MPhil Oxford vs. MSc LSE

Hi all,

I really need your advice: I have to decide if I want to do 1year MSc in Economics at LSE and pay 26000£ or if I do 2year MPhil in Economics at Oxford and get full funding!
I came up with the following pros and cons:
LSE pro: best econ in Europe, they have better names than Oxford
LSE con: EXPENSIVE!!!
Oxford pro: zero cost, still good programme
Oxford con: not as many good names as LSE, lower difficulty level of classes
(Why do I worry about the names? Because I want to get good letters in order to enter Top10 PhD in USA afterwards.)

Please correct me if I'm wrong in any appreciation.

WHERE WOULD YOU GO? (Having to make this decision is really driving me crazy.)

Thanks for giving your opinions!

PS: Or would you do a fully funded PhD at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)?!?

Reply 1

Jump

I know someone that took the MSc at LSE and they still said they regret turning down Cambridge as they didn't enjoy LSE at all due to a lack of personal feel to it - make of that what you will.

Reply 2

Font

jumpunderaboat

I know someone that took the MSc at LSE and they still said they regret turning down Cambridge as they didn't enjoy LSE at all due to a lack of personal feel to it - make of that what you will.

no arguement...oxford! better rep. and its free!!!!!!!! how can you turn down free stuff from like a top uni...i mean they are both sort of on par....why waste 26k ?

Reply 3

Jump

Phil23

no arguement...oxford! better rep. and its free!!!!!!!! how can you turn down free stuff from like a top uni...i mean they are both sort of on par....why waste 26k ?

Have to agree with you there, even if you think LSE is a bit better it isn't £26k better.

Reply 4

Ziad82

LSE is clearly better than Oxford in Economics, and much more respected in the States and elsewhere. Their courses are much more advanced and can only matched by top US universities. I have personally chosen it over Oxford. The other good thing about LSE is that their MSc is a one year degree as opposed to 2 in Oxford. But £26K is a lot of money. If I were you, I would choose Oxford (I chose LSE because my financial situation is different, so the choice was purely academic).

Reply 5

hamewi

jumpunderaboat

I know someone that took the MSc at LSE and they still said they regret turning down Cambridge as they didn't enjoy LSE at all due to a lack of personal feel to it - make of that what you will.

I think you got a good point there. I was worried that LSE might be a bit like that. If you compare the average class size at LSE>100 and Oxford=50. The latter sounds much more personal...