Sciences Po, Paris - worth it for MSc?

[decisionsrevisions]

Hi, I know people are 'in the know' on here, so could I please ask this on behalf of my DD? She has offers for MSc programmes at Imperial (1 year FT), LSE (1 year FT) and Sciences Po, Paris (2 years FT with semester abroad for study or work placement). She is at Oxbridge and waiting to hear about another Masters program at 'the other place.' We live in London, so she would live at home if LSE or Imperial.

What is confusing about offers so far is - on the QS Global League tables, Imperial is 2nd and LSE about 50th. But Sciences Po, despite being similarly competitive for this MSc (in terms of applicants to places offers) is about 350th. Yet it seems to have a good reputation in France eg. all the French Presidents, PMs seem to have studied there.

Her feeling is Paris would be a great experience, but is it worth paying more for a less globally-renowned institution? Or are QS tables irrelevant.

Also does anyone have experience of having studied at Sciences Po - what is it like for a postgrad?

What's the subject?

What's the post-Masters plan?

Without being too specific, the courses are all related to Environment / Economics / Sustainability Policy.

There is a bias towards English taught universities due to the way data is collected, French journals aren't ranked as high due to language barriers. Due to the type of course I would suggest that any French university would be French focused (just like uk universities are uk focused, not exclusively but lean towards it).

Purely on the information given id suggest LSE. Oxbridge will be more academic focused whereas lse is more real world. The league tables have other quirks too meaning specialised institutions aren't ranked as well

I should say all are great though so sometimes you just have to use your gut

QS acknowledge that their methodology for the overall rankings contains a built-in assumption that institutions offer a full spectrum of subjects at a fairly standard ratio. Institutions that deviate from this, particularly those that lack science and allied medicine subjects, are under-ranked as a result and there is very little they can do to fix this without destroying their model.

They also acknowledge that their citation metrics rely on data sources that have a higher miss-rate for papers not published in English.

Consequently, the overall QS rankings for all three of the institutions you are looking at are pretty unreliable.

Its better to look at individual subject ranking rather than global.
Eg
"In rankings based on English-speaking publications, in 2023, Sciences Po ranks 2nd globally for the study of Politics in the QS World University Subjects Rankings, whereas it is ranked 39th in social sciences by Times Higher Education"

Thanks for this. I think she prefers the course at Imperial to the version at LSE - not exactly sure why.

Interesting that Sciences Po is so highly ranked for Politics and I see the point about higher miss-rates for papers not published in English.

I should say this course at Sciences Po is taught in English and attracts a lot of internationals. But 2 years, rather than 1, plus no idea about accommodation options.

Much to think about.

I think I know exactly what programmes you're talking about.

LSE is ranked only "50th" because it just does social science and doesn't really do STEM. However LSE ranks very very highly for the subjects it does. LSE & Imperial are awesome to study environmental economics at.

I would definitely advise going for a year abroad. Your daughter is already at Oxbridge, which is more than enough for CV purposes. Having an international background myself and with my children doing or planning to do a year abroad, I believe that even an undoubtedly excellent academic experience at Imperial cannot replace the unique experience of studying abroad. However, if she has already lived in another country, it might not be as relevant.

Sciences Po is even more of a mess at the moment than it has been. It's a DEI / woke stronghold and the teaching on many courses is extraordinarily dodgy.

Don't be misled by the fact that Presidents and PMs and politicians have studied at Sciences Po: it is the antechamber to ENA (Ecole National d'Administration), a specialist post grad training camp for politicians. Sciences Po is where you go when you want to be a French politician or media person but I can't see the point if you want to live in the UK.

The main issue with Sciences Po is the cost if you don’t have a European passport!