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King's College London

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King’s College London Open Week 12-16 March

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Reply 380

erklam

Original post by varob

Hi there,

Following up on this thread: I am holding a conditional offer for International Peace & Security at the War Studies Dept. I will be graduating in June from a Canadian University, currently averaging a 3.38/4.0 GPA.

My conditions state a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. It is mathematically possible to get there, although it would require getting 5 As this semester, which is physically very difficult. It's worth giving it a shot - studying at the War Studies Dept is my dream program, so I will work hard to meet these conditions - but I'm afraid finishing the semester a bit below that 3.5.

I was wondering if the dept was flexible when it comes to meeting/not meeting the conditions, or if it was possible to have the conditions lowered. I thought the Canadian cut was 3.3, but I'm guessing these programs being so competitive, 3.5 would also make sense.

Also, I am asked to provide IELTS results or equivalent qualification recognized by King's. The language of instruction at my school being English, would that be recognized as equivalent qualification?

Thank you for that opportunity to ask questions and your time answering them :smile:

Cheers!

Hi Varob,

Thank you for your post and congratulations on your offer, the War Studies Department of King’s really is world-renowned!

However, because of this, they do generally expect every accepted student to meet the conditions of their offers. King's policy is that if you miss your offer but are very close to meeting your conditions, your application will be sent to the admissions tutor for further consideration. It will really come down to how strong the competition is (which you can expect to be fierce) and also your academic and personal achievements to date as reflected in your personal statement. I hope you will manage to get straight A’s this year and increase your GPA! If you don’t end up with a 3.5, you might still be considered for the course – but, in that case, I’m afraid there is no guarantee for a positive outcome.

Regarding the IELTS requirements, the admissions office might have overlooked the fact that tuition at your Canadian university was in English. If you could kindly remind them, they should be able to update you on whether they still require IELTS from you – but to be honest, I would be surprised if they did.
The King’s website says that the “English language requirement may be waived if the College is satisfied that your previous academic record clearly demonstrates your ability to study and be examined in the English language”. From what I know, this seems to apply in your case – but the admissions office might have found it differently.

Try to contact them via MyApplication asap to see what they say. I hope this helps and please let us know if you have any further questions!
erklam from the King’s team :smile:

(edited 12 years ago)

King's College London

London

Reply 381

jezebel21

Heya,

I'd like to apply for a place for the international security postgrad course, but I'm not sure about the specific requirements.. am currently doing a BA in history at York, with a strong chance of getting a first or 2.1 (at the very least), but I haven't quite got round to doing any internships/extra-curricular stuff yet. Do you think that might hurt my chances of receiving an offer? Cheers x

Reply 382

King’s College London

Original post by Cleo13

Hi there,

I currently hold an offer (conditional) for your LLM course. The condition of my offer is 64% overall in my current course. Could you please tell me if your admission team takes into account only 2nd and 3rd year of my degree (as for the purpose of degree classification) or "overall" means literally overall, thus includes my 1st year as well. My 1st year was not particularly strong and I was not worried about it as it does not count towards my degree. However, I am now getting worried after all. Thanks so much for your help :smile:

Hi Cleo13,

Thank you for your message!

I have just double checked with our admissions team and they will take all 3 years into account for your current course, including your first year.

I hope this helps :smile:

Emma

Reply 383

erklam

Original post by jezebel21

Hello Jezebel21,

Thank you for your message! I had a look at the requirements for the MA in International Peace & Security, and they are as follows:
"Minimum 2:1 first degree in law, history, political science, or international relations, or overseas equivalent."
You can find more info in King's Online Prospectus on http://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/

So, you are on the right track! :smile:

I would assume that internships and/or extracurriculars would undoubtedly enhance one's application by demonstrating interest in the subject (or even just interests in general) however whether they are necessary to get in will come down to how fierce the competition is for the places this year.

I hope this helps and do get in touch if you have any further questions!
erklam from the King's team

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 384

King’s College London

Original post by ruixue

Hey, yet again I have new questions.Gahhh sorry for this haha.

Can anybody give some advice on your personal statement? Do they prefer academic background, work experience or any experience in the field of your choice? I want to apply for MSc China&Globalisation, so is any background experience with/in China an advantage?
I've read so many different things, 10% work experience, 30% extracurricular and 70% academic.....its making me crazy !!

And I have the same question as Cleo13, do they need an overall average of ALL your previous years, or just the last three years (in the Netherlands it's four years University of Applied Sciences)?

Also, If anyone can give me some more info about the IELTS, I'd really appreciate to hear it :smile:

Im taking the test probably April 21 here in Shanghai and Im wondering if applying before I know the results means that my chances of even receiving a conditional are lower then if I DO know the results...Can anyone please help me with this :frown:

I need to know if it's a good idea to apply one of these days or if I should wait another month... :frown:

THANKS again everyone from KCL for doing this !!!!

Hi ruixue!

Thank you for your questions!

The more you can relate your personal statement to the course the better. Specifically we would be looking for details of your previous exposure to China, e.g. through coursework on your undergraduate degree, language studies, career interests or time spent in Chinese-speaking countries. You need to explain why you feel the course matches your interests, academic background, and, if relevant, your career plans. We would be looking for a balance between academic background and work experience, so reference to both would be best.

I have just checked with our admissions team, and in terms of entry requirements we would usually look at transcripts from all 4 years of your degree and we would be looking for an average of 8/10 or above. Most of students apply before they take the IELTS test, so it would make absolutely no difference to your chances of receiving a conditional offer if you haven’t completed the test yet - the IELTS score would just be an additional condition to your offer.

I hope this helps, and please get in touch if you have any further questions
Emma :smile:

Reply 385

chicheto93

Original post by erklam

Hi there again!

I am afraid Fran is out of office now so I'll try and answer your question :smile:

As far as I know, you cannot take modules from LSE/UCL in Business Management. You might be able to do so in your third year but, to be honest, I have not heard of anyone doing that in this course. All first year modules must be taken at King's and most probably your second year modules as well. (Or, of course, you can study abroad and take all your second year modules at the University of Toronto or the University of Hong Kong, which is pretty awesome!)

I am unsure about the third year options but if you send an email specifically asking about this to [email protected] or call +44 20 7848 1403, the admisions team might be able to give you further information. (P.s. I will try to contact some third year students to confirm and will get back to you asap if I find out anything more!)

Thanks for your questions and let us know if there is anything else you's like to know :smile:

erklam from the King's team

UPDATE: I can now confirm that, sadly, Business Management students cannot take courses outside of King's. But that shouldn't be a problem, King's is way better than those two anyway hahaha :P

Thanks for the answer :smile:

)

Reply 386

King’s College London

Original post by KAgrawal

Greetings!

First off, thanks so much to all the ambassadors from King's who're taking the time to read and respond to the questions.

I recently accepted an unconditional offer for the MSc Forensic Science programme and was wondering what the timeline looks like from here on out. To be more specific, I wanted to know when I'd receive more information about the modules I will be taking, my personal/academic tutor, and access to services such as campus email, etc. Also, do term start and end dates vary with the programme/department or are they mostly consistent throughout the College?

I realize that this question might be better directed at the department, but any help/information you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

Hi KAgrawal!

Firstly, congratulations on your unconditional offer! :biggrin:

The start of term will be the same as the other programmes, enrolment will start on 17th September and teaching will begin on the 24th. You will receive access to your King’s email account before the start of term (probably in mid to late August).

Regarding your modules and personal tutor information, you will find this out during the enrolment week.

We intend to host an event for offer holders, but the date is still to be announced. Once the date has been finalised you will be notified via the myApplication portal.

I hope this helps!
Emma :smile:

Reply 387

Caulfield

Original post by SofieTM

Hey

Thank you for that awesome answer! And thank you to sndl for asking that great question!

I am obviously also interested in the English course and I just have one follow-up question to your answer:

You mention a list of authors in regards to the "Introducing Literary Theories" module (which I will definitely check out!), but I was wondering if you maybe have any other suggestions - e.g. for modules that focus more on novels?

Thank you so much to all of you guys for all the help in here!

-Sofie

Hey Sofie,

Yes of course. I would recommend the following novels to give you a general introduction to the first year of English at King's:

A Very Short Introduction to Literary Theory - Jonathon Culler
Neptune's Triumph, a court masque by Ben Jonson (can be found online)
Beowulf (quite a short one and it's really good!)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce (probably the most accessible Joyce novel, a good introduction to his works)
Great Expectations - Dickens (again, very readable, a good intro to Dickens)

Incidentally, I finished reading Great Expectations in a coffee shop beneath the office where Dickens wrote it! It's just up the road from the Strand campus and there's a blue plaque and everything.

The Buddha of Suburbia - Hanif kureishi (an alumnus of King's!)
North - Seamus Heaney (a collection of his poems, he's become my favourite poet after the Reading Poetry module last semester. I'm also going to see him perform at the Southbank Centre this month! It's just across Waterloo Bridge from the Strand Campus. At the beginning of the semester, me and a few friends went to see Carol Ann Duffy amongst other poets perform there for the T. S. Eliot Poetry Prize!)

I think that's enough for now. If you have any other questions, please please please get in touch on this thread! :smile:

Thanks,

- Ben

Reply 388

romy500

hey im thinking about applying for medicine next year, im hoping my gcse grades which are A* in maths 4As in chemistry and rest Bs in biology physics and english im also predicted all A's in a-level and i do extra activities such as duke of Edinburgh and st john ambulance.

Reply 389

AceS4

when do you usually finish sending offers? I applied at the beginning of January and I still haven't received an answer :frown:

Reply 390

Caulfield

Original post by AceS4

when do you usually finish sending offers? I applied at the beginning of January and I still haven't received an answer :frown:

Hey, AceS4,

King's is notoriously late at giving out offers, I'm afraid!! That's the impression everyone seems to get, anyway. In my experience, when I applied for English, King's gave me the offer just before the deadline and they were the last university to respond to my application by far.

