I’m American, but I’m considering school overseas because I really like the idea of being able to focus on just one field and only be in college for three years. It also doesn’t hurt that I don’t have any national awards to get me into Ivies and English schools seem more focused on academics.
Oxford would be the dream, but I don’t want to put all my eggs in a basket with a single-digit admissions rate for American students. I know UCl and ICL both have low admission rates, too, but how do they compare to American schools when it comes to getting jobs? The goal is investment banking or BigLaw, if that helps for context.
Investment Banking would be better served by applying to London School of Economics…a task to be admitted and some courses are four years. It is also expensive to live in London…in terms of Law, you will still be applying to US Law schools - and that too is a task to gain admission.
Best of luck
IB will look to Oxbridge then LSE/Durham then Edi & other Russel Group unis. I don’t recommend LSE for undergrad, and it not particularly easier than Oxbridge in terms of admissions. You don’t say what your subject is, but I assume that you know that Imperial is STEM.
Until Brexit, City IB firms would accept intl students for the all-important (competitive admission) summer after 2nd year (paid) summer internship that typically leads to a post-graduation job offer. It’s anybody’s guess if that will still be true in 2 or 3 years time.
Note also that an undergrad UK law degree does not qualify you to practice law anywhere (even the UK), or even take the bar in the US.
Perhaps unfairly, when I hear ‘looking for IB or BigLaw’ I think ‘looking for a short cut to big money’. Try Bucknell. I know people at all the usual suspects who went there, had a fab time & have landed on their feet in NYC.
So what subject do you want to study?
For IB I would recommend economics or a strong quantitative subject like maths, for law anything will do, but something to develop your writing and argument skills is helpful - econ would probably be OK though. But Oxford doesn’t do a single econ course, you would either have to do PPE (which might be a good choice for keeping ypur law/ib optiopns open, but goes against your wish to concentrate on a single field in college), or Econ & Management; straight Econ at Cambridge might be better for getting into IB.
What are your stats, especially APs?
@Conformist1688 Yeah, I’m thinking Econ/Finance no matter where I go for practicality’s sake, but I love the PPE program. If I could study anything, with no regard for the future, it’d be philosophy, so I’d love having a sort of excuse to study it. Also, it still seems more streamlined than courses offered by American college and I’m really interested in the intersection of the three fields as an explaination for the way the world works. PPE is seriously a dream course for me, but I digress.
Anyways, I’m only a sophomore, so I only have one AP exam score (human geography - 5). I’m taking US gov, Latin, and chem this year, and econ, BC calc, APUSH, English, physics, and music theory next year. As for my other stats, I’m 3.95 UW, 1350 SAT (I took it once cold and I’m taking it again this spring). I’m also in a “Legal Studies Academy” but I’m not sure that matters to universities abroad.
Be very cautious about taking the SAT multiple times to improve your score. You have to declare all scores including retakes. And three times is starting to look bad. So I would wait a lot longer than spring of your sophomore year, until you are completely confident of scoring in the mid 1500s for Oxbridge.
Both UCL and ICL are good feeders of investment banks in the UK.
UCL is a top school for Law as well.
I don’t know how competitive or what the entry criteria for top US Law schools is, but most academics will know both UCL and ICL are elite UK and Global universities.
Your post contains an error that I want to point out:
“An undergrad UK law degree…” This is, in fact, incorrect. A UK LLB qualifies a student, in most cases, to sit the UBE in New York. Additionally, the SQE is replacing the LPC within the UK (and as such, no law degree whatsoever will be required).
@NYU2013, I am always happy to be corrected and/or updated, but are you sure that I am mistaken? The UK & Irish lawyers that I know who have sat the NY Bar either have LLMs or are qualified Solicitors/Barristers.
Read Section IV:
https://www.nybarexam.org/Foreign/ForeignLegalEducation.htm
A UK BA in Law / LLB is not sufficient to be admitted to practice law in the UK.
I hold a British LLB and have sat the NY Bar; I also currently am a doctoral candidate (in law) and teach at one of the UK’s top law schools.
Per the New York rules, any common law degree of similar quality to a US JD can sit the UBE in NY. You cite to the rules, but you’ve failed to actually read them. Section III B clearly allows for qualification without an LLM. See also Section IV, Rule 520.6(b).
And slightly you’re incorrect about the practice of law in the U.K., as I’ve indicated that the SQE is coming in soon. Once the SQE arrives, very shortly, NO law degree will be necessary to sit the exam. No LLB, no GDL, no LPC. Anyone with any BA can sit the SQE and then proceed on to the usual two year training contract period. This process will be almost identical to sitting the Bar in the US, except you’ll have two years of supervision before being able to practice on your own.
Additionally, an English LLB is a sufficient degree to practice law in a number of jurisdictions, contrary to your claim that a U.K. law degree doesn’t qualify you to practice anywhere. It does in NY, in Hong Kong (conversion examination), Australia (a year’s worth of experience), India, New Zealand (as long as you take a legal ethics course and pass the professional legal studies course, depending). If you mean that the degree itself is not sufficient and you must take additional exams, such as a conversion exam, then you’re correct.
exactly.
and, fwiw, it is not ‘incorrect’ to say something about the present just because it will being changing in the future. When the rules change, (eg, SQE comes in), then it will be ‘incorrect’ (or, more accurately, ‘no longer correct’).
If your reasoning is that ‘you need to take an exam, so the degree on its own is insufficient’ then the same is true of a US law degree — you still have to sit the Bar. So this comment seems to be rather irrelevant. I don’t see how sitting one exam (the UBE) would be much different than certain conversion exams — both are knowledge-based qualifying exams. A US JD, on this reasoning, isn’t sufficient to be admitted in the US, as you still need to sit the Bar Exam.
FWIW, SQE is incoming next year, and thus anyone that has entered law school in the UK (England & Wales) post fall of 2018 would not need to do the LPC, etc. or even hold a law degree (However, the English Bar still requires an LLB and BTPC) So, it really is already inaccurate, as for those students currently in law school the rule change will apply to them already.
LOL, guessed that you wouldn’t let it sit, @NYU2013. Feel better now?
Both UCL and Imperial graduates have no issues getting jobs. Imperial CS graduates are targeted heavily by the name-brand tech firms - I know a few who are started at those firms around September after getting their degree.
Now to your case. I’d apply to LSE as well as UCL/Imperial, especially if you want to econ or law, or something pertaining to that. LSEs teaching is not very good, but its name brand carries it very, very far when it comes to getting jobs.
Student satisfaction rates will be MUCH lower for London unis due to the extra costs associated with living there, so keep that in mind when comparing universities across cities. In general, campus universities (or universities in small cities) have much higher student satisfaction rates as they are generally situated in much cheaper places to live.