Warwick or St Andrews?

With regards to the above conversation, I turned down UCL for St Andrews and have never regretted it. It should be obvious that, as 'Frenchous' stated above, any good universities below Oxford and Cambridge are basically on par in employability terms. Indeed, maybe the OP could consider the fact that - were she to choose St Andrews - she might be able to take a joint degree in IR (depending on her school grades), as many Economics students I know have. St Andrews is best in the country for IR, bar none (despite what LSE students may tell you).

This is awkward... I'll be attending LSE or Warwick in Oct!

Sorry you prefer world rankings?

You considered using a poll which, TSR folk voted in.

Do you not consider the bias at all, and their general knowledge of the subject in question?

I'll take the employers rankings/verdict on this, thank you very much.

TSR is fuelled by schoolkids, and UCL is more of a household name, hence the distorted figures.

If UCL is better than Warwick (which I don't necessarily disagree with) then you'd assume that the UCL grads were more employable surely? Not sure how you can view what school children say as reliable in terms of the prestige of a university.

That poll is flawed in many ways, most probably highlighted by how few votes Bristol has, since the difference between UCL and Bristol really isn't that large.

lol... frenchous strikes again.

for those who have not known it yet, this guy, frenchous, is a warwick basher. s/he trolls around forums just to bash warwick because s/he was rejected there several years ago.

lol...

The G5 does exist. Outside of Oxbridge, overall, there is a clear distinction between IC/LSE/UCL and the rest.

Mr. Roxas, whoever this Frenchous is, he/she is not me, so slightly confused as to why you're quoting me here... I've never applied to Warwick (though I've visited some good friends there).

RocknRap, There is certainly a second 'band' of universities below Oxbridge but it's broader than LSE/ICL/UCL & contains both St. Andrews and Warwick so don't worry OP. The idea of 'G5' was an invention of the Times Higher Ed to sell more papers. I think they last used the term in 2004... & have since then described variously, Durham, St. Andrews, UCL & others as 'the leading alternative to Oxford and Cambridge'.

Since then the concept's tortured existence is to be dragged up on forums by sixth-form students who are (usually) trying to come to peace with being rejected from Oxford / Cambridge. As is the 'British Ivy League'

As I said before if anyone tells you that there is one Uni in the top 10(ish) that is catagorically better than any of the others (excepting Ox/Cam) they are usually grinding some sort of axe...

Re Warwick vs. UCL debate, I don't recall the OP asking about that... I'm sure there's another forum somewhere where you can have this entirely pointless debate . Given that a significant number of you don't actually seem to be at university yet, I'd probably recommend you use the time to revise for your A-levels/IB/Highers/etc!

Anyone who puts Durham, Warwick or St. Andrews on the the same level as the top London uni's are simply deluded. There are departments at these uni's that are just as good as if not better than the corresponding ones at UCL/LSE/Imperial, but these are few and far between, and they are much more inconsistent. UCL/LSE/IC on the other hand have world class departments across the board.

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So I've received conditional offers from both Warwick and St Andrews, two universities I thought I had little to no chance of getting into The problem is that I've no idea which university I want to go to. St Andrews' offer has higher conditions than Warwick's and I'm not entirely certain I'll be able to meet them.

Also, both of these universities have completely different pros and cons:
First of all, as a EU citizen, I don't have to pay for my tuition at St Andrews'. Furthermore, St Andrews seems like a truly lovely town (and I love its architecture!) and it's a small university, which I think would make me more comfortable there as I'm rather shy and find meeting new people difficult. I love the history, the traditions, everything, but the cheaper accommodation (which is the only one I would be able to afford) is so grim and I've yet to hear anything positive about St Andrews' Economics department. Also, you have to study for four years and have only a few short holidays.

Warwick, on the other hand, seems to offer a higher-quality education and its accommodation seems to be better in general. Though, to be honest, it doesn't seem all that friendly. What with it being such a big and prestigious university, I'm really worried about not making any friends there and generally not fitting in. Also, there's the whole £27,000 loan...

Could anyone help me choose between these two? To me it seems like an impossible choice, I believe that no matter which university I'll choose, I'll regret not choosing the other one - both of them are excellent and utterly different! All opinions are welcome, I'd truly appreciate any help at all.