Should I do an undergraduate degree from Kings College, UK or LSE, Pakistan.
My name is Akram and I am currently doing my A levels from Aitchison College Lahore. In my O levels (Aitchison College) I got 3 As and 2 Bs. My parents and my own wish was that somehow I could enter into LUMS to do my bachelors degree but unfortunately I didn’t get the admission.
I have got admission in Lahore School of Economics Pakistan and Kings College London. A lot of people tells me that Lahore School of Econ is not a good university to attend and might ruin my future. My parents are kind of willing to send me to Kings College london to pursue an undergrad degree in Business Management. The degree is of 3 years with yearly tuition fees of 10,000 pounds and expected 7,000 pounds of living expenses. On the other hand Lahore School of Economics yearly tuition fees is around 200,000 Rs.
What should I do? Is spending so much money in undergrad worth it?
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@ Akram,
There is no one way to be successful in your career. Not all luminites become successful and not all luminites gets the highest pay or become managers. I believe it all depends how you spend those 4 years in your undergraduate and how much you enthusiastic you are about what you are doing.
Being a luminite myself I agree that lums provide with a lot of opportunities for learning. But many of these opportunities are also provided by other institutes including LSE, UET, GIKI etc. Advantages and disadvantages associated with studying in Pakistan or abroad are different and it really depends what kind of experience you are looking for. If you would like to experience a multicultural environment and are looking to have an experience of life abroad, then attending Kings college will provide you with that experience. However, thinking that attending Kings College will make you better or more successful than someone from LSE or UET is a wrong approach.
I attended one of the best schools in US for my masters degree and what i felt there was that I was much more better in my field than a lot of other students who did their undergraduate from top ranked US universities. That is because I made the best out of my 4 years of undergraduate. In short, having an undergraduate from a less ranked university doesn’t make you less smart in your field.
Akram,
I agree with what Aman said …just studying in UK won’t automatically give you a big edge over your peers (who’ve studied in Pakistan). Career wise, you really won’t be able to demand a substantially high salary right after you graduate. Normal thinking for people who’ve studied abroad is to expect higher salaries because they’ve spent a LOT of money and want better returns on that investment. So you’ll be disappointed in that aspect.
But, I think the gains are of long term value. Your way of thinking and doing things will change. Experiencing first hand how people in developed countries conduct themselves and their business gives you a distinct edge which proves to be really valuable in the long run.
One last piece of advice, if you have plans to get a masters degree after your bachelors … I would say recommend doing your undergrad from Pakistan and then eventually go abroad for grad school …
Akram what would like to gain from your undergraduate degree? If you ask me spending X amount of money is worth during an undergraduate then I would say yes provided it helps you what you want to achieve in your life. Students in US/UK spends much more than for their studies (they take loans from bank and spend a lot of years just to pay off the loans and interest).
[...] Should I do an undergraduate degree from Kings College, UK or LSE, Pakistan. [...]
[...] Should I do an undergraduate degree from Kings College, UK or LSE, Pakistan. [...]
I agree to almost all the above replies. I attended UET Lahore for and did Electrical Engineering, and was a very normal student. Then i did my masters from a good australian university, and knowledge wise, and technically, i never felt i had less knowledge or analytical skills or anything else than those local students. so the level of education is almost the same. Its very true , if you want to go into research, you may gain something by going abroad, as they have better facilities, otherwise its you who will be doing research , and we have excellent professors here in pkistan too… so you will only get edge of having better facilities, and i dont recommend you going for bacholars just for that. broading your vision, inteacting with different cultures will definately give you confidence, alot alot more that you could gain here in pakistan. but that you can also gain during your further studies. main question is again same what exactly you want to get from your bacholers degree. my sincere suggestion is to go for local degree and then get masters degree from abroad, and you can easily get admission in any best uni of world by doing ur bacholars from LSE Lahore, provided you perform in your bacholars and that will even be required if you study in Kings college london.
All the best, and dont get confused, just decide and act on it confidently. Its never a wrong decision or a good decision, you can make them right by your hardwork.