UCL Pro's
-Seems to be a better work/life balance, will probably have more fun there
-Year Abroad, added fluency of a language + experience of another country
-more flexibility with modules, get a broad base in many social sciences in the first year (will then likely specialise in philosophy and political theory)
-Seems stronger for philosophy, especially political philosophy.
-BA
-I'm really interested in a lot of the modules
-The student body/university itself seems more tolerant
-Seems a bit more left wing? Probably not much in it between them however.
-It's in a small department so even if contact hours are a bit lower than LSE, it seems you get more attention within the course, with the advisers, and everyone does the same module first year. Compared to other UCL courses contact hours are higher, and you do get more attention with academic supervisors.
-accommodation is a bit more reasonable
Cons
-Higher Offer - A*AA (still likely achievable)
-Probably worse prospects post degree, not sure how well-reputed ESPS is anymore after the introduction of the dual degree and ISPS.
-4 year degree
-Likely won't be able to french or spanish - as I didn't do them A-Level, unless I take a gap year - which would mean 5 years total before I graduate. If I don't take a gap year I'd do italian (which is less useful to me and I've never studied it before, while on the other hand spanish is a high B1 and french probably A2/B1).
-If I do italian my year abroad would be in italy - and I'm not sure the italian, partner unis are very well reputed in philosophy (reputed for politics however).
LSE - Pros
- 3 year degree, (can take my language learning independent of uni at a language school in my gap year).
- Lower offer (AAA)
-Seem to be better career prospects (especially networking/connection wise) LSE is a much smaller uni and it seems like it would basically set me up for life to work there. Assuming better respected for postgrad as well?
-I'd probably get a bit more support/contact hours at LSE - there seem to be more and smaller classes. The individual course is also very small (not sure how much this translates to more support however, as it's within two larger departments)
LSE Cons
-BSC, it wouldn't be an issue as I do maths A-Level, yet a more quantitative analysis on politics interests me less so, It's a useful and necessary skill so I'd still probably do modules on it at UCL, but It seems a much larger component at LSE.
-There seems to be less of a work/life balance + students more intense and less outgoing. My impression is I'd probably be less happy there.
-Fewer and less flexible modules - generally 4 courses / year, with less choice even in the optional ones
-Seems less tolerant (under my current impression) -while the majority of students are international - the ratio is also very high at UCL, but my impression (could very well be wrong) is there are a lot more, very entitled rich 'snobs' at LSE. It also seems a bit more right wing.
-accommodation seems more pricey