Philosophy in the UK: UCL or St Andrews?

[cgtrgsm]

I have already read up on all the relevant posts ever posted here on this forum but I think I still could do with some more of your opinions about which school I should go for.

First of all, I have already got my offer for doing master's degree from five UK universities: UCL (MA), KCL (MA), St Andrews (MLitt), Warwick (MA), Durham (MA). I plan to move on to doctoral degree--at least for the moment!--and hopefully I could do so either at Oxford or Cambridge, or any top tier universities in the States. My main interest is in Philosophy of Language and I'm also deeply interested in problems in the area of epistemic justification. (I guess you could say I'm biased towards analytic philosophy, I love ancient philosophy as well though) 

I haven't been able to make up my mind between UCL and St Andrews. Apparently, St A has a very strong philosophy department and some of their master's graduates had managed to get accepted to Oxbridge PhD. The only thing that puts me off accepting my offer from St A is that the surroundings of the two schools. I am quite sure that being located at the centre of the capital must be a huge plus academically as it gives you a lot more access to a raft of academic resources. But I get the impression that the philosophy department of UCL is usually considered to be less strong than that of St A, although it seems UCL's MA course is still said to be decent one.

What is your view about the philosophy departments of those two schools, especially for the terminal Master's degree? And which one would you say is likely to suit my decision criteria considering my preferences? I'm comparing academic staffs info of those two unis at the moment which I guess should be my top priority to make a decision, but I really could to with your opinion or personal experience! Please share your view. Many thanks in advance. 

[alanvgo]

Hi, this is old but, what you finally decided? I'm exactly in the same dilemma right now.