Would I cope with/get accepted for IR?

I apologise in advance as I realise that this section must get a lot of these types of threads.

I'm considering dropping out of this UCAS cycle to apply for International Relations next year, as i've decided that business is really not what I want to study.

I have never studied politics before, except as part of a Citizenship gcse! I admittedly don't know a lot about it, however I do find it interesting and think that I would really enjoy studying the content of an IR degree. My A levels are psychology, English Lit and Business Studies, and I did an AS in Photography.

Am I going to be at a significant disadvantage having not studied politics/history etc? Will it make it hard for me to get to grips with the course, or do they start relatively basic? Do people even get accepted with those types of A level subjects?

Also, if possible can anyone tell me what to type into the search box in subject league tables to bring up the results for IR degrees (Politics?), as I want to get an idea of the universities that offer the subject and what I should be aiming for.

Thank you very much for any help.

Yes, international relations/studies will be under politics.

If you're planning on dropping your UCAS app, you could always take a gap year and study a few political/international relation type stubjects or even read a few books, to see if it truly inspires you.

Depending on your grades, your A-levels should be fine for most middle of the table universities, which don't require the government & politics A-level.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply, very helpful

I'm currently applying for IR and none of the unis I've applied to require government and politics at A level. Tbh, having studied it myself I'm not even sure if it gives you an advantage at all! None of the syllabus is relevant to an IR degree, I guess it's just helpful to have studied a subject that requires you to read the paper and keep up to date with current affairs and that.

Have you decided what unis you're applying to yet?

There are two top universites for IR in GB which are St Andrews and LSE. Both focus on different topics of IR. LSE is know for focusing on globalization and the strength of St Andrews is international terrorism and security. Aberyswyth (Did I spell that correctly?) is also well know for IR as it actually is the birthplace of IR as an university subject. Warwick, Exeter, Nottingham, Durham, ... are a few other unis you also have to mention when talking about IR.
It would be very helpful to know your predicted grades to recommend a university.

I'm predicted AAB, but more likely to come away with ABB I think, so i'm not realistically aiming for most of the universities you have mentioned. I've been looking at Southampton, Birmingham, Sussex and East Anglia sort of level, would you be able to reccomend a uni at this level?

Your sig says you'd be doing Politics AND IR?
In which case:
Sheffield (though that may be a push with your grades)
Aberystwyth - uni itself hasn't got the reputation to match the politics department but offers tend to be low considering the quality they offer.
Birmingham - ABB-AAB, so that may be too much.
Leicester
As you'd recognised, Sussex have a good politics/IR department.
I don't think Southampton are very strong considering how high profile they normally are.
Portsmouth and Hull also have strong politics/IR departments. Essex and Newcastle too...

Hope that helps.

Your sig says you'd be doing Politics AND IR?
In which case:
Sheffield (though that may be a push with your grades)
Aberystwyth - uni itself hasn't got the reputation to match the politics department but offers tend to be low considering the quality they offer.
Birmingham - ABB-AAB, so that may be too much.
Leicester
As you'd recognised, Sussex have a good politics/IR department.
I don't think Southampton are very strong considering how high profile they normally are.
Portsmouth and Hull also have strong politics/IR departments. Essex and Newcastle too...

Hope that helps.

Thanks, that's reassuring to know! I haven't decided which unis to apply to yet, no, I'm just going through the UCAS IR list getting prospectuses to go through. I'm finding it quite hard to choose, with there being no specific league table or such to give an indicator of how good a particular uni is for IR - May I ask how you chose which ones to apply to?

Birmigham only ask for ABB so OP should be able to apply for that.