British Universities--thoughts?

[Indylady]

Yes, I know, this must be my 7th thread on graduate school. Ich weiss, ich bin aergerlich! (that means, I know, I am annoying!)

I hope that Gwen, Pandora, Parsley, will catch this thread as well.

I'm pretty familiar with Oxford, Cambridge, and the LSE. However, I'm also interested in the University of Sussex, SOAS (under the University of London), and the London School of Tropical Hygiene. I've found a few programs that I am really interested in, but the breadth of program offerings and the fact that each school often has programs that are quite to itself has left me overwhelmed. Throw in that I have little to no familiarity with these schools, have no geographic concept of where they're located.. Out of the six schools I've mentioned, can anyone give me their thoughts on the school, their experience if they've attended?

 

[Kaleigh]

I can only comment on LSE, Ash had a great experience there. I hope you get some answers....

 

[Indylady]

Did she do a study abroad?

How is she doing? Is she enjoying her new job?

 

[Kaleigh]

She went after her freshmen year, studied there for the summer. She loved it , learned a lot. She didn't want to do a semester abroad, as she loved U of Penn so much, so cheated and got it in during her summers... She studied in Florence after her sophmore year...

She loves her job, but it's only day 3... She works 10 hour days, she loves her team. She is dealing with the high end of the high end... High pressure for sure. They said they interviewed and interviewed She walked in and they said, this is her!!! They are still getting applications..

I hope you find what you are looking for , the British Universities are well known and highly regarded...

Best of luck!!!

 

[mayerling]

Ooh! Finally, something I know lots about!

IndyLady, I did my master's, PhD, and am currently doing a post-doc in the UK, so I know lots about the system. Are you coming for a master's or a PhD?

I don't know your field, so I can't really comment on the performance of those universities in that field. However, a good place to look for that would be to check out the RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) results (www.rae.ac.uk). It's basically this process that all universities have to go through every few years to have their research evaluated by panels of experts. They are then ranked based on how good their research is and their state funding or research council grants is determined by how well they've done in the RAE.

You can also look at the The Guardian's University Rankings for a ranking of all the universities if you don't want to sift through the RAE results by subject. Both SOAS and Sussex are in the top 15 so they are good schools. UCL (also part of University of London) has an excellent reputation as well, and you might want to try for that. SOAS is in London (south-East England), and Sussex is only about an hour away. Sussex might be preferable in terms of expenses. Living in London is quite expensive and really doesn't compare to living in the US in terms of the prices of everyday goods.

Are you aware of the differences in the graduate school system between here and the US? Here, a master's is usually a 12-month course with lots of coursework and either exams or a small dissertation (the maximum I've heard of is 20000) at the end. A PhD usually takes 3-4 years and has no coursework requirements; just a dissertation of about 80000 words maximum. There's also no such thing as TAing. Some people might do their whole PhD with no opportunities to properly teach. Some universities do tutorials, though, where a grad student tutors undergrads and gets paid on the basis of how many hours he/she spends doing that. This is mostly common in the sciences.

Hope this helps!

 

[mayerling]

Ooh! Finally, something I know lots about!

IndyLady, I did my master's, PhD, and am currently doing a post-doc in the UK, so I know lots about the system. Are you coming for a master's or a PhD?

I don't know your field, so I can't really comment on the performance of those universities in that field. However, a good place to look for that would be to check out the RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) results (www.rae.ac.uk). It's basically this process that all universities have to go through every few years to have their research evaluated by panels of experts. They are then ranked based on how good their research is and their state funding or research council grants is determined by how well they've done in the RAE.

You can also look at the The Guardian's University Rankings for a ranking of all the universities if you don't want to sift through the RAE results by subject. Both SOAS and Sussex are in the top 15 so they are good schools. UCL (also part of University of London) has an excellent reputation as well, and you might want to try for that. SOAS is in London (south-East England), and Sussex is only about an hour away. Sussex might be preferable in terms of expenses. Living in London is quite expensive and really doesn't compare to living in the US in terms of the prices of everyday goods.

