What is SOAS Uni like?

Hey guys, i just received an offer from SOAS and I was wondering whether anybody could tell me what the Uni is like in terms of people/atmosphere? and how would u rank soas vs glasgow??

Reply 1

SOASllbsurvivor

SOAS is a bureaucratic nightmare and generally toxic atmosphere largely populated by annoyingly preachy bolshie activist types. I still regret turning down Edinburgh for SOAS. Take Glasgow mate- you'll be glad you did.

School of Oriental and African Studies

London

Reply 2

Mango2201

thanks for your reply ! Haha ya u might have convinced me now to go to Glasgow instead of SOAS. pity u r not enjoying ur expiernce at Uni more..

Reply 3

mediaevelle

Original post by SOASllbsurvivor

I don't know anything about Edinburgh, but I do know that SOAS is not at all that way, not in my experience.

You get out of any university what you put into it. It does depend if you're game to live and study in London, and if you're willing to embrace multiple cultures, faiths, and causes while you are living there. There are a lot of political activist groups at most London universities, but in the whole of my year there I was not bothered or molested by any of them. There were many active societies, and you got involved if you wanted to, or if you didn't, you didn't.

Admin was not great, especially timetabling, but no worse than I experienced at Birmingham, who charged me fines for books they hadn't bothered to renew, weeks after they said they had renewed them, and which couldn't work out how to notify me of changes in anything because they didn't bother giving me access to my university email and then didn't know how to give me access when I told them about it. Student Services were very good and supportive when a friend of mine had a study breakdown, and also with any questions or help I needed from them. The teachers met with students outside of their own office hours or work hours to clarify matters, and there was a good bond between the people in the classes I studied in which helped build confidence in discussing topics with each other. Maybe I didn't notice a mad culture of getting drunk every night but I'm not into that kind of stuff, and I don't know what the first year UG students might havr got up to. In my experience, again, the drinking social things were there if you wanted them, but if you didn't there were a plethora of other things on offer - festivals, events, concerts and discount tickets for other outside events in London (concerts, shows, theatre....etc).

I loved studying at SOAS and I loved studying at Birmingham. I don't expect perfection from anything, but I