I will try to answer it from my own perspective as an international student as well- I did my undergrad in the US as an international student and currently living and working at my home country.
You need to take all factors into your decision and probably in the end- go with your guts.
In the US both
imperial and LSE are relatively known. I would argue the LSE is a little bit more known (many people are business and politics oriented in the US so LSE is sometimes their go to option) but this might be debatable.
In my country of origin which is where I want to live my life, both LSE and
Imperial are relatively less known and saying I went to LSE or
Imperial will probably be followed by “which school is that?”
So after you answer the question of where you want to work/live and connecting people’s perception of prestige you will be better able to answer the following question- “should I pay for that prestige since it will give me some added income/value?”
So to summarize- you need to know the where, the perceived reputation of your where , and then answer does it worth it.
Personally, I don’t think that having a degree from
imperial will bring me any added value (better future job or higher salary) relatively to a degree from a local uni while local uni will be much cheaper.
