Imperial College London

London

Is Imperial College London prestigious?

Hey guys, I'm an international student.

I know some people may be biased since this is an ICL forum but I don't know where to ask, so please as best as you can, how prestigious is ICL overall in the UK and in the World?

I am not looking at particular fields but just generally the name ICL.

And more importantly, is it more prestigious than LSE?

I'd like some idea, as I know nothing of London.

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Reply 1

username638250

Original post by pateknautilus

It is definitely prestigious in the UK; although the average person probably hasn't heard of it, employers have. Worldwide, not so much; it's unheard of in most circles, although I've heard that it's known in a few East Asian countries.
For domestic prestige, I'd say they're roughly the same. Worldwide, LSE definitely.

Imperial College London

London

Reply 2

ihavemooedtoday

Eh? which field are you in?

They specialize in very different things. LSE specializes in social sciences and ICL specializes in hard sciences and engineering. It's like comparing Yale to MIT. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Comparing UCL to LSE would probably make more sense.

Outside of the UK, neither LSE nor ICL are household names. Most people from North America only know Cambridge and Oxford. Though many people in academia in North America, especially those with some European experiences, do know about ICL. I don't know about LSE because they don't have my field (or if they do, it's not on the same level as ICL).

Reply 3

natties

I'm from NYC and went to a highly ranked uni for CompSci. In the UK, ICL is amazing and as well known as MIT is in the US. In the US, no one really knows what it is. Everyone knows and respects LSE in the US, however. I hope this helps :smile:

Reply 4

parentlurker

while this does depend on your subject (and I agree comparing LSE and ICL is odd) ICL is a university known internationally by employers as it often features in international league tables of "top" universities. It's not as well known as Oxford/Cambridge. While individual students abroad may not have heard of it you'll find employers who recruit internationally will recognise it, although they may see it mainly as turning out good engineers. It has a high proportion of international students who appear to have no problem finding work they return to their home countries.

A friend's child is there at present and has has found it very easy to get summer work relevant to his degree, this obviously helps with job hunting later.

Reply 5

MichelBraga

Prestige-wise, worldwide:

Oxbridge
LSE
UCL
ICL

It is prestigious, but not much as like UCL, because it only covers certain subjects. But in those subjects, ICL is really well-known.

Reply 6

username638250

Original post by MichelBraga

Prestige-wise, worldwide:

Oxbridge
LSE
UCL
ICL

It is prestigious, but not much as like UCL, because it only covers certain subjects. But in those subjects, ICL is really well-known.

LSE only covers a few subjects... There really isn't much in it between UCL and IC (no one actually calls it ICL, apparently) worldwide.

Reply 7

Theophile

Original post by pateknautilus

It is very prestigious in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia. It is well respected in the US by people in the know, not known by general public because US has lots of great unis and because Americans have a poor knowledge of what is going on outside their country.

Compare to LSE, hard to tell, they are doing different things, LSE is smaller but more well-known in the US at least as their most famous president studied there. Worldwide wise, I don't know.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8

username638250

Original post by ihavemooedtoday

Maybe Maths?

Reply 9

MichelBraga

Original post by yl95

LSE only covers a few subjects... There really isn't much in it between UCL and IC (no one actually calls it ICL, apparently) worldwide.

LSE is a political institute, many students became prime ministers, CEOs, presidents, etc... much more media visibility. LSE is an exception for specialist schools, like Sciences Po Paris. UCL is a bit more known to the common public than IC, but the gap is not that much, I agree.

Reply 10

Theophile

Original post by MichelBraga

I am not sure why you insist on that. OP was asking about Imperial and LSE. Anyway I'd say Imperial is more known than UCL, stronger across the range of subjects it offers.

Reply 11

MichelBraga

Original post by Theophile

I am not sure why you insist on that. OP was asking about Imperial and LSE. Anyway I'd say Imperial is more known than UCL, stronger across the range of subjects it offers.

I'm not insisting, the subject just came up, I'm simply responding and using the example of UCL to explain how IC is known across the world. UCL is a multi-faculty uni, with a prestige in all the subjects it covers, from med to social sciences, so it is naturally more known.

IC may be stronger in the subjects it offers, but the fact that it is a specialist school makes it only known for those interested in the area. And tech and engineering schools don't appear often in the news, like political institutes like those I've mentioned. But, again, the gap is short, IC is a respected institution and has a lot prestige, the OP shouldn't worry about that.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 12

kkboyk

Imperial is prestigious only in the science community (as all the others have clarified). To be honest I had never heard of Imperial until I started studying sciences for A-levels.

Reply 13

Observatory

Original post by pateknautilus

I know some people may be biased since this is an ICL forum but I don't know where to ask, so please as best as you can, how prestigious is ICL overall in the UK and in the World?
Very in the UK. You won't get a good view of outside UK from this forum.

And more importantly, is it more prestigious than LSE?

No, but kind of meaningless as they have little subject overlap.

Reply 14

ViralRiver

If it's any help, my professors and peers in Singapore (exchange year) pretty much all knew what Imperial was (they all referred to it as IC or ICL, which was weird...), apart from one professor who is an MIT alumnus - he'd never heard of it.

Reply 15

nmjasdk

imperial is basically the most prestigious in the UK, every subject they do they do it very well and are very competitive to enter for (this statement is kind of a good estimate btw so dont take my word for it), for example UCL the fourth best in the UK for my subject entry requirements is AAA for imperial its A*A*A.

whats clear though in the UK prestige is in this order
cambridge and oxford
imperial
ucl
...

lse i have no idea because they dont even do courses like engineering and that from my knowledge.

Reply 16

pateknautilus

would love more input

Reply 17

MichelBraga

Original post by nmjasdk

Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial and UCL are the top tier, but when it comes to prestige and reputation worldwide:

1) Oxbridge
2) LSE
3) UCL
4) IC

For the same reasons I've already pointed. Oxbridge for obvious reasons, then LSE for being a political institute (produces more famous people, presidents, prime ministers, diplomats, people with more media exposure).

UCL for being multi-faculty and for reasons similar to LSE, but having less edge, and then IC, being extremely respected in its area, but that creates a limitation because the media popularity of the subjects covered by IC is not high like those covered by LSE.

Of course, I'm considering people that have the minimum familiarity with the academic world, but the average joe will only know Oxbridge and in some cases LSE.

But resuming, yes, Imperial is obviously prestigious.