The time it takes to send out offers depends on a lot of things, like the department, subject, amount of applications etc. so I recommend you sit tight. The bright side is that they're definitely considering you so I wouldn't be too downhearted about the wait.

Thanks,

Ben

Reply 391

Caulfield

Hi all, I'm back answering your questions until 4:30pm!

So, just to recap: I'm Ben, English Language & Literature first-year undergrad at King's. Studying the AKC alongside my degree. Editor at Roar! Newspaper. Amongst other things!

I look forward to more questions from you all :smile:

- Ben

Reply 392

Caulfield

I received a personal message last night about contact hours in the English Department. My response most likely applies to all other Humanities departments so I'm posting it here:

In the English Department, you can arrange to meet up with tutors/professors/lecturers at any time, there are no strict rules on this. All staff at King's do have set office hours, normally 2 hours a week on different days. This is when you are completely free to talk with them in their offices about anything really, and they are pretty much guaranteed to be there. Also, seminars are a great place to talk with your tutors and engage with them on an intellectual level.

As far as feedback is concerned, for each essay you submit, you get a very detailed response to accompany your grade. In my experience at King's so far, all the markers put so much thought into your essays and it really shows in their feedback.

- Ben

Reply 393

King’s College London

Original post by romy500

Hi romy500,

Really great to hear you’re interested in applying for Medicine at King’s! Entry Requirements for that programme are AAA at A-Level and a B at AS-Level. At least one of your A-Levels must be in Chemistry or Biology, the other must be at AS-Level.

You might find it interesting to look at the course structure on our online prospectus:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/structure/name/medicine/alpha/M/header_search/

You could attend our Medicine Open Day on Tuesday 10 July for more information. More details are available here:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/ug/openday/index.aspx
You’ll also be able to book a place on the Open Day at that link in the coming months – so keep checking back!

Thanks,
Charlotte

Reply 394

SofieTM

Original post by erklam

Hello Sofie,

Thanks for your question! I am a first year international (EU) student at King’s and I had the same question this time a year ago. I am afraid that King’s won’t be able to help you out with this and directly tell you about who else is on your course. But you could easily start up a thread here on TSR or a page on facebook and wait for people to join in! Attending a post-offer open day is also a great way to meet your future classmates but as an international student, I know this is not always an option.

I just want to ensure you that you will get to meet tons of international students at King’s, maybe a few even from Denmark. King’s is an extremely diverse uni which is just great! In my course (Business Management) there are people from all around the world, literally! To be honest, they probably outweigh the number of UK students, or at least that is my perception :smile:

And do consider starting up a facebook page for your course (or search for an elaready existing one). The page one of my coursemates set up a year ago now has about 240 members from the class of about 250 and we use it for daily communication. Before we got here, it was an amazing way to get to now new people and I actually spend my entire first day in London walking around with someone from my course I met on facebook.

This is a very exciting period of time coming up for you so make the most of it and enjoy! :smile:

Hope this helps and do let us know if you have any further questions!

erklam from the King’s team

Great, thank you so much! Will definitely look for/start a fb-page to find people :biggrin:

Thanks again for all the great advice in here!

-Sofie

Reply 395

AceS4

when should I apply for accommodation? ( If I get an offer...)

Reply 396

Caulfield

Original post by AceS4

when should I apply for accommodation? ( If I get an offer...)

Hey, AceS4,

The deadline for applying for accommodation is 30th June. You can only apply for accommodation once you have your conditional/unconditional offer. When you receive your offer, please allow 48 hours or so before you're able to log in to the accommodation page to make your choices. You'll be able to choose them through a link in MyApplication once you receive your offer, so just follow the instructions on there once you've been accepted. Here is a page I think might help you, it has all the relevant and up-to-date information on applying for accommodation: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/campuslife/accom/applying/index.aspx

I hope this helps,

- Ben

Reply 397

King’s College London

Original post by AceS4

when do you usually finish sending offers? I applied at the beginning of January and I still haven't received an answer :frown:

Just to Add to caulfield’s response, the deadline we generally give for replying to applications and giving offers is the end of March, though they can run into April. Some programmes don't make offers until they have processed every application so do make their offers later, and other programmes process them in batches. This is just to give you a guide time. But yes, do rest assured that every application is read and responded to!

Thanks,
Charlotte

Reply 398

brookems89

Hello!

I'm an international student from the U.S., and I currently hold an unconditional offer for the Cultural & Creative Industries MA program! Very excited to have received an offer of admission, but have a few concerns/questions!

My decision on where to attend graduate school is definitely coming down to financial factors. The two universities here in the States that I have been accepted into require a decision of attendance by mid-April, and I should be hearing back about scholarship information within the next few weeks. I know King's gives a tentative date of receiving information on scholarships by June, but is there a possibility of hearing sooner than that? Also, I attended a partner school of King's, and while the description for the King's International Partner scholarship states you must be currently enrolled, I decided to take a year off after graduating last May--do you know if I would still be eligible?

Think that's all for now...might be back with more questions soon. :smile:

Reply 399

fuzzybear