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Does the foundation program I choose affect my chances of getting into King’s,UCL,LSE

I’m aiming for King’s College London, UCL, and LSE.
The foundation programs I can attend are:

University of Exeter Foundation
City, University of London / St George’s Foundation
University of Southampton Foundation
NCUK (Korea campus)

Before my main questions, I want to know whether the international foundation courses at those three universities are run by the universities themselves or by private providers. I’ve heard they’re operated by private institutions.

1) If I get the same grades (A*A*A) from any of the four foundation programs, would my chances of getting into university differ depending on which provider I attended?

2) what are the chances that i get into UCL or LSE from those foundation courses?

3) Which of these four foundation programs is considered the most reputable or competitive?

Reply 1

Original post
by veritasluxmea
I’m aiming for King’s College London, UCL, and LSE.
The foundation programs I can attend are:
University of Exeter Foundation
City, University of London / St George’s Foundation
University of Southampton Foundation
NCUK (Korea campus)
Before my main questions, I want to know whether the international foundation courses at those three universities are run by the universities themselves or by private providers. I’ve heard they’re operated by private institutions.
1) If I get the same grades (A*A*A) from any of the four foundation programs, would my chances of getting into university differ depending on which provider I attended?
2) what are the chances that i get into UCL or LSE from those foundation courses?
3) Which of these four foundation programs is considered the most reputable or competitive?

The unis (City St George's, Exeter and Southampton) are not running international foundations. Instead, they "collaborate" with other (profit making?) companies, e.g. Study Group, INTO etc, in offering international foundations. These international foundations are often one-to-one, i.e. aimed for progressing to the partner uni. Quite unlikely, though not impossible, graduates of these international foundations are accepted by KCL, LSE and UCL.

KCL and UCL operate international foundations on their own. The courses are more widely accepted by other UK unis. However, not all graduates from these international foundations could progress onto KCL and UCL.

NCUK is a education institute not affiliated to uni. Their international foundations are accepted by some (not all) UK unis. KCL, LSE and UCL might not be among these unis.

International foundations are not UK A-Levels. The results are usually in the form of % but not grades. Unfortunately data on graduates' achievement, i.e. results and % graduates admitted to unis, were rarely published so it is extremely difficult to comment on "competitiveness", "reputation" etc of any international foundation.

People might perceive uni operated international foundations are "better". KCL, Queen Mary, SOAS, UCL and Warwick operate international foundations on their own, i.e. not in "collaboration" with others.

Reply 2

Original post
by veritasluxmea
I’m aiming for King’s College London, UCL, and LSE.
The foundation programs I can attend are:
University of Exeter Foundation
City, University of London / St George’s Foundation
University of Southampton Foundation
NCUK (Korea campus)
Before my main questions, I want to know whether the international foundation courses at those three universities are run by the universities themselves or by private providers. I’ve heard they’re operated by private institutions.
1) If I get the same grades (A*A*A) from any of the four foundation programs, would my chances of getting into university differ depending on which provider I attended?
2) what are the chances that i get into UCL or LSE from those foundation courses?
3) Which of these four foundation programs is considered the most reputable or competitive?

Hi there,
As states below, there are some universities which do accept the foundation year completed elsewhere however others do not. I would recommend emailing the admissions team for UCL, LSE and KCL to see if they would accept it or not before going ahead. You could look into the International Foundation Programme however this tends to be for international students or those who have studied in the UK and hove not achieved the grades due to a language barrier. You could opt for completing a foundation year at the university you would like to attend as this would be easier. To my knowledge UCL offers foundation years for certain courses, you could check those out.

I hope this helped.
Sarah
Original post
by veritasluxmea
I’m aiming for King’s College London, UCL, and LSE.
The foundation programs I can attend are:
University of Exeter Foundation
City, University of London / St George’s Foundation
University of Southampton Foundation
NCUK (Korea campus)
Before my main questions, I want to know whether the international foundation courses at those three universities are run by the universities themselves or by private providers. I’ve heard they’re operated by private institutions.
1) If I get the same grades (A*A*A) from any of the four foundation programs, would my chances of getting into university differ depending on which provider I attended?
2) what are the chances that i get into UCL or LSE from those foundation courses?
3) Which of these four foundation programs is considered the most reputable or competitive?

As a University of Southampton student ambassador, I can confirm that the international foundation programmes at Southampton, Exeter, and City are delivered by private pathway providers in partnership with the universities, not by the universities’ academic departments themselves.
At Southampton this is OnCampus Southampton, at City it is Kaplan International Pathways, and at Exeter it is the Exeter International Study Centre. These programmes are mainly designed to prepare students for progression into their own university. NCUK is different, as it is a consortium foundation that is not tied to one university and is recognised by a wide range of partner universities.
You can see this clearly on the official pages for
If you achieved the same top grades from any of these foundations, your chances of getting into King’s, UCL, or LSE would usually not change just because of the provider. What matters most is whether the university accepts that specific foundation qualification and your academic profile overall.
LSE is especially selective and only considers some foundation programmes on a case-by-case basis https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Undergraduate/Prospective-Students/How-to-Apply/entry-requirements.
UCL generally prioritises its own foundation and reviews external ones very carefully https://www.ucl.ac.uk/languages-international-education/preparation-courses/upc-foundation.
Because of this, NCUK is often seen as the most flexible and widely recognised option if your goal is progression to top universities beyond the host institution, while Southampton, Exeter, and City foundations are strongest for progression into their own universities rather than UCL or LSE.

Anusha
University of Southampton Ambassador

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