UCL vs. LSE

Anonymous #1

Course: Anthropology

any suggestions on which uni is better?
thanks in advance :smile:

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

The courses are very different so that's the main thing to decide between. LSE is purely social anthropology whereas UCL includes lots of options in biological/physical anthropology and medical anthropology, as well as material culture and social anthropology. So the UCL course is a lot broader across the subfields of anthropology. However if you are only interested in social anthropology, and particular legal and political and/or economic anthropology, LSE has some specific offerings and specialism in those areas that may be of interest.

London School of Economics

London

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Thanks for your reply!
Would you recommend looking into factors such as rankings, student satisfaction etc. when making a decision between the two unis for my course in particular?

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Anonymous

Thanks for your reply!
Would you recommend looking into factors such as rankings, student satisfaction etc. when making a decision between the two unis for my course in particular?

Rankings are a non-factor.

Student satisfaction may be a consideration, although sometimes it can't give the entire picture - for example in general, large unis tend to on the whole have somewhat lower student satisfaction, but individual departments can be much better within that. LSE specifically in general is plagued with student satisfaction issues on the whole, and thre are some cultural issues there in some departments - however I've heard some departments, particularly the ones less likely to attract those students gunning for IB careers and such have much better atmospheres. Anthropology there is one specific example I've heard of where it's on the whole better than other departments like law, economics and such for example!

I think though you do REALLY need to think about what it is you want from an anthropology course. If you have any interest in biological anthropology, medical anthropology, material culture beyond just the core theoretical concepts, you won't get any of that at LSE at all. Also worth noting, UCL has a lot of departments and the ability to take modules outside of your department usually, including some areas LSE doesn't have which thematically may link with anthropology depending on your interests (for example archaeology, many languages, etc). UCL also have a bunch of offerings in media related things in anthropology like documentary film-making, ethnographic writing and so on, which may or may not be of interest.

Overall I think the differences in the courses are significant enough that they should (and certainly can be) the major deciding factor. Unless you have a substantial scholarship to one rather than the other or something (which is unlikely in any event) that's really the biggest difference in the short and long term I believe.

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Thanks for your help once again!
Will definitely take into consideration the differing modules between the two a lot more now that you've mentioned it :smile: