University of London info/advice needed

In My Humble Opinion
1

So I’m looking at graduate schools. Apparently all the colleges of University of London (University College London, King’s College London and Royal Holloway) offer the same program (MA in Ancient History) as it is taught intercollegiately, which seems to mean that it is the same program, and I could take classes at any of the three no matter where I go.

Accordingly, I’m at a loss for criteria. What stuff should I be looking at? How are the colleges different? Which one is highest rated academically, especially in History? Which is most cool/convenient/populated by nice people?

2

I’ve not come across this situation with an intercollegiate course, but I can give you some information of the University in general…

It’s a vast federal institution. You mention just three of many colleges and institutes which make it up. In almost every way, they each function essentially as independent universities in their own right. UCL and KCL are slap in the middle of the city, while Royal Holloway is just outside of London.

A good place for comparisons of deparments and courses are the national newspaper’s annual ‘university guides’ - there’s two here and here. Of course, these are more targeted at undergraduates, but are still very useful. And the Guardian one has the three History departments you ask about in the top five, after Cambridge and the London School of Economics. Not bad.

However, the most important thing for graduate study in Britain is who you study with. You need to make sure they’re somebody who you get on with, and whose approach will suit yours. If at all possible, try to meet with them, and certainly make sure you speak to them, before making any firm decisions.

(And if I can ask, why London? You realise how expensive it is, and how much nicer the rest of the country is? :smiley: )

3

Well, I’m going to be applying to ~10 schools, so one or two in London is not too much, in my opinion :slight_smile:

4

Of course I pressed post before I meant to. Thanks so much for the info. Top five isn’t bad!

5

Where else are you thinking of applying?

6

In the UK, Oxford and Cambridge (long shots, but I never know unless I try) and St Andrews. 6 more schools in North America.

7

I studied Physics in King’s College London. I also know UCL and Royal Holloway somewhat.

Royal Holloway (and Bedford New College) campus is way outside london near Staines and Egham, it is quite a nice area, but not anything like being in the city. It used to be an all girls college, and at the time I looked into studying there it still had a very high percentage of female students.

University College London (UCL), is near the administrative center on The London University, and right next to the SOAS (School of Oriental and African Study) which is an interesting place. UCL is very well placed in the centre of London.
Historically UCL and KCL are at a par, whilst Royal Holloway maybe a little less achidemic.

King’s College London (KCL), is On the Thames near Waterloo Bridge, near The London School of Economics (which is an interesting place, especially if you have an interest in pollitics). KCL is also very sell placed in the center of London.

KCL and UCL are historical rivals, originally UCL was created as a modern forward thinking colledge in central London (this was in the early 19 th century) and allowed such people as Women and Jews to study). Due to the scandal of allowing Women of all people to study, King’s College was set up soon after by Royal Charter to reafirm ‘good’ Church of England morals with a propperly restricted access university in the center of London. Though nowadays both Univerities are very open to any students and both a quite Liberal (very Liberal by USA standards) the old rivalry still exists in competitive sport and similar.

Recently I know that KCL internal politics and descision making is dominated by the Liberal Arts faculties, so I would not suggest people should go there to study Science, conversely this probably makes it a good place to study English or Ancient History.

I susspect that UCL may have an edge over KCL for Ancient History simply due to its closer proximity to the London Museum which holds an incredable number of Ancien Artifacts.

Similarly I would susspect KCL may have an edge over UCL for Lae study simply due to its closer proximity to the Law Courts which are the main courts in the country.
Both KCL and UCL have separate Medical universities. And campuses away from the main campus location.

Please feel free to email me (see my profile) if you have further questions.

8

Oxbridge isn’t necessarily as long a shot as you may think - pardon the cynicism, but even those two institutions are short of cash, and overseas fees are always welcome to top up the emergency funds. And just so you know - the city of Oxford has a fairly poor reputation as somewhere to live (outside of the University it’s not a wealthy place). Cambridge is much nicer, and also much more expensive. St Andrews has grown both in reputation and popularity recently (and this was thankfully a trend that had started before William went there). It also has the advantage of being in a wonderful location. Random fact: A quarter of St Andrews students meet their future spouses while studying there :wink:

If I were you, I’d also consider some of the other top-ranking universities (unless you’ve already done that :slight_smile: ) - a degree from Durham, York, Birmingham or Warwick is easily comparable to one from a London colege or from St Andrews. And two of those places are also nice towns to live in.

9

If a dolt like me can get into the School of Modern History at Oxford, I am sure just about anyone can. And I won’t make comment on anyone who decides to throw in their lot with the 'Tabs. :wink:

OK, seriously. I’ll second what GorillaMan said about St. Andrews and Warwick being on the level of the London colleges insofar as their history programs. I was particularly impressed by what St. Andrews has done–they have really advanced by leaps and bounds over the last ten years. I haven’t met a medievalist yet who hasn’t put in a good word for them. As for Warwick, I know that their Early Modern department is top-notch (my old friend Alec Ryrie is teaching there now), but I haven’t heard anything about their medieval programs.

Depending on what particular field you want to study, Trinity College, Dublin is very good for the study of medieval Scotland and Ireland. My undergraduate supervisor, who also went on to Oxford, took his MA there, and has now published several works on medieval Scottish kingship. If you’re interested I can pass his contact details along.

Then, there’s Oxford. The master’s program in history there is…odd. I have an MSt from there (if I decided to officially claim it, which I may not) whose requirements consisted of writing a 10,000-word essay and showing up to a few classes. Essentially, Oxford treats the master’s program as a first stage to a doctoral degree. I don’t know if it would be wise to start a master’s degree there if you didn’t intend to embark on your doctorate immediately (I knew people who did, but they were almost all Rhodes Scholars who were there for a fixed period of time). On the other hand, if you did intend to take a doctorate, or if you decided to take the master’s there anyway, it’s a great place to go, and I don’t just say that since I went there. There are more medievalists there than you can shake a stick at, and even I in modern history had occasion to talk to people there like Ann Hudson, Thomas Charles Edwards, and Norman Tanner. My ex-wife teaches there in a related medieval field, but you can’t have everything, I suppose.

My e-mail is here if you want to know anything else. Good luck, Laura.