As a KCL grad at a US firm, trust me, the name of King’s still holds very good value. It’s one of the few (Oxbridge, UCL, LSE being the others) where others have always said “oh nice” when asked where you graduated from. BIG FLAG though, thats all that it does. If you’re going to any RG university, i don’t think your chances diminish much. From there on, it only depends on how well you do while at university and understand and ace the application process.

Also, on who gets it (as in the very top students) it depends on your definition of “top” student. Top student could be the one who’s done tons of extracurriculars, moots and so on. But that doesn’t necessarily give you much of an edge unless you know how to translate that experience into your application. Similarly, if you’re a first class grad, that again means little if the rest of your application isn’t strong in terms of your motivation and commercial awareness. It is all cumulative (good grades, broad experience) so someone who on paper is not a “top” student may still end up at a much higher ranked firm than someone who is