Hey everyone,

I have offers from all the "Big 3" and am waiting on Oxford.

How would you rank the schools?

I spoke with a partners from international law firms and academics, and while a couple initially said 1) LSE 2)UCL and 3) King's... i'm not so sure anymore. ANyway that was my initial post.

After some extensive research, looking on these forums and thinking bout it, I tend to now disagree. I have asked more lawyers and academics and it is between UCL and LSE... UCL being preferred for various reasons.

I change my mind a lot. My ranking before I applied was always 1) UCL 2) LSE and 3) King's. Back to that! :-) Might change again, but, for sure, UCL and LSE and the top schools in London.

What do you all think?

Thanks, and good luck with the applications!

fully agree

I agree, based on advice from academics.

I am associate attorney at Baker & McKenzie and definitely chose UCL for my LL.M... although LSE has certainly done a great job marketing itself as the top uni in London and thus it is in the "top of mind" of many employers.......

Thanks villy, but I read your previous posts re when you applied to LSE last year and was put on the waiting list until July, you seemed quite anxious... did you apply to UCL last year as well? Were you given a place at the LSE?

I guess that's the hard thing about this forum, which is why I waited until I got offers from all before I made a decision.

Mmmm actually I applied to both UCL and LSE for the 2007-2008 academic year... while waiting for a response I got a job offer as associate attorney at Baker & McKenzie..... so..... I took the job and made a request for deferral at UCL which they accepted.......... LSE doesn't do that.... that is one of the other reasons why I'm going to UCL.......

For London, it is UCL or LSE, as you wish, though I have said that I think that at UCL the big names are more likely to actually teach the course.
King's is very good, but not quite in the same league.

now i'm getting advice from other partners and academics that UCL is the place to be... and I would actually now agree based on research output etc.

At least it was always between UCL and LSE. Its a really hard decision.

been to both lse and ucl and found lse teaching much higher level personally...although lse charge a lot more money, you have more personal contact with good teachers and it is better known internationally overall, not just for law (which is important since many of their law subjects incorporate other diciplines like economics or anthropology/). like some of my other friends, i initially got rejected at lse but built up my cv and finally got in.

also one more thing! one issue which i think ucl needs to improve on is how they inform their students about who is on the course teaching. many people listed on their website either doesnt actually teach much (maybe a week or 2) or infact left ucl but remains on website!!! lse all the way!

hi, i agree with the above. lse is a better school and it is better known internationally. Acadamics like Professor Greenwood and Conar Gearty are amazing. went to ucl to do a Masters last year and they spent most of the lectures quoting lse academics!!!!
1. LSE
2. KINGS
3. UCL

thanks for your thoughts. LSE is a good school and they have some nice public lectures. last year i got to see Alan Greenspan, Benazir Bhutto amongst others in lectures there!! i know a over the years they have had likes of KofI Anann, Bill Clinton and Nelsen Mandella speak there too. Howeverthey can be a bit snobby. They charge more than the other universities- and also are no longer part of University of London LLM unlike the others (not sure about ucl but i know the year i did it they were part of Uof L LLM).

My views:
1.LSE
2. Kings
3. SOAS
4. UCL

wow - ok, lse then! i think that is clear - everyone says the same thing!

People will always have their own opinion on this matter.
There isn't much difference between UCL, LSE and KCL imo.
You have Oxford and Cambridge at the top and then UCL, LSE and KCL more or less form the big three after them.
When picking which Uni to go to I think one should pick based on the course they want to do. So for example there is no point in going to LSE for international law if UCL is better at it. (Now I don't know whether or not LSE/UCL even teaches international law, im just giving an example).

There is no longer an intercollegiate llm at university of London. All colleges now run their own degrees.

I have been to both UCL and LSE. I really do not think there is a profound difference between them, in terms of teaching quality, research output, etc.

Troyman said that the UCL lecturers quoted those from the LSE. I had the opposite experience: the LSE people quoted the people at UCL!!!

Personally I found UCL better. I did find that a number of names at the LSE were unavailable on my courses, most of the time...

It's a bit pointless analysing the 'rankings' of these three colleges until a good few years have gone by, and more marked differences from the old intercollegiate programme emerge.

But...
on the quality of teaching alone, I found UCL and KCL miles ahead of LSE (which was a surprise to me at the time!). But these experiences/opinions change on almost a yearly basis as faculty members move around or move on etc.

In terms of law firms and recognition etc. having a LLM degree from one particular UoL college, rather than another, doesn't make any tangible difference at all, unless the employer is interested in a particular speciality that one of the colleges may excel at.

Completely agree with asc's comments.

people have pwn voews about this so no point in too much argument about it. however one thing is true, lse is better known internationally in my experience. when i when to america last year i struggled to meet people who knew what ucl or kcl are...they all seemed to know about lse!

personal opinion: 1. LSE. 2. SOAS 3. KINGS

I didnt get into lse but got into SOAS and UCL. hope to re- apply next year for lse!!!

Hi,

I know this is a bit irrelevant, but can you can you give me an insider on SOAS entry requirements!
I mean does good professional experience count? Can it replace poor grades(no honours)?
Or will it be impossible to get in?

Thx !

Hey,
I am in the same position as a lot of you with offers from all three. Anyone know which is the best for finance/business law? Decisions, decisions...

my GPA is 3.50 out of 4.00 and i have no idea is it enough to apply for King's or LSE... could anybody enlighten me on this topic??