LSE vs Cambridge

Ditto. Cambridge > LSE. I'd rather do economics at Cambridge, than economics at LSE, wouldn't you? Especially if you plan to work overseas: as I previously stated, I hadn't heard of LSE until I joined this website. Few people in Hong Kong have heard of LSE: Cambridge has a far more distinguished name.

Reply 41

jasonm

9

Obviously Cambridge does have a better reputation, but you can't argue that LSE doesn't have a good one either, especially internationally, it has the highest proportion of international students of any university (67% according to their website), and for it's specialist courses, ie Social Sciences, it's still ranked third in the world, above Cambridge, although statistics that vary so much year by year need to be taken with a rather large pinch of salt.

Reply 42

hanh01

1

Its not only because so many internationals apply to the uni but also because they admit so many of them. take Oxford for example. for u/g studies, only 14% of total population= internationals but at p/g level it rises up to 68%. do you think only 14% are internationals cos not many apply? No, because looking at p/g stats, lots and lots apply but they are just not admitted. Also, if you judge the reputation by the proportion of internationals, surely you can argue LSE is internationally better known than Harvard cos again only 20% of total students population is international.

jasonm

Obviously Cambridge does have a better reputation, but you can't argue that LSE doesn't have a good one either, especially internationally, it has the highest proportion of international students of any university (67% according to their website), and for it's specialist courses, ie Social Sciences, it's still ranked third in the world, above Cambridge, although statistics that vary so much year by year need to be taken with a rather large pinch of salt.

Reply 43

jasonm

9

True actually, i believe LSE has a set quota of international students to fill up, but still, i wasn't trying to argue that LSE has a better international reputation than Oxbridge/Harvard, just refuting the claim that it didn't have one at all.

Reply 44

J-bob

1

jasonm

True actually, i believe LSE has a set quota of international students to fill up, but still, i wasn't trying to argue that LSE has a better international reputation than Oxbridge/Harvard, just refuting the claim that it didn't have one at all.

yeah it depends who you ask abroad too..
if you think that the best employers/universities (ie the people who it matters know) dont know that LSE is tops for Economics then you're probably wrong. certainly the normal people on the street may not know of LSE as opposed to cambridge, but at the end of the day its the academics who you need to know if you want further study, and the employers you need to know if you want a top job, and the chances are the best employers do know what LSE is..

Reply 45

Fortification

Cool.Zero

Ditto. Cambridge > LSE. I'd rather do economics at Cambridge, than economics at LSE, wouldn't you? Especially if you plan to work overseas: as I previously stated, I hadn't heard of LSE until I joined this website. Few people in Hong Kong have heard of LSE: Cambridge has a far more distinguished name.

I'm sure that quite a few people in HK have heard of LSE i.e. the ones applying for social sciences. Clearly this does depend on whereabouts we're talking but I'd say that LSE is far more renowned than Cambridge in India for example.

I'd still choose Cambridge over LSE though, the teaching's better.

Reply 46

The West Wing

18

Cool.Zero

And I did say overall. LSE do have an outstanding economics department. And the fact that LSE offers only social science courses isn't the reason why they dropped from 10-20th to 59th.

The algorithm for making the table changed this year.

Reply 47

J-bob

1

The West Wing

The algorithm for making the table changed this year.

heres a quote ( extended i know) from howard davies (Director of LSE)

There has been a proliferation of league tables, produced by various organisations, which purport to rank universities. The press pay quite a lot of attention to them as they make for good copy.

In fact, the practice of producing a single ranking for a whole institution, made up of different departments, and in many cases different faculties, is not a very robust exercise. Indeed one vice chancellor whose university is right at the top of the league told me that the tables were "wrong headed and pernicious".

Be that as it may, they exist. And this year, on the table published in the Times Higher Educational Supplement, LSE's position slipped from number 17 globally to number 59. Why did that happen, and we should be concerned about it?

