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School of Oriental and African Studies
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Reply 140
Original post by SEHughes
That's not what the course intake is like at all. They might take classes like that at the Language Centre, but I'm pretty sure SIS and GCHQ have in-house language training.


I'm not so sure about the course intake. Of course they would not advertise their job to anyone but this is what SOAS has been training people in since 1914/1916. I think the intelligence services try to develop their linguists, and in the course of their career a linguist may be trained in 2 or 3 additional languages. I base this on what I know about the armed forces. The armed forces develop their officers by sometimes sending them to university to take degrees (in the RN, many officers are sponsored to take law degrees, for example). So to me it stands to reason the course intake would be tailored more towards professionals than people who just have a personal interest in learning a language. I may be wrong but if I am then a lot has changed. As it is, I'm not really convinced by SOAS's rebranding and change of logo. It seems obvious that the sort of courses SOAS provides are of interest to govt agencies.
School of Oriental and African Studies
London
Spend ten minutes by the SOAS steps at lunchtime and you'll see the student body is far removed from what it used to be during WW1.

Again, what you say may be true of the SOAS Language Centre or tuition organised privately with faculty members (generally frowned upon but it's known to happen), but the undergraduates are almost invariably young A Level/IB students, not shady looking Americans in their 30s.

Having some regional law/politics knowledge with the language ability to go along with it might be good for raw recruits into the intelligence service or armed forces, but it's not SOAS that'll turn them into spies. And let's not even bother to consider the ethnomusicologists and gender studies types.
Original post by weirdnessandcoffee
What are my chances of getting in with:

5-6A*s at GCSE and 2 C's and possibly a D?
I have a second language as well- Bengali

I'd like to do law :smile: (I know I need 3A's to get in I think)


are you international?
Original post by aysha.19
are you international?


Nope, born in Bangladesh but raised in england from 10 months onwards :smile:
Original post by weirdnessandcoffee
Nope, born in Bangladesh but raised in england from 10 months onwards :smile:


i meant your nationality?
Original post by aysha.19
i meant your nationality?


British bangladeshi
Original post by weirdnessandcoffee
British bangladeshi


Oh, well I know about internationals only. Sorry. All my friends with similar grades got in and from what I've heard they prefer International students.
Have you applied or are you asking for 2013 entry?
Original post by aysha.19
Oh, well I know about internationals only. Sorry. All my friends with similar grades got in and from what I've heard they prefer International students.
Have you applied or are you asking for 2013 entry?


Haven't applied yet, I'm just thinking about it- have no idea when the entry is supposed to be made. :smile:
Original post by weirdnessandcoffee
Haven't applied yet, I'm just thinking about it- have no idea when the entry is supposed to be made. :smile:


for september 2013, the process will start from september 2012.
Reply 149
How hard is it to transfer from Psych at Queen Mary to Law at SOAS? I know they are completely diff. courses, but I've heard of people transferring before without too much complications. I'm predicted relatively decent grades (A*AA) in Psych, English Lit & R.E -- would it be too difficult to transfer, say in the first year?

Thanks!
Reply 150
I will actually just start university this September, either pure Psychology or a Joint Honours in Psychology and Politics at the University of Dundee. It's far, far in the future, but I always liked the thought of going to SOAS for my Masters, then probably in something related to Politics (I chose Psychology as I'm really interested in that, not because I want to go into a career directly related to Psychology).

Now I'm wondering how strict SOAS is on the undergrad. degree admission policies - the website states that they are mostly looking for people from "related subjects" - would a Joint Honours (with 50% Politics) satisfy their requirements? Or - even less likely - would a pure Psychology degree be sufficient if I studied as much Politics related stuff alongside (studying different subjects is compulsory at certain Scottish universities) as possible? I do have the "typical" SOAS past, worked for the Red Cross in Ghana for a year, so that shouldn't be a problem :smile:

This is, of cause, a very hypothetical question as the subject I'm talking about lies 4 years in the future and I know that current students may not be able to tell me every single detail about SOAS's admission process. It just came to mind when I was reading this thread.
Original post by Sir Fox
I will actually just start university this September, either pure Psychology or a Joint Honours in Psychology and Politics at the University of Dundee. It's far, far in the future, but I always liked the thought of going to SOAS for my Masters, then probably in something related to Politics (I chose Psychology as I'm really interested in that, not because I want to go into a career directly related to Psychology).

Now I'm wondering how strict SOAS is on the undergrad. degree admission policies - the website states that they are mostly looking for people from "related subjects" - would a Joint Honours (with 50% Politics) satisfy their requirements? Or - even less likely - would a pure Psychology degree be sufficient if I studied as much Politics related stuff alongside (studying different subjects is compulsory at certain Scottish universities) as possible? I do have the "typical" SOAS past, worked for the Red Cross in Ghana for a year, so that shouldn't be a problem :smile:

This is, of cause, a very hypothetical question as the subject I'm talking about lies 4 years in the future and I know that current students may not be able to tell me every single detail about SOAS's admission process. It just came to mind when I was reading this thread.


Totally depends on your application, most importantly if you want to switch subjects from BA to MA is your personal statement, where you can show your active interests and research into political topics. Combined with a good undergraduate degree this should tip the scale a bit, but that's not saying you have a chance of course.

If it helps I did a theological/religious degree at undergrad and I've been accepted for IR, which is a fairly big shift to say the least!
Reply 152
Has ever happened to anyone to miss the English level requirements and be admitted anyway?
Reply 153
This thread is weak and BOOORRRINNGGG. I vote to bin it.
Reply 154
Hey everyone!!
I m an italian student and I d like to get some more infos about soas.:smile:
I d pick law, how is it there? I ll try to do the summer course in july to have a look around.
Thnks
Who's the guy that brings pasta in a cart out to you on a Tuesday?
Original post by D0LLxo
How hard is it to transfer from Psych at Queen Mary to Law at SOAS? I know they are completely diff. courses, but I've heard of people transferring before without too much complications. I'm predicted relatively decent grades (A*AA) in Psych, English Lit & R.E -- would it be too difficult to transfer, say in the first year?

Thanks!


That's not even going to be a transfer. Simply drop out of QM and apply for the course at SOAS. Those grades should get you an unconditional offer.
Reply 157
Original post by D0LLxo
How hard is it to transfer from Psych at Queen Mary to Law at SOAS? I know they are completely diff. courses, but I've heard of people transferring before without too much complications. I'm predicted relatively decent grades (A*AA) in Psych, English Lit & R.E -- would it be too difficult to transfer, say in the first year?

Thanks!


You will be fine :smile:
Can someone tell me a typical schedule of a Masters student in History of Art at SOAS please?
What is the class schedule like and the weekly workload?

Also how are the terms split up in SOAS? I know there are 3 terms but I understand you only do 2 terms of classes as a Masters student and then must finish the thesis by August?
Reply 159
Hi guys,

I want to apply for a certificate in comparative law, can anyone please tell me if it will lead to an LLM or to a MA for the next year? If it doesn't what is the quickest way to get to an LLM or MA?

Thanks in advance :wink:

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