The Student Room Group

UCL or LSE for Philosophy & Economics?

I'm starting uni next year. My two top choices are UCL & LSE, and I already have an offer from LSE... but I don't know which of the two is my first choice.

I'm applying to study Economics & Philosophy. I've read quite a lot of reviews and stuff of both unis... the general impression I get is that LSE has more prestige but UCL is a nicer atmosphere with moderately better undergrad teaching and lectures. However, I also got the impression the teaching/lectures quality varied a lot from subject to subject. I've also visited both, felt slightly more at home at UCL but it's hard to judge tbh.

Could anyone studying Economics or Philosophy (or both!) at either UCL or LSE enlighten me with their advice? (Advice from others welcome too!)

Some personal preferences that may be relevant:
I already do Economics at A-Level, but Philosophy will be entirely new to me, so perhaps a broader look at Philosophy would suit me best.
I don't see myself in a city job in finance in the future... the idea of that doesn't excite me. My priority of going to uni isn't to send myself down a career path but to stretch myself academically.

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Sweep
I don't see myself in a city job in finance in the future... the idea of that doesn't excite me. My priority of going to uni isn't to send myself down a career path but to stretch myself academically.

So go for the uni you will enjoy more, and that will most likely be the one with better teaching :smile:

Find out which dept. teaches the Economics in your UCL course first :cool: Because it may not necasaricly be the world renowned Economics dept.
If the Philosophy part of the degree is done the same way as single honours (but half), I'd heartily recommend UCL.
Reply 3
I don't see myself in a city job in finance in the future... the idea of that doesn't excite me. My priority of going to uni isn't to send myself down a career path but to stretch myself academically


The bit in bold is exactly the same reason as why I'm choosing UCL over LSE. And judging by the other bit, you won't enjoy LSE. Every phil and econ student I've met (only a few) at LSE are going into finance, and most decided this before they got to uni. I think it's just incredibly boring that people on such an interesting course that gives them so many options in life all want to do the exact same thing.

But regarding your bit in bold, the fact that you actually care about the subject you are studying means it should be an easy choice, if what you, I and every student at LSE will admit about LSE's lectures/teaching is true.
Reply 4
Ok, so I've now got an offer from both. UCL is my top choice, and has been for a while.
LSE is 3As excluding Further Maths, UCL is 3As including Maths. That means in the former I need an A in Psychology. At my college Psychology is taught really badly - I've lost all enthusiasm for the subject, and I'd rather focus on my 3 other A-Levels and extra-curricular projects (I might well struggle to get an A in Psych at this rate anyway). Really, if I've made up my mind that I want to go to UCL I might as well drop Psychology, right?

There's something that's stopping me... I am definitely going against the grain by choosing UCL over LSE. I just want to be sure that I'm not going to make a choice that I'll regret by the time it comes round to going to uni. Any more advice that anyone can offer here would be so incredibly appreciated...
Reply 5
dude both are incredibily amazing unis..u wont regret choosing anyone over the other!! UCL is among the world top10 whereas LSE is 4th best for social sciences!! seriously dude there's nothing to loose...go whichever u like/feel better to go!
i also have an offer from LSE. It's my only offer so far though, so it's not like I'm in a position to make any decisions. Still, I do have real concerns with the course. Not the economics obviously, but the range of options on the philosophy side seems quite limited and the course structure seems very presciptive. I applied for PPE at three of my choices, and although I'm not too bothered about the politics, I'd quite like the extra freedom that would give me.

Really regret not applying to UCL instead of LSE, or maybe instead of St Andrews (the bastards), for all of the reasons you stated above, but I was definitely swayed by the prestige, and I still am a little bit after not getting an Oxford offer.
Reply 7
i really detest the fact that lse's philosophy course is thought to be no good. I am a second year here(lse) and i love the courses i am doing. i am currently study philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, scientific revolutions and morality/values. I find them very interesting.

Also, with regard to the last post that said they want to study politics. at lse you will be able to take up to 4 outside modules, which is the equivelent to one whole years study, so if you want to do politics, then there is nothing you taking 4 modules of your choice in the political science dept.

