well I see everyone agrees with your opinion....:) so you must be right

I see..
I do consider that in terms of reputation oxbridge is ahead.

well, as you seem to know by close the peculiarities of UK unis, if you have the time to comment on this thread http://www.llm-guide.com/board/57816 I would highly appreciate.

well, somethings are common knowledge, pity it seems to have surpassed you

well, as you seem to know by close the peculiarities of UK unis, if you have the time to comment on this thread http://www.llm-guide.com/board/57816 I would highly

I am not too familar with the university in Geneva, however as far as I recall their entry requirements are rather high, possible on par with Oxbridge, though don't take my word for it. Cambridge would most likely be the best place to undertake public international law in my mind

And you're telling me that social sciences does not encompass law?nice...

forget world rankings yet consider a social science ranking as equivalent to law? hm, dod you logic go out the window?

and if you wish to pursue a conversation I suggest you attempt to read what I wrote, I didn't say social science isn't covering law, but its not a law ranking, hence does not reflect LSE's law school.

Hey But coming back to the main topic- which do u think is better UCL or KCL? I Have offers for both & I am really confused as to which 1 I should opt for!

I was trying to refrain myself from entering into this argument but when I saw Llisbon in one of the nicknames involved (and considering I am Portuguese), I got this eagerness to reply :)

Just to put things straight: I did my llm in banking and finance at UCL last year. I had friends in all the major UK unis (i.e., Oxbrigde and the three big ones in London [UCL, Kings and LSE] + Queen Mary) doing llms on the same subjects as well as different ones. Additionally, I chatted with many HRs from magic circle firms to try to have a better grasp of the real picture in the UK and in the world.

Obviously, before undertaking the llm, I thoroughly searched rankings and cross-referenced dozens of them...

Some assumptions I am making in order to narrow the scope down and to show what my search was directed at: I wanted a practitioner oriented LLM, so that rules out oxbrigde - they are far too academic, though great unis, without a doubt.

Having said that, and bearing in mind I wanted to work in Europe, only London stood as a really good place to go to, since it is the world's major financial centre - so US unis were discharged ab initio.

LSE:

Great name, due to its huge worldwide marketing and finance department's (not law) reputation. Better reputation outside the UK than indoors. It is an excellent uni but the big names they pull in are not lecturing - see MacDonald for instance for international finance...

UCL:

Very good teachers, not so good facilities, though. Lousy marketing (I think they don't even care...) but people tend to rank it as the top law uni in London - LLB and LLM. The big guns really teach, at least from my experience.

KCL

Good teachers and, at least for my area of law, best designed LLM - really well-balanced, though the entry requirements are far less demanding then UCL's for instance, at least the level of English among KCL's students was lower.

None of these are really that close to oxbrigde when the LLB is concerned, but for a practice oriented LLM, the former surpass the latter... IMO!

Without prejudice to what was said above, I wouldn´t be concerned about law in general. If you are going to London, you can still basically use the facilities of IALS and of every other uni from the University of London, so facilities should be discarded as a factor.

I would rank the Unis in London, in this manner:

UCL
KCL/LSE
Queen Mary

PS: for instance, and going against what I just said: Queen Mary is top notch in Arbitration - they snatched top places in all the international moots (at least in the last couple of years)

In conclusion and wrapping up, cause I got carried away:
I will back up Cana´s (?) opinon. LSE (and KCL a tad as well) is(are) overrated and UCL underrated (outside the UK).
In the UK, most people would top rank UCL - furthermore, this was admitted by like 7 or 8 KCL LLB students that when on to the the LLM with me.

I am sorry fellow countryman, but the truth is LSE's marketing machine is not to be messed with and it does distort and twist reality a bit.

take care!

Hey luroge,


Appreciate getting an opinion from a former UCL LLM student and in the specialization I want to pursue (although I am leaning toward the finance courses than towards the conventional banking). I got offers from UCL and KCL and after comparing the list of courses and teachers( Hooley, Tennekon, Dalhuisen...) I accepted KCL's offer . If I were to read a different subject/LLM (int public laws for ex, I would have chosen UCL but the courses in the finance llm seemed better than those of UCL (this is my personal opinion so I might be in the wrong here.

I agree Prof Ravi Tennnekon is very good. I have heard he is an absolute god of international finance law. KCL module for International Business Law is excellent much better than the specialisation module of the other colleges..

absolutely
tennekon (who teachs many int finance modules )and an 1 or 2 other profs are the reasons why i favored kcl over ucl for a finance LLM.

Llisbon, in one thread you commented that LSE ranks in at 56, whereas UCL KCL ranks in at the top 25 in the world.

Rankings are the interest of many but they should be read correctly. The rankings you mention are "cumultative rankings"; hence, if a school does not have a medical school, for example, it will not fair well in such overall rankings, and this could lead to a school very strong in certain fields (ie LSE) to be misrepresented.

As such, while QS lists LSE in at 66 in its generla ranking, in in field of Social Sciences LSE ranks in at 4 world over.

Hence why those studying towards degrees in fields related to the Social Sciences know of LSE...

tinkerbell:
i was the one saying that LSE is one of the best in law...(though LSE really does not need my aknowledgment but i was having an argument with cann i think

Llisbon, the same argument was thrown out by another individual in a thread; so my comment went out to the general public. Sorry for having mentioned your name.

Good luck, with your chat with Cann...

Llisbon, the same argument was thrown out by another individual in a thread; so my comment went out to the general public. Sorry for having mentioned your name.

Good luck, with your chat with Cann...

What is obvious to one may not be so for others.

Concerning your last post Cann, I would like to point out how LSE does not have a Law School, it has a Law Department.

The "other individual" in my last post did not refer to you; I actually explicitly stated it was a comment meant for the GENERAL public. I did not deliberately comment on the content of what you had written on until this point; I am doing this for the first time right now. Although this was obvious to me, apparantly it wasnt for you!

I wish you the best of luck with all...
I'm signing out guys!

What is obvious to one may not be so for others.

Concerning your last post Cann, I would like to point out how LSE does not have a Law School, it has a Law Department.

The "other individual" in my last post did not refer to you; I actually explicitly stated it was a comment meant for the GENERAL public. I did not deliberately comment on the content of what you had written on until this point; I am doing this for the first time right now. Although this was obvious to me, apparantly it wasnt for you!

I wish you the best of luck with all...
I'm signing out guys!

cann: what is your problem with LSE or with anyone in general? And why can't you sustain an argument in a professional manner without always taking things personally and attacking the "KNOWLEDGE" of anyone who contradicts you?
I think everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion and I think no one is reading your posts because they simply lack a minimum of common sense!
btw, I am going to KCL and not LSE .

cann: what is your problem with LSE or with anyone in general? And why can't you sustain an argument in a professional manner without always taking things personally and attacking the "KNOWLEDGE" of anyone who contradicts you?
I think everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion and I think no one is reading your posts because they simply lack a minimum of common sense!
btw, I am going to KCL and not LSE .

Cann

I made a general remark; subject specific vs. general rankings were an issue before on this blog (I received a few PMs to this affect). The remark I made was NOT directed specifically at you, it was directed to the public.

The first time I directed a remark particularly -and solely- at you Cann, was in my last post when I pointed out that the LSE has a law department and not a law school.

Getting your facts wrong is also something that is frowned upon in the legal profession.