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US student needs serious help making decision on UK schools

Hello! I realllyyy need help choosing between these two programmes, ANY input whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.

I received an offer for an MA in Modern Literature and Culture at the University of Birmingham (UK), with full tuition covered and a little bit of living expenses.

I received an offer for Comparative and General literature at University of Edinburgh, and I would only have about 1/3 of tuition covered counting the small scholarship I got from an organization here in the States.

I'm far more interested in Comparative Literature than I am in Anglo Modern Literature. I'm not sure if I want to continue on to a PhD afterwards. I would take the funded offer if I were sure I did not want to do a PhD afterwards, but I'm afraid that doing Modern Lit as opposed to comp lit is going to really hurt me. I'm also afraid that if I DON'T pursue academia, going to Birmingham will hurt me because Edinburgh is much more well known and highly regarded in the US.

Literally any input you have would help me, its getting sort of down to the wire here

(:
(edited 9 years ago)
Always go with 'the course'. That is what will keep you motivated for an whole year of study.

I'm assuming you are are a serious student and have a genuine academic interest in studying here - ie. this isnt just 'tourism' with the excuse of study. In which case, the academic bit really is the most important. Secondly, Edinburgh is a fabulous city and you will never live anywhere like that ever again. This is one year - an expensive year okay - but if you don't go with you heart, you'll regret it always.
Edinburgh has a good rep in the UK, but Birmingham's is also decent - never been a particular fan of obsessing about reputation anyway though.

Ultimately if you have the cash to take the Edinburgh option and that's the option you want to do go with that. It will be expensive either way with living costs.
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Avatar for Tcannon
Tcannon
18
Heart vs cash. Follow your heart and do a course that you will enjoy, otherwise you may be miserable and regret it.

It may be low percentage strategy, but maybe you can contact Edinburgh and politely explain your funding situation at Bir with full ride. Tell Edin is your first choice with great fit but ask Edin for some FinAid. the worse outcome is a 'no'. There are plenty templates on US admissions consultants' websites and it should be a breeze for an English grad.

Good luck
Original post by moderatedbliss
Hello! I realllyyy need help choosing between these two programmes, ANY input whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.

I received an offer for an MA in Modern Literature and Culture at the University of Birmingham (UK), with full tuition covered and a little bit of living expenses.

I received an offer for Comparative and General literature at University of Edinburgh, and I would only have about 1/3 of tuition covered counting the small scholarship I got from an organization here in the States.

I'm far more interested in Comparative Literature than I am in Anglo Modern Literature. I'm not sure if I want to continue on to a PhD afterwards. I would take the funded offer if I were sure I did not want to do a PhD afterwards, but I'm afraid that doing Modern Lit as opposed to comp lit is going to really hurt me. I'm also afraid that if I DON'T pursue academia, going to Birmingham will hurt me because Edinburgh is much more well known and highly regarded in the US.

Literally any input you have would help me, its getting sort of down to the wire here

(:


Do you have a Comp Lit undergrad degree?

From what I know of it (having been accepted to a Comp Lit PhD in the States, but having not taken the offer...so, no actual experience of the program), Comp Lit in the UK and the U.S. is quite different - in the US, it is very much an organized discipline (with the expected in-discipline variations, of course), whereas there doesn't seem to be the same methodological and pedagogical unity in the UK. For a Master's degree, in particular, I don't think there will be that much difference in terms of skills, and methods training between doing Comp Lit and English in the UK, the only real difference, I suspect, will be that you will be able to study literature in other languages in the Comp Lit programme.

I'd pay more attention to the specific content of individual modules, rather than the disciplinary designation, when comparing the two: get right down to the specifics so that you can see the content you'll be covering in each and which will better suit your goals.

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