This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

which is the best for economics and politics?

I applied to Leicester, Warwick, durham, LSE and queen mary, which ones the best, i want o move out of london but then again, LSE is in london which means i have to stay at home considering i live 5 minutes walking distance away. HElP??! is it worth living at home for LSE or moving away for univeristy life? :confused:

Reply 1

meowmix123

Warwick is probably the best for those two subjects in combination after LSE. Durham is decent too, although traditionally its politics department isn't always as well regarded as some of its other departments.

In terms of employment, you're not going to find a huge difference between LSE, Durham and Warwick. Queen Mary and Leicester aren't going to give you the same prospects though.

Reply 2

River85

17

Well, you have to understand that LSE are probably in a league of their own in both those subjects, well, certainly economics.

Durham and Warwick would then be next. Warwick probably having the edge, their economics department is no worse than Durham's and it is larger (which will give you a greater range of modules). I don't think there's a great deal to chose between the two in politics, again Warwick may just have the edge. The difference isn't significant. Don't be dazzled by Durham's AAA typical offers for politics and their new IR degree (plus possibly some JH programmes). It's not a department that matches Law, physics, english, history etc. in strength. It's still a good department, with good teaching (tutorials are of a consistantly high standard). But it isn't a department that can match LSE in IR or one or two of its other areas. I think it's far stronger in political thought and middle eastern politics, where it really is excellent. In IR and other areas they aren't. Not as strong as they like to think.

I don't think either of the two, Leicester in particular offer significantly inferior departments. Although I don't know anything about QMUL's economics department.

Why did you apply to two London universities if you wanted to move out of London, or have you only just realised you want to move out recently? I think that in most of its departments LSE isn't stronger (or much stronger) than Warwick and Durham. The two exceptions to this are economics and politics so please think carefully.

What attracts you to each uni (location wise)? Why do you need to stay at home if you went to LSE. Could you still not move out, even if it doesn't make financial sense?

Reply 3

ILIGAN

9

^ the post was generally okay, except that I don't think LSE has a significantly stronger economics program compared to Warwick at the undergrad level. LSE doesn't also have a significantly stronger program compared to Warwick and Durham for undergraduate education on all the rest of the programs. In fact, Warwick and Durham have many areas that are stronger than LSE's. The maths at Warwick, for example, would eat LSE's math alive. Lol... Maybe for grad and postgrad education LSE is stronger, but not at undergraduate level, definitely. Top employers wouldn't choose LSE Econ grad over Warwick Econ grad purely on the basis of school affiliation. The same thing applies for the rest of the programs amongst LSE, Warwick and Durham. And there are fields where Durham excels in. Durham is quite strong in physical sciences. It Physics dept, for example, is world-class or on par with Oxbridge and superior to Imperial's.

Times have really changed. London Unis used to be dominating in league tables especially 20 - 30 years ago. Their reputation was only slightly behind Oxbridge's. But that isn't quite true these days anymore for Warwick, Durham and St Andrews have really caught up in prestige level as well in the areas of student selectivity, teaching standards and employment prospects. Although I would admit that engineering at Imperial is still superior to all Uk unis except Oxbridge's, even at the undergrad level.

To the OP, if you're form London and would want to experience living outside London for 3 years, you will never be disappointed with Warwick. I supposed you wouldn't as well in Durham.

Reply 4

ByronicHero

20

you could still move out....

nothing is actually stopping you =]

Reply 5

zef99

15

ILIGAN

^ the post was generally okay, except that I don't think LSE has a significantly stronger economics program compared to Warwick at the undergrad level. LSE doesn't also have a significantly stronger program compared to Warwick and Durham for undergraduate education on all the rest of the programs.

W-R-O-N-G

LSE PWNS.

Reply 6

ILIGAN

9

zef99

W-R-O-N-G

LSE PWNS.

Not for undergrad, definitely.

There are only two UK unis that are significantly better than all the rest of the UK unis and these are Oxford and Cambridge. LSE is excellent for econ and politics and is much harder to get into than most unis in the UK, but that difference wouldn't make it SIGNIFICANTLY better than Warwick for Econ, and definitely, not significantly better than Warwick and Durham for politics. Maybe for grad and postgrad level it is, but for undergrad, that's just ridiculous. Look at the league tables, they're really close behind each other.

LSE's strength lies on its grad and postgrad edducation. About 50% of its population for those levels are international, signifying its internation prestige as a powerhouse in economics and politics. It also has an excellent research quality, which is international in approach. But those things matter mostly for grad and postgrad education, not so much for undergrad.

To the OP, if you really are looking for the best unis that would "pawn" all the rest of the unis in the UK and internationally, you've got to be looking for Oxbridge. LSE is good, but it's not quite there on Oxbridge's level for undergrad. Certainly just above Warwick and Durham. But, again, NOT significantly above.

Reply 7

pendragon

13

London School of Economics and Political Science... Does that answer your question?

Reply 8

River85

17

ILIGAN

LSE doesn't also have a significantly stronger program compared to Warwick and Durham for undergraduate education on all the rest of the programs.

That is true, but the OP isn't talking about "other programmes eg. law, philosophy..." where they are the same, sometimes LSE's slightly inferior. I'm sure he doesn't really care about them. He's referring to economics and politics only. LSE's politics department (government), generally speaking, is certainly stronger than Durham's. Not that Durham's department isn't fairly good, but unless you're interested in middle eastern politics, political thought or a few other areas or are particularly attracted to Durham's location, LSE is the better choice academically.

I'm a politics student and I'm at Durham. I'm also aware of the strenths and weakeness of LSE's department.

ILIGAN

Times have really changed. London Unis used to be dominating in league tables especially 20 - 30 years ago. Their reputation was only slightly behind Oxbridge's.

There were no "league tables" 20 or 30 years ago. The Times, Sunday Times etc. are only fifteen or so years old. Even 30 years ago there was little difference in strength and reputation amongst the London unis and Durham and Bristol. It's not as though they've improved significantly these past ten to twenty years. No more than many other unis. Back then they were still seen as being amongst the best places to go outside Oxford and Cambridge.

Reply 9

Paulwhy

13

smarty_kay

I applied to Leicester, Warwick, durham, LSE and queen mary, which ones the best, i want o move out of london but then again, LSE is in london which means i have to stay at home considering i live 5 minutes walking distance away. HElP??! is it worth living at home for LSE or moving away for univeristy life? :confused:

What offers have you got?
For economics ordering is LSE>Warwick>Durham>QM,Leicester
But I don't know much about for politics. (But I understand Warwick is also strong for politics)
And nature of uni is also a big factor.
e.g. living at home 5 mins from LSE sounds a really weird idea to me.

Reply 10

River85

17

Paulwhy

For economics ordering is LSE>Warwick>Durham>QM,Leicester
But I don't know much about for politics. (But I understand Warwick is also strong for politics).

Probably the same, actually (that's if you don't take the "LSE neglects its undergrads" argument which is a concern in their politics courses particularly). Warwick may just edge Durham in politics but the difference is very small, the different focus in their courses and the location being the real difference rather than any small difference in teaching, contact hours, research etc.