The Student Room Group

PPE / warwick's reputation

hello,
i applied for PPE and related subjects at durham, york, warwick and the LSE. got offers from warwick, york and durham, but unfortunately not from the LSE :redface: . of the three remaining i think i'll put warwick as my firm, but am still unsure, as over here nobody has ever heard of warwick, while everybody knows the LSE. does warwick have an overseas reputation at all?
i'm somehow wondering whether it is "worth" to come to the UK to study at warwick, as it is much more expensive than it is here and i'm not even sure whether warwick is REALLY good... i'd love to go to oxbridge or the US after my first bachelor, assuming i'm good enough :rolleyes: - is it possible to get in there with a degree from warwick?
i don't mean to sound snobby or overconfident or anything like that, it is just quite a thing to do to leave your home country to study somewhere else, which is why it really has to be amazing / worth it.
thank you!
oceansize
Reply 1
Warwick is an excellent university (with a good/decent reputation abroad, but particularly Europe), and if you get a good degree then you stand a chance getting into any university for further studies. From what I know, the PPE course it self is quite good in warwick.
Reply 2
Warwick has a great reputation amongst employers. You;ll do great going there. It s even a great stepping stone to get into oxbridge or LSE for post graduate studies. Warwick is only just out of the top 5.
Reply 3
PPE is a part of the econ department, which is arguably on par with LSE's. I wouldnt hesititate taking up PPE here...its a well regarded course.

I had similar concerns as you when I was choosing..I ended up choosing Warwick over two offers in the states (Northwestern and Cornell), and UCL and Imperial in the UK...although it is not a uni known much to the common person, in employer's eyes, and in the academic circle, it has made a mark, and is slowly developing a name overseas.
Reply 4
wow, you chose warwick over cornell and ucl? cool, i mean, i wouldn't have thought that... maybe people's opinions over here influence me too much, i just find it weird that simply nobody knows warwick, even though it is supposed to be good. what are the people like? can one generalise in any sense? maybe less conservative and less snobby than at durham? etc.?
please excuse all my weirdo questions, yes? :biggrin:
oceansize
oceansize
i just find it weird that simply nobody knows warwick


Not many people (by people I mean the common folk) know Warwick for one main reason: it is very young, only 40 years old. Academics and employers however know very well that Warwick is one of the best unis in the UK.
Reply 6
Warwick has the best Econ department, York the best Politics department and Durham the best Philosophy department.

On the PPE balance, Durham wins. I'm also under the impression that the PPE department at York has a better reputation than that at Warwick. Out of the three you've listed, I'd probably put Warwick last.
Reply 7
I would have to disagree with what you've said. Yes it is undoubtedly the best for economics, but it is also at least on par with York for Politics and not to far behind the other two for philosophy (though i know little about the two for philosophy department).

The Warwick PPE course is very young (just in it's third year), however it had been running joint econ/pol and pol/phil courses before that and there is a very wide scope for interdisciplinary modules which makes the course stand out even further. Again I'd have it above Durham due to Durham's lack of cohesion between the modules and I reckon it's on par with York and if it hasn't already will soon surpass it.

There are plenty of international students who study PPE at Warwick - I'd probably rate it as one third english with the rest coming from the EU or outside which speaks volumes for Warwicks international reputation. You'll most definitely be able to go onto Oxbridge with a PPE degree, and I'm sure you could get into the US as well, as Warwick is well known in academic circles.

To answer your question Warwick really IS that good. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me or ask them here, and I'll try to answer as best I can :smile:
Reply 8
tbh, although warwick is very good, when i came here i was very disappointed in the level of teaching...for a course ranked above LSE's I thought im going in for something with a very high teaching standard. Here either the lecturers are fantastic and out of the world or are absolute s h i t. Out of my lecturers this year, i'd say about a little less than half were excellent. This is very similar to what you'l find at LSE. The only unis that have better teaching quality are oxford and cambridge which are a league unto themselves. It's like comparing Princeton and Dartmouth with Penn, Northwestern, Brown, Cornell in the states...all are good in the subject, but the first two have that passionate undergraduate focus that the others dont. The ranking of the uni dept at the end of the day comes from the entry requirements (which define in general the intelligence of the class) and the employment prospects...very little of anything else (and even if there are other factors, they tend to be similar at top 10 unis).
Reply 9
Barzini
The only unis that have better teaching quality are oxford and cambridge which are a league unto themselves.


Isn't York ranked 2nd behind Cambridge for teaching quality, though (with LSE still above Oxford)? Warwick's score is relatively poor.