<p>At my new school, UCL is considered some-what of a safety school - college counsellors encourage students to apply to UCL as a backup.
Virtually everyone who is accepted to UCL choose UIUC or NYU instead.
IMHO, UCL is as prestigious as UIUC and NYU, if not better.
Is UCL considered a mediocre school???</p>
<p>Are you talking about University College London and University of Illinois Urbana-champaign? If so I would say that neither are on par with NYU but University College London comes close.</p>
<p>A 1300/1950 is required to even be considered at UCL. That gives me the impression that using it as a safety school is not wise.</p>
<p>In terms of academics, I’d put UCL roughly on the same level as Penn/Michigan and higher than NYU/UIUC.</p>