Why UCL is better than Cambridge (from studying at both)

Cambridge might be above UCL in the university league tables, but here are some reasons UCL is actually better.

Time to put my two degrees to some use.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:29 Aesthetic
2:03 Food
4:02 Culture
5:07 Accommodation
5:33 Academics
6:32 Blood on Hands
7:49 The Verdict

Who am I? 🙋‍♂️
I'm Francis, a Trainee Clinical Psychologist at Oxford University. I previously did psychology degrees at Cambridge (Undergrad) and UCL (Master's). I upload videos every few weeks about psychology, university life and occasionally self-improvement.
Feel free to have a browse of the channel🫶

For enquiries, please go to:

[zacsmith]

Thanks for the top tips, I will now strive to pick my university via a random spinner

[gr]

I got an offer from UCL for physics&astronomy. Never thought I'd be in such a situation between choosing theoretical physics at unpopular colleges or going to one of me dream schools for years but not in my dream major.

[InfiniteLuminance]

I was at UCL, and I felt no sense of belonging. I thought something went wrong with me or I demanded too much. Thank you bro for saying this out.

[Yolko]

I had Imperial as my insurance and I'm so glad I got into Cambridge. I would not have been able to afford London at all. Cambridge is cheap for the south, especially because you only need to be there for 27 weeks or so. Also as someone at another university right now for my PhD, Cambridge teaching is absolutely phenomenal, at least for STEM; other places seem so slow in comparison.
I think that the examination is also something to keep in mind. At Cambridge you can do what you want throughout the year, it's very lax. I teach undergraduates here and I'm appalled at just how much pointless examination and testing and grading there is. I feel bad for how infantilised they are. Cambridge treats you like an adult from the start; the colleges give you a much better relationship with faculty and your peers.

[beepbobeep]

Pov you just got rejected from Cambridge 😔

[geggs]

Great video, could not agree more. This really helped me with deciding on which university out of the two to pursue.



Gonna go with Kings College London!

[emvii]

Speaking as a second year undergrad at UCL, I would say the social side of has improved a lot since COVID-19 restrictions were fully removed. Finally I have actually spoken to some of my professors and had in-person seminars with other academic staff. Not having colleges like in Cambridge doesn't create that automatic sense of community, but I'd say that has been built within course + societies anyway, assuming you just put in some effort to attend events. Campus is quite lively nowadays - a far cry from the post-covid emptiness we had last year.

Problem now is that there never seems to be EVEN A SINGLE FREE SEAT WITH WORKING PLUG POINT in any of the libraries. Unless you have like the latest technology then best of luck x

[andrewshaw]

UCL is great. My little brother, he is studying CS at UCL. He said UCL in London. So it is very convenience for life, like China town, Asian market, Asian food, I guess Francis also like China food? right?

[charliewangu]

I like UCL simply because it is much closer to China Town and Soho. (yea I’m a foodie and an alcoholic)

[Egirl_Slayer]

doing my finals at UCL rn, can't wait to graduate in July and get tf out

[GonzoTehGreat]

4:00 I don' t think you should give UCL a point for food just because it's in London (!)
UNLESS it uses it's location to make cheaper, healthier, more varied food available to students,
which it doesn't,
so, either Cambridge should get the point (for food), or neither of them should...

[Penguinracer]

UCL / KCL / LSE / Imperial / QMUL are universities which are best suited to postgrads who also have busy careers. If you have a career, especially in law, engineering, science, banking or commerce (especially in the City of London), you need you post-grad research to be supervised by someone who currently has or has had a successful career in industry themselves, not some academic who's life moves at a glacial pace and spends inordinate amounts of time drinking tea, publishing papers no one will ever read and is totally devoid of any practical, marketable skills. In short, the top London Universities are great for working adults rather than kids just trying to bluster their way through undergrad exams. Whenever I've approached a potential supervisor, I've always gravitated to people who have had successful careers outside of academia.

[shahtayyib]

I visited London for a weekend to see some friends, and it has to be one of the most dystopian places I've ever been to. The architecture looks like a random scrapbook of buildings from the last 3 centuries, I don't think I saw a single stranger smiling, and the food was absolutely extortionate in a few zones. When my coach changed departure to a different station a bit further south I was dreading it considering my mum only agreed to let me go if I "didn't get stabbed, " but man, I have never been so happy to see a burger meal for £4. And it was the best tasting food I had there 😭

[brito]

I am studying at UCL doing Theoretical Physics. I have to say, the course structure at UCL is very good i.e its clear and well taught. I applied to Oxford Physics however I did not like course nearly as much as I did the UCL one. I would have to say the only downside about UCL is that Oxford and Cambridge colleges are architecturally superior to any building in UCL. There is a lot of variety between colleges and the overall campus is bigger whereas UCL only has one main building with a few more buildings scattered around nearby so it is a bit of a repetitive sight. Another thing I found amazing in the Physics course is the level of research they do here. UCL has multiple labs, with many research teams working on different projects. We also have an observatory which I have been to and frankly, that alone is worth studying Astrophysics here. Great places to study too.

[itsakanksha.k]

one of the very few videos i've seen at 1x speed instead of 1.5x or 2x recently because this was so hilarious and informative at the same time 👏🏽👏🏽

[cleverclone_]

well you definitely havent sold me ucl i can tell you that

[artemis]

Along with the other categories, I also really deeply appreciate that someone included a "Blood on Hands" category as a noteworthy consideration. I've never seen anyone consider this before, this is important! Thank you!!

[hc]

Gone to UCL myself, and doing a masters in an ivy league school. I think the fact that you don't have a sense of belonging comes down to the fact that you didnt go to UCL as an undergrad. I feel the same way about my current grad school though it has much more of a campus feel while I get emotional just looking towards the BT tower from a far just bc/ that's where I spent my late teen and early twenties. UCL doesn't have much to offer in terms of quantity of buildings and that, but it offers so much quality with the little amount of infrastructure it has. Absolutely loved my time there and I wish I did a masters there instead of the shite east coast of the states.

[sachsuccess]

I'm starting a MSc at UCL in September and will be looking to follow it up with potential further studies at Cambridge in the future! Will look forward to making a comparison soon :)

[rayfalcone]

As a current grad at UCLs computer science department, I strongly recommend avoiding the finance courses. The professors are excellent, but lack the pedagogical ability to pass on their knowledge effectively to non Math or Finance background students. I also noticed that this pedagogical inaptitude of a similar nature applies for other programmes as well. Honest recommendation: if you are continuing at UCL, apply only for courses that are your forte, rather than courses that you believe could compliment it.