LSE law v UCL law

Hi guys!

I'm having a tough time choosing between LSE and UCL, and was wondering if any of you have any advice on the pros and cons of both? Much of what I've read online have portrayed the law course at the two unis to be very similar, with an almost negligible difference. However, I have heard a lot about people being very unhappy at LSE, and wanted to know if there's any truth to this?

Overall, if you were in my shoes, which university would you choose?

Thank you!

Hi guys!

I'm having a tough time choosing between LSE and UCL, and was wondering if any of you have any advice on the pros and cons of both? Much of what I've read online have portrayed the law course at the two unis to be very similar, with an almost negligible difference. However, I have heard a lot about people being very unhappy at LSE, and wanted to know if there's any truth to this?

Overall, if you were in my shoes, which university would you choose?

Thank you!

Since I'm procrastinating anyway, I'll weigh in on the debate.


I'm not particularly happy here, but I don't think UCL would have been that different. UCL might be a little more social and it might have a slightly more of a campus. You probably ought to visit them both and see which feels right to you.

For what reasons are you not very happy with LSE?

Hey man,

Do you remember me?

Congratulations on offers from both universities *^O^* they are both extremely great for law but you already know that, that's why you have been having such a hard time making this decision.

Because you have already looked at both courses and you have decided that they are equal in terms of content and preference, the next thing on the checklist is looking at student life, accomodation and location of the universities.

I think after visiting both universities and talking to friends who are going to both universities: UCL does have a better social scene compared to LSE. However this is all anecdotal and is really dependent on the person. There are unhappy people in all universities; people who made the wrong subject choices, people who picked the wrong university, people who have something against the institution because of some perceived wrongs inflicted upon them etc... so I would definitely look into which university's student culture fits you more.

If I were you, I would pick UCL, just because I like UCL more and I do not like the idea of final exams deciding everything about my grade from the first year. (not sure if this is the case for Law though so you have to check about that)

I hope this helps

Btw, also remember that you have a lot of time to decide what uni you want to firm so I wouldn't worry too much about choosing right now. If you can I would visit the universities again on Offer holder days to get a feel on what's it like there sometimes when you visit a university again, you might feel like this is a place you want to be in or your first choice isn't really your first choice.

Good luck!

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Depends on the kind of student you are, honestly. I have seniors at LSE who absolutely love it there, because they're the type who thrive in competitive, intense environments. Plus they do tend to be slightly more career-orientated, which can be a good thing depending on what you want out of a school. Equally, I have seniors who are loving the diverse social scene and campus life they're getting at UCL. I guess the real question here is what exactly do you want out of your uni? Because the difference between both schools are almost negligible, I think it all comes down mostly to personal preference.

In the (unlikely) event that I receive an offer from LSE, I'll be in the same dilemma as you haha. I'll let you know if I do, we can stress out about it together (is this for your insurance, btw?)

Hi! I do remember you ( )and thank you for your answer! I do agree that visiting both universities would help me with my decision, but was asking this on TSR primarily because I won't be able to attend the offer holder day for LSE (I'm a boarding school student and will be back at home on that day).

Since I'm procrastinating anyway, I'll weigh in on the debate.

Full disclaimer: I do Law at LSE, so I might be slightly biased in some respects (but it goes both ways, in the sense that there will be some things I'm harsher about too).

Thinking purely about the domestic reputation of the two universities, I would definitely say LSE has the edge, but they're both highly regarded.

In particular, with regard to the Law faculties, there really isn't much to choose between them. They both have incredible professors and great class teachers. As far as I know, LSE offers a little more module choice in 2nd / 3rd year, but I might be wrong. They're both fantastic, and I found it hard to choose between the two universities on this basis.

Internationally speaking, this is where you'll find quite a big reputation distinction between the two universities. Whilst UCL is widely known, it cannot be compared to LSE. Some may argue with this, but just go anywhere in the world and has some conversations with people. You'll soon see the difference (in the end, this is what won me over).

Yes, the rumours are true. There are a lot of unhappy people at LSE and they're very vocal. I would say that LSE is exactly what you make of it. It's very easy to become isolated due to the fact that people's halls are often all over London and the campus is small and unexciting (though they are doing huge amounts of construction atm, so some of that will be finished by the time you're in your second year).

If you're into sport, I'd suggest that LSE is just as fun as any other university. People realy love the AU and the nightlife that is associated with that.

