Help LSE or Warwick

[LilyFlower2222]

Niece has applied for Accounting and Finance and has luckily got offers from both LSE and Warwick. This has becoming very stressful as she’s can’t decide which one to firm. Warwick has a year in Industry and LSE doesn’t. Will that affect job opportunities or is going to LSE the best decision based on name. Help please your wisdom will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

That’s concerning. It sounds like an elitist place. I’ll let her know. Thanks for you input

personally would go elsewhere for UG and aim for a taught PG at LSE
But taught PG courses at LSE have extremely high fees. No wonder there is a concentration of wealthier students enrolling for these.
LSE UG courses have a much better balance of students

Lily, I am not sure you can describe it as elitist. That certainly was not DS’ experience. There were presumably some very rich overseas students but the ones DS hung out with weren’t. Some were Eastern European in the days when EU students did not pay fees and very bright but not well off at all. Whilst Asian students were often on ‘family scholarships’ where family would club together to pay for a bright kid to have a world class education. Several of DS’ overseas friends would save money by sharing rooms in rental flats. They ate cheaply, China Town is near by and tended to cook in groups. DDs flatmates in her Bristol first year appeared to have far more disposable income for regular clubbing, Deliveroo, coffees out etc. International students at LSE are paying a lot for their education, often with their families making significant sacrifices. They can be very focused on their studies, which suited DS as he was absolutely absorbed in his subject and liked having interesting teachers and like minded friends.

If your niece is more interested in a traditional student party life style then LSE is probably the wrong place. Equally if she want to stay in her social comfort zone and hang out with people from similar backgrounds, what ever her background is, then LSE’s diversity might be overwhelming. DS went to Seoul during his first summer to visit a school friend, but caught up with one of his LSE friends as well. It turned out that this boy’s dad was very senior in Samsung so DS got the full Gangnam tour, VIP rooms in trendy night clubs etc. DS was absolutely not aware. In London they both studied hard and were doing well and this, rather than relative wealth, is what they had in common.

I am not sure I buy this ‘better for PG’ idea. Being a PG at LSE is very expensive (I think DS paid £23,000 for 10 months and this was a few years ago and despite a returning student discount.) courses can then be extremely intense as students know where they want to go and want to ensure that they do well enough to ensure the right doors open. UG suited him as he loved being surrounded by hard working motivated students, as well as the sense of being at an international crossroads, both for staff and students. With caveats. You do need to be motivated and a self starter. LSE welfare is better than, say, Bristol where you could disappear without trace and no one might notice, but living on your own in London is a challenge. Ultimately this is the decision.

Being a PG at LSE is very expensive (I think DS paid £23,000 for 10 months and this was a few years ago and despite a returning student discount.) courses can then be extremely intense as students know where they want to go and want to ensure that they do well enough to ensure the right doors open.

DD would 100% agree with @Needmoresleep on this. She has recently finished a Masters in London (LSHTM rather than LSE) and it was an insanely intense experience. She was studying night and day, and at weekends, for a full year – 12 months not 10. Her course was packed with people who had a specific end in mind and were very focused.

On the plus side, it was very international, and she loved the whole process of being in a study group with Italian, Spanish and South African fellow students, for example, as they had such diverse backgrounds and experiences.

My ds studied accounting and finance at Warwick and graduated last year. Warwick business school has an excellent reputation and the business school society runs large events (pre covid) and is vg for networking.
However, the exam process during covid was poorly managed: exam portal crashed during one of ds’s finals. As this was the second year of online exams this was really frustrating. One exam was changed to a essay meaning this no longer qualified for an ICAEW exemption which is irritating in itself but the university seemed unaware of this impact until a former student had their application for exemption denied. Pastoral care was poor and seemed to be a box ticking exercise.
Overall he was not that impressed.

@jgw1

In the most recent student satisfaction survey LSE was 53rd (which is higher than it has been for a long time, perhaps at last they have changed something?) whereas Warwick was 14th.

