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Durham v LSE

Trier

...

LSE has the benefit of being in the City, but otherwise it has little reason to be better than Durham.

I agree almost entirely with Lawz's rankings in the sticky on the front page.

Discretly for law, yes your right. But there are also other factors as the thread started did say 'overall'. With this is mind, International rep is far, far greater. LSE's overall greater domestic rep which influences it's law department (as shown by the fact that LSE has never dropped out the top 5 in any overall league table.)

Only disadvantage is that london lifestyle is very expensive, and some people may find the large percentage of foreign students intimidating.

Reply 21

Trier

1

tiantang

Discretly for law, yes your right. But there are also other factors as the thread started did say 'overall'. With this is mind, International rep is far, far greater. LSE's overall greater domestic rep which influences it's law department (as shown by the fact that LSE has never dropped out the top 5 in any overall league table.)

Only disadvantage is that london lifestyle is very expensive, and some people may find the large percentage of foreign students intimidating.

Yes, but 'overall', nobody actually cares about international reputation because the usual student won't be leaving the country.

Also, if you are taking law, and intend to have a career in it, Durham is hardly going to be a problem with the normal student.

That is why I think the other factors like expense, location, foreign intake et cetera are far more important to the prospective student- if you don't like the university, it doesn't matter how good its reputation is.

Reply 22

ryan342

1

which numbers have i boasted about....

It's sufficiently clear in my post that I was talking about superiority rather than numbers.

......i cant think of one AAA student at my school for law who didn't get an offer from durham, who applied out of about 10-15 yet only two got LSE offers and out of those 2 one got cambridge offer as well........

This is very anecdotal and as such is really quite weak (as somebody pointed out above).

.....but if cost matters to you a fair bit than maybe Durham is a better choice, because the differences in the standards of universities aren't that great to warrant spending more than you can afford in London.....

Whilst cost is an important issue for the majority of students I would not allow it to get in the way if I thought LSE was significantly better.

....however when all factors are the same, i cant think of why someone would choose durham over LSE

I think we've established it comes down to personal choice; let's not get in to a petty slagging match of 'my university's better that yours'. I also have some revision to do and this procrastination, whilst interesting, is really not helping.

Reply 23

tiantang

8

Yes, but 'overall', nobody actually cares about international reputation because the usual student won't be leaving the country.

What about overall domestic rep then? the fact that LSE hasn't ever dropped out of the top 5 or it being branded the 'g5' in the Russel group survery. How do you argue against the aforementioned TSR polls.

Also, if you are taking law, and intend to have a career in it, Durham is hardly going to be a problem with the normal student.

No one said it would be.

That is why I think the other factors like expense

Agree, whats the average price up in durham per month? In london it's been quoted 1k!

location

London on that account. West end, the soho sex shops and leicester square clubs, oxford street, the resources on totenham court road all make london better. However Durham would benifit from better sports facilities.

if you don't like the university, it doesn't matter how good its reputation is.

totally agree.

Reply 24

Trier

1

tiantang

What about overall domestic rep then? the fact that LSE hasn't ever dropped out of the top 5 or it being branded the 'g5' in the Russel group survery. How do you argue against the aforementioned TSR polls.

No one said it would be.

Agree, whats the average price up in durham per month? In london it's been quoted 1k!

London on that account. West end, the soho sex shops and leicester square clubs, oxford street, the resources on totenham court road all make london better. However Durham would benifit from better sports facilities.

totally agree.

I'm playing the Devil's advocate I suppose. :smile:

The domestic reputation isn't really a large factor in terms of employment as someone mentioned earlier.

What is important is how well-deserved it appears to the applicant.

If the course structure/specialisms of the teachers are suited to the applicant, then LSE may be a far better choice.

I think with LSE and Durham the major choice is between whether you want to be provincial or in the City.

For me, Durham is far far far too far way and in the middle of nowhere, so could never be my choice- but some people may like it.

As for the costs of London- it has never really struck me as a big difference.

If you look at rent, Oxford is the most expensive in the country, not London.

Travelling costs would probably make Durham more expensive anyway. :rolleyes:

Reply 25

lawgrad

6

Trier

A survey of the major Law firms I read recently, rating their favourite universities.

Actually, I have also read such a survey when I was at uni asking City firms to list their university preferences. Atfer Oxbridge, Bristol, King's and UCL came way above LSE there. But to be fair, that is probably because City firms consider LSE to be over-populated with overseas students, so their first port of call would be the more 'traditional' English law schools.

