My cousin decided to go to University College London (UCL) to study Psychology at Institute of Education (IoE).
I was so glad for her to get offered from UCL which is regarded solid top -20 school in the world university rankings, but got surprised that she chose UCL over Brown University (certainly whose ranking places are usually lower than UCL’s…).
She explained the reason as follows:
- UCL is solidly the top in World University Ranking by Subject in Education.
- Brown is also a good choice and has a vivid recognition in the states, but UCL has a better recognition in the rest of the world.
I would ask you how do you feel about her decision from perspective of American people.
BTW, my cousin and I are Taiwanese and she has a career plan to go back to Taiwan after graduation.
Does it really matter what Americans think of your cousin’s choice? And, why are you so invested in her choice?
My guess is that she is right and UCL will have more ‘prestige’ in Taiwan than Brown will- but even if it doesn’t, for her to have gotten into both schools means de facto that she is smart and hard-working, and she is likely to be successful in either place.
And if you would have made a different choice- well, that is not relevant to the validity of her choice for herself.
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I am not American, but it you are saying she would go back to Taiwan, I don’t see any harm her choice will do to her.
I can’t see much situations where the prestige of Brown will exceed that of UCL in Taiwan. I suspect that Brown is more likely to aim to match UCL’s prestige there because it is not a well-known brand like UCL.
Furthermore, UCL’s IoE is internationally renowned. Graduating from there should put one in a global Education elite grads.
@collegemom3717
Thank you for your reply.
As a matter of fact, I live and work in the US after earning BS degree in Taiwan, which is opposite to my cousin’s career plan.
Since I have never experienced the US admission systems and my living period in the US is still only two years, I am not at all familiar with college ranking in the states
Thus, please could you tell me the impression towards the UCL and IoE in the United States.
@LutherVan
Thank you for your reply.
I made sense you are not an American.
If you do not mind, please tell me where you live, which is because I want to take it into consideration.
Disregarding prestige, I’m fairly sure you’ll find a greater percentage of Brown undergrads who speak fondly of their undergrad experience than UCL undergrads.
However, costs should be taken in to consideration too.
The vast majority of laymen in the US wouldn’t know what UCL is. It would have a strong reputation among academics in the US (on par with UCLA).
But why are you asking? Just to slake your curiosity?
I largely agree with what @PurpleTitan said above. I think that both universities are excellent. There is no bad choice here and there is no only “average” choice here.
The cost of education is something to be taken into consideration by most of us. However, I could not guess which of UCL or Brown would cost more or less. Ivy League education in the US is expensive unless you get great financial aid. Living in London is expensive.
I live in the US and have certainly heard of both Brown and UCL. However, to some extent when working with people from outside of the US (which I did a lot in my career) they usually have graduated from some university that is excellent but that I have sort of vaguely heard of (like ETH-something-or-other or Tsing-something or IIT-somewhere or university of ). I am exaggerating a bit here but we generally do not think about where someone graduated from.
I think that your cousin made a very good choice. If she had chosen Brown I would still say that she made a very good choice. Assuming that whomever is paying can afford it, I would not worry about it.
The tiny number of people that I have known who studied as international students in England spoke very favourably of the experience they had there.
I would just congratulate her on her choice.
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