LSE is also just incredible with regard to finding career opportunities. If you're very career orientated, I think there's a good case to be made that LSE is the best university in the country. It really is just one giant careers fair (with a particular focus on IB, consultancy and Law).

I'm not particularly happy here, but I don't think UCL would have been that different. UCL might be a little more social and it might have a slightly more of a campus. You probably ought to visit them both and see which feels right to you.

I'd say my friends at UCL are generally happier, but they're not studying Law, so that may have something to do with it.

This probably wasn't that helpful but feel free to ask me any specific questions!

You can't go wrong with either university.

Best,

QuestionsQ

Thank you so much for the detailed answer! If you don't mind, I have a few more questions:

So would you agree that the teaching at LSE is really good? I've heard (these are rumours obviously, so I never knew if they were true) that it can be a hit and miss with the professors in terms of the quality of lectures or just generally how much they care about their classes.

Also, do people tend to be unhappy at LSE because they feel like the social scene isn't that great or because they find the competitive environment too stifling?

And finally, are there many opportunities to be involved in law-related extracurriculars like mooting and the such if you don't have much experience with it beforehand? Because I know LSE does do the competitions, but given the "competitive environment" that everyone speaks of, I was wondering if maybe in the end the places for those competitions invariably never goes to people with less experience.

Thank you!

Does LSE only use exams or is there coursework as well?

1st year is 100% exams.

It depends on your module choice in 2nd and 3rd year.

Do you know what the stats are on people getting a 1.1 from LSE law? I just can't find it anywhere online.

I think it's approximately 17%, I might be wrong though!

Sorry I don't really know where to find that information.

http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/staff/ardSystems/statisticsOnLSE/pdf/UG%20%20%20PGT%20Prog%20Class%202007-8%20to%202009-10.pdf
This might help, but it's quite out of date.

There are literally a billion threads already on this matter, but oh well.

The two universities are near indistinguishable in terms of grad prospects in the UK, be it in terms of the classic "employment within x months", presence in the City, or grad salaries after five years. UCL offers all the opportunities LSE does in terms of mooting, pro bono, career fairs and so on, so I can't imagine that choosing either will significantly impact you if you choose to work in the UK.

As someone who made this decision last year, and spoke to others who also found themselves in a similar position, I have to say that it usually boils down to the following preferences:

LSE > UCL: Greater international alumni network in high finance, law, etc (particularly HK and Singapore), a definite edge in reputation (varies depending on the country you're interested in), smaller university, more centrally located with more landmarks (RCJ, Strand, Temple) close by, higher concentration of City-oriented students, more numerous and specialised finance-related societies, slightly higher average salaries for both Law and non-Law (although beware that we're not comparing like for like here), most consistently nice-looking interiors across all buildings.

UCL > LSE: Campus feel, quieter residential neighbourhood with more students present overall (including those from SOAS and Birkbeck), more consistently sociable (?), students studying a wider variety of courses (e.g. those doing STEM or arts degrees), accommodation halls closer on average to campus, dedicated Law library (which I've happened to use once or twice, it's almost always full), newly-renovated Law faculty building to open in 2018/9 (Bentham House).

While I've addressed the question of unhappiness at LSE elsewhere, it ultimately boils down a few issues/groups of interest:

a) internationals who were promised the moon in terms of studying at LSE and realised that it didn't meet their expectations

b) all students doing Econ courses that are generally speaking not taught by god-tier academics, or who realise that the teaching in that department isn't great

c) people who make a huge fuss out of LSE100 and hate the fact that it wastes two hours of their week (1 for reading, 1 for the classes)

d) people doing humanities degrees that don't lead into a nice established career path (e.g. Sociology, Geography, History, Philosophy), who then go on to have a panic attack in their second/third years when they realise that most people around them already have job offers at top firms

e) people who made the entirely avoidable mistake of choosing to live at intercollegiate halls or High Holborn (both of which aren't very sociable)

f) people who become intimidated or insecure by the sheer prowess of their fellow students' CVs and feel that they can't match them in any way - that feeling of being unable to compete then leads on to people lambasting the culture for being "too competitive"

Hi guys!

I'm having a tough time choosing between LSE and UCL, and was wondering if any of you have any advice on the pros and cons of both? Much of what I've read online have portrayed the law course at the two unis to be very similar, with an almost negligible difference. However, I have heard a lot about people being very unhappy at LSE, and wanted to know if there's any truth to this?

Overall, if you were in my shoes, which university would you choose?

Thank you!

I would like to study law at either in the future so I was wondering.. Which did you pick??