Hello. I’ve been accepted into both universities: into philosophy, politics, and economics at King’s; and into Economics and the Liberal Arts Honors program at UT. I am from Austin so would pay in state tuition at UT.
My parents have told me, that if I go to King’s College, I will need to take debt; a total which will approach about 35k. In your estimation, is this worthwhile? Not to ascribe too much weight to rankings, but King’s is ostensibly a top 25 global university, and, of course, the experience of studying in London would far exceed that of staying in Austin.
Very different academic experiences as well. You will only study PPE at KCL for 3 years. Your marks will come almost entirely down to tests at the end of the year. In the British model, the academic experience is lots of self-study for those tests in the library leading up to those tests. You won’t get many of the small seminars of honors.
What are your goals? What are your reasons for KCL? You could indeed study-abroad at UT-Austin.
UT-Austin is also a top global university. World-wide/in the UK, KCL has roughly the same prestige as a good (but not very tippy-top) state school like UT-Austin/UW-Madison (more renown in some subjects than others for each of them). USNews has UT-Austin #32 and KCL #41 in their global ranking. The Times has KCL #36 and UT-Austin #49. The Times also has criteria that favor UK/European Unis, IMO. The CWUR ranking (from the Middle East, so a neutral arbiter) has UT-Austin #30 and KCL #78.
In the US, far more people would know of UT-Austin than KCL.
My first impression was to make a comment related to speaking the English language. But, to do that right would entail a semester of study in the Bronx in addition to England & Texas.
Go to Texas. King’s College is a lot of self-study. Are you an introvert or do you want the real “college experience”?
Remember: American by birth, Texan by the grace of God.
I would probably avoid spending that kind of money at a European school unless I had a specific occupational goal in mind. Rankings are pretty much meaningless unless you have a higher and more lucrative job placement at the European school. In other words, Kings has to clearly offer something practical that UT doesn’t. Otherwise you’re going to end up with a very expensive liberal arts degree. Kings won’t help you in the US because most employers have never heard of it, so it’s just another bachelors to them. At least you have brand recognition in the States with UT. If you go to London, be prepared to work in the UK for a while.
If you’re planning on working in the US, then UT is a better option. UT has programs with several UK schools, including , for example, Oxford University (for Philosophy, Economics, etc.).