And this is very clearly reflected in the trainee population at the top City firms. They are DEFINITELY more Bristol, UCL and King's graduates than LSE graduates at ALL the top law firms I have been to. Of course, again this is probably because many LSE law graduates return to their home countries.

Reply 26

thegame

Interesting, on a law lecture, i was told it was oxbridge (more the bridge side :p:

) and then LSE, UCL, Bristol, Manc...

I have also noticed that, in particular, LSE students aren't often seen at the bar compared to UCL and Kings; perhaps because so many decide to go into banking/business.

On the other hand i know personally several LSE solicitors who have top LPC contracts.

Reply 27

Wings_cp

7

tiantang

(as shown by the fact that LSE has never dropped out the top 5 in any overall league table.)

...and when did we start believing the league tables???

Personally i dont think there is much of a difference so long as you are in the top ten. Which uni one attends will never be THE deciding factor, it will be your other abilities which will get you the job. You wont ever be in a position where you will think, "dam, i wish i had chosen Durham over LSE, then i would've gotten the job" or vice versa.

I personally believe LSE is gr8 fun since i have a lot of friends there and i love london, but u may feel different. When the level at both institutions is so close, it's just nit picking if u firmly chose one being better than the other.

Reply 28

thegame

Wings_cp

...and when did we start believing the league tables???

I've always felt overall league tables have a quite a bit of truth especially in the higher echelons though subject tables are rubbish. Oxbridge never leaving the top 2 spaces, similarly with Imparial and LSE with top 5 (i think), and UCL just below does reflect the "g5".

I've also read many times that city firms prefer oxbridge then UoL unis (i.e. LSE, UCL, Kings) and that it is of benifit to go to a UoL uni, if not for its rep amongst city firms but also for constant lectures, meetings, etc which are common in london.

Reply 29

tiantang

8

Wings_cp

...and when did we start believing the league tables???
.

When it happens continuously for several years in two independent tables. In such a scenario it can be considered reliable (though not absolute.)! :rolleyes:

Regardless, i do completely agree that in the case of LSE vs. Durham, personal preferance, location, etc plays as much role as reputation.

'thegame' or anyone else, have statisitcs for oxbridge or UoL percentages in city firms?

Reply 30

goneaway56

6

jiggaman7

yes good post i agree with that...but however i think that all things being equal going to LSE will mean more than durham,manchester and nottingham...but as lawz says its very unlikely to be equal and a 1st from durham would probably be preferred to a 2.1 from oxford....

....but i do agree that the difference is not significant really but i still believe there is a difference

There is a difference, but it's not within the UK legal sector.

It becomes noticed more at an international level ... and to a small extent to those outside the UK legal industry (in finance particularly and generally).

Reply 31

Evil Muffin

1

Wings_cp

...and when did we start believing the league tables???

Haha, thats so so ironic on this website of league table fascists :biggrin:

Reply 32

thegame

tiantang

When it happens continuously for several years in two independent tables. In such a scenario it can be considered reliable (though not absolute.)! :rolleyes:

Regardless, i do completely agree that in the case of LSE vs. Durham, personal preferance, location, etc plays as much role as reputation.

'thegame' or anyone else, have statisitcs for oxbridge or UoL percentages in city firms?

I googled this a while back and it revealed that the most I think was (lovells) with 55% oxbridge 30% UoL but msot others were around 30% oxbridge.

Reply 33

Wings_cp

7

Evil Muffin

Haha, thats so so ironic on this website of league table fascists :biggrin:

lol

so true!

Reply 34

otnemem

tiantang

LSE is also part of the 'G5', and the importance of being in London cannot be neglected as many large Law firms are in london.

This is something I posted on another thread. I would write something new but, quite frankly, I can't be bothered. Hell, right now I feel so indolent I can't even be arsed to go the loo despite the fact that I've been wanting to for the past 20 minutes.