Ignore student satisfaction scores for LSE. It is well known that LSE students perpetuate giving low scores on these as a rebellious joke

Students were particularly pleased when the low score forced the Government to abandon some sort of funding metric because it would have placed LSE in the bottom category. There are also so many issues at play. The UK "work it out for yourself" study approach is very different to that used in some other places, so there can be a lot of adaptation for overseas students . I also wonder whether a student satisfaction survey undertaken after 10 years, when the benefits of having been at an internationally recognised institution come into play.

Shanghai Diva, I am sorry to hear about your DS' experience. There seems to have been big differences between how Universities coped with the pandemic. DD took an intercalation year at Imperial which responded very well. They needed to, given the proportion of international students. Bristol, where she is doing her main degree was less good with a few major exam snafus etc. I hear that LSE also did reasonably well. Lets hope that the pandemic is coming to a close, but I wonder whether it is first easier for smaller, specialised Universities, and whether a relatively good performance has helped LSE's student satisfaction. (Along with the end of a decade of the LSE campus being dominated by building works. The Saw Swee Hock student centre gives a campus feel, and with London's good transport, societies, discos. library, etc are easily accessible in the evenings. )

DD said LSE has gone out of its way to improve student satisfaction. It also responded very well to the pandemic and ensured all students, whether home or international, were supported and could access resources and teaching where ever they were. Exams were well thought through and the communication was good throughout.

DD now has some lectures in person as well as all classes. There is provision for those isolating. The library is open 24/7 which I am not sure is a good thing. The competitive nature of LSE means some students feel they have to study 24/7 which can really have an effect on mental health in such a highly drive environment.

I would guess most university libraries are open 24/7. In fact I’d be shocked if it wasnt

Not sure. I don't think Bristol's are, and they have a chronic shortage of space.

The LSE library is great. Right in the centre of campus and easily reached by public transport. DS' course only had nine in the third year, and they were able to commandeer a room and study together. They ALL got firsts.

DD was in a party flat during her first year at Bristol and would have loved the option of going to the library for a couple of hours to get away from the noise. However her accommodation in Stoke Bishop was some way away from the library so not an option. Ditto Warwick. Most second and third years are in Coventry or Leamington so, unless they live nearby, difficult to casually meet up with course mates to work on a group project. Our tour guide actually said that the best thing about the Warwick library was that it was open 24 hours a day and had bean bags, so was a place to sleep overnight if you had spent the evening on campus. Our direct comparison with LSE, Bristol and Imperial, which my daughter attended last year, is that London Universities do score on evening accessibility for societies etc. DS belonged to several. In a big city the campus really is a hub. In Bristol, and perhaps Warwick, social life is around flats and outside of the keen actors and sportspeople, people do not seem to use societies, or indeed SU facilities, in the same way.

I'm Warwick alum and knew lots of accounting and finance ppl. One of my friends is CEO of his own firm based in the caymans another is climbing the pole at big 4 firms.

I personally loved Warwick and I loved the campus feel. I lived in Coventry for my second and third years which was much better than Leam in terms of access and things to do.

The year in industry is a huge sell as she will earn money and have actual work experience to help her with graduate roles. I used to be a grad recruiter and I was so bored of hearing the same interview answers about group work or pressured deadlines. Those who'd worked had much better interview answers as they actually had some experience to draw on.

It will also mean she goes back into halls for her 4th year and that is another plus. DH and I were both in halls for a 4th year and it was much better that time round lol.

Talking about libraries and LSE. DC also sometimes goes to the UCL libraries, she have access to them as well and it's nearer to her accommodation

And a random, off topic, tip for Londoners. You can register with LSE etc if you are a student at another University. Because of the number of international and post grad students there is a certain bustle, even during vacations. Pre Covid, DD found it a good discipline to go there, and just be around other people working, even though her medical textbooks might have left some confused.