Did anyone else turn down an offer from LSE/Imperial for UCL?

This is just out of curiosity. I noticed people who have received an offer from Imperial for a science/math/engineering type of course will usually choose that as their firm, same goes for LSE and social science-type courses.

I got offers from both UCL and LSE for law and people are always surprised when I tell them I'd firmed UCL over LSE - I think it's really a matter of personal preference for my subject since they both have very strong law faculties. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Reply 1

IAmAStegosaurus

I did the same but for Philosophy. I did love LSE but I've seen a lot of warnings about a cliquey social scene and a fiercely competitive atmosphere and these things put me off... supposedly even the few 'fun' societies are full of competition :\ UCL seems a bit more fun, its SU looks heaps better with a much broader range of clubs/societies, and UCL has more open spaces for relaxing and revising :smile:

I just got a better feel from it, even though I was awestruck by LSE's library xD why did you go for UCL in the end? :smile:

University College London

London

Reply 2

joan2468

Original post by IAmAStegosaurus

I just got a better feel from it, even though I was awestruck by LSE's library xD why did you go for UCL in the end? :smile:

I didn't get the chance to visit either of them, since I'm an international student haha. But yeah I'd talked to seniors from my college who had gone to UCL or LSE and the feeling I got from their testimonies was that LSE's environment is just generally more high-pressure and competitive - not necessarily a bad thing but for me personally even in a low-pressure environment I tend to push myself too hard, so I would rather not exacerbate my tendency to over-stress myself even further :s-smilie:

Moreover I believe UCL's law faculty treats the Jurisprudence subject as a bigger thing since it's a significant part of their legacy, and Jurisprudence was one of my module must-haves when I was choosing unis to apply to - plus UCL has their Journal of Law and Jurisprudence that students participate in so that's something I was hoping to try my hand at :P

And I think prefer being in a multi-disciplinary uni - being surrounded by people from both the sciences and the arts makes student life more interesting imo.

Reply 3

Malefucius

hey joan i firmed ucl over lse law just last night. for me, my reasons are about the same as yours. was in a rather competitive pre-university school and while i managed to thrive and excel in that sort of environment, it wasn't that good for my menta/emotional state. let's see whether the next 3 years can change that. :P

Reply 4

trolololol

Not quite the same but I did turn down Cambridge for UCL. Honestly, the pleasure I get from telling people that was worth it alone.

I refuse to partake in this bull**** that requires you to consider the societal notion of "success" over your own happiness and what's best for you. Needless to say, I don't think I would've liked it at Cambridge.

Good decision, OP!

Reply 5

im7

I firmed UCL over Imperial! This was for medicine, so both universities are probably equal in terms of their reputation, but I much preferred the atmosphere at UCL

Reply 6

Slinky719

I got offers from and went to open days of both UCL and imperial (both for biochemistry, AAA). I rejected imperial because there was no social atmosphere, and reports of that from everyone else too. Also imperial has an 80:20 male:female ration (i was told by someone at imperial), which seemed stifling and weird.

Reply 7

Pyrospire

I also turned down an offer from Imperial for Biomed. I went to open days at both of the universities and UCL seemed much more interested in the prospective students than the people at Imperial. I also get the impression that the social atmosphere is a lot better at UCL. Hopefully we made the right call :smile:

Reply 8

iidaester

I turned down Anthropology at LSE for Archaeology and Anthropology at UCL. UCL's Institute of Archaeology is seriously good, and I like the idea of doing both Arch & Anth as opposed to just one of them. I also didn't get a good feel from LSE, it sounds like an intensely competitive environment. UCL just seems more fun, and I got a great feeling from my interview.

Also, from LSE's description of the degree, it seemed definitely more geared for working in the private sector, as opposed to preparing me for a career in research or non-profit work.

Reply 9

SR255

I turned down Imperial for UCL a long time ago. Nothing was wrong with UCL but I still regret it. Basically I was a young teen who only cared about social life so gave Imperial a wide berth. Most ironically I never made any friends at UCL and it is one of the reasons why I dropped out after a year. Even more ironically, now that I am older, more career minded and want to get into Imperial to just get the degree done they have upped their entry requirements making it very hard for me to get back in. Luckily they said they would accept some maths modules that I did at UCL instead of an A* in A level maths but I still need to do IELTS to get past the B in GCSE English Language requirement. Moral of the story don't choose somewhere just for social life. No matter how much the university promises, whether you will have a good social life or not depends on too many things to predict.

I would also like to add that if you do turn down Imperial for UCL be prepared to meet people who will literally hate on you because of it. Virtually everyone in my class was an Imperial reject and had a massive chip on their shoulder because of it. There was also a couple who turned down Oxbridge for UCL and by god they were annoying. Always dropping in conversation hat they "had an offer from Oxford but declined it" always going on about how "unique and non-conformist" they were because they chose not to be a part of the "Oxbridge old boys club". Then why did you apply in the first place? Seriously don't do this. Wherever you go there is no need to brag about what university offers you had.

Reply 10

drinibini

I turned down International Relations and History at LSE for Jewish History at UCL. I preferred the department at UCL, and the Uni as a whole. Fingers crossed I get in! XD