<p>I was accepted into both these programs for English. Does anyone have any recommendations about which I should select?</p>
<p>I'm leaning toward King's College (London) because it offers some very interesting classes, is in a city with a ton to do and is the college of my favorite author.</p>
<p>Edinburgh doesn't have very amazing class selections, but the town is beautiful. It wins on the cultural point. </p>
<p>Suggestions? Any experiences? What are the cities of London and Scotland like?</p>
<p>It really depends on what you want. At Edinburgh, you’ll be able to study more than just English for the first two years; you can take two outside courses each year. London will also be a lot more expensive than Edinburgh.</p>
<p>I’d say KCL and Edinburgh are pretty equal in terms of general reputation. Look at the individual courses and decide what one you prefer. As Spriteling says, consider at Edinburgh you can take two other subjects as well as English in the first two years, and at KCL it may be possible to take a module at other UoLondon colleges. I dont think there is that much difference in price between living in London and Edinburgh to be honest.</p>
<p>Oh and i’d say London has more cultural stuff than Edinburgh!</p>
<p>Actually, i would disagree that Edinburgh doesn’t have a lot of English course selections. I’m going there in September for a joint English Language and English Literature programme, and i visited there less than a month ago. Although the first two years do have general english courses, from around sophomore year onward the selection is REALLY diversified, in both degrees. You can study anything from poetry to work influenced only by nature, to metrical phonology if you so choose. </p>
<p>Obviously im biased, but i think Edinburgh is the way to go :D</p>
<p>Edinburgh as a college city is really cute. The University is a little removed, but most city schools are like that, there just isn’t enough space to fit them into the center of the city. However, Edinburgh is super walkable and the buildings are gorgeous. Most of the classes really take place in Georges Square, so considering how many students there are the academic part of the campus is pretty cosy.</p>
<p>Reputation-wise:
Edinburgh probably wins on general reputation. Edinburgh is the best university in Scotland, where historically a lot of the Scottish elite have gone.</p>
<p>Unfairly or not, KCL is seen as a bit of a haven for Oxbridge-rejects (horrible term). </p>
<p>Culturally, though, I think London has to win. Edinburgh has a nice city center, get a few miles away and it is a wasteland.</p>
<p>London has more world-class museums etc.</p>
<p>Finally, London’s easy access to cheap flights everywhere and trains to continental europe mustn’t be underestimated.</p>
<p>On the train, you can get from central London to the eiffel tower in under 3 hours if you time it right. Like to see you pull that off from Edinburgh.</p>
<p>The thing is that we aren’t really comparing the cities, it’s the colleges in question. It is undeniable that London is a culture centerpoint, whereas Edinburgh might be slightly further off of the tourist grid, but that doesn’t speak to the quality of the schools in each city. Both are completely respectable, but the quality of the education has NOTHING to do with the quality of the city surrounding it. </p>
<p>Having said that, get a couple miles away from ANY city center and it’s a total dump, New York City, Paris, L.A, the outskirts of a city are never exactly gorgeous. The city itself might be smaller than London, but it works to the advantage of the University, because it’s all easily navigated, and there is still tons to do. </p>
<p>I applied to UCL in London, but i heard consistently that London is a fantastic city, but not a good college city. Bear in mind that KCL and UCL are not the same at all and i know that, but almost everyone i spoke to had disparaging words when it came to going to school in London. </p>
<p>Maybe that will help a little, hope you figure it out!</p>
<p>This is false, at least if you mean by dump what I mean by dump. Outside the immediate centre of Edinburgh are scary council estates where you shouldn’t walk at night. The centre is like a small doughnut hole, and very different to the rest of the city.</p>
<p>This is not true of London or New York, or Oxford or Dublin, though they do have their bad areas. Paris maybe – but the ‘nice’ part of Paris takes up much more of the city than does the ‘nice’ part of Edinburgh.</p>
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