Are you aware of the differences in the graduate school system between here and the US? Here, a master's is usually a 12-month course with lots of coursework and either exams or a small dissertation (the maximum I've heard of is 20000) at the end. A PhD usually takes 3-4 years and has no coursework requirements; just a dissertation of about 80000 words maximum. There's also no such thing as TAing. Some people might do their whole PhD with no opportunities to properly teach. Some universities do tutorials, though, where a grad student tutors undergrads and gets paid on the basis of how many hours he/she spends doing that. This is mostly common in the sciences.

Hope this helps!

 

[mayerling]

Sorry about the double post. PS kept timing out and I kept pressing 'submit'

 

[Indylady]

Kaleigh, that sounds wonderful! Congratulations. You must be so proud.

Mayerling, thank you for your response! I would be apply for a masters, preferably a taught programme that would be about 12 months. I'm a little torn between two very different programs at Oxford and SOAS. On one hand, I want the experience of living in London, on the other, the course that I want at Oxford isn't offered at SOAS. I have found one other program at King's College which I am interested in. Did you go to uni in London?

 

[mayerling]

Indylady, I went to Cambridge and now I work at a university in London. And I just realised that I spent ages trying to post about the Oxbridge system yesterday and PS ate my post!!!

I'm on my way to work right now but when I get back tonight I'll tell you all about Oxbridge.

 

[luckynumber]

Indy I'm going to work too but will post later. I am a UK grad too

 

[mayerling]

Hi Indylady. Sorry for the delay in replying.

The situation in Cambridge and Oxford is different from other UK institutions because they both have what's called a 'collegiate' system, which means that each student needs to be a member of a college to be a member of the university.

Undergrads apply directly to the colleges for university admission, whereas grads apply to the university and are guaranteed a place at a college (though not necessarily their first choice college).

Because undergrads apply to the college for admission, it kind of matters what college they get into. Getting admitted by a place like Trinity College in Cambridge as an undergrad implies that you're an excellent student, whereas because as a grad you're guaranteed a place it doesn't really matter what college you get into. For undergrads college choice also matters because the college is in charge of the student's academic progress, arranges supervisions (this is also very specific to Oxbridge - students go to 'lectures' with the professor but all their work is assigned and assessed in supervision, which is basically a one-to-one or one-to-two tutorial most often with a PhD student), etc. For grads, the college only provides pastoral care and accommodation so choice of college doesn't really matter.

The only aspect in which being a member of a more prestigious college matters in graduate school is that more prestigious colleges tend to be richer and can give funding to graduate students, so that's something to consider. Prestigious colleges in Oxford are Christchurch and Trinity, and in Cambridge: Trinity, St Johns, and Jesus.

The collegiate system does help in meeting people, mostly because all students tend to live on college grounds, which is good when you first arrive in a foreign country.

Also, scholarships to consider are the Rhodes Scholarship for Oxford and the Gates Scholarship for Cambridge. Also, for Cambridge there's something called the Cambridge Overseas Trust which offers partial funding to students from outside the EU or the British Commonwealth.

Hope this helps. Do call if you have other questions.

 

[dinamit]

I was just going through your topics because I was hoping to see your new studs (where are they?) and then I came across this. I went to UCL, and almost ended up at SOAS before they merged, and I can tell you about living and studying in London, if you are still looking for info.

 

[Imdanny]

If you ask me about colleges and universities in the US I can tell you about anything you'd want to know but I can't claim to know anything about universities in the UK. I do know that these two schools are legendary and I have romantic daydreams about what it would have been like to have studied at one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxbridge

Every so often someone writing essays in the US on some political topic or whatever the subject might be will have graduated from Oxford or Cambridge. I found grammatical errors in two essays written by people who had graduated from Oxford. That made me feel a little bit better about our humble institutions of higher learning in the US. It's possible to graduate from Oxford and actually not have a 'perfect' education. I imagine that kind of mistake happens rarely. LOL.