If you have questions you can msg me and i will try to get back to you
Reply 8
im in the same position, i have an offer from lse to do philosophy and economics and im still waiting from ucl but i think i might get it. i also prefer the philosophy side and the course at ucl is part of the philosphy department and you get to pick from a wider range of subjects like ancient philosophy whereas in lse it seems to be centred more around scientific philosophy and logic. the idea of a financial career does not appeal to me either so im not really sure what id do if i got an offer from ucl. my parents seem to think that i should definately go to lse because its so prestigious and the best for economics, but im not sure...
Reply 9
ucl if you really want to study the core philosophy material available at undergrad. but if you like philosophy of science etc and value econ employment alot then lse. but both are good for jobs
Reply 10
Update:
I plumped for UCL in the end. Thanks for everyone's advice. Hopefully I'll get the AAA I need for the course :smile:

Scientific philosophy doesn't really appeal to me, and I really don't like the idea of a city finance career. So it was an easy decision to make in the end!
Reply 11
flugestuge
Bad mistake.:rolleyes:

Still, it is not the end of the world.
Perhaps you can go to a decent university like LSE, Oxford or Cambridge for your postgraduate studies.

Following the academic route that best suits me > League tables
LSE for the long term
Reply 13
flugestuge
While UCL is more fun than LSE, for anything beyond your 3 undergraduate years, LSE totally pawns UCL. Looking only at having fun for 3 years can give rise to career misery for the rest of your life.

If you are stupid enough to choose UCL over LSE, well you are not intelligent enough to deserve to be at LSE.

You're clearly missing the point though. I'm not choosing UCL because it's more fun. I'm choosing it because it's more academically suited to me. If it was down to purely economics, I'd be at LSE, but be vary wary of the culture where everyone wants to end up in finance. Yet when half the degree is based on Philosophy too, I have to make a valued judgment. I am not taking Philosophy only to focus on Scientific Philosophy. Infact, that is perhaps the only branch that I specifically would rather avoid - my ability and interest lies elsewhere.

I'll admit it's a bold decision, to put a preference of doing what suits me over what is generally considered a better university college. But to make the scenario even clearer, what if LSE were offering me a degree in Physics instead? Obviously I'd go to UCL for Philosophy and Economics. That is the basis of my decision, albeit with far tighter margins.

Another factor is the tutoring and lecturing quality - from my research it seems a lot of LSE students really don't get much "value" in their tutoring and lecturing. We hear all this fanfare about their great famous lecturers but they're used pretty much entirely on the postgrads, and the LSE undergraduates end up with crappy foreign lecturers. An overly large proportion of the course ends up being from the textbook - they might as well have stayed at home, really. Such a problem doesn't seem to exist at UCL, certainly not to the same degree.

I've taken an academic risk, no denying it. I'd rather do it for the skills and knowledge that matters to me, than the degree at the end. And if I really need a really prestigious degree at the end of it all? You're right, I can do a postgrad. In the mean time, you only live once.
Reply 14
I d choose UCL over LSE too since in LSE you cannot study continental.
flugestuge
While UCL is more fun than LSE, for anything beyond your 3 undergraduate years, LSE totally pawns UCL. Looking only at having fun for 3 years can give rise to career misery for the rest of your life.

If you are stupid enough to choose UCL over LSE, well you are not intelligent enough to deserve to be at LSE.


:ditto:
Reply 16
^ how rude.

It's like everyone's ignoring the reasons he's given. how can you study something you don't like for 3 years?

LSE postgrad reputation is better than undergrad anyway, and how boring would it be to do both BSc and MSc at the same place?
Reply 17
LSE postgrad is generally considered better than oxford, isn't it?

And I'm sure both Harvard and Oxford are possible from UCL. May not be as well known as LSE in the US by general population, but the academics making the admission decisions will certainly know that UCL is a serious world class economics department.

Anyway that is slightly aside from the point, and I really don't want to kick off another "which uni is best for economics?" discussion, as people in general on this forum clearly don't know **** about it.

All I'm saying is that the OP's reason to choose UCL is perfectly legitimate.
haha LMAO at the neg rep - well done moron for completely missing the point (and PS i have sub so i know who it is) :rolleyes:
Reply 19
plagaan
LSE postgrad is generally considered better than oxford, isn't it?

And I'm sure both Harvard and Oxford are possible from UCL. May not be as well known as LSE in the US by general population, but the academics making the admission decisions will certainly know that UCL is a serious world class economics department.

Anyway that is slightly aside from the point, and I really don't want to kick off another "which uni is best for economics?" discussion, as people in general on this forum clearly don't know **** about it.

All I'm saying is that the OP's reason to choose UCL is perfectly legitimate.

And, ultimately, if I'm doing subjects which interest me, I'm more likely to come out with successful degree results anyway.
Which leads me to a question. I know it isn't clearcut or anything, but if I ended up looking at postgrad studies, would Harvard/LSE/Oxford tend to look more favorably upon a first class degree from UCL or a 2:1 from LSE?