Bristol, KCL and UCL for Chemistry

[JulietOnTheMoon]

DS got offers from the above universities. He is still waiting to hear from Imperial and Oxford but has been saying UCL may be his favourite.

I know nothing other than they are all good. Any thoughts/advice/information about those universities are very much welcome! I would like to give him some balanced views before he decides where to go.

We are in London and DS is quite keen to stay in London.

Smart choice to go to uni in London if you're already in London. London unis are globally renowned and you can massively save on costs.

My mind thinks UCL is the best choice.

These universities rate as follows in international rankings for chemistry:

Oxford (5:QS, 8:THE)
Imperial (11:QS, 11:THE)
UCL (21:QS, 41:THE)
Bristol (78:QS, 62:THE)
KCL (89:QS, 93:THE)

Understandably, your DS is excited by his offer from UCL; it is a great option. I would advise supporting his choice and sharing his excitement for the present. He may feel differently if he receives an offer from Oxford or Imperial.

If your DS receives an offer from Oxford or Imperial, it is important to re-open the discussion and give serious consideration to his options. However, it is better to cross this bridge when you come to it.

I didn't know UCL was ranked this high globally. I know these rates vary depending on who did the research. But I can safely say DS has fantastic options. Nowhere seems to go wrong.

We will re-open the discussion if he receives an offer from IC and O. But I will happily support his choice of putting UCL as his first choice for now. We can indeed save a lot of money if he goes to a London uni.

Thank you very much for sharing all the wisdom and advice!

In the British rankings (Complete Guide and The Times) Imperial is 4th and 5th while UCL is 12th on both. Imperial does have a slightly higher profile globally I would say, as.reflected in its superior 'graduate outcomes' metric, but there isn't as much to choose between them as some people think.

We can indeed save a lot of money if he goes to a London uni

Absolutely. A world-class university in a global city, what is not to like.

In saying this, an offer from Oxford is always deserving of consideration.

Sorry I agree with this as well.

For our DC we told them that they'd go to university in London unless they could get into Oxbridge (then we'd happily fund the living costs for 3 years)

If they went to a London uni we'd only be able to fund living away from home costs for a single year.

Sorry if I sound ignorant but I somehow thought going to Oxford would be more expensive than staying in London. Simply because we live in London. Although DS is planning to live in the hall for the first year, he could always come back to live with us if things get too tight. And it'll be only three years. If he goes to Oxford he must live away for the whole time and it'll be 4 years, not 3. Plus, I hear they are not supposed to work part-time at Oxford?

If he can, and wants to, live at home then that will be cheaper for any uni choices.
Oxford and Cambridge aren't generally more expensive than anywhere else.

Re the not working part time - doing a chemistry degree at any of these unis is a very full time workload (same applies to many stem degrees). He can, and should, do internships (proper paid ones) in some or all of the summer vacations.

If his interest in the subject continues then IME many of the most interesting jobs need a PhD and nowadays they nearly all seem to need a masters first so doing an integrated masters can be a very good idea, much less expensive than adding on an MSc.