Is it worth is to transfer from KCL to a better university?

Okay so I’m an international student who was predicted AABB (Biology, Economics, Mathematics, FM) mostly due to mocks that I sat around June/July last year. Honestly that period of my life was the worst ever for many reasons and so I performed very badly on mocks and failed to make up for it later on. My predicted grades were pretty bad so I didn’t apply to the top universities and the best offer I got was the Political Economy course from KCL.

However, this year, I am doing much better in my mock exams and scored around the A*A*A*A* range pretty consistently. I’m not getting a A* in FM every mock test but hopefully for the real test I’ll be able to surprise myself.

I am sad that I did not get high predicted results from the first place and I’m worried that I could’ve gotten into a university much better than KCL. I want to get into IB in the future and KCL is a semi target university while I think I could have gotten the grades for target universities such as LSE, UCL, Warwick and Imperial.

I told my parents about this and asked them if I could perhaps take a gap year and reapply this fall and they were completely against the idea. They’re Asian and aren’t used to the concepts of gap years and told me that KCL would be a fine enough university and told me to not waste my time. However, I am worried that KCL won’t be fine enough for IB.

So looking at how I cannot take a gap year, I thought that my next best option would be to somehow go to KCL this fall and then transfer to a better university for second year but I have no idea if that’s even possible. The second best option would be for me to go to KCL this fall and reapply as a first year in another university but that option would be terrible because that would mean I have wasted an entire year of university tuition.

I know I’m being insane here but I really have no idea what to do. Is there a way I can transfer into second year of LSE, UCL, Imperial, etc from KCL. Would it be worth it to reapply as a first year? Is KCL that bad for my future or am I a huge prestige freak? Someone please set the record straight for me.

I am in the exact position but with Bath University, my goal is to go to UCL but I am unsure if they will allow transfers for specific courses. Lmk if anyone says anything helpful cheers

I would not worry about it too much at the moment and instead focus on doing well in A levels and first year of uni, as to transfer you will need strong grades from first year, I would give it a go but don't be discouraged if you can't get into any of those unis, KCL is still very good

Okay so I’m an international student who was predicted AABB (Biology, Economics, Mathematics, FM) mostly due to mocks that I sat around June/July last year. Honestly that period of my life was the worst ever for many reasons and so I performed very badly on mocks and failed to make up for it later on. My predicted grades were pretty bad so I didn’t apply to the top universities and the best offer I got was the Political Economy course from KCL.

However, this year, I am doing much better in my mock exams and scored around the A*A*A*A* range pretty consistently. I’m not getting a A* in FM every mock test but hopefully for the real test I’ll be able to surprise myself.

I am sad that I did not get high predicted results from the first place and I’m worried that I could’ve gotten into a university much better than KCL. I want to get into IB in the future and KCL is a semi target university while I think I could have gotten the grades for target universities such as LSE, UCL, Warwick and Imperial.

I told my parents about this and asked them if I could perhaps take a gap year and reapply this fall and they were completely against the idea. They’re Asian and aren’t used to the concepts of gap years and told me that KCL would be a fine enough university and told me to not waste my time. However, I am worried that KCL won’t be fine enough for IB.

So looking at how I cannot take a gap year, I thought that my next best option would be to somehow go to KCL this fall and then transfer to a better university for second year but I have no idea if that’s even possible. The second best option would be for me to go to KCL this fall and reapply as a first year in another university but that option would be terrible because that would mean I have wasted an entire year of university tuition.

I know I’m being insane here but I really have no idea what to do. Is there a way I can transfer into second year of LSE, UCL, Imperial, etc from KCL. Would it be worth it to reapply as a first year? Is KCL that bad for my future or am I a huge prestige freak? Someone please set the record straight for me.

You can transfer into 2nd year of LSE/UCL/Imperial although it'll be difficult and your 1st year grades need to be strong.

Alternatively... KCL is still a pretty strong university. It is part of the Golden Six (the 6 prestigious unis in London, Oxford and Cambridge, including KCL, UCL, ICL, LSE, Oxford and Cambridge).

I researched and second year entry is pretty much impossible. So I’m thinking of getting into the ucl foundation program for international students however I also kinda really don’t think it’s worth it.

I would take a gap year even if Ur parents are against it and shout at you if u do get really good grades. I think its worth it in the long run.

They will shout at you for a few days but as long as the gap year is productive they will forget about it

@holloway775 I think you may not realise but there is absolutely no university that guarantees you employment in IB. That's just not how university & employment works. Some universities are more likely to get you in the door e.g Oxford and Cambridge but there is no absolute guarantee that makes it worth it transferring for that reason only. There are also graduates from universities that you haven't mentioned, lower than the aforementioned unis that end up in IB. Just a few months ago there was someone on here who was complaining bitterly about their unsuccessful attempts to get into IB even though they had got lots of interviews - they were at Imperial!

If you want to go to UCL because that is your dream university then you can try and talk to your parents again about taking a gap year and reapplying. if not, you can try the transfer to UCL route (which is not at all guaranteed!). Whatever you do, don't set your heart on IB as you might be bitterly disappointed.

TBH I doubt that any of the unis involved allow for second year transfers in any case.

Yeah I was thinking about applying again to first year

Thank you for response, it was endlessly helpful. I gave it some deep thought and I’ve decided that I really don’t want to go into IB. I’m only 16 now and will be barely 17 when uni starts and will probably be 19 by the time I graduate so I really don’t think I’m ready for the competitive and cutthroat world of IB. I honestly just wanted to go to LSE or UCL to keep the IB option open but in the end, university brand doesn’t really matter if I’m not cut for IB.

I would honestly rather get university over with quickly than take a gap year which my parents would never agree to anyways. It’s not like KCL is a terrible school either, they had the same entry requirements for my course as UCL and my predicted grades were lower than the entry requirement so it’s a miracle I even got an offer 😭 However, I’ve been busting my butt off trying to get that A* in FM so im kinda sad that it will all just go to waste.

Honestly the only reason I was interested in IB is because my older sister brought it up as the single greatest career to get into and she said that I should know what career I want in the future by now which is?? I really don’t know what to do with my life and I am scaredddd of wasting my parents money.

I am in the exact position but with Bath University, my goal is to go to UCL but I am unsure if they will allow transfers for specific courses. Lmk if anyone says anything helpful cheers

I researched and second year entry is pretty much impossible. So I’m thinking of getting into the ucl foundation program for international students however I also kinda really don’t think it’s worth it.

Many international students go to university at 17 or even 16. While they're not that common in UK, as long as you're not particularly immature socially and emotionally compared to the other students, you'd be fine.
The uni experience would shape you positively to be ready for competitive and cutthroat things, especially if you take a lot of opportunities.
KCL is still a G6 university, keep in mind, it's not worth reapplying.

In that case, get over university quickly. If I was in your situation I wouldn't take a gap year, I'd get uni over quickly.
If you want to go to LSE/UCL then take a masters/PhD period.

You don't need to go to IB with a political economy degree. You can go to other areas as well. Maybe journalism or economic writing or something.
You can decide on eventual career in university anyway, as long as you like your degree and do well, you'd be fine.

KCL is always getting **** on in TSR so I wasn’t exactly sure if it’s a good university. Can you lmk what are you going to choose at the end?