King's College London

London

Why King's ranking is disproportionally low?

Naveed2002

So I recently got an offer from King's for Biomedical Eng, and as per https://www.studyin-uk.in/uk-study-info/university-rankings/, King's is below St. Andrews, Bath, Durham, Warwick, Exeter, Reading, Aberdeen etc.?
Is it really that bad?

Reply 1

marcoby2

yes

King's College London

London

Reply 2

megascream

Well, it's almost certainly better than Exeter, Reading and Aberdeen. For the others it depend on what you like.

Reply 3

wizkid44

Rankings aren’t really and accurate representation of teaching quality in some cases

Reply 4

stereotypeasian

you're choosing unis based on rankings :eek:

which is a number that changes year on year and subjective depending on the course and the person, with different tables having different criteria rather than choosing a course at a uni where you like the location/modules/living costs etc.

lol what do you have against St. Andrews, Bath, Durham, Warwick, Exeter, Reading, Aberdeen

Reply 5

Jehaan

King's historically does bad at the NSS and has low student satisfaction for a number of reasons, I would not worry about league tables too much

Reply 6

etj2000

I go to KCL and honestly the teaching is great (for my course at least - im in the Faculty of Life Sciences + Medicine) - the tutors are so helpful and have helped me with my academic studies as well as even my personal life lol.
If you're not a very independent person i wouldnt recommend KCL - nor any London unis.. don't expect 100s of friends + going to bars every night etc (pre covid obvs lol) bc none of us can afford it lol.
KCL has an amazing reputation worldwide (so if you're planning of maybe moving outside of the UK its a great place to study bc of its reputation - I have friends who are from China, USA, Dubai, Singapore etc.. all who had never even heard about warwick, exeter etc bc their reputation just isnt as well viewed outside the UK)

but yeah personally I love it here but its what you make of it :smile:

But in terms of the teaching it rlly is amazing

Reply 7

Naveed2002

Original post by Jehaan

King's historically does bad at the NSS and has low student satisfaction for a number of reasons, I would not worry about league tables too much

Oh thank you, but if you know, what makes King's score low at student satisfactions? Any particular reason?

Reply 8

etj2000

Original post by Naveed2002

Oh thank you, but if you know, what makes King's score low at student satisfactions? Any particular reason?

probably bc KCL is a london uni and most london unis score low because there isn't much of a campus/community feel and its v expensive

Reply 9

Naveed2002

Original post by etj2000

probably bc KCL is a london uni and most london unis score low because there isn't much of a campus/community feel and its v expensive

But KCL is comparitively affordable at about 18,000 pounds for International students. Isn't that supposed to be considerably cheaper than other UK Uni's?

Reply 10

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Naveed2002

But KCL is comparitively affordable at about 18,000 pounds for International students. Isn't that supposed to be considerably cheaper than other UK Uni's?

The cost of living will be higher than elsewhere in the UK though. Accommodation being the main one.

Edited to add: I would not use any league table to make a narrow distinction between however many final offers you receive. They should all be much of a muchness at that stage and your gut feeling about the uni and course itself should come into play.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 11

etj2000

Original post by Naveed2002

But KCL is comparitively affordable at about 18,000 pounds for International students. Isn't that supposed to be considerably cheaper than other UK Uni's?

i mean in terms of living in london and the accomodation. Mine cost £205 a week for halls (second cheapest option) and that didn't even include a lounge or anything like that.
As well as the cost of going out etc... having to pay club entry and then £10 for a double etc.

Reply 12

hbr!ics

Original post by Naveed2002

yh this concerned me too and recently i realised kings isn’t known for their engineering but they’re one of the best unis in the course but then compared to warwick they don’t have placement or abroad years in the course which makes me wonder...there’s just a lot to consider

Reply 13

wizkid44

Original post by hbr!ics

Look at the course structure as well. For Warwick, the first year and a term you study general engineering (so the foundations of all the disciplines) before specialising. I don’t think Kings structure it like this. Then consider whether you want a campus uni or not. Kings is in London so you won’t really get a campus feel. Kings does have a good reputation attached to it

Reply 14

hbr!ics

Original post by wizkid44

yeah the course at kings pretty much specialises in first year which is good and thank you :smile:

Reply 15

Anonymous #1

Original post by etj2000

But in terms of the teaching it rlly is amazing

does kings have good/useful graduate prospects

Reply 16

lixxy0714

Original post by etj2000

hi! i just got an offer and am insanely worried about the cost of accom, can I ask what hall you're in?

Reply 17

etj2000

Original post by Anonymous

does kings have good/useful graduate prospectss

sorry for loong af reply.
I only know one friend whos graduated and he was accepted onto a PHD in a prestigious uni immediately after finishing. Also, although its not a graduate position, I got accepted onto a placement programme for the biggest healthcare company in the world which KCL really aided me in securing :smile:

Reply 18

etj2000

Original post by lixxy0714

hi! i just got an offer and am insanely worried about the cost of accom, can I ask what hall you're in?

Sorry for the long reply. I went to GDS - My parents couldn't afford to financially support me much (they gave me about £10/20 a week for food so about 100 a month at the max which is basically nothing compared to most kings students) and I still coped fine! I ended up securing part time jobs all summer to help me save so I could afford it (my loan was about £200 short off the accommodation so I needed to obviously pay for this). In addition, I worked at venues like printworks and bars in London on freelance as well as part time work to help me afford it!
If you can wolfson is a lot more affordable though hard to get :smile:

Reply 19

Anonymous #1

Original post by etj2000