[BKS]

(Original post by bess)

=> How easy is it to get internships for internationals? Is Edinburgh too far behind New York City in terms of internships?

=> What's the workload like? What about social life and the general atmosphere?

=> Around what percent of undergraduates are involved in extracurricular activities?

I'm in my 4th year of politics but I considered joint with philosophy so in first and second year I did most of the required courses. i have no idea bout internships so I won't try and answer that one.

You do 30hrs a week. 3 courses, 10hrs per course. For most you will have a 1hr tutorial- led by a post grad with 15-20 others. Then you will have 3 1hr lecture with the full course in them. Which is 4hrs total, the other 6 are expected to be made up by reading. TBH I found 1st and second year a piece of piss. you need 40% to get into 3rd year. The grades you get in 1st and 2nd year don't count for anything. Obviously it's better if you do try your best but there's no real immediate incentive to. Which means lots of social time.

I never found my courses hugely sociable. Lectures are huge and tutorials are 10-12 1 hr sessions so you don't really get a chance to get to know people well. I got to know people a lot more through classes through 3rd and 4th year courses where the teaching style is often different and the classes much smaller.

I met all my friends through societies. I don't think there are statistics but it seems to be like almost everyone joins some societies. Long term the amount who stay commit ed becomes a minority. But that's just because people have made their friends and moved on rather than anything negative about the societies. But there's so so so many of them that if you want to stay involved in something then you are bound to find something interesting

[bess]

(Original post by BKS)
I'm in my 4th year of politics but I considered joint with philosophy so in first and second year I did most of the required courses. i have no idea bout internships so I won't try and answer that one.

You do 30hrs a week. 3 courses, 10hrs per course. For most you will have a 1hr tutorial- led by a post grad with 15-20 others. Then you will have 3 1hr lecture with the full course in them. Which is 4hrs total, the other 6 are expected to be made up by reading. TBH I found 1st and second year a piece of piss. you need 40% to get into 3rd year. The grades you get in 1st and 2nd year don't count for anything. Obviously it's better if you do try your best but there's no real immediate incentive to. Which means lots of social time.

I never found my courses hugely sociable. Lectures are huge and tutorials are 10-12 1 hr sessions so you don't really get a chance to get to know people well. I got to know people a lot more through classes through 3rd and 4th year courses where the teaching style is often different and the classes much smaller.

I met all my friends through societies. I don't think there are statistics but it seems to be like almost everyone joins some societies. Long term the amount who stay commit ed becomes a minority. But that's just because people have made their friends and moved on rather than anything negative about the societies. But there's so so so many of them that if you want to stay involved in something then you are bound to find something interesting

Thanks a lot! I am actually interested in getting involved in Model UN and that sort of stuff.

[BKS]

(Original post by bess)
Thanks a lot! I am actually interested in getting involved in Model UN and that sort of stuff.

There's def a model UN though I don't know anyone in it so have no idea about it. But in case you didn't already know there's a full society list here

[bess]

(Original post by BKS)
There's def a model UN though I don't know anyone in it so have no idea about it. But in case you didn't already know there's a full society list here

Ahh okay. What about job prospects after graduation?

[BKS]

(Original post by bess)
Ahh okay. What about job prospects after graduation?

stats for UK unis are here

Scotland has a 92.2% employment rate overall, Edinburgh is 94.5%.For comparison- St Andrews is n 92.6, Glasgow is 92.9, Edinburgh Napier is 90.3, Queen Margret (in Edinburgh) is 92, Oxford is 90.2, Cambridge is 93.6.

At a quick look I see about 10 out of about 150 that are higher than Edinburgh so that's top 6-7% for employable in the UK. Though a few are 100%/close to 100 and have a small sample so is probably off which means with more accurate data Edinburgh seems likely to be a little higher

[amrudysm]

Hey guys,

How much a month (approx) an average student needs to live (with average comfort level) in Edin? (inclusive of accom & food) I'm an international (non-eu) so I have no idea at all on the price levels in the UK. Nonetheless I'll be getting around £15k annually, would this suffice? I'm still thinking about the catered vs. self catered option thing.

1. Catered would include food, and is around £6.5k a year and I'd be left with £8k for other things for the year.
2. SC would leave me with slightly more than £10k for food + other things.

Will this amount of £ be alright? Which option you reckon would be the more comfortable/convenient?

