What is the No1 economics course in the UK? (In terms of academic rigour and graduate prospects)

[eggsbenedict23]

DS is in year 12 and last month attended the LSE open day. He liked the place and the department seemed nice. He told me (and showed me the talk recordings) that one of the professors giving the talk was saying they are a "top tier research university" etc. DS told me the professor briefly mentioned something along the lines of "we write the textbooks the second tier universities use". Apparently the professor mentioned Oxford and Cambridge as being 2nd tier.

To me it seemed as if the professor is arrogant.

Oops *a, not am

I think you are massively overthinking this op. Amongst the top 5 or even 10 I really dont think it will make that much of a difference when it comes to applying for jobs afterwards. I would have him choose based on - which city/location is more "him"? Which uni overall is more "him"? Which has the best and most affordable accomodation? And which is geographically most sensible bearing in mind where you live? (eg a direct train from your town to the uni town)

Agree that even the very top students who apply to the top 4 or 5 are lucky these days to get offers from 1 or 2 of them. In a sense, that probably makes making the final decision about which to Firm a bit easier, if you’ve got some rejections.

Yes,look very closely at course content and which best suits you, then apply to those great courses and wait….and wait. The top places are notoriously slow to offer (not Oxford and Cambridge) so that by late March and early April, many people will still be waiting for an offer and be hugely grateful for any of their institutions…and be very well positioned to have a great career, assuming they have the other relevant skills needed in the workplace.

I would look at student satisfaction ratings. When we looked 4 years ago LSE did very poorly. They also had a very high % of international students.

Not sure what's wrong with high % of internationals or what is pertinent about this fact...? It's a top uni in London. Of course it'll have lots of international students. I went to one which has a similar number and thought it was a good thing to be exposed to people from different backgrounds and have friends from around the world.

Student satisfaction is not LSE's forte and there is something to be said there, but it might also just reflect the academic rigour. Imperial's student satisfaction is also not on the high side, but again, you do have to wonder whether the student satisfaction would have gone up a notch if the student were at a uni where the workload is less/people are less competitive/exams are easier...

Did speak to DS if he'd be happy at LSE. DS explained that the staff at LSE have taken on board the student satisfaction results and have thus revamped the curriculums and also introduced events to make a good community feel. DS said he met many students on the open day who said they are happy to be at LSE.

LSE is a global finance university, and one of the best at that. Budding anarchists, snowflakes and hard-core nationalists need not apply. IMHO.

Not a nationalist and don’t feel need to explain myself. I was stating fact. Make up of students does change the experience and each person needs to decide what’s important to them.
We also couldn’t afford London so that meant we considered no further.

If is fair to say the students on a course matter to some. Not to others. There are stats published on numbers of international students so you can make an informed decision. London is not for everyone. No point pretending it is. International students love it and many would not go elsewhere.

Posters have been able to say if this suits them or not on another thread talking about proportions of international students at university here. It’s been a mature conversation where academics have explained some of the issues posed by both groups of students not interacting. It’s inevitable that some uk students might feel overwhelmed when they are in a minority on some courses.

It’s also unfair to call these students derogatory names. Constant pressure does not suit everyone. That does not mean a student cannot do well and thrive and be a great employee. However it can also lead to all sorts of problems, eg low self esteem and dissatisfaction. So it’s horses for courses! Choose wisely.

International students love it and many would not go elsewhere.

Where is the evidence for this? I have met enough international students to know that it can be really tough to be uprooted at 18, find yourself in the centre of a large city, on a tough course, perhaps in a different language. Culturally the British students may be different, seeing freshers week and beyond as a time to party. The international student could well be being financed by the extended family and see it as their duty to work hard.

London is easier. There are plenty of international restaurants and other cultural facilities. The Universities tend to stay open over Christmas and Easter (important, even places like Cambridge empty out potentially leaving an international student isolated). There will be a critical mass of students with a similar backgrounds.

I recognise that your DD shared a room with an international student and apparently did not enjoy the experience, but anecdote does not make data. However I think you are not taking into account how diverse international students are. "The Chinese" can be Singaporeans with English educated parents, they can be kids who went to international school in a non Chinese country, they can be the children of take away owners in Wales, they can have been through an English boarding school. (DS had friends in all these groups.) There will be some from very rich families in China, who are using time in the UK as a form of finishing school, and who may be congregated on certain courses. But that is a University issue. There would be similar complaints if a course were full of Tim-nice-but-dim's who chose only to mix with each other.

DD was friendly with a group of students from various European countries. The international students chose to share a house together in their second year. They were quite a diverse group of characters but what they probably had in common was a need to hold back from full immersion into a British student culture they did not fully understand. It is a choice often made by, say, British MFL students taking a year abroad who then find their friendship group is from all over.

Isn't the maintenance loan higher for London?

Maintenance is higher for London but it may not cover the difference when you compare to Oxford or Cambridge if you select a college with accommodation for full 3 years or a university like Warwick.
Not the only place though, eg full standard loan barely covers accommodation somewhere like Bristol.

Economics is a wide term and covers a whole range of specialisations, ranging from accounting and national economics through consulting all the way to global financial markets.
LSE caters mostly for the consulting and global finance crowds and if you want to be an accountant, then Cambridge and LSE is an overkill anyhow akin to using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
The more global you go, the higher the earning potential, and the more important it is to have a truly international student body during university years.
It will be too late to get that at work where office politics often colour and distort perceptions.