"I still fail to understand the justifications behind this infatuation people seem have with London. As if the fact that you can actually go to Liverpool Street every Friday and sit in front of the Herbert Smith office, praying for the hot graduate recruitment woman (this is something of a mystery -- all graduate recruitment people I have met are hot women: must be a cross-firm standard requirement) to come down, shag you on the very bench you were comfortably resting on and then give a training contract, is actually going to make one blip of a difference. Well, let me tell you, in case you are such a hopeless dreamer not to realise it yourself, it won't. So unless you can actually afford a comfortable student life in London, I seriously fail to see the point of struggling to get 1000 part-time jobs to pay the rent whilst simultaneously trying to read all the articles ever published on whatever unfortunate topic you happen to stumble upon in order to further your unconditional desire to be the first and only undergraduate in the history of time to have gotten 100% in an exam paper and, whilst doing all that, bickering with your stingy landlord because the washing machine (in your Zone 5 flat from which it takes 4 hours and 5 minutes to reach the faculty) broke, flooding the entire floor-surface, including all those Treitel articles you had meticulously photocopied from the (really far away) library but had carelessly left on the floor because your were too tired after your 12 hour shift at your 27th part-time employment. Go to (Durham), pay 10p a month for accommodation and have a blast -- don't worry the hot Clifford Chance recruiting women will come chasing after you in (almost) equal measure."

Also, and please note this a fresh/original contribution (somehow, I fell less lethargic now), although London is indubitably the nicest, liveliest and wealthiest city in Europe, it is not exactly heaven on earth - well, most of it anyway. True, there may be neighbourhoods where everything is ridiculously pristine, where the very air you inhale oozes safe luxury, where the cheapest car you are likely to find parked on the side of the road is a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. But, and this is a but of gargantuan proportions, unless you are Branson's daughter, there is no way in Purgatory that you can even dream to afford to live there as a student (a bit of an hyperbolic statement, of course, but you surely get my point). So, if you are slightly better off, you'll probably live somewhere orbiting around Islington, Covent Garden or Camden, and if you are slightly worse off, chances are it'll be something like Kennington or Seven Sisters. Now, whether it is Covent Garden or Seven Sisters, the likelihood of you being stepped on/spat on/begged on/approached by a moaning Big Issue seller/squashed by a group of s**t-faced, hideous middle-aged women pathetically coming out of a party bus instead of being home and ensuring that their "youngling" chavs don't go around wearing hoods and killing people, is alarmingly high, especially for the extortionate rent you pay for your 2sqm studio flat.

In addition, do not underestimate the London Underground. Without the tiniest ounce of doubt, it constitutes the most accurate contemporary representation of what Dante had in mind for his Inferno during his ravenous, drug-fuelled writing sprees. For further clarification on this point, please do feel free to click on the following link:

http://www.kontraband.com/show/show.asp?ID=1833

Hence the only thing I could possibly say to bring this farce of a post to some sort of decorous conclusion is: follow the advice of the billion other posters in this forum who have relentlessly, though, it seems, unsuccessfully, attempted to emphasise that the only place that will give you a considerable edge in your quest for the top-job is Oxbridge. Following at a substantial distance are LSE/UCL/King’s/Durham (yes, virtually on par with “the” LSE)/Nottingham, with the hordes of other decent faculties trailing marginally behind. Needless to say, this is likely to sound most ludicrous to those LSE students/alumni who applied to that particular school so that they could record a mnemonic tape containing the following - “The LSE is the best university (after Oxbridge). It is indubitable that it’s a step above all the other lowly institutions infesting the once-rarefied academic Olympus. It is equally unquestionable that, once I graduate, Mr. J.P. Morgan or Mr. Clifford Chance will swoosh down and hand me the top-job on a golden plate.” – and listen to it whilst sleeping.

Reply 35

Sleep

So true. That flash sums up London really well

Reply 36

clouds

As i say before both are very good school.However, i think that LSE is better if u r going there to do econs.I still think thAt durham is better for law as ONE OF THEIR MOST RESPECTABLE COURSE IS LAW..what OTNEMEN sounds does really sums up wjat london is all abt..it was really funny n witty otnemen=)

Reply 37

TheWolf

15

It's actually London school of economics and political science, and Law is a part of political science.

Reply 38

clouds

yup..hahah i miss that out.But i still seriously feels that durham is the place to go if u r doing law not taking oxford or cambridge in account..

Reply 39

tiantang

8

I still think that durham is better for law as ONE OF THEIR MOST RESPECTABLE COURSE IS LAW

LSE law is just as respected! It is only naive outsiders who believes it isnt and certainly not the view of employers. LSE even takes more Law students than discrete Eco. LSE is ranked 2nd in the world for social sciences, and that believe it or not includes Law.

Durham v LSE

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