International Relations/Political Science UK

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'll be applying to schools in the US as well (I live in CA), but here's my UK list at the moment:</p>

<p>-> Oxford (PPE)
-> St Andrews (International Relations and either Philosophy or Modern History...I'm still deciding.)
-> London School of Economics (International Relations)
-> University of Warwick (PPE)
-> University of Wales, Aberystwyth (International Politics/Strategic Studies).</p>

<p>Credentials(ish) so far:
SATs: 800CR 760M 800W -> 2360
APs: USH 5 Bio 5 US Gov't 4 German 5; taking Physics E&M, Physics Mechanics, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, English Literature, AB Calculus, and possibly Comparative Gov't (my school doesn't offer the class. >.<) in May. </p>

<p>SATIIs: 780 USH, 750 Bio, 720 Math IIC. Should I bother including these?</p>

<p>I only get 5 choices of schools. Thoughts? Anything else I should consider adding/removing from this list? Also, any hints on Oxford colleges? I understand how the system works, but don't know which ones I like the best. </p>

<p>Thanks, everyone!</p>

2

<p>I considered Cambridge (my dad & grandfather went there!) but I really like the idea of a PPE course as opposed to straight-up SPS. Thanks, though. :-).</p>

<p>Any other suggestions? Does this look like a reasonable list (especially when looked at with my SATs/APs?)</p>

3

<p>bump. eh, sorry.</p>

4

<p>You'll certainly make it into St. Andrews if you use their NA applicant application. I would highly recommend doing this for St. Andrews as it will be easier to get in and you'll free up a spot on your UCAS application meaning that you could apply to somewhere else in the UK.</p>

<p>I think you stand a good chance with most of the schools through UCAS given your APs/SAT/SAT IIs.</p>

<p>If you go to St. Andrews, do yourself a favour and choose IR. Unfortunately, you won't be able to double major like it appears you intend to.</p>

<p>St. Andrews is a lovely place--except for about 3-4 months of the year--and their IR department is top notch. </p>

<p>Search around on the board for more about St. Andrews (I've posted many times) or feel free to write me here/pm me.</p>

5

<p>I thought the NA app was only for if you're not applying for other UK schools? Maybe I'm wrong.</p>

<p>Hey, noct - what're your 2 favourite things about St. Andrews and your 2 least favourite?</p>

6

<p>heertothewizard,</p>

<p>After checking out the current application the St. Andrews Website, you would be correct and you are NOT supposed to use the direct application if you are applying to any other UK University. I wasn't aware of that; thanks for catching it.</p>

<p>Hmm... that's a difficult question, but I'll give the second part a shot.</p>

<p>Like the least:</p>

<p>There's a distinct lack of culture like music, art, film in St. Andrews. It seemed to be getting better, but when I was there last, I still couldn't handle it. Fortunately, Dundee--which a lot of St. Andrews students will knock, but it's really not that bad of a place--and Edinburgh are not too far away. Both a rife with the arts.</p>

<p>Winter in St. Andrews is terrible. It's really not that cold--just windy, but there are only 3-4 hours of light for a couple of weeks. I come from a place where there are no less than 8 hours of sunlight per day so it affected me a lot--I suspect that it won't be so bad for most people.</p>

7

<p>Okay: Final list.</p>

<p>Oxford (PPE)
St Andrews (IR)
LSE (IR)
Warwick (PPE)
Durham (PPE)</p>

<p>:-). Thoughts?</p>

8

<p>have you ever visited any of the UK schools? If not, here is what i know about them</p>

<p>Durham is like Oxford in that it is made up with small colleges and it's old, seriously old. One of the colleges, university college (known as "castle" in the town) is actually a 900 year old castle. Dungeons and battlements, the works (I just googled it for a picture <a href="http://ditraglia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/durham_castle.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ditraglia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/durham_castle.jpg&lt;/a> ). Whereas some of the colleges, just like Oxbridge ones, are 1960s built and modern. Durham is a much smaller place than Oxford. It can't have a population of more than about 20,000 I reckon. Perched on a hill and cold. I really like the city, it's beautiful. But if you are a big city person and like noise, crowds and clubbing, Durham is probably not for you. Having said that, Newcastle, party city of the north, is only 20 mins away. It's not as remote as St Andrews I don't think. London is more than 2 hours away by train. If money is a concern, life in Durham is probably as cheap as you can get in the UK. I don't know about tuition fees though.</p>

<p>Warwick is completely the opposite of Durham. It is a modern self-contained campus, isolated in a field pretty far from the actual city of Warwick (as opposed to Durham and Oxbridge colleges which are dispersed throughout their respective cities and don't really have a campus as such. it is more like the universities happen to have little towns growing up around them). After the first year, when on campus accommodation is guarenteed, most students live in nearby Coventry or Leamington Spa. Warwick is a stellar reputation in the UK but I doubt anyone putside the UK has head of it. Remember that apart from Oxbridge, UK schools have rolling admission. I applied on 15th october and had an acceptance letter from Warwick before the start of November (but I didn't go there).</p>

<p>LSE, being in the centre of London, is obviously going to be very different from your other choices. It has the reputation of being the most international university in the UK. I think I have read that 50% of students are from overseas (but don't quote me on that. I may be wrong). Living costs in London are going to be astronomical. LSE has a big reputation outside of the UK so it has the best "name" of your list, apart from Oxford. This may or may not be important to your career. Also being located right there in "the city" is a good place to be when it comes to internships and stuff.</p>

<p>The only place where St Andrews has an amazing reputation is the US. No-one had heard of it before Prince William went there. They have a very good marketing team. I do not think it is as good as your other choices, but i do not know about your subject specifically. In Scotland the course will be 4 years as opposed to 3 years in England, but you will get an MA rather than a BA at the end. if you can pay you will certainly get in. They've got to pay the bills. Make no mistake this is why they are recruiting Americans. $$$. It's a good school, but not amazing. Remember William was not all that smart. he got ABC in his A-level grades. </p>

<p>I think you'll be in at St Andrews, and probably at Warwick and Durham if you apply early (which you will to meet the Oxford deadline). They are not super selective and you're paying. LSE you have a decent chance. Oxford is very hard to say since I don't know much about your subject, and it's a bit random. Generally very few candidates who apply straight from a US high school get in. Most have completed a year of a US college already.</p>

<p>I think probably they won't look at your SAT IIs, but put them on the application form just in case! It can't hurt.</p>

<p>Everywhere is going to be dark in the winter. It's called latitude. St Andrews being the worst on your list for that since it's the furthest north. On the flip side, in the summer 9when you won't be here of course, having gone home for the holidays) it is light till 10pm, maybe 11 in Scotland.</p>

9

<p>Hello Cupcake. My older daughter did a study abroad for international relations last year at St. Andrews and loved it She is planning on going again 2nd semester this year, and they have a program where they invite juniors back for the following year. If she completes her education at St. Andrews, do I understand you that she will have the equivalent of a Masters degree in the US? That would make this an even better decision, so please let me know.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

10

<p>Are you aware of all the admissions requirements for these schools? Because the SATs and high school diploma are not sufficient for entry. You have taken 5 AP tests and received 4s or 5s on all of them at the time of admissions for schools like LSE and Oxford. I am not sure about the other schools you are looking at though, but I know that UK universities regard their high schools as better than US high schools and will not recognize American high school diplomas as a sufficient entry to University. Good luck with everything!</p>

11

<p>
[QUOTE]
Hello Cupcake. My older daughter did a study abroad for international relations last year at St. Andrews and loved it She is planning on going again 2nd semester this year, and they have a program where they invite juniors back for the following year. If she completes her education at St. Andrews, do I understand you that she will have the equivalent of a Masters degree in the US? That would make this an even better decision, so please let me know.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>Masters degree are usually 1 yr long in the UK. For most subjects (apart from engineering and some sciences which are always 4 years) in England, Wales and NI a student would do a 3 year bachelors and if they wanted a masters they have to apply to study for an extra year (this is what I did). Whereas in Scotland nearly all courses are 4 years long encompassing both a bachelors and masters. So at the end of it, all students get a masters, sometimes called a "undergraduate masters". </p>

<p>Bear in mind that Scottish students (who are in the minority at pretty much every Scottish university. The population of Scotland is pretty small) can actually start university age 17 because they have one less year at high school than students in the rest of the UK. So they graduate aged 21, the same as students in England. So I think it depends on the employer as to whether they will consider someone with a Scottish MA as having reached the same standard as an English one, or whether they consider it to be the equivalent of a BA because the first year is just like the last year of high school (English students can enter Scottish degree courses in the second year if they want, but I have heard that hardly anyone does because they want to make friends with all the new students rather than join a formed group. However, this is annecdotal evidence). My opinion is that most US employers won't have a clue about how this differs to the US system and will probably just assume that it is the same as the US. </p>

<p>I suggest that you go to the UK version of this board and ask there</p>

<p>www the student room .co .uk
remove the spaces.</p>

<p>Note that:
I'm not at St Andrews and didn't even apply there. I have only been there once;
I know nothing about IR. I am doing a PhD in Biology;
I am not a US employer either!</p>

12

<p>On second thoughts, just contact St Andrews. They have a HUGE number of US students there and I am sure they get asked this kind of stuff all the time :)</p>