Russian courses...

Anyone studying or applying to do russian at uni...Any knowledge about good russian course would be useful. I'm thinking of Edinburgh but i hear Sheffield and Birmingham are good to. i've done A-level russian and i know the majority of students taking it at university start from fresh..Any idea of class sizes as i hear it's a very small department at Edinburgh?

Reply 1

TheThief

Hiya,

I'm applying to do Spanish and Russian (total newbie) at Edinburgh, Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham, St Andrews and Cambridge.

I chose these unis by comparing the tables for East European Languages and Iberian Studies in the Times Good University Guide, maybe that would help?

I am really really jealous that you are able to study Russian at A-level. Would you have any advice for someone who has never studied Russian before? Any tips on how to prepare myself for interview or anything?

Thanks! Or...спасибо! :biggrin:

Reply 2

paddy

Purple Hazer Blazer

I am!! Russian and Spanish actually but Russian nonetheless.
I applied to UCL, Bristol, Edinburgh, Durham and Nottingham, all of which have good Russian departments from what I have heard. UCL's Russian department particularly is immense, they have so much choice there!
Generally you should have a look around the university websites and see if you can't get onto the departmental websites to see what course modules are available etc.
Also I'm jealous of your Russian A Level too!! I could't do French at school, let alone Russian!

Reply 3

no1mohsin

Hey, I do Russian A-level too (Currently in year 12 :smile:

). I've heard Bristol and Nottingham have great Russian depts and Notts is recommended highly by my teacher (who went there).

Reply 4

paddy

no1mohsin

Hey, I do Russian A-level too (Currently in year 12 :smile:

). I've heard Bristol and Nottingham have great Russian depts and Notts is recommended highly by my teacher (who went there).

Yea I think they're good, Nottingham has literally every course module you could ask for in Russian too! The most choice out of pretty much any Russian course I think!

Reply 5

Chestnyh Psihov

Hey - I'm just in the process of applying for Russian (from scratch) and French at these unis = UCL, Queen Mary, Exeter, Sheffield, Nottingham and Leeds. My No. 1 choice is UCL - they want 32 points with the IB, which is quite reasonable comparitively. Anyone who has just started doing Russian ab initio this year - any info, experiences, recommendations would be SO welcome - thanks :smile:

Reply 6

Diachrom

Hiya, just started Russian Studies at SSEES aka, UCL.
I must admit, that the group is rather large - about 25 ab initio and 15 A Level students, but that gets divided into two or three groups. It's fairly heavy going, but good. And the range of Russia related units here is daunting; I've got short prose, modern culture, representations of Russia, Russian history and Russian cinema.
I also have 4 hours of grammar a week, 2 hours of reading and writing and a one hour Russian oral class.

Reply 7

paddy

Diachrom

So what track are you doing then? The Russian degree at SSEES looks so good!

Reply 8

Diachrom

I'm doing Track A - Literature and Culture. You don't get any choice of what you do in year one, but from then on, you get the greatest choice for literature.

Reply 9

paddy

Diachrom

I'm doing Track A - Literature and Culture. You don't get any choice of what you do in year one, but from then on, you get the greatest choice for literature.

That's really cool, I'd like to do some film modules if I got the chance, or Russian history.

Reply 10

bouncy

Is anyone looking to study russian at uni without having any foreign language at A-Level at all?

Reply 11

blone_bomb

At Nottingham the post A-level russian students have their language lessons with the second year beginners russian students. They aim to get the russian beginners up to A-level standard in the first year. Its a very intensive course for beginners with about 10 hours per week just on language. I dont know the class sizes because im not actually learning russian, but its my department and i know people doing the course. If you have russian A-level you can also take beginners courses in cerbian/croatian, slovene and polish. You cant learn two new languages at the same time though so if you are a beginner in russian you cant take these in your first year but can in your second and fourth years. Yeah if you have any questions feel free to ask.