 

[Imdanny]

the London School of Tropical Hygiene.

I live in the tropics. I wonder what this one is about.

 

[zoebartlett]

the London School of Tropical Hygiene.

I live in the tropics. I wonder what this one is about.

I have no idea but I'm curious too.

 

[Porridge]

the London School of Tropical Hygiene.

I live in the tropics. I wonder what this one is about.

I have no idea but I'm curious too.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is part of University College London (one of the colleges of the University of London). It is very highly regarded, prestigious, competitive etc. It is one of the leading centres of public health in the world.

 

[Imdanny]

Ok, but where did they get the "tropical hygiene" part?

 

[Porridge]

Ok, but where did they get the "tropical hygiene" part?

Tropical Medicine is a branch of medicine that is taught in the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

[Imdanny]

Yes, yes, I'm getting all that. I just don't understand as a resident of the tropics that we need "tropical medicine." It sounds so 19th century or something.

 

[Deia]

One of my best friends graduated from SOAS and she loved their program. It's definitely a more "artsy" school that the Oxbridge combo but their programs are very good I am told.

I'd sign up now (to wherever you decide) before the tuiton fees over here skyrocket (sometime next year) and become like the US!

 

[Porridge]

Yes, yes, I'm getting all that. I just don't understand as a resident of the tropics that we need "tropical medicine." It sounds so 19th century or something.

Ah yes of course. Sorry, I sometimes forget that people aren't reading my mind
Tropical medicine is an outdated term really. It refers to all those diseases that would be endemic in those countries with tropical or sub-tropical climates. But it's not the climate that causes those specific diseases to be problematic, so the name is misleading. It's hard to think of a better, politically correct name though. There's loads of info on the American or British Societies for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

[Pandora II]

My husband went to Oxford and my sister was at the University of Sussex - which is based in Brighton - so I know something about both of those. I am also based in London.

Undergraduates at Oxbride automatically graduate with an MA rather than a bachelors, the same is true with Scottish universities that have a 4 year course rather than a 3 year course.

It's not that common here to do a post-grad, I only know about 3 people who have done one and I'd say that 99% of my friends went to Oxford.

London is great but it is VERY expensive. I wouldn't really like to try and live here on less than £25k GDP a year unless you are happy to live a long way outside the centre, share a house with 3/4 others and live a very student life-style. Travel is expensive, eating out is expensive, pretty much everything is expensive except museums and art galleries which are free.

Brighton is lovely, but it is small - the University is on a campus outside the town and train-tickets to London are about £22 GDP return and it takes 1hr 10minutes - you would then need separate tickets to travel in London. A day travel pass is currently £7.20 for zones 1 & 2.

The London universities you mentioned and Oxbridge have much better reputations that Sussex - not that Sussex is bad, it's just not as prestigious as places like Newcastle, Bristol, Durham etc.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I can't speak to those schools, but having considered graduate school abroad myself, be sure to take into account where you want to work/practice at the end of the day and consider whether the degree from a school in the UK will be highly regarded/respected in your particular field and whether you would need additional credentials etc to work/practice in your desired country if you had a UK degree.

In my field, for example, although there are great schools in the UK, there are none with a strong international reputation and thus a degree from there would not have served me all that well, comnpared to Canada or the US. Just something to think about (though I am sure you have )

 

[Octavia]

ITA with Dreamer. I studied abroad at the University of Bristol and I would have LOVED to go back there for a graduate degree. Unfortunately, it would have been useless in either of the fields I was then considering unless I was able to get a job in the UK afterward, so I decided not to risk it. I still miss it terribly, though...would go back in a heartbeat if I ever got the chance.

 

[Imdanny]

I see. Thanks!