people who used to lecture the Imperial course:

cuthbertson and nitzsche:

1. Investments
2. Quantitative Financial Economics

You should have a good mathematical education to do the Imperial course, otherwise you'd struggle.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 5
Original post by dugdugdug
My guess is that you're Chinese so would probably feel more at home with Imperial though there are still a lot of Chinese at LSE (plus Chinatown's closer)!

In terms of the course, Imperial's is quite expensive at around £30K (not sure about LSE but can't see it being much cheaper) and would give you a good grounding for a quant job.

Check out these books by two people who used to lecture the Imperial course:

cuthbertson and nitzsche:

1. Investments
2. Quantitative Financial Economics

You should have a good mathematical education to do the Imperial course, otherwise you'd struggle.


this is the most irrelevant piece of advice that has appeared on TSR.
Reply 6
Original post by yothi5
this is the most irrelevant piece of advice that has appeared on TSR.


The OP is a girl and could be in London for the first time.

Being a female in a large foreign city has its risks so if she attends a place of study where there is a large proportion of her countrymen, she'll naturally feel more at ease.

A bit like home advantage in a football match.

I see nothing wrong with it.
Reply 7
Original post by dugdugdug
The OP is a girl and could be in London for the first time.

Being a female in a large foreign city has its risks so if she attends a place of study where there is a large proportion of her countrymen, she'll naturally feel more at ease.

A bit like home advantage in a football match.

I see nothing wrong with it.


You're being rather presumptuous on a whole bunch of fronts. On your argument, she could equally choose based on whichever of the two unis has a larger proportion of female students....in any case, I believe foreign female students have managed to survive attending university in London for decades. It's not a good reason to choose one completely different course over another.
Original post by sj27
You're being rather presumptuous on a whole bunch of fronts. On your argument, she could equally choose based on whichever of the two unis has a larger proportion of female students....in any case, I believe foreign female students have managed to survive attending university in London for decades. It's not a good reason to choose one completely different course over another.


It is very common for Chinese students to stick together and if the OP is indeed Chinese, the chances are she'll prefer to be with her own group than not.

I agree it's not a good reason but seeing she is going for two completely different degrees, it seems this is as good a reason as any!

Let's just wait for the OP's response.
Reply 9
Original post by dugdugdug
The OP is a girl and could be in London for the first time.

Being a female in a large foreign city has its risks so if she attends a place of study where there is a large proportion of her countrymen, she'll naturally feel more at ease.

A bit like home advantage in a football match.

I see nothing wrong with it.


What's wrong with integrating? This is exactly what is wrong with this country.

Original post by curiousquest
It is very common for Chinese students to stick together and if the OP is indeed Chinese, the chances are she'll prefer to be with her own group than not.

I agree it's not a good reason but seeing she is going for two completely different degrees, it seems this is as good a reason as any!

Let's just wait for the OP's response.
My mate did that Imperial MSc last year. Hope you're loaded, because the course fees are ridiculous, even for home students.
Reply 11
Original post by curiousquest
It is very common for Chinese students to stick together and if the OP is indeed Chinese, the chances are she'll prefer to be with her own group than not.

I agree it's not a good reason but seeing she is going for two completely different degrees, it seems this is as good a reason as any!

Let's just wait for the OP's response.


Agree re waiting for OP's response...but I think if that's enough to sway the OP (IF indeed she is Chinese and not already resident in the UK) then that strikes me as a very odd basis to decide which prestigious school you move halfway around the world for.


Original post by ritchie888
My mate did that Imperial MSc last year. Hope you're loaded, because the course fees are ridiculous, even for home students.

Is this not one of the courses where the fees for home and international students are the same? (Many finance-related courses at the top unis are.)
Original post by sj27
Is this not one of the courses where the fees for home and international students are the same? (Many finance-related courses at the top unis are.)


Yeah, that was my point.

~£25k for a masters isn't even close to worth it. He got a pretty good job in the end, finance sector in Canary Wharf, ~£35k salary. But with rent, food, other stuff, and a current ~£20 student debt, it'll be years before he pays that off.
Reply 13
What did you put in the Careers Planning section of the application for Imperial?

If you write the bog standard answer and don't believe in it, then what's the point of going in the first place?

Furthermore, visa restrictions are currently affecting more students, if you're thinking about working in the financial sector afterwards.

As for your LSE choice. It looks very much tailored to those who want to go into the public sector.
Original post by Wei
Hi,
I've got offer from LSE MSc Political Science and Political Economy and Imperial MSc Risk Management and Financial Engineering.

Could you help me to choose and which one do you prefer?

I would definitely go for Political Science at LSE, because I think it would be fun and interesting. What do you really want though? Which will you enjoy? I don't want to make any assumptions, but did you apply for Finance because of family pressure?
Political Science at LSE is a well respected course and it will open up many doors for you in terms of employment. I think you should pick the one you are really interested in. Same applies to Finance - if that's what you'll really enjoy, do that.

Original post by dugdugdug
My guess is that you're Chinese so would probably feel more at home with Imperial though there are still a lot of Chinese at LSE (plus Chinatown's closer)!

You assume that she's Chinese and then you make all sorts of other stereotypical judgements about what she will want and how she will behave? :eyeball:

That's really out of order!
Original post by yothi5
this is the most irrelevant piece of advice that has appeared on TSR.

Not to mention offensive!
Original post by curiousquest
It is very common for Chinese students to stick together and if the OP is indeed Chinese, the chances are she'll prefer to be with her own group than not.
As sj27 has already pointed out, you don't know whether Wei is Chinese or not. And even if you did it would be grossly offensive to assume that all Chinese people are clones who all want to behave the same way as eachother. Who are you to decide whether she wants to 'be with her own group' or not? And how do you know what 'her own group' will be? She might arrive at University and hang out with a whole bunch of people who aren't Chinese!

People's attitudes towards international students on TSR really get my goat :grumble:
Reply 15
Original post by Craghyrax
I would definitely go for Political Science at LSE, because I think it would be fun and interesting. What do you really want though? Which will you enjoy? I don't want to make any assumptions, but did you apply for Finance because of family pressure?
Political Science at LSE is a well respected course and it will open up many doors for you in terms of employment. I think you should pick the one you are really interested in. Same applies to Finance - if that's what you'll really enjoy, do that.


You assume that she's Chinese and then you make all sorts of other stereotypical judgements about what she will want and how she will behave? :eyeball:

That's really out of order!


Not to mention offensive!
As sj27 has already pointed out, you don't know whether Wei is Chinese or not. And even if you did it would be grossly offensive to assume that all Chinese people are clones who all want to behave the same way as eachother. Who are you to decide whether she wants to 'be with her own group' or not? And how do you know what 'her own group' will be? She might arrive at University and hang out with a whole bunch of people who aren't Chinese!

People's attitudes towards international students on TSR really get my goat :grumble:


dugdugdug GUESSES she is Chinese and therefore would PROBABLY feel more at home with Imperial. Is it so difficult to understand people MIGHT want to be with their own race?

Curiousquest made a statement that the Chinese TEND to stick together, a comment made by many others on TSR.

Both are making general comments which are NOT out of the ordinary, racist or untrue.

Did either of them FORCE her to do anything? No, so how is it they decided for her to be with her own group or not?

Wei, we'd all like you to settle the score. Please give us your thoughts, if possible.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 16
Wei's post asked about the courses, not about what the ethnic make-up of the respective universities was :s-smilie:

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