University College London

London

LSE or UCL?

Hey all!
I got two offers from UCL for Mathematics with Economics and Mathematics with Management

I would like to know that ranking wise UCL in 4th in world in qs world ranking while LSE is below 60?
Which university should i opt for ?
Which is better in terms of gaining employment?
Thansk

Reply 1

Intriguing Alias

Some discussion here

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=35849578

What you're going to hear is LSE is slightly better employment-wise, but it's a grim place to study while UCL is fun and only a tiny bit worse for employment prospects.

University College London

London

Reply 2

Minotauro

LSE is the best at what they do.

Reply 3

rfuzzy

I know ive heard lse is better but why is its ranking so low??
And i havent received any offer from them yet?
WHat do i do?

Reply 4

Intriguing Alias

Original post by rfuzzy

I know ive heard lse is better but why is its ranking so low??
And i havent received any offer from them yet?
WHat do i do?

Don't pay attention to the league tables. They are also based on things like student satisfaction, if you're looking for a 'reputation' league table for employment then just sort by that on QS world rankings. On that, LSE is 4th and UCL is 34th - but even then this will be skewed so you can never really be that sure.

If you haven't actually received an offer then there's no point worrying, is there? LSE is very hard to get into, it's statistically likely that you won't get an offer (as harsh as that may sound).

Reply 5

rupertj

Original post by rfuzzy

Which course do you want to do at LSE?

The world ranking you're referring to is THE-QS World Universities Ranking. It is currently biased against universities that don't do sciences. Obviously LSE doesn't do natural sciences, and so since the THE-QS people changed their methodology around 2004-2005, LSE has slipped from 11th to 60-something. It doesn't mean a thing about how good they are for Economics and so on.

If you look at the THE-QS ranking for Economics, you'll find that LSE is 4th in the world, ahead of Oxford and Cambridge. So even if you did care about rankings - which I don't believe you should pay too much attention to - LSE is the highest in the UK for the sort of courses you want to do.

In terms of employability, some league tables say that LSE makes you marginally more employable. Take that as you wish...

Spoiler

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 6

Schlegel

Original post by hassi94

I would ignore the tiny difference on that either, seeing that UCL is ranked 19th and LSE 37th on the THE rankings :wink:

.

But, yeah, league tables don't matter much, it's more dependent on whether you prefer the course content and the atmosphere at LSE.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 7

Investment Banker

Original post by rfuzzy

In terms of the courses you mentioned , there isnt any difference at all which one is better as they are the same .... Going to either will put you at the same level , the thing is most TSR's are clueless about these universities , and you hear them advising you 'everything' yet they have no idea at all . According to companies , studying at any top 5 unis is almost the same as the quality of those students are just similar , its down to you how you perform at uni . Look , league tables shouldnt be a factor though natuarally one is bound to check . If you follow the tables , then UCL all the way because they are in the best 10-20 every year whereas LSE is another story . Studying finance courses at both unis is basically the same though UCL has fewer finance courses whereas almost every LSE course is linked to banking hence more students in IB than from UCL but not necessarily meaning LSE is better but the fact is LSE has more students applying for Investment banking roles than those from UCL which has a variety of specialities ...The reason i gave you an example of this nature is i know the only reason why someone asks such a question is he/she has IB on his mind .. :colondollar:

Reply 8

Intriguing Alias

Original post by Schlegel

I would ignore the tiny difference on that either, seeing that UCL is ranked 19th and LSE 37th on the THE rankings :wink:

.

But, yeah, league tables don't matter much, it's more dependent on whether you prefer the course content and the atmosphere at LSE.

Yeah as I said the results will be skewed so it really depends on which table you're looking at, they're all gonna have different set ups :tongue:

Reply 9

rfuzzy

Thank You All for your responses! :smile:

Do you know if someone has received an offer from LSE yet because i heard they give offers around March?
Also what are the chances of getting into LSE if i have more than 9A* and 3As?
I applied for Economics and Mathematics Course There

Anyone of you applied to UCL Or Imperial?

Reply 10

rfuzzy

Original post by hassi94

Why is that?I heard LSE gives offers around March??Please dont crush my hopess :frown:

Reply 11

Intriguing Alias

Original post by rfuzzy

Why is that?I heard LSE gives offers around March??Please dont crush my hopess :frown:

I'm not saying you won't get it. I'm saying that only like 10% of people who apply get in (perhaps less), so there's no use worrying about a decision you may not have to make.

You're right that a lot of offers go out in March time-ish, but there's still no guarantee you'll get in so no point wasting time thinking about this for now :smile:

Reply 12

Intriguing Alias

Original post by rfuzzy

Thank You All for your responses! :smile:

A few people on this forum have received Maths and/with Economics offers. Not very many, though. And your GCSEs or whatever aren't exactly enough for us to go on. They're good, and if you are rejected they definitely won't be the reason; but we still don't know either way. Just be patient! :tongue:

Reply 13

rfuzzy

Original post by hassi94

What do u mean 12A*s are not good enough???

Reply 14

Intriguing Alias

Original post by rfuzzy

What do u mean 12A*s are not good enough???

I never said they were or were not good enough. I said there's more to your application than just your GCSEs, so just saying you have x GCSEs at grade A* doesn't allow us to KNOW whether you will get in or not, you may be accepted or you may be rejected. There are other factors to consider (many of which we can not evaluate, they pay people to do admissions for a reason).

Reply 15

Mike93L

I'd just like to say LSE is ranked lower in league tables because it focuses so much in economics/social sciences. If you look at subject tables, it's much nearer the top for subjects like economics. e.g. it's ranked 6th by QS in the world for social sciences and management while UCL is 27th.

UCL is still a great uni though. :smile: