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UCL vs Boston College (US). UK VS US in general too.

I have just gotten an offer from UCL for HPE but am really trying to go to the US. I got waitlisted from NYU Stern ED2 and now one of my top choices is Boston College. If I do get the acceptance from Boston College should I accept it or do UCL? I am predicted A*A*A* in Economics, Politics and Maths and my UCL offer is AAA. I’m quite confident I can achieve these grades in economics and maths but although predicted A* my politics grades can be quite volatile and I’m scared on a bad day it might drop to a B. I have also applied to Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, Northeastern, Boston University, U Michigan (Ross), UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine and UCSD in the US. In the UK have applied to LSE (Politics and Economics), UCL (HPE), UCL (PPE), Kings (Political Economy) and Bath (Politics with Economics). I have only gotten decisions from UCL (HPE) and Kings (Political Economy), AAA and A*AA respectively. I really want a US university experience but don’t really want to sacrifice university prestige or career prospects (in finance) for it. Anyone’s input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
If you're looking at it from a prestige perspective, UCL is a highly ranked university not only in the UK, but the world, Boston college not so much. Financial institutions especially investment banks tend to hire graduates with the prestige of the uni they attended being a factor.

I have a few questions so I can give you some more specific advice.
Are you from the UK? If you are from the UK, would you be paying international fees?
Also, why do you want a US university experience?
Original post by Divinebandit
If you're looking at it from a prestige perspective, UCL is a highly ranked university not only in the UK, but the world, Boston college not so much. Financial institutions especially investment banks tend to hire graduates with the prestige of the uni they attended being a factor.
I have a few questions so I can give you some more specific advice.
Are you from the UK? If you are from the UK, would you be paying international fees?
Also, why do you want a US university experience?

Hey, I go to secondary school in the UK and have a British passport but am applying as an international and paying international fees as I was told it was easier to get into the universities. I want a US university experience because firstly I’ve lived in the UK for about half my life and living in London and seeing all of the university students in London, it just seems kind of depressing and boring. I also have a lot of friends both currently attending and about to attend both US and UK universities and the US ones have always seemed much more content about their university life (sports, culture, friends) compared to the UK students who seemed to only be drinking and partying in their free time. I would also like to work in New York eventually in finance. The final added bit that makes me prefer the US is that I just don’t like having my whole life depend on my A levels and I still understand that the US universities still would like me to get near my predicted grades but they wont rescind my offer if I don’t.
Original post by undeveloped-vomi
Hey, I go to secondary school in the UK and have a British passport but am applying as an international and paying international fees as I was told it was easier to get into the universities. I want a US university experience because firstly I’ve lived in the UK for about half my life and living in London and seeing all of the university students in London, it just seems kind of depressing and boring. I also have a lot of friends both currently attending and about to attend both US and UK universities and the US ones have always seemed much more content about their university life (sports, culture, friends) compared to the UK students who seemed to only be drinking and partying in their free time. I would also like to work in New York eventually in finance. The final added bit that makes me prefer the US is that I just don’t like having my whole life depend on my A levels and I still understand that the US universities still would like me to get near my predicted grades but they wont rescind my offer if I don’t.


I understand everything else you have done, except two things. You could have applied to more UK unis outside of London if you feel like London is miserable. But people say university is really what you make out of it, if you are able to balance your study time with societies and all the activities that London has available, you will enjoy university far more. Also, I don’t understand how you "chose" to pay international fees, I'm pretty sure that is automatically determined.

Now here are some things you really need to consider. I understand the advantage of your place in a US uni is not placed solely upon A Level performance. You need to consider the cost of a US visa and the paperwork required for that, the cost of living in the US tends to be higher than the UK. There will be other things you will need to be paid for flights back to the UK, health insurance etc. There may be advantages to the US, maybe the fees are lower than UK international fees and they may have more scholarships available.

Luckily, USA unis don't use UCAS, so you can put down a firm and insurance for UK unis then you can wait for a reply from a Boston college. At the end of the day, it is your choice. Just make sure you think it through. Good luck.
You have said*
Original post by undeveloped-vomi
I have just gotten an offer from UCL for HPE but am really trying to go to the US. I got waitlisted from NYU Stern ED2 and now one of my top choices is Boston College. If I do get the acceptance from Boston College should I accept it or do UCL? I am predicted A*A*A* in Economics, Politics and Maths and my UCL offer is AAA. I’m quite confident I can achieve these grades in economics and maths but although predicted A* my politics grades can be quite volatile and I’m scared on a bad day it might drop to a B. I have also applied to Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, Northeastern, Boston University, U Michigan (Ross), UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine and UCSD in the US. In the UK have applied to LSE (Politics and Economics), UCL (HPE), UCL (PPE), Kings (Political Economy) and Bath (Politics with Economics). I have only gotten decisions from UCL (HPE) and Kings (Political Economy), AAA and A*AA respectively. I really want a US university experience but don’t really want to sacrifice university prestige or career prospects (in finance) for it. Anyone’s input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Remember UCL has just as a good reputation as Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and Imperial.

You should do your MBA at Harvard, Yale, Wharton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown and Stanford. 😉
Original post by undeveloped-vomi
Hey, I go to secondary school in the UK and have a British passport but am applying as an international and paying international fees as I was told it was easier to get into the universities. I want a US university experience because firstly I’ve lived in the UK for about half my life and living in London and seeing all of the university students in London, it just seems kind of depressing and boring. I also have a lot of friends both currently attending and about to attend both US and UK universities and the US ones have always seemed much more content about their university life (sports, culture, friends) compared to the UK students who seemed to only be drinking and partying in their free time. I would also like to work in New York eventually in finance. The final added bit that makes me prefer the US is that I just don’t like having my whole life depend on my A levels and I still understand that the US universities still would like me to get near my predicted grades but they wont rescind my offer if I don’t.


If you want to work in the U.S., getting a U.S. college degree would make it a lot easier. UCL is a top university in the U.K., but sorry most New York bankers will not have heard of it. They probably only know Oxbridge. Boston University is definitely more well known over there than UCL, but making it to the Wall Street from Boston U is difficult. Columbia would be your best bet among all universities in your list. UC Berkeley would be good for finance jobs in the west coast.
What you could do is - go to a top uk uni that offers study abroad/placement at a top US uni, such as the ones you’ve listed (so you have experience living in the US). Then, you could do a masters at that US uni, making it easier for you to get work over there? Just a thought…

Also it’s a shame you haven’t applied to many unis outside of London - I think you’d have liked St Andrews! It’s up there with Oxbridge in terms of prestige and extremely popular with American students. Scottish unis also operate basically the same as American ones (4-year flexible degree structure).

In terms of UCL vs Boston college - I’d say UCL 100%. It’s 9th in the world!

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