<p>I need some clarification:</p>
<p>Im a third year undergrad and have been looking into study at a UK institution for my M.A. Id like to get a degree in the social science or business. I havent fully decided; however my real question here is will having a degree from a UK institution hurt my chances of ever getting a well paying job and eventually getting my PhD?</p>
<p>Depends what you are studying, where you are studying and where you want to be employed. MA from Oxford or Cambridge is extremely unlikely to hurt your chances of a job anywhere.</p>
<p>As most master degrees take one year at Cambridge and Oxford, there are many Ivy League graduates at both places who, before doing a PhD, come to Oxbridge, because of fairly obvious reasons: they can get a quite prestigious masters in one year instead of two. (I’ve mentioning Ivy League because, according to my experience, the vast majority of the US grad students come from HYP, a lesser proportion from other Ivies, and an other proportion from the top-notch state flagships such as Cal, Michigan, etc.) I’ve met many people at both places who actually deferred their PhD admissions in the states to do a masters at Oxford or Cambridge; again, it’s all about boosting their CV’s. Of course, most US grad students at either place don’t want to do a PhD but a masters, and then they start applying for jobs. Others chance their plans, and stay in the UK to do a PhD.</p>
<p>For overseas students, UK institutions cost a lot, and getting scholarship for a masters is hard, but the same applies for most US institutions too. In any case, as cupcake said, it will not hurt your chances of a job if you have a masters from either place. As for other UK universities, I’m not sure how much those can boost your chances of actually getting a job.</p>
<p>getting a Masters from Oxbridge or LSE would be equivalent to getting one from an Ivy League school in terms of prestige/job prospects.</p>