In the first place, our own scores on the various measures that go into the league table did not change, but the ways in which the scores were weighted did, reducing the significance of the high rankings we achieve in measures like the internationalisation of the student body and the attractiveness of our graduates to employers. Also, in ranking research faculty the table was compiled on a different basis this year, using numbers of citations per paper. That approach is bound to disadvantage universities with a strong (or in LSE's case almost exclusive) focus on the social sciences, as social science papers are systematically less frequently cited than those in the natural sciences.

Corroboration of that effect can be found in the table they also produce on the global ranking of universities in the social sciences themselves. There we have remained in third place internationally, this time behind Harvard and Berkeley. We were also third last year. So I would say that there is now new information in this new table, and our ranking in the subject areas we cover remains exactly as it was, in the very top group of universities internationally.

All that said, I think we would have to recognise that the technology of ranking universities is very primitive. There are studies underway in the OECD, the UK Government's Funding Council and at the University of Leiden to try to find more meaningful ways of measuring university performance.

One table which may please those of you who are currently job hunting is the one that says that employers rate the LSE third in the world for the attractiveness of its graduates to them. We have also moved strongly up the tables which rank management degrees of various kinds.

so as you can see, LSE is no worse than it was a few years ago, is 3rd for social sciences (ahead of oxbridge) and is third for employability worldwide.

so as i said, the 2 groups of people for whom it most counts (academics and employers) know LSE..

btw im not saying that LSE trumps Cambridge, but if the OP has said he doesnt think either will be different socially ie on the whole living side, then he must consider the course and options afterwards. id argue the course at LSE is better (more flexibile) nad the options after are much the same..

Reply 48

$Avatar for sTe\/o$

sTe\/o

16

Good post, J-bob. Ultimately, they're both very prestigious universities and the courses are academically top-notch. I guess it comes down to which course structure is the most flexible and suited to your interests, and also whether you want supervisions or whatever equivalent the LSE has to offer.

The social side shouldn't be ignored either. Cambridge has a collegiate structure and imo a very good social scene, if a little different from what you'd find in a bigger city. LSE is in London, which is a big draw for many people, but there are downsides as well - it is easier to feel isolated, a small fish in a big pond; and the large number of foreign students could be seen as a plus or a minus, depending on your point of view (I've often heard it pointed out that the LSE doesn't have much going on socially, but that's only hearsay and I've never even visited the place).

Reply 49

J-bob

1

sTe\/o

Good post, J-bob. Ultimately, they're both very prestigious universities and the courses are academically top-notch. I guess it comes down to which course structure is the most flexible and suited to your interests, and also whether you want supervisions or whatever equivalent the LSE has to offer.

The social side shouldn't be ignored either. Cambridge has a collegiate structure and imo a very good social scene, if a little different from what you'd find in a bigger city. LSE is in London, which is a big draw for many people, but there are downsides as well - it is easier to feel isolated, a small fish in a big pond; and the large number of foreign students could be seen as a plus or a minus, depending on your point of view (I've often heard it pointed out that the LSE doesn't have much going on socially, but that's only hearsay and I've never even visited the place).

thanks, i went through this whole dilemna myself trying to decide whether to apply to ox or cam and then obviously i had to pick myself up after getting rejected by oxford, but in doing so i realised LSE is going to be amazing.

good luck to the OP deciding!

Reply 50

oregon

I don't know where LSE gets this reputation about having a lacklustre social life. If you get involved you make friends, if you don't, you don't make friends and sit in your hall. Simple.

Having said that, in terms of lifestyle, I think Cambridge would be much a softer landing for an 18 year old leaving home for the first time then trying to cope with London.

Reply 51

J-bob

1

London has the best clubs, bars, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, parks, sightseeing attractions...

although im not there yet i cannot for the life of me see how one cant have a social life either...its all there for the taking

Reply 52

Johan C

13

tourist

Cambridge. Duh.

