KCL v Warwick?

I'd go for Kings, much more opportunities for intern-ships and work-exp in London. Social life wise King's will be a tad better, Warwick is after all in a forest (a nice forest I might add).

Exchange program, well, I think King's does a few exchanges too, but Warwick might win on that one. League table wise be careful different League tables use different criteria and put different weight on the info. what I am trying to say, that you could actually go and find league tables for student satisfaction... and i bet you that the uni that comes top will be sucky.


Best of luck and maybe see you at Kings then

Yeah, Kings for the social scene/London and Warwick for the exchange/slightly higher prestige!

Thanks for your help! Maybe I will see you at Kings in the end

I'd go for Kings, much more opportunities for intern-ships and work-exp in London.

Someone is in for a sharp and harsh arrival back down to planet earth.

I've visited King's this week. It's pretty and quite grand but I didn't feel the instant "I love it" or connection to the uni...time to visit Warwick now

If you do decide to come Kings we do have a group for offer holders:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/124242814433712/

Hi guys!

I've got an offer from KCL for International Relations and Warwick for Politics and International Studies.

I'm absolutely torn between the 2!
I LOVE the location of Kings, it's perfect and I adore London. But I think Warwick overall is ranked higher in the league tables and is slightly more prestigious. Also, Warwick's exchange programme in second year with American unis sounds amazing.

If you had the choice between the 2, which would you pick and why?

Don't listen to LutherVan when it comes to his weird ranking of "international prestige", he is repeating that nonsense in other threads. There is no elite of 9 universities with higher international prestige than others, at most 2 (Oxford and Cambridge).

Now, if you worry about getting internships easier at King's - don't! Warwick is one of the very top targeted universities in the UK, loads of companies come here to get students. We don't live in an age anymore where distance from a place matters as much anymore, and I reckon the internship possibilities are at the very least as good as KCL, probably better as Warwick is more targeted by banks (not sure if that's your interest though).

When it comes to social life, it's what you make of it, but that's true at any university. If you stay in your room, you will have a poor social life, and being in London will not change that. At Warwick, have the biggest student union in the country, with a huge number of societies for basically anything; same for sport clubs. Sport facilities are many and of high quality. The Student Union is a bit boring when it comes to nights out, but many nights are still very popular, especially among first years. There are plenty of bars and pubs around campus and close to it too. That said, many people do venture out to Leamington to go out, and there are special buses that take you right there, so that shouldn't be much of a problem. We also have 2 cinemas, an art center, many cafes, etc. I doubt you will get bored, unless you come here thinking that you will and never venture out of your room.

I am sure you cannot come up with any reputable international ranking where those 9 don't play a significant role.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013/reputation-ranking/range/91-100

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2012/10/25/world/asia/25iht-sreducemerging25-graphic.html?ref=nf

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/10/20/education/20iht-SReducEmploy20-graphic.html?ref=education

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking

http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2012.html

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2012

Don't listen to LutherVan when it comes to his weird ranking of "international prestige", he is repeating that nonsense in other threads. There is no elite of 9 universities with higher international prestige than others, at most 2 (Oxford and Cambridge).

Now, if you worry about getting internships easier at King's - don't! Warwick is one of the very top targeted universities in the UK, loads of companies come here to get students. We don't live in an age anymore where distance from a place matters as much anymore, and I reckon the internship possibilities are at the very least as good as KCL, probably better as Warwick is more targeted by banks (not sure if that's your interest though).

When it comes to social life, it's what you make of it, but that's true at any university. If you stay in your room, you will have a poor social life, and being in London will not change that. At Warwick, have the biggest student union in the country, with a huge number of societies for basically anything; same for sport clubs. Sport facilities are many and of high quality. The Student Union is a bit boring when it comes to nights out, but many nights are still very popular, especially among first years. There are plenty of bars and pubs around campus and close to it too. That said, many people do venture out to Leamington to go out, and there are special buses that take you right there, so that shouldn't be much of a problem. We also have 2 cinemas, an art center, many cafes, etc. I doubt you will get bored, unless you come here thinking that you will and never venture out of your room.

I love your passion for Warwick! Warwick's a great uni irrespective of rankings and it looks beautiful as well!

Whichever one I pick, I hope it's the right choice! I'll update this thread when I make my choice (probably by the end of this week)!

You make it sound like Warwick is very low in the rankings...

I'm just trying to say that "prestige" isn't everything, and the claim that Warwick has lower prestige than KCL isn't true. I was also trying to highlight some good sides to Warwick! I'm pretty sure you will be happy wherever you go. In the end, you should decide on grounds like which location you prefer, city or campus, etc. Don't worry about things like social life (it is what you make of it), or worries about internships (seriously, there is a huge number of companies who come to campus, loads of people get internships at the most prestigious companies).

Haha, sorry! Didn't mean to come across that Warwick was lowly ranked...because it's most definitely not! Higher ranked than KCL nationally!

Regardless, I've made my decision now and I've firmed King's! I hope I don't regret it and wish I picked Warwick!

Thanks everyone for the help and advice!

I am sure you cannot come up with any reputable international ranking where those 9 don't play a significant role.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013/reputation-ranking/range/91-100

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2012/10/25/world/asia/25iht-sreducemerging25-graphic.html?ref=nf

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/10/20/education/20iht-SReducEmploy20-graphic.html?ref=education

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking

http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2012.html

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2012

Ouch! This is really wrong. You cannot equate international ranking to domestic prestige.

My alma mater school in the US (Brown) hardly made it in the top 100 in the world, and schools like University of Illinois, University of Texas, Penn State and Purdue are all well within the top of the league table, yet in reality in the US, no one would rather be at the latter schools than Brown. Domestic rankings are far more reliable than the ones that have an international scope.

I don't think Warwick is more prestigious than KCL, more so in a humanities subject that is meant to be international.

I think both are in the same bracket with not much between them. If I was pushed, I would say KCL is more prestigious.

If you want to do a course like International Relations, then I think it is KCL hands-down because of its international reputation and its location in London where the international organisations are and where one can get the international feel. Warwick's prestige is primarily in the UK and it is really mainly known prestige-wise for quantitative subjects.

The top UK schools for international prestige are Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Imperial, UCL, KCL, Edinburgh, Bristol and Manchester. And we are in the global integration age.

To guage KCL's IR department's prestige then look at the reputation of its War Studies department. It is probably the top university for that course in the world.

If it was Maths, I would have said 'Go to Warwick'.