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University College London, University of London
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Scandinavian Studies

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Got a request for more info from Gemma Barber asking why I can't speak Norwegian when I have a Norwegian passport (embarassing I know and one of the main reasons I want to do Scandinavian Studies) and for a mini PS on Scandinavian Studies.
Has any one else heard anything?
Does this mean I will or won't be interviewed?
I live in Canada by the way. I am confused about my status though as Bristol have told me they consider me a home student while Kings say I am international.
University College London, University of London
University College London
London
Original post by mariann013

I live in Canada by the way. I am confused about my status though as Bristol have told me they consider me a home student while Kings say I am international.


Bristol are idiots (you should probably point out that they're wrong). If you've been ordinarily resident outside the EU for the past 3 years then you're NOT a home student.
Original post by Meg_Lili
I'm staying on Cowgate, so if you can recommend anywhere good (cheap and veggie friendly are advantages too) around there that could be useful. Otherwise I have a morning to kill before doing stuff in the afternoon, is Translation based anywhere in particular, could be interesting to have a nosy round. I seem to remember the Scandy dept being high up in a block somewhere?
Is there anything touristy worth doing nearby the university if I have enough spare time?


There are a lot of good places to eat. Um. You could try either Mosque Kitchen (they're more or less next to each other). Very cheap, very tasty, very large curry - there's always a vegetarian option. Otherwise, I would try Peter's Yard, which is a Swedish cafe - unfortunately not so cheap but definitely oh-so-good. There's a Danish bakery too, called Jojo's, although I think it's less Danish than Peter's is Swedish, if you see what I mean. Probably easiest for you to google maps where these places are rather than me describing it. If you only have a morning to kill then don't be overambitious. You could climb Salisbury Crag or Arthur's Seat if the weather is good. Otherwise, for sightly easier views go up to the castle esplanade. The obvious thing to see is the national museum which has a lot to see, is decent and free. All very close to George Square. Translation isn't really based anywhere, per se. The staff all have their offices in David Hume Tower, the same building as Scandinavian Studies, but practically all contact time takes place elsewhere.
Reply 1783
Original post by nearlyheadlessian
Bristol are idiots (you should probably point out that they're wrong). If you've been ordinarily resident outside the EU for the past 3 years then you're NOT a home student.


Who would it be best to contact at Edinburgh to circulate a call for papers for a student conference up here in Iceland?
Original post by Hylean
Who would it be best to contact at Edinburgh to circulate a call for papers for a student conference up here in Iceland?


Just PMed you.
Hi there everyone,

I'm looking at applying for 2013 entry and am pretty deadset on SS at UCL (After much floundering about) but I was wondering if anyone knew what their policy on accepting people with previous knowledge was?? Because I would really love to take a part time course in swedish beforehand. And if no one knows, who from the department would it be best to contact regarding this??
Did anybody see Chris Abram on the One Show on Thursday? It's about 24 mins and 50 secs in if you want to watch it on iPlayer.
I met a lot of rather lovely people from UCL at the first day of the Nordic Research Network conference today :smile:
Original post by Meg_Lili
I'm staying on Cowgate, so if you can recommend anywhere good (cheap and veggie friendly are advantages too) around there that could be useful. Otherwise I have a morning to kill before doing stuff in the afternoon, is Translation based anywhere in particular, could be interesting to have a nosy round. I seem to remember the Scandy dept being high up in a block somewhere?
Is there anything touristy worth doing nearby the university if I have enough spare time?


Did you make your visit?
Reply 1789
Original post by nearlyheadlessian
Did you make your visit?


We actually got a submission from Edinburgh, so cheers for the help there. :biggrin:
Original post by nearlyheadlessian
Did you make your visit?


I did indeed, thank you for the recommendations. Managed to fit in a visit to Peter's Yard, great food! Got an offer from Edinburgh the other week actually (after they emailed asking if I'd be interested in switching to the literary translation programme). Still undecided about it due to a few factors, and waiting to hear back from UCL still.
Original post by Meg_Lili
I did indeed, thank you for the recommendations. Managed to fit in a visit to Peter's Yard, great food! Got an offer from Edinburgh the other week actually (after they emailed asking if I'd be interested in switching to the literary translation programme). Still undecided about it due to a few factors, and waiting to hear back from UCL still.


My recommendation re: your offer would be to accept it now through euclid. If it's like it has been in the past then they'll take it away if you don't say yes quick enough. Legally, you're not bound to turn up (this isn't like ucas at UG) - so if you end up at UCL or making other plans you can just call/email them to decline your offer later. If you've got any questions about either programme in Edinburgh (I obviously do one and know people doing the other) then let me know. I know a couple of people doing the equivalent at UCL just now, so I'm in a fair(ish) position to compare.

Hylean
We actually got a submission from Edinburgh, so cheers for the help there.


Ooo - who? (you don't have to say if it was a bad submission :tongue: )
Reply 1792
Original post by nearlyheadlessian

Ooo - who? (you don't have to say if it was a bad submission :tongue: )


We're making decisions tomorrow, so I'll let you know then. :wink:
Original post by Hylean
We're making decisions tomorrow, so I'll let you know then. :wink:


I'm on tenterhooks!
Original post by nearlyheadlessian
My recommendation re: your offer would be to accept it now through euclid. If it's like it has been in the past then they'll take it away if you don't say yes quick enough. Legally, you're not bound to turn up (this isn't like ucas at UG) - so if you end up at UCL or making other plans you can just call/email them to decline your offer later. If you've got any questions about either programme in Edinburgh (I obviously do one and know people doing the other) then let me know. I know a couple of people doing the equivalent at UCL just now, so I'm in a fair(ish) position to compare.