Not "duh" enough for our Michaelmas Term Micro lecturer, who did her undergrad econ at Cambridge and told us this in one of our lectures (she was asking us whether Econ BScs at LSE/Cambridge were substitutes or complements, and then which of the two BSc at Cam and MSc at LSE were) :
"Given the way they teach economics at Cambridge, you'd better get a postgraduate degree at LSE afterwards."

Reply 53

Johan C

13

Cool.Zero

Ditto. Cambridge > LSE. I'd rather do economics at Cambridge, than economics at LSE, wouldn't you? Especially if you plan to work overseas: as I previously stated, I hadn't heard of LSE until I joined this website. Few people in Hong Kong have heard of LSE: Cambridge has a far more distinguished name.

Not that anyone cares about which unis employers/random people/students in Hong Kong have or haven't heard of, but...

Reply 54

The Sherminator

16

Well, the top tens from Times puts Cambridge graduates the most sought after from Employers, but LSE comes third so not a huge gap. For Social sciences we know that LSE is ranked in the top 10 in the world whereas I don't think Cambridge would come that high for ONLY social sciences.
In the end, choose where you want to live. The name of Cambridge is more reknowned I think, and it just carries that awe with it, but you will be working your socks of at Cambridge.

Reply 55

Helio)))sophist

Cool.Zero

Ditto. Cambridge > LSE. I'd rather do economics at Cambridge, than economics at LSE, wouldn't you? Especially if you plan to work overseas: as I previously stated, I hadn't heard of LSE until I joined this website. Few people in Hong Kong have heard of LSE: Cambridge has a far more distinguished name.

maybe the average joe on the street hasn't heard of the LSE.
but i'm sure employers within the field of account/finance/economics have.

is it probably the most distinguished economics university in the world afterall..

Reply 56

Joe555

13

*cough cough* London school of ECONOMICS. If you're serious about economics and finance etc. how can you NOT know about it? Ranked first in England and very prestigious with the WHOLE WORLD when it comes to economics???

Reply 57

speedy_s

7

Fortification

I'd still choose Cambridge over LSE though, the teaching's better.

Exactly, 1 to 1 tutoring at Cambridge will provide you to develop more and better skills then normal teaching e.g. in problem solving, ingenuity etc... This will enable you to do well at interviews leading to a better job. And the domino effect continues!

For that reason alone I think Cambridge is better than LSE.

Reply 58

J-bob

1

speedy_s

Exactly, 1 to 1 tutoring at Cambridge will provide you to develop more and better skills then normal teaching e.g. in problem solving, ingenuity etc... This will enable you to do well at interviews leading to a better job. And the domino effect continues!

For that reason alone I think Cambridge is better than LSE.

depends if you turn into a geek or not though...and yes you are right that is oxbridges big advantage and LSE cant nearly match it. however having spoken to LSE students they are always going to talks and presentations and coffees with the banks, and LSE is just as good at getting people into banks than Cambridge, arguably better..so really the domino effect seems to also count for LSE

ps ur offer is horrible!

Reply 59

AKissIsJustAKiss

Im pretty sure, both Cambridge and LSE will you to the same places in life. Both have advantages that I believe offset one another. LSE has amazing economic research, the top economic professors and is of course a place entirely dedicated to economics. Furthermore, being situation in London has perks socially and career-wise. Cambridge's reputation indeed has that edge, that kick over LSE since it is multi-faculty and has been at the epitome of further education for hundreds of years. LSE in comparison is a relatively new institution. Moreover, the bridge has the advantage of the brilliant 1to1 tutorials where as the LSE professors are renowned for, excuse my French, not giving a ****! But overall its down to you. LSE gears u up for the city, which Cambridge can provide you with also. But Cambridge has that additional academic feel to it. Despite saying this, I am going to chose LSE if i get in (still waiting, conditional from Cam atm) purely because I prefer London life to the dull Cambridge village and also I don't fancy writing 2 essays a week! But that's just me, I'm a little lazy and quite motivated by clubs

LSE vs Cambridge

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