IR and Politics at Sheffield firmed 2014 thread!!!!

Original post by Tallriksmodell

Got an offer for IR & Politics earlier this year but I'm not sure if I want to firm it or not. Sheffield looks great, but don't know if it's worth the 9k (Am an international student). Still waiting and hoping for an offer from York.

Firmed it

Sorry was just a bit curious, I'm an International as well and it seemed to me that York and Sheffield's fees were both similar ??

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Reply 4

InternationalS

hi im also international student and got offer from sheffield and queen mary for IR and Politics.

and I'm still don't know which uni should i firm. do u have any suggestions?

thanks

Reply 5

Original post by InternationalS

hi im also international student and got offer from sheffield and queen mary for IR and Politics.

and I'm still don't know which uni should i firm. do u have any suggestions?

thanks

It depends on what your priorities are. I don't know about QM's qualities of teaching, but you can compare both ranks on the internet (Shanghai ranking for instance or something called the league table universities). Of course London looks amazing compared to Sheffield which looks very industrial to me, and you might have more things to do, but the uni of Sheffield have such facilities for their students (on top of the villages-and you're guaranteed a place for your first year) that in my opinion, it really worth it. I don't know about QM's. As an international, you should also check what their language requirements are and verify which one you can meet.
Hope it helps :smile:

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Reply 6

Miss Lils

Hello, I got the same offer too. And I'm going to put Sheffield as my firm. Sheffield sounds fun tho. We might be classmate :smile:

Reply 7

sarahnotreel

Hi, glad someone made a thread for this.Making sure politics and IR potential students have some representation. I have put Sheffield as my firm too so I might see you there in September :smile:

Reply 8

Hey guys. I'm just finishing my politics degree at Sheffield now. Any questions just ask :smile:

Reply 9

Miss Lils

Original post by Airfairy

Hey guys. I'm just finishing my politics degree at Sheffield now. Any questions just ask :smile:

How was the schedule? Flexible or very tiring? Tell us some of your experience s. Would be glad if u can share some

Reply 10

Original post by Miss Lils

How was the schedule? Flexible or very tiring? Tell us some of your experience s. Would be glad if u can share some

It's very flexible which was great for me because I commuted for two years. Obviously lectures aren't movable but you can pick another seminar group when you get assigned one. There are six contact hours a week so I really doubt you'd be tired from that!

I'd be happy to share my experiences but I don't really know what you specifically want to know.

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Reply 11

Original post by Airfairy

It's very flexible which was great for me because I commuted for two years. Obviously lectures aren't movable but you can pick another seminar group when you get assigned one. There are six contact hours a week so I really doubt you'd be tired from that!

I'd be happy to share my experiences but I don't really know what you specifically want to know.

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Hey

First, how many hours of lectures is there in a week ? And seminars ?
How is the workload, what is it about roughly ?
And where do the lectures take place, I've heard the Politics department wasn't big enough to welcome everyone in a lecture so the students had to move constantly
Thanks :smile:

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Reply 12

Jasmineadams

OP

Ooh hello! Hmm.. I guess my questions would be about timetables. Are there any awkward says where you start at 4?im a morning person haha

Reply 13

Original post by Jasmineadams

Ooh hello! Hmm.. I guess my questions would be about timetables. Are there any awkward says where you start at 4?im a morning person haha

Well you may have a day where you have one hour at 4, but that would most likely be a seminar rather than a lecture, so you could go into the office and move it to a morning group. It really varies, and it's just luck which group you're put into but they are good with moving them if need be.

Reply 14

becksson

Original post by Airfairy

Well you may have a day where you have one hour at 4, but that would most likely be a seminar rather than a lecture, so you could go into the office and move it to a morning group. It really varies, and it's just luck which group you're put into but they are good with moving them if need be.

Hey, just got an unconditional offer from Sheffield and i dont know whether to firm or not. Dont have any other offers and this was an extra choice. It turns out (with 41 in IB) my five other uni choices don't accept me as i have been taking 3 gap years :frown:

Sheffield seems good tho, visited it last week and i really liked the staff and the course. Just wondering, what is the general view of Sheffield in the UK? For employers and other universities in the UK? Have u gotten a job/ internship? Did u do a year abroad?
Super grateful for any info!!! :smile:

Reply 15

Original post by becksson

Hey, just got an unconditional offer from Sheffield and i dont know whether to firm or not. Dont have any other offers and this was an extra choice. It turns out (with 41 in IB) my five other uni choices don't accept me as i have been taking 3 gap years :frown:

Sheffield seems good tho, visited it last week and i really liked the staff and the course. Just wondering, what is the general view of Sheffield in the UK? For employers and other universities in the UK? Have u gotten a job/ internship? Did u do a year abroad?
Super grateful for any info!!! :smile:

Hey. Well first, no need to sound like you got handed the bad uni out of your bunch. Where else did you apply to? Sheffield is in the Russell Group and it's redbrick which normally means a good reputation in this country. And it does have a good reputation for those two reasons. I'm proud to tell people I'm at uni there. It's not in the same league as say Durham or UCL, etc, but it's pretty much on par with any of the other main city redbricks. The unis I got offers from were all of the same rep really. That was Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield. Actually, the reason I chose Sheffield is because the politics dept was ranked really highly at the time. I just looked now and they are 10th on the politics league table, but were 4th last year. I think when I started they were 3rd and I know on the open days I was most impressed by their department than the others.

I will be doing a PGCE (teacher training), so I haven't been applying for jobs. I didn't do a year abroad but I know many who have and they loved it so I would advise doing it. I wish I did! There's also the option to do a year of employment experience which I know a couple did so that looks good as well.

It's stupid though, I don't see how 3 gap years should make unis turn you down. There is such thing as a mature student (21 or over) and they should be willing to take them.

Reply 16

becksson

Original post by Airfairy

Hey. Well first, no need to sound like you got handed the bad uni out of your bunch. Where else did you apply to? Sheffield is in the Russell Group and it's redbrick which normally means a good reputation in this country. And it does have a good reputation for those two reasons. I'm proud to tell people I'm at uni there. It's not in the same league as say Durham or UCL, etc, but it's pretty much on par with any of the other main city redbricks. The unis I got offers from were all of the same rep really. That was Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield. Actually, the reason I chose Sheffield is because the politics dept was ranked really highly at the time. I just looked now and they are 10th on the politics league table, but were 4th last year. I think when I started they were 3rd and I know on the open days I was most impressed by their department than the others.

I will be doing a PGCE (teacher training), so I haven't been applying for jobs. I didn't do a year abroad but I know many who have and they loved it so I would advise doing it. I wish I did! There's also the option to do a year of employment experience which I know a couple did so that looks good as well.

It's stupid though, I don't see how 3 gap years should make unis turn you down. There is such thing as a mature student (21 or over) and they should be willing to take them.

Thank you so much for all the information :smile:

I applied for UCL, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and St Andrews. I know they are all really amazing unis and that they are very competitive, but from what I heard, being a mature student is not a negative thing according to most uniersities.

I know Sheffield is a good University too, it just takes some time to change your mind set and get used to the idea of studying there. But I am sure it will turn out great!

By the way, what's the city like? How did you find the student Life?

Thank you again for your reply! :smile:

Reply 17

Original post by becksson

Thank you so much for all the information :smile:

I applied for UCL, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and St Andrews. I know they are all really amazing unis and that they are very competitive, but from what I heard, being a mature student is not a negative thing according to most uniersities.

I know Sheffield is a good University too, it just takes some time to change your mind set and get used to the idea of studying there. But I am sure it will turn out great!

By the way, what's the city like? How did you find the student Life?

Thank you again for your reply! :smile:

I wouldn't say Sheffield is any worse than Manchester or Glasgow tbh. But yeah I know what you mean, I'd have felt the same if Sheffield didn't work out and I would have had to go elsewhere. I guess you get your mind set on somewhere!

The city is lovely. It really depends on what you're into though. Looking at where you applied though, you have a big variety of locations there so maybe you're not too set of a certain type of location? It is one of my favourite cities in the UK. I prefer it to Manchester. It's just really nice and a great place to be a student, I think. It's one of the main reasons I went there actually. I visited all the unis I got offers from and the city is quite important since you'll be living there and I hated Nottingham, Manchester and Birmingham but just felt at home in Sheffield so I guess you just get that feeling really. I found it really easy to get used to as well. I had previously been at uni in Liverpool and I lived there but it took a while to adjust to!

Reply 18

Spalinkor

Hi guys,

I am an international student (French actually) and I just firmed Sheffield ! I am so excited ! But I was just wondering :
How respected is the Uni ? I hears the department of politics was one of the best with Oxbridge.
And did anyone go for the study abroad program ?

Thank you guys, we will meet next October ;D

Reply 19