Warwick Vs Southampton Vs UCL ComputerScience

all of this would make much better sense if the OP had flagged an interest in working in the States or in high finance. He did neither and only wants to study computer science, that we yet know.

Suppose that the circumstance were reversed and a Briton were commenting on a US based discussion board about the best American universities for undergraduate computer science "Well I can assure you that no-one in the UK has heard of 'Harvey Mudd' (WTF?) or 'Carnegie Mellon' (lol) or 'UoI Urbana-Champaign' (are you making this up?)" Because practically no Briton actually has heard of any of these.

But those are three of the very best CS schools in those United States, and no-one with a degree from one of these will be disadvantaged relative to anyone (not from Harvard, not from Berkeley) in his applying for jobs or postgraduate studies in specifically Computer Science and in the US.

It can be argued that Carnegie Mellon for CS is as good as MIT... it's that good.

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Strong argument, however, there is a difference in mentality of education both here and in the UK.

Excluding the fact that the brand doesn't just get you high in finance, but high in most leading fields such as Law, I was mainly saying it because of how institutions are seen in both nations are different.

For example, the biggest difference is, in the UK- with your student loan system, all students are able to apply for university without having to worry about financial backgrounds since everyone is entitled to a loan, and those who are from lower income backgrounds, get sufficient funding to pay for them if they need to move out too, or even just to live.

In the US, it is evident that the top institutions are far more expensive and student loans aren't a thing. This means due to finance, the strongest applicants may not be able to hit the best institutions, even with scholarships. Everyone knows that, they know that not all the best can afford to go. In the UK, the difference in lower demographics can be helped, in the US, not so much. There is an excuse right there.

Thus, the reason why unheard of schools are doing well is that, in terms of research, it doesnt matter what university you go to in the states- whereas it matters in the UK.

Furthermore, it's not just about the states, a name can take you far internationally so you've got another 194 countries to think about.

You can't compare the not so famous, yet strong universities in the US to the not so famous universities in the UK. The not so famous UK universities are not so famous because they're just not so good.

Elitism will always be out there. You just have to grab it if you want to climb.

(Might not have explained it well, but I hope you can decipher what I'm trying to say.)

It sounds like you're saying that the OP will be missing out on so much if they don't go for Warwick or UCL. Brand is the most important thing you can have in the graduate world, Southampton has no brand relative to UCL and Warwick. Don't know where you got the statistic that for firms, especially Merrill Lynch, would take a Southampton student over Warwick and UCL.

I'm an American, Merrill Lynch explicitly say at every single career event I've attended before applying for school that brand matters the most. Southampton can be good for a certain course, but it takes long to explain that to an employer. Credit Suisse too? Deloitte? G Sachs? HSBC? You're mentioning firms that target the most branded universities ever, eg: Oxbridge, LSE, ICL, Durham, Warwick, UCL- excluding the states. Check out the IB target rankings my friend. And whilst you're at it, the financial sector target universities. It an elite world that Southampton is almost definitely not a part of.

OP if you prefer the course at Southampton, then that should be a good indication to choose it- but if you want a stronger reputation, better international recognitition, don't make the move of selecting Southampton over the other 2.

http://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/218782/the-top-universities-for-the-analyst-class-for-2015-at-goldman-sachs-j-p-morgan-and-morgan-stanley/ check it.

It was obvious you were American before you mentioned it as you generalised universities in the UK. You may be able to do that in the US but in the UK, apart from Oxbridge and Imperial, just about every other university is targeted by employers for the specific degree reputation at that university.

You mentioned LSE in your post which does not even offer Computer Science. Even the link you posted has no relevance to CS. If you are looking specifically at Economics then I would agree that Warwick and UCL would be much better options than Southampton. But for an employer looking for a CS graduate Southampton would most certainly be one of their top choices.

I know that LSE doesn't do CS, my point was based on reputation overall. And no, Southampton doesn't equate to UCL and Warwick in terms of reputation overall.

Overall brand means way more than individual degrees.