<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>I’ve accepted an offer for Brown’s graduate program in public policy. However, I was recently offered a position in University College London’s international public policy program, as well. UCL is attractive because it’s ranked highly, it’s MUCH cheaper and it’s in London. Does anyone have any thoughts on UCL and it’s reputation? It seems that Brown has more prestige in the states but perhaps UCL has more global prestige … can anyone comment on that? Thanks so much for any input! I appreciate your time!</p>
<p>Well, here are primarily undergrads, so maybe you should post this somewhere else.
However, I got into UCL and Brown for my undergrad and chose Brown. I think reputation-wise it doesn’t matter too much. Maybe you should consider the size of the program and the ranking of the specific department, rather than the overall reputation. Further, I would really consider if you’d rather live in the US or UK, in London or Providence etc.</p>
<p>UCL and Brown are really so different! UCL is a really major first rate research university.
Brown’s reputation primarily comes from its popularity with undergraduate students
and for many of them it is like a large liberal arts college. Of course that is not really true because Brown also has many fine research departments such as applied mathematics but the feel on the campus is that the focus is on undergrads.</p>
<p>As for public policy I do not think that Brown has prestige although the program may still be exactly what you need. The Woodrow Wilson school or the Kennedy school are the schools that I think of in terms of prestige at least in the US. UCL does have a fine reputation in the social sciences but I do not know much about public policy schools in UK</p>