St Andrews or King's College London for postgraduate master degree?

I've been accepted at both KCL and St Andrews (as well as Lancaster and have applied for LSE but am not keen on going as its really expensive) and I'm wondering which would be the better uni to go to?

My parents are wanting me to go to St Andrews as it's more prestigious and is in the UK league tables however I'm not too keen on the degree there but I'm fine doing it, whereas KCL is sort of my dream uni atm as I really want to study in London to be able to network and land a good job also because I'm more keen on the degree and whilst I know it's a good uni it's not on any league tables for the UK so I'm just a bit worried I'll be going to a worse uni.

I have pros and cons about both unis.

St Andrews con's:
- remote uni (I'm already coming from a remote uni so I don't want to go to another one)
- less networking opportunities
- less employable degree

pros:
- prestigious
- more well known
- cheaper

KCL cons:
- expensive
- not on any league tables

Pros:
- more networking oppurtunites
- more job opportunities as I'll have to work while I'm there
- more interesting and relevant degree

I'm also a bit worried about finances and I know London is more expensive so I'm wondering if KCL's KAAS scheme is also open to postgraduates?

Reply 1

Animaniax

OP

2

Original post by Animaniax

I've been accepted at both KCL and St Andrews (as well as Lancaster and have applied for LSE but am not keen on going as its really expensive) and I'm wondering which would be the better uni to go to?

My parents are wanting me to go to St Andrews as it's more prestigious and is in the UK league tables however I'm not too keen on the degree there but I'm fine doing it, whereas KCL is sort of my dream uni atm as I really want to study in London to be able to network and land a good job also because I'm more keen on the degree and whilst I know it's a good uni it's not on any league tables for the UK so I'm just a bit worried I'll be going to a worse uni.

I have pros and cons about both unis.

St Andrews con's:
- remote uni (I'm already coming from a remote uni so I don't want to go to another one)
- less networking opportunities
- less employable degree

pros:
- prestigious
- more well known
- cheaper

KCL cons:
- expensive
- not on any league tables

Pros:
- more networking oppurtunites
- more job opportunities as I'll have to work while I'm there
- more interesting and relevant degree

I'm also a bit worried about finances and I know London is more expensive so I'm wondering if KCL's KAAS scheme is also open to postgraduates?

Also to add on to this should I try applying to UCL instead as I've heard that it's better than Kings? I'm very unsure what to do...

Reply 2

Anicius Boethius

1

Original post by Animaniax

I've been accepted at both KCL and St Andrews (as well as Lancaster and have applied for LSE but am not keen on going as its really expensive) and I'm wondering which would be the better uni to go to?

My parents are wanting me to go to St Andrews as it's more prestigious and is in the UK league tables however I'm not too keen on the degree there but I'm fine doing it, whereas KCL is sort of my dream uni atm as I really want to study in London to be able to network and land a good job also because I'm more keen on the degree and whilst I know it's a good uni it's not on any league tables for the UK so I'm just a bit worried I'll be going to a worse uni.

I have pros and cons about both unis.

St Andrews con's:
- remote uni (I'm already coming from a remote uni so I don't want to go to another one)
- less networking opportunities
- less employable degree

pros:
- prestigious
- more well known
- cheaper

KCL cons:
- expensive
- not on any league tables

Pros:
- more networking oppurtunites
- more job opportunities as I'll have to work while I'm there
- more interesting and relevant degree

I'm also a bit worried about finances and I know London is more expensive so I'm wondering if KCL's KAAS scheme is also open to postgraduates?

Firstly, congratulations on being accepted by these excellent universities!

King’s is every bit as prestigious as St Andrew’s (in fact it has considerably greater international prestige, with St Andrew’s being relatively unknown outside the UK).

King’s College London is consistently ranked among the best UK universities in the world, listed as 6th and 7th in the Times Higher Education and QS league tables respectively (substantially above St Andrews). So while St Andrews performs better on (somewhat flawed) domestic league tables than King’s, it is plain wrong to state King’s doesn’t have a league table presence.

Added to the prestige factors, King’s College London counts 14 Nobel Prize laureates among its faculty, compared to just 5 for St Andrew’s. King’s also has substantially more research output, while entry requirements for the two are broadly the same. Reputation wise, King’s is very similar to the likes of Edinburgh and Bristol.

Like a few other world reknowned universities, it suffers somewhat in the domestic rankings largely due to arbitrary student satisfaction ratings and the fact that its nursing school (the largest in the country) reduces the average entry tariff relative to institutions like UCL which have no such faculty.

All in all, these are both world class institutions and where you decide to go will likely be subject to the specifics of the course and location factors.

But it’s certainly not the case that one is substantially more prestigious than the other. If anything, King’s is the more rigorous of the two and with more notable alumni; so I would question whether your parents have all the facts to hand - especially if King’s is where you want to go!

In any case, I wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do.

Sources:

Times Higher Education League Tables: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-uk

QS League Tables: https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/world-university-rankings/top-universities-uk

Nobel Prize Laureates: https://global.ubc.ca/career/international-experiences/exchange/kings-college-london

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/our-people/nobel

(edited 5 months ago)

Reply 3

Ghostlady

21

My daughters is doing integrated masters at lancaster and her supervisor specialises in a particular field of research which she knows will set her up for her phd in that specialised subject.
So, I suppose it depends on the subject and also what your project/dissertation is going to be on and the help you are going to get from that uni and whether you deem it a good match.
She chose lancaster for good networking opportunities. its not deemed as prestigious in the eyes of TSR applicants on thread on here (although its in top 10 now :biggrin:

), but because of the networking, shes got to meet lots of potential employers and also they have great experience in her phd search and getting her where she needs to be (which is what shes doing over the next month or so).

So from your pro's id say kings out of the two, just solely for the opportunities, and like you say its your dream uni.

(edited 5 months ago)

St Andrews or King's College London for postgraduate master degree?

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