St. Andrews Vs. LSE for IR

[Kevin1990]

Recently I was admitted to the University of St. Andrews Security Studies master's which is their flagship program. Earlier this year I was accepted into joint degree progam between the International Relations and International History dept at the LSE.

I was wondering which school would be stronger for someone who is focused on international security issues?

From my own research they both seem to have their own positives and negatives.

Or would I just be better of staying stateside and applying to programs like Georgetown, GWU, etc instead?

 

Thank you in advance for any opinions on this subject.

[went_away]

St Andrews is definitely better if my LinkedIn contacts are a good indicator. They dominate at Control Risk and the like.

Georgetown is *by far* the best worldwide (for security studies!), though probably too expensive.

Edited June 2, 2017 by went_away

[CakeTea]

Congratulations on admissions to two excellent IR programs.

Generally speaking, LSE MSc IR is considered a center of international excellence and attracts plenty international students. I think strong areas include governance, theory, IPE, security and development. Def stronger on theoretical training and less on practical (project and crisis management, aid delivery, NGO grant application). LSE MSc IR is also a good feeder to PhD programs in Europe and US. The London location and LSE enables more interesting opps for guest speakers from politics and media. You can attend think tank events such as Chatham House IISS or Royal United Services Inst.

St. Andrews Security Studies MA is well regarded and one of their strongest area. Very established in terrorism, Middle East, Russian Studies and defence studies. 

[Kevin1990]

2 hours ago, CakeTea said:

Congratulations on admissions to two excellent IR programs.

Generally speaking, LSE MSc IR is considered a center of international excellence and attracts plenty international students. I think strong areas include governance, theory, IPE, security and development. Def stronger on theoretical training and less on practical (project and crisis management, aid delivery, NGO grant application). LSE MSc IR is also a good feeder to PhD programs in Europe and US. The London location and LSE enables more interesting opps for guest speakers from politics and media. You can attend think tank events such as Chatham House IISS or Royal United Services Inst.

St. Andrews Security Studies MA is well regarded and one of their strongest area. Very established in terrorism, Middle East, Russian Studies and defence studies. 

Yes I got into this joint program at the LSE.

http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/calendar/programmeRegulations/taughtMasters/2016_MScTheoryAndHistoryOfInternationalRelations.htm

However, in many ways it's essentially the same eact program as the main MsC in IR

My main concern with St. Andrews is that I fear it's not as well known or versatile as the LSE. Although I heard that academic mentoring is quite high with the Security Studies program.

And I guess my main concern with LSE is that although it's reputation is very strong and well known it is regarded as a bit of a "factory." Although London offers access to everything one could want in the IR field.

I have roughly 4 weeks to decide so I'm trying to reach out to St. Andrew's people to hear their prespectives as well.

 

Edited June 2, 2017 by Kevin1990

[went_away]

If you want to work specifically in security I would recommend St Andrews.

Regardless, you will struggle in this field if you lack a clearance, military background, or cyber skills.

[CakeTea]

When it comes to security studies, LSE, St Andrews, King's College London and Cambridge have the best MSc courses. Either way, you get a good education with high calibre class mates. There are some issues you correctly highlighted such as academic mentoring, access to profs and shared resources. St Andrews is a smaller grad school and the class is more cohesive. I heard from some LSE alumni about the factory & impersonal vibe, busy profs and more competitive culture. 

Within IR and Security Studies circles in the UK and Europe (academics, professionals, media), St Andrews is known.