The Student Room Group
Carr Saunders Halls, LSE
London School of Economics
London

UCL, KCL or LSE?

Hi,
I am currently in a dilemma as to which university (UCL, KCL, LSE or ICL) I should take. I got Social and Geographic Data Science at UCL, Geographic Data Science at LSE, Environmental Data Science and Machine Learning at ICL and Sustainable Cities at KCL. My favorite would have been ICL, but the program is way too expensive compared to the others and unfortunately I had to deselect it because I can't manage to have the necessary money until September. For the others it would be enough, but I don't know which one I should take. I would prefer KCL or UCL in terms of program and courses, but I prefer a diverse cohort and many say LSE is the most diverse. Does anyone have any idea what the composition of student body of the courses would be like at these unis. So I would like to meet people from everywhere, so all continents.
Reply 1
Original post by Anonymous
Hi,
I am currently in a dilemma as to which university (UCL, KCL, LSE or ICL) I should take. I got Social and Geographic Data Science at UCL, Geographic Data Science at LSE, Environmental Data Science and Machine Learning at ICL and Sustainable Cities at KCL. My favorite would have been ICL, but the program is way too expensive compared to the others and unfortunately I had to deselect it because I can't manage to have the necessary money until September. For the others it would be enough, but I don't know which one I should take. I would prefer KCL or UCL in terms of program and courses, but I prefer a diverse cohort and many say LSE is the most diverse. Does anyone have any idea what the composition of student body of the courses would be like at these unis. So I would like to meet people from everywhere, so all continents.


In terms of diversity, I will not recommend you to go to LSE to study Geographic Data Science. LSE is diverse, but this program is not diverse. I am from the Department of Geography & Environment, and studied Environment and Development. I can tell you that all programs in the Department are diverse except of Geographic Data Science. This program was unbalanced in my opinion and more than half of the people are from China or Asian. I don't know about the diversity of KCL, UCL and ICL. But I hope I could help you.
Carr Saunders Halls, LSE
London School of Economics
London
Reply 2
LSE has the best reputation, but it is also worth considering UCL as it is in the top 10 global rankings and KCL is in the top 25.

It is a choice of LSE? or UCL? If you want mostly Asians in your degree, then choose LSE or otherwise go to UCL.
Reply 3
Original post by thegeek888
LSE has the best reputation, but it is also worth considering UCL as it is in the top 10 global rankings and KCL is in the top 25.

It is a choice of LSE? or UCL? If you want mostly Asians in your degree, then choose LSE or otherwise go to UCL.

I want a diverse cohort, so people from all over the world. I am self from Cyprus. My favorite would be Sustainable Cities at KCL or Social and Geographic Data Science at UCL. I don't really like the course names offer at LSE.
Original post by Anonymous
Hi,
I am currently in a dilemma as to which university (UCL, KCL, LSE or ICL) I should take. I got Social and Geographic Data Science at UCL, Geographic Data Science at LSE, Environmental Data Science and Machine Learning at ICL and Sustainable Cities at KCL. My favorite would have been ICL, but the program is way too expensive compared to the others and unfortunately I had to deselect it because I can't manage to have the necessary money until September. For the others it would be enough, but I don't know which one I should take. I would prefer KCL or UCL in terms of program and courses, but I prefer a diverse cohort and many say LSE is the most diverse. Does anyone have any idea what the composition of student body of the courses would be like at these unis. So I would like to meet people from everywhere, so all continents.

I don't study your course, but I also applied to UCL and KCL this year. If you like the course structure of KCL and UCL more, I'd advise you to focus on that. All three unis you mentioned are diverse and have large international student populations, but you are the one going to be studying the modules, so make sure you pick a course you would enjoy studying.

International student population (according to CUG 2020/21):

KCL- 41.4%
LSE- 54%
UCL- 54.3%
Reply 5
Go to UCL, better reputation than both KCL and LSE and LSE should always be at the bottom due to how toxic it is.
Reply 6
Yes, I think I will pick up Social and Geographic Data Science at UCL :smile: The courses seems very interesting, but Sustainable Cities at KCL sounds also interesting, but I think Social and Geographic Data Science has better job opportunities.
Original post by Anonymous
Go to UCL, better reputation than both KCL and LSE and LSE should always be at the bottom due to how toxic it is.
Reply 7
Hi, I’m an Italian student.
I’m currently holding three offers from these universities:
- Birkbeck, University of London in Msc Astrobiology.
-Brunel, Msc Environmental management.
- UCD in Dublin: Msc Environmental science.
I have read really bad things about Brunel in the last weeks, but also about Birkbeck.
I really like the course offered by Birkbeck because I want to do astrobiology also in a future PhD and I have read that they share the department of Earth and Planetary science with UCL.

I really need some feedback about all of them cause I want to make the best decisions.
Original post by annpao12
Hi, I’m an Italian student.
I’m currently holding three offers from these universities:
- Birkbeck, University of London in Msc Astrobiology.
-Brunel, Msc Environmental management.
- UCD in Dublin: Msc Environmental science.
I have read really bad things about Brunel in the last weeks, but also about Birkbeck.
I really like the course offered by Birkbeck because I want to do astrobiology also in a future PhD and I have read that they share the department of Earth and Planetary science with UCL.

I really need some feedback about all of them cause I want to make the best decisions.

Honestly, if it were me I'd pick the course that I liked best. Remember, bad reviews aside, you're going to be studying this course for 3 years straight, and you don't want it to end up being a burden. If Birbeck's course interests you and it shares ties with reputed institutions, I'd say go for that one. The experience will boost your CV all the more.

What have you read about Birbeck and Brunel that was negative? Was it related to your course, or just general?
Reply 9
Original post by sleep_supremacy
Honestly, if it were me I'd pick the course that I liked best. Remember, bad reviews aside, you're going to be studying this course for 3 years straight, and you don't want it to end up being a burden. If Birbeck's course interests you and it shares ties with reputed institutions, I'd say go for that one. The experience will boost your CV all the more.

What have you read about Birbeck and Brunel that was negative? Was it related to your course, or just general?


It was related to the uni in general. More specific about the evening classes and the age of the student that I may find in class. I have also read negative feedback about the staff and administration sometimes.
really good things about law department and psychology
Original post by annpao12
It was related to the uni in general. More specific about the evening classes and the age of the student that I may find in class. I have also read negative feedback about the staff and administration sometimes.
really good things about law department and psychology

Is evening class something that you are interested in, or would bother you? If not, I don't see how that's relevant. As for student's ages, unis do have mature students who wish to take up their studies later in life, and there's nothing wrong with that. If you have any specific concerns regarding this, you can always reach out to the uni directly and they will assist :smile:

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