University College London

London

Is UCL really a good uni?

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calsbo

As others have said, it depends on the course. No real equivalent exists for the UCL course European Social and Political Studies which is extremely difficult to get into and students regularly turn down various courses at Oxbridge for it. (It's like a more flexible PPE with a European language.) Having said that, I understand that for other subjects (Audiology?) the entry requirements and therefore the competition is much lower than courses at other top unis.

I would agree with the poster who said that for top students, UCL is, generally speaking, a second choice to Oxbridge, while for a more mediocre student it would be a reach. This is a generalisation and of course several anomalies exist, such as Medicine, English, ESPS, and possibly Law and Economics.

In terms of international prestige, very few people in the US have ever heard of UCL. In fact, I find many people have never heard of Cambridge. It seems that Oxford is the highest perceived UK university in the US; most sixth form and university students will only know of Oxford and St. Andrews.

None of my US buddies have heard of LSE or Imperial either, kinda annoying when they're going on about unis to pick for social sciences or engineering blablabla :mad:

University College London

London

Reply 81

gammaknifed

awm55

i know, i was just stating that you would think the campus would be bigger when you realize how many students actually go there. you just bolstered my point.

and the whole of central london does not contain UCL buildings. what are you talking about? you can walk from one side of UCL's campus to the other in about 3 minutes.

Google maps says ~hour and a half walk between the furthest apart UCL buildings. Dunno where you got 3 mins from. You must be overlooking hundreds other UCL buildings that constitute its full "campus", such as all the UCL hospitals and the halls of residence etc, and restricting your analysis of UCL's size by just the main "campus" area around Gower street, which has all the familiar iconic UCL buildings. You do know it's not a campus university though right? I'm merely talking about a distance between the furthest apart UCL buildings that give a rough estimate of the span across London that UCL has buildings within. I have never thought that the "campus" would be bigger than it actually is for 22k students because I see UCL as part of the UoL and the whole of London being one big overlapping campus for all of these universities.

Reply 82

moonlight_freakout

paronomase

Hey,
I'm international (French)

Firstly, you're not considered international. Like you, I'm from Europe (Italy) and we're considered like 'home' students because we'll pay the same amount as UK students, so it's not like they would give us more offers (as someone like LSE would do with internationals students)

secondly, UCL really is a prestigious school, but you hve to see the subject. for example, for engineering it's ranked really low, but for something like economics or psychology, it's really high...so it all depends from the subject.

Reply 83

moonlight_freakout

Superfrank

They've accepted you all because that will get them a lot of money.

Nope, being french is like being a UK student since the rates are the same. they'll get more money from 'international' as in non-EU applicants. (I know this because i'm applying from Italy)

Reply 84

gammaknifed

Bubbles*de*Milo

And I didn't even say KCL wasn't good, just not as good as UCL, mong.

Damn right! :yep:

Reply 85

domino0806

iamru

st andrews is overrated but warwick is honestly a top uni....

I'd say it's the other way around. Warwick is like a filthy little gimp of a university.

Reply 86

iamru

MarinaM

It's well-respected, and it's got well-renowned departments for East European studies and Linguistics. (Two subjects that leap immediately to mind.)

I know the head of their post-grad neuroscience department (in the Medical Faculty), and he turned down a post at Cambridge to continue teaching there. Based on that anecdotal evidence, it can't be that bad!

What makes you say that?! :lolwut:

Ok, I think it is a great university but a few people i know (due to gd league table rankings which are a product of its amazing student satisfaction scores :rolleyes:

) think it is the 3rd best uni in the country behind camb/oxford and better than LSE, Imperial and UCL...sorry but that is just not true!
it is a brilliant place to have a great student experience and a strong uni for undergrad, i would say they are a top 10 uni for undergrad but not 3rd

Reply 87

choongsta

chloedabell

History isn't one of the most competitive courses?

well i'm sure it's competitive, but perhaps not as competitive as medicine?

maybe i'm just being biased :p:

anyway excuse my ignorance if it is very competitive, i just meant relatively speaking

Reply 88

schnargle

calsbo

I would agree with the poster who said that for top students, UCL is, generally speaking, a second choice to Oxbridge, while for a more mediocre student it would be a reach. This is a generalisation and of course several anomalies exist, such as Medicine, English, ESPS, and possibly Law and Economics.

In terms of international prestige, very few people in the US have ever heard of UCL. In fact, I find many people have never heard of Cambridge. It seems that Oxford is the highest perceived UK university in the US; most sixth form and university students will only know of Oxford and St. Andrews.

My sister's at UCL and apparently her year is full of Oxbridge rejects who were quite happy to accept an offer from their second choice. :p:

UCL's not very well-known in Asia either - when people ask my sister which uni she's at and she tells them "UCL", she tends to get the same reaction that she would if she'd told them "I'm doing Spice Girls Studies at ____ Polytechnic" - they assume that because they haven't heard of it, it must be really crap (when in fact it's the opposite). Funnily enough, Cambridge is usually perceived here as being slightly higher up than Oxford, simply because they associate Cambridge with science and science as being better than arts. :rolleyes:

Reply 89

username330427

iamru

Ok, I think it is a great university but a few people i know (due to gd league table rankings which are a product of its amazing student satisfaction scores :rolleyes:

Haha, fair enough. :p:

I agree they're probably not third, based on what I have heard, but your post implied that they were not any good at all. At least, that is how I read it. Apologies!

Reply 90

iamru

MarinaM

Haha, fair enough. :p:

I agree they're probably not third, based on what I have heard, but your post implied that they were not any good at all. At least, that is how I read it. Apologies!

Yeah sorry my post did make it seem that way :smile:

. May I ask why you are considering reapplying next year when you have offers from everywhere except cambridge?

edit: silly me you are applying for different subjects lol. Well, why not contact the unis that you do have offers from and ask if you can be transferred to their linguistics course when you get there or whether they can change your offer to linguistics, if you are certain that you want to change...

Reply 91

username330427

iamru

Yeah sorry my post did make it seem that way :smile:

Out of the other four I have applied to, only one offers a Linguistics course, which specifies preferred subjects. Therefore, should I reapply next year, I would do an additional A-Level and additional reading which would be more helpful for Linguistics, and strengthen my application from a straight transferral. I hope. :smile:

Aside from which, I technically haven't been given an offer from Durham. :p:

Reply 92

cgpas

Bubbles*de*Milo

No one with any real knowledge of London unis would rate KCL as 'more prestigious' or better than UCL.

you cant generalise.
with courses like medicine i would say they are equal in terms of prestige

Reply 93

username196545

cgpas

you cant generalise.
with courses like medicine i would say they are equal in terms of prestige

Of course I can generalise, and generally UCL is seen as more prestigious than KCL.

It's not a difficult concept, nor is it untrue.

Reply 94

Dynamitri

choongsta

well i think the fact that you are international applicants

They're French, but still EU.

Fees for EU are the same as UK fees. Your argument is therefore invalid - would have made sense with US applicants or people from Asia, but not European Union ones.

/thread. kthxbai etc.

Reply 95

cgpas

Bubbles*de*Milo

Of course I can generalise, and generally UCL is seen as more prestigious than KCL.

It's not a difficult concept, nor is it untrue.

oh yeah thats why many americans haven't even heard of it

Reply 96

ParadigmShift

cgpas

oh yeah thats why many americans haven't even heard of it

Which universities Americans have or have not heard of is your method of judging prestige? :curious:

Reply 97

username196545

cgpas

oh yeah thats why many americans haven't even heard of it

So, loads of Americans have specifically heard of KCL rather than UCL? Hmmmmmm, don't think so :smile:

And that has nothing to do with anything at all. Bristol is seen as more prestigious than London Met, it doesn't matter who's heard of Bristol or not, that's still a fact. Your counter argument is terrible and flawed.

And if UCL isn't seen as more prestigious than KCL, why is UCL higher than KCL in every single league table?

Reply 98

cgpas

ParadigmShift

Which universities Americans have or have not heard of is your method of judging prestige? :curious:

prestige is partly related to being widely recognised and america and uk have close links so many people in UK have heard of yale harvard etc, and some UK unis in america are well known and UCL isn't always one of them

i'm not saying UCL's not good, it is no doubt about it but having lived in america all I'm saying is that its not too well known over there atm, will probs change in the future.