I've accepted it already - like you said, the response period was time limited and I can (hypothetically) accept both and then reject one later when I've made a firm decision. However I'm deferring for a year because of an internship placement, and after requesting a deferral on EUCLID (having accepted the offer), I got this email

I refer to your request to defer your conditional offer to September 2013.

Deferral has been approved by the School, however, we are not yet making
offers for September 2013, and you will need to confirm your interest in
coming to Edinburgh University by submitting a new application, any time
from October 2012 onwards. When you submit your new application, you will
not be required to upload your supporting documents since we already have
those, and you should ignore the autmated EUCLID messages requesting
documents.

I look forward to receiving your application later this year.
Best wishes,
Louise Wilson


Which annoyed me a bit. If they can manage to hold onto my supporting documents I don't really see why they can't hold onto the rest of my application, and having to reapply when they've already offered me a place, which I've accepted, seems slightly odd. I guess the application may just be a formality and my place may be held, but it doesn't specifically state that.

Ah well.

Out of curiosity, do you happen to know much about the Literary Translation programme? I got the impression it's fairly new, and it seems like the course options are for the most part fairly similar to the regular Translation programme.
Original post by Meg_Lili
I guess the application may just be a formality and my place may be held, but it doesn't specifically state that.


Anybody with a 2:1 from a British university, decent references, and the vaguest interest in translation expressed on their personal statement should get an offer. So come October you can probably just fire off the same stuff again if you want.

Original post by Meg_Lili
Out of curiosity, do you happen to know much about the Literary Translation programme? I got the impression it's fairly new, and it seems like the course options are for the most part fairly similar to the regular Translation programme.


The people doing it seem to like it. This is the first year it's running. That said, if you came here in September 2013 you would be the third year group on the degree, meaning that any kinks as such would hopefully have been ironed out. Currently you're right, the course options are reasonably similar. However, I believe that's something they're working on - and there was a strong recommendation that the literary translators take their option courses in more 'literary' courses rather than the slightly more hands-on options most straight translation studies students took. It really depends what you're looking to get out of it all. My personal feeling was that I would do the Translation Studies degree because it didn't pigeonhole me as a particular kind of translator - whereas the literary one is rather more specific. In the grand scheme of things, no one will actually care .... but that was my logic.
Original post by Squaresquirrel
I was wondering if anyone knew what their policy on accepting people with previous knowledge was?? Because I would really love to take a part time course in swedish beforehand.


Hey, I don't think it's uncommon to have a previous knowledge of the language and there are usually two ways to go about the degree once you're there:
(1) If you do have a beyond-basic level of your chosen language, then you might be placed in the Intermediate (i.e. second year's) class for your first year. I don't know how all the examinations work but I believe that you then take the intermediate course again with your peers the following year.
(2) If you're language isn't quite good enough, or that you and your tutor agree that option 1 isn't the best or that the beauocracy doesn't allow it, then you'll just go into the basic (i.e. first year's) class in your first year and risk being a bit bored for the first term or so.

Therefore, though I wouldn't discourage learning the language beforehand, there isn't a massive advantage in doing so, though by the time of the examination period you might be more confident in the language than your peers.

However, I'm not 100% sure on the ins and outs of this and you're better contacting the actual department:
[email protected] is the admissions HQ for the European school

If you go onto ucl.ac.uk/scandinavian-studies or ucl.ac.uk/selcs, you might be able to find a more relevant contact under undergraduate/staff/department etc. links.

Are you just doing straight Scandinavian Studies??
Reply 1797
Original post by harpologist
Hey, I don't think it's uncommon to have a previous knowledge of the language and there are usually two ways to go about the degree once you're there:
(1) If you do have a beyond-basic level of your chosen language, then you might be placed in the Intermediate (i.e. second year's) class for your first year. I don't know how all the examinations work but I believe that you then take the intermediate course again with your peers the following year.
(2) If you're language isn't quite good enough, or that you and your tutor agree that option 1 isn't the best or that the beauocracy doesn't allow it, then you'll just go into the basic (i.e. first year's) class in your first year and risk being a bit bored for the first term or so.

Therefore, though I wouldn't discourage learning the language beforehand, there isn't a massive advantage in doing so, though by the time of the examination period you might be more confident in the language than your peers.

However, I'm not 100% sure on the ins and outs of this and you're better contacting the actual department:
[email protected] is the admissions HQ for the European school

If you go onto ucl.ac.uk/scandinavian-studies or ucl.ac.uk/selcs, you might be able to find a more relevant contact under undergraduate/staff/department etc. links.

Are you just doing straight Scandinavian Studies??
]

In fact a lot of people have previous knowledge of language they want to do and the ways to go about it are the once described above so I do not see the reason for you not to do the Swedish course beforehand.
Original post by harpologist


Are you just doing straight Scandinavian Studies??


Hi there, sorry for the late reply but Ive been pretty ill for the last month and a bit so havnt really been able to think about uni stuff :P

But yes I will hopefully be doing straight scandinavian studies, applying for 2013 entry all being well :smile:
What are people's thoughts about UCL's MA in Scandinavian Studies? No language knowledge required (which as a Spanish student is great!) and the opportunity to learn them on the course. Only details of 2 modules though...

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