Universities in London. London School of Economics or University College London?

Wednesday May 4th, 2016

The exams season at schools and universities is in full swing now. Poor kids are stressed out. If your child is doing their exams at school right now, we wish them good luck and to you – all the patience! Can’t wait till June is here and exams are over!The exams season at schools and universities is in full swing now. Poor kids are stressed out. If your child is doing their exams at school right now, we wish them good luck and to you – all the patience! Can’t wait till June is here and exams are over!
The topic of this newsletter is university choices. If your child is 15-17 years old, they will now need to think of the university course if they want to go to university in September 2017 or 2018 and book those open days soon.
If university choice is not on your agenda just yet, please scroll to the end for the article, you might be interested in our new English Summer school offer.
What to choose first – university or the course? There are arguments for doing it either way.
If your child knows what he or she wants to do, the advice is – look for the best university that offers that course and then go and see at least 4-5 of the chosen ones. The same course will be offered differently at each one of them so the main purpose of you visit is to talk to the tutors and the students and to carefully look at the modules each university offers for the given course.
However, if they are not sure what is it they want to do at university, it is a good idea to look at the universities that they like and see what courses they offer that they might like to take.
Open days at universities are held from now through to July, look up the dates and book in advance where necessary. Second chance to visit some universities will be in September.
Today we have some information for you for two universities that are leading the league tables in the UK, particularly for one of the most popular courses – Economics.

Economics as a subject.

Economics is not the sure-fire bet for a good job that many assume it to be. More than three graduates in ten are in none-graduate jobs or unemployed after six months, leaving the subject outside the top 25 in the employment table.
However, salaries in the latest survey averaged more than £25,700 for graduate level jobs and £16,500 in in other types of employment is also among the highest for any subject. Top five universities for Economics are Oxford, Cambridge, LCE, UCL and Durham.
Further guidance and advice on the application process is also available from UCAS (www.ucas.com) and their website contains links to all university websites, course descriptions and entry requirements and also includes guidance for parents on the UCAS process.

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

LSEOpen Day

Thursday 7 July 2016

Entry Requirements

LSE welcomes applications from students with the best academic potential, from around the world and irrespective of background.
Excellent grades at A level (including A* for some subjects). Standard minimum A level entry requirements range from AAB to A*AA.

Fees

Around £17,000 per year academic fees for international students
£9,000 for the UK students

History

Founded by Fabians, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw in 1895 to specialise in the advanced study of the social sciences.
Subjects pioneered at LSE include anthropology, criminology, international relations, social psychology and sociology.
LSE has produced 35 world leaders and heads of state, and 16 Nobel Prize winners in economics, peace and literature.
37 past or present world leaders have studied or taught at LSE and 31 current members of the UK House of Commons and 42 members of the House of Lords have also either taught or studied at LSE
LSE is most famous for its world class MBA course.

Student life:

LSE students live and work in central London, amongst all the benefits of the city. Thriving, multicultural social scene, world-class academic resources such as museums, exhibitions and libraries, internship and graduate employment opportunities.
The School has a cosmopolitan student body, with around 9,600 full time students from 140 countries
It has a staff of just over 3,300, with about 44 per cent drawn from countries outside the UK
Over 100 languages are spoken on LSE’s campus

Student Mix

The 10,600 students enrolled in the academic year 2014/15 comprise:
Undergraduate: 42%         Postgraduate: 58%
Full time:      95%              Part time: 5%
From UK:      33%              Overseas: 67%
Female:        51%              Male: 49%

University College London (UCL)

LSE LondonOpen Day:

Entry requirements

Admission to UCL is highly selective.
The undergraduate entry requirement is A*AA–ABB (depending on the degree).
Some UCL departments require applicants to sit Tests and attend an interview prior to making an offer of admission.
Undergraduate subjects with the highest applicants to places ratio at UCL in 2015 included Economics BSc  (11:1 ratio), Fine Art BA (23:1). Law LL.B (16:1) and Philosophy, Politics and Economics BSc (30:1)

Fees

£16,000 -18,000 for most courses for overseas students
£9,000 for the UK students

History

Founded in 1826 as a secular alternative to the religious universities of Oxford and Cambridge– it’s England’s third oldest university.
The first university in England to admit students of any race, class or religion.
The first university in England to welcome women on equal terms with men.
UCL established the first academic departments in Chemistry, English, German and Italian in England.
UCL has produced 20 world leaders and heads of state, and 29 Nobel Prize winners.
Its’ outstanding academic departments include English, economics, arts and humanities, engineering, medicine and life sciences

Student life:

UCL is located on a compact site in the heart of London, and surrounded by the greatest concentration of libraries, museums, archives and professional bodies in Europe
UCL has a friendly and cosmopolitan atmosphere. Around 47% of students come from outside the UK, from almost 140 different countries.
UCL has  29,000 students and more than 4,000 academic staff – more professors than any other UK university

Student Mix:

In the 2013/14 academic year UCL had a total of 28,859 students:
Undergraduate: 53%         Postgraduate: 47%
Full time:      87%              Part time: 13%
From UK:      53%              Overseas: 47%
Female:        54%              Male: 46%
Please get in touch if you would like some advice in applying to these or any other universities in the UK.

If your children aren’t university age just yet and aren’t in a British school, but you are thinking of the British education for them, you might be interested to hear about the summer language and activities programmes. Now is a great time to book.

We recommend:

LVS Oxford 3Residential, host family or day summer programme with activities shared with British kids.
This unique programme is new and is run by a British Summer Activities Camps, where international pupils are mixed with British kids for all the activities (over 40 activities on offer!), but in addition have 20 hours of the formal English language lessons per week.
The programme costs from £1805 for a minimum of two weeks. It runs in Oxford (residential, host or day) and in London (only day). It starts 16 July and finishes 20 August. Ages 4-14 day camp only, 10-16 residential and host family.
To find out more and to book please reply to this email with dates you are interested in attending and the age of your child.