What is SOAS like?

Eien

Its a quiz show with 4 members from two universities working as a team to answer questions, often on university related subjects or general knowledge.

The questions are random and hardcore, very specific.

Reply 24

User20906

so what is the social life like? do they have good proper club nites in the su? is the su more of a bar or a club? oo yea and how hard is it to get into the halls if u live in greater london??

Reply 25

1) The Fresher's week(s) have loads of events, after that its not that great, though with plenty of other unis close by (UCL, Kings, LSE) you don't have to go far for a good night out - it is London after all
2) The SU is more of a bar than a club
3) If SOAS is your 1st choice, you will definitely get a place in the Halls. If its your 2nd choice (as it was mine) you can still get a place (I did, but turned it down because I live so close to the uni as it is).

Reply 26

Exoskeletal

Socrates

1) The Fresher's week(s) have loads of events, after that its not that great, though with plenty of other unis close by (UCL, Kings, LSE) you don't have to go far for a good night out - it is London after all
2) The SU is more of a bar than a club
3) If SOAS is your 1st choice, you will definitely get a place in the Halls. If its your 2nd choice (as it was mine) you can still get a place (I did, but turned it down because I live so close to the uni as it is).

Soas was my only choice :rolleyes:

I think i want to go in dinwiddy house, when they showed us round it seemed nice enough.
I had never been a fan of the idea of going into halls. but as long as i'm self-catered i'll be happy. plus you get your own bathroom there :p:

but how do soas know if they're your first choice or not?

Reply 27

Dinwiddy isn't self catered...

You put it down on your UCAS from thats how they know...

Oh btw...when you choose your politics options....

You can choose out of "States, People and Power in Asia and Africa" or "Comparative and International Politics" -- choose the former, its way way better....

Reply 28

nb86

Dinwiddy is self-catered, intercollegiate halls are catered.

Reply 29

Exoskeletal

Socrates

You can choose out of "States, People and Power in Asia and Africa" or "Comparative and International Politics" -- choose the former, its way way better....

i would have totally gone for the latter, plus i will need to do international politics later to study ethics and globalisation in the last year. i hope to go into international diplomacy/politics/relations one day so i'm thinking i might specialise in that area. but i will certainly look into it more.
also, the political theory really intrigues me (having studied some philosophy and really enjoyed it).

why do you prefer "States, People and Power in Asia and Africa", and what year are u in? do u do straight politics?

Reply 30

nikibary

Dinwiddy is self-catered, intercollegiate halls are catered.

Apologies - you're right, I misunderstood :redface:

Reply 31

Phonicsdude

19

When you walk in through the door, a sweet smell of green hits you.

Reply 32

Exoskeletal

i would have totally gone for the latter, plus i will need to do international politics later to study ethics and globalisation in the last year. i hope to go into international diplomacy/politics/relations one day so i'm thinking i might specialise in that area. but i will certainly look into it more.
also, the political theory really intrigues me (having studied some philosophy and really enjoyed it).

why do you prefer "States, People and Power in Asia and Africa", and what year are u in? do u do straight politics?

Hmm...thats a good point too....

Political theory isn't available in the first year, but the Intro to Political Study (which is compulsory) has quite a bit of theory.

If theory is your thing, then go for Comparative and International Politics - the only thing I didn't like about it personally was that the first term is comparative and is really boring because of a) a whole load of theory b) the lecturer

I prefer SPPAA because you get a new lecturer every week and you cover stuff like decolonisation, revolutions, UN interventions, military in politics etc etc

I'm in my first year doing Politics. (pretty high offer you've got, mine was only 280)

Reply 33

Muskateer

Yeah, I walked in through the doors the other day and smelt weed. Im not worried though.

Reply 34

Muskateer

Yeah, I walked in through the doors the other day and smelt weed. Im not worried though.

Get used to it. :p:

Reply 35

an Siarach

15

Eien

What is SOAS like as a place to study? Is it enjoyable. One person I heard said it was "rather dry full of armchair socialists that just knew the world would come to them". This seems a rather vague and sweeping statement, but to anyone who goes there, does this describe SOAS? I have seen how SOAS is a melting pot full of cultures from around the world, but what is it like as a day to day experience?

I like that description of the place but its not completely accurate. Certainly SOAS is as left leaning as any place possibly could be and the political atmosphere is really rather volatile ( especially with regard to the Middle East ) but the diversity of the student body is enormous.

Reply 36

hed~kandi

I studied there for 6 months in 2004/05 (doing BA Japanese) and TBH I hated the place, for a few reasons.

1) TOO SMALL! (Just my personal pref. but i found the place chlostrophobic)
2) Few too many dopeheads....nothing against that (I do it myself now/then) but everyone I knew couldn't function without one morning, noon and night LOL.
3) A bit *too* political....I remember the very first day people bombarding me with leaflets begging me to come on demonstrations and join this society and that society, and telling me *not* to join this/that society. was way too much. It really seemed some students were determind to out-do each other when it came to left-wing/socialist views, almost like who could most fanatical and obsessive about it.
4) Strange mix of people.....in the year I was there anyway. You either got complete dopeheads who couldn't function/have a convo, hardcore political activists, geeks n nerds who thought having one shandy was binge-drinking, or people who could barely speak english (i.e I couldn't talk to them) There was no-one who I felt was just up for a laugh, going out clubbing, and having a good 'ole shopping spree! :p:

(Also very small gay community! :wink:

) You also have to remember that a large proportion of students are either mature (over 30) or from abroad, so you've got a very different study body to most uni's. I think this partly because of the type of subjects SOAS offers.....In other words, I was totally different to everyone I met. BUT remember these are my personal exps. Totally different people will have totally different expereriences! I know its an old thread, just thought I'd post my two cents. :smile:

Good luck everyone!

Reply 37