For economics (with or without mgt): Bath, St Andrew's or King's London?

[shockthemonkey]

Hello, if anyone has any extra insight I would be grateful. I am advising someone who cannot choose between these three universities.

All are unconditional offers as she got her bac in 2014.

She is from Paris and worries St Andrew's will be too remote. She is tending towards King's as she is seduced by the London scene (even though we have talked about the challenges of student life in London).

She cannot explain why, but Bath as an environment appeals less.

Are there any ways of looking at this choice she may not have considered? She is happy with ranking and course content at all three, but also admits she wants flexibility to go deeper into maths in 2nd year.

Thanks if anyone can advise!

Bath is highly rated for economics and should provide the econometrics modules. I didn't realise KCL was rated for economics. Also, no idea about St Andrews.
Each is in a very different environment - major international city, historic city, small and fairly remote town.

Each University very different. What does she want to do next? What sort of degree does she want to do?

1. Bath's real strength is its year in employment. Even those students who don't apply initially to take this year often try to switch. We were told that most students chose optional courses in accountancy and finance. In short, if you want an economics degree as a route into an accountancy/management type job, then Bath is a very good option.

1. Is the Kings degree is quite new? When reading Student Room last year (my son was applying to both LSE and UCL) many overseas students seemed to be applying to Kings as their fall back, and I picked up the impression it was a new course, but could be wrong. This might be why it does not appear in the rankings. Since LSE and UCL are both very oversubscribed it would make sense for Kings to offer something. Also the degree seems to be Economics and Management. Is this what she wants?

1. St Andrews appears 11th in the Complete University Guide rankings for Economics compared with Bath's 8th, though in 2014 the positions were reversed, which suggests they are both respected courses of similar standing. St Andrews is 4 years though a French girl, unlike an English girl, would not pay fees so the extra year is less expensive. That said St Andrews is very popular with English students from private school backgrounds, and has a reputation for being quite social.

At Bath and St Andrews she will probably find herself mixing with a lot English/Scottish. In London there will be more scope to form a predominantly French friendship group, listen to French Radio London, eat at La Bouchee and visit the Cine Lumiere. Up to 400,000 French now live in London making it France's sixth biggest City, and this community is probably more cosmopolitan and outward looking than French communities elsewhere. From what you have said, it sounds as if she would prefer to have an essentially French experience at a UK institution, so Kings, though I suspect the educational experience at the other two would be better.

Huge numbers of overseas students are seduced by London. If she is from Paris, London will soon feel familiar and has a huge French population. She will feel remote in Scotland and probably Bath too. I think location is going to be a very strong pull so London, full of international students, is likely to be popular with her. The major challenge of London is trying to live there on a shoestring. If you have funds, it is great.

Thank you very much everyone. Yes she knows about the money factor -- St Andrews will be easy on the budget and King's quite the opposite.

Yes the King's course is new.

I will talk to her more about the value of Bath's year in industry.

Even though it sometimes feels as if students are asking us to choose for them, all we try to do is make sure they make their own choices in full "connaissance de cause" (ie having considered all the pertinent info).

Thanks again,

I can't comment on the course, but there are quite a large number of French or French speaking students at Bath. I am a current first year and live with a Moroccan girl, and she has loads of French friends - most of her friendship group seem to be French speaking, so I don't think that need be a worry.

St. Andrews has some advantages, its a small town with a lot of international tourism for golf, so finding a job while studying is easier than London and a French speaker could well be in demand.

Its not hard to get to Glasgow or Edinburgh for flights back to France.

Just be warned that accommodation in St Andrews is very expensive and is of limited supply - see my thread in this folder from last month for the full story

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/2314220-A-warning-to-anyone-applying-to-St-Andrews?pg=6

Unbelievable! Yes I remember that thread now, only i skimmed it first time. Very off-putting and would definitely want to spare my student all that aggro. As it is I discourage my applicants from applying to more than one Scottish choice as they do take very few french students (as Bonsoir has noted). Thanks very much for the warning miss piggy as the whole thing sounds unfair and stressful

Hi, I've only contributed to MN a couple of times - I'm a current Bath student, minoring in Economics. I've had a really awful experience from the Economics department at Bath. I would ask them what they're planning to do to improve feedback on assessments (I've had essays back with three illegible scribbles and a mark... that's helpful to improve my grade!).

Bath also has issues with accommodation, and there are relatively limited flights from Bristol out of the tourist season, I think.

Thanks, bathstudent. I know about the accommodation at Bath, as my very tall son recently visited and found that he cannot actually fit into any of the smaller rooms (lying with his feet on the far wall his head is in the doorway).

That's a bit shoddy re your Economics dept and useful to know. Bath has just come top in the UK for student experience according to the THE survey, but your comment reminds us to take all of these things with a pinch of salt (and above all to VISIT and talk to current students!)

Thanks again,