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by amrudysm)
Hey guys,

How much a month (approx) an average student needs to live (with average comfort level) in Edin? (inclusive of accom & food) I'm an international (non-eu) so I have no idea at all on the price levels in the UK. Nonetheless I'll be getting around £15k annually, would this suffice? I'm still thinking about the catered vs. self catered option thing.

1. Catered would include food, and is around £6.5k a year and I'd be left with £8k for other things for the year.
2. SC would leave me with slightly more than £10k for food + other things.

Will this amount of £ be alright? Which option you reckon would be the more comfortable/convenient?

You'll be the envy of many with that amount of money. It's more than enough.

[amrudysm]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
You'll be the envy of many with that amount of money. It's more than enough.

I really don't mean it that way. To clarify; I am under a company education sponsorship programme, which w/o one I would have never will be able to go and study in Edin. I guess either accomodation option should be fine then. Cheers.

[oxymoronic]

(Original post by amrudysm)
Hey guys,

How much a month (approx) an average student needs to live (with average comfort level) in Edin? (inclusive of accom & food) I'm an international (non-eu) so I have no idea at all on the price levels in the UK. Nonetheless I'll be getting around £15k annually, would this suffice? I'm still thinking about the catered vs. self catered option thing.

1. Catered would include food, and is around £6.5k a year and I'd be left with £8k for other things for the year.
2. SC would leave me with slightly more than £10k for food + other things.

Will this amount of £ be alright? Which option you reckon would be the more comfortable/convenient?

Put it this way - I spent about £6000 a year including accommodation costs. If you've got 8-10k remaining AFTER you've paid for accommodation then you will have more than enough money.

Why are they giving you £15k a year in living costs though? That's more than double the amount you'd need for anywhere in the UK, including London. Are you sure that it isn't £15,000 which includes the cost of your tuition fees? that would be a much more reasonable amount as I can't work out why they'd want to give you more than double the amount of money per year that the average student would spend as that doesn't make financial sense. For every student they give £15,000 to then they could really pay for two students if they were actually relating it to general costs.

[amrudysm]

(Original post by oxymoronic)
Put it this way - I spent about £6000 a year including accommodation costs. If you've got 8-10k remaining AFTER you've paid for accommodation then you will have more than enough money.

Why are they giving you £15k a year in living costs though? That's more than double the amount you'd need for anywhere in the UK, including London. Are you sure that it isn't £15,000 which includes the cost of your tuition fees? that would be a much more reasonable amount as I can't work out why they'd want to give you more than double the amount of money per year that the average student would spend as that doesn't make financial sense. For every student they give £15,000 to then they could really pay for two students if they were actually relating it to general costs.

Not too sure why, but if so is the case then I'd rather not ask them. Previous students under the same scheme was given £1200 monthly (on top of tuition fees, and yearly allowances for books & winterwear) and one of them told me she still had to work on weekends still.

But then if it is how you say it, I'm very relieved and pleased. Cheers.

[oxymoronic]

(Original post by amrudysm)
Not too sure why, but if so is the case then I'd rather not ask them. Previous students under the same scheme was given £1200 monthly (on top of tuition fees, and yearly allowances for books & winterwear) and one of them told me she still had to work on weekends still.

But then if it is how you say it, I'm very relieved and pleased. Cheers.

I find that hard to believe because unless that girl had a very expensive lifestyle I don't really understand what one would manage to spend £1200 a month on. That's about the same amount of money as a typical UK student has in their student loan from the government which is meant to last for an entire semester.

I now live in London and even here you would certainly have money left over on £1200 a month. Obviously people do spend way more than that but you can live fine on about £1000-1050 a month. As a student you'd spend less than I do because you wouldn't have to pay council tax (about £80 a month) and you would pay less than me for your travel card, so I reckon you'd probably spend about £900 a month as a student in London when rent/travel/food etc had been accounted for. In Edinburgh, you have cheaper rent and don't pay for travel or pay for water (as that comes out of the council tax in Scotland, which students don't pay) so you could live fine on about £550-600 a month particularly if your books and clothing weren't coming out of this money.

If I had that amount of money coming in each year I'd be putting half of it each year into a high interest saving account which would mean I would have saved about £30,000 plus interest by the time I had finished university. This would be a brilliant deposit for a mortgage and something I wish I had right now

[amrudysm]

(Original post by oxymoronic)
If I had that amount of money coming in each year I'd be putting half of it each year into a high interest saving account which would mean I would have saved about £30,000 plus interest by the time I had finished university. This would be a brilliant deposit for a mortgage and something I wish I had right now

Being able to save would definitely be nice, but I guess I'll have to experience first hand living in Edin, and then gauge from it how much can I actually save. And tbh my financial habits aren't really something that I'm proud of either.

[persov]

For weekly living costs, even being quite loose with your money, 100 quid a week plus whatever your rent/halls are will be more than enough. You'll struggle to spend more than that unless you start buying loads of stuff like clothes and electronics and so on.

[Mr Dangermouse]

(Original post by persov)
For weekly living costs, even being quite loose with your money, 100 quid a week plus whatever your rent/halls are will be more than enough. You'll struggle to spend more than that unless you start buying loads of stuff like clothes and electronics and so on.

This yup. I think between SAAS and my job I'll have just under 400 quid a month to spend not including rent and food(My parents will pay that) and clothes(I'm not buying any).

[NeoNerd]

(Original post by AlGreen)
To anyone having studied law at Edinburgh..
Any advice for a prospective student who's starting this september? Things i should know, topics to read up on, things i can do over the summer that will prepare me better for the course and uni in general?

Thanks!

Honestly, there's not much that needs doing. The course assumes no knowledge of the law when you start. So you'll start from the basics (courts/legal system) then build on that. So there's not much you need to read. There's certainly no need to try to teach yourself contract law before you arrive. If you want to, a basic primer on Scots law can't hurt.

As for the course itself - you sign up for tutorials yourself. So get on the system early, otherwise you'll be stuck with 5PM tutorials.

But really, enjoy your summer.

[twister1]

Hi, I am a current y12 student looking to study history at university. I plan on taking a gap year after y13 to china, where I will au pair in return for mandarin lessons, and hopefully become fluent(ish) within the year. I know that edinburgh do a combined history with chinese degree which looks brilliant, and I love the city of edinburgh as I have family there. My problem is this: I didn't take a language at GCSE and so do not have the standard C grade requirement Edinburgh want for the majority of their courses. Do you think they would consider me due to the fact I will be taking a gap year to gain a profficiency of a language? Or would they simply reject me straight off? Any insight would be very much appreciated Also any history students or current students with advice for applying would be lovely. Thankyou for reading x

[Shomberlon]

(Original post by twister1)
Hi, I am a current y12 student looking to study history at university. I plan on taking a gap year after y13 to china, where I will au pair in return for mandarin lessons, and hopefully become fluent(ish) within the year. I know that edinburgh do a combined history with chinese degree which looks brilliant, and I love the city of edinburgh as I have family there. My problem is this: I didn't take a language at GCSE and so do not have the standard C grade requirement Edinburgh want for the majority of their courses. Do you think they would consider me due to the fact I will be taking a gap year to gain a profficiency of a language? Or would they simply reject me straight off? Any insight would be very much appreciated Also any history students or current students with advice for applying would be lovely. Thankyou for reading x

It's a hard one to answer, what I would do is send an email to the History and Languages department and get the answer from them, they might be able to suggest that you do something in that year off. I would however delay that email till after May 10th as they'll be busy dealing with current applications for the coming year. Hope this helps

[owl1992]

Hello everyone! I am a prospective undergraduate student now choosing between Edinburgh and York for my firm choice. The only thing that I worry about studying at Edinburgh is the weather there. I am quite a careless person that often fall over nothing. (4 times last year...and there's a scar on my leg) I would like to know if it is hard to walk & easy to slip over when it snows & when the snow turns to ice? Do you often see people slip over in the snow and have to be taken to the hospital?

It may be a stupid question but I hope someone will help me out :/
Thank you

[dothestrand]

(Original post by owl1992)
Hello everyone! I am a prospective undergraduate student now choosing between Edinburgh and York for my firm choice. The only thing that I worry about studying at Edinburgh is the weather there. I am quite a careless person that often fall over nothing. (4 times last year...and there's a scar on my leg) I would like to know if it is hard to walk & easy to slip over when it snows & when the snow turns to ice? Do you often see people slip over in the snow and have to be taken to the hospital?

It may be a stupid question but I hope someone will help me out :/
Thank you

You just need to be careful, like you would anywhere else. We didn't get any snow this winter (only a few flakes), last year was a freakish amount, so you may be under the illusion the weather is worse than it actually is.

[twister1]

That's exactly what I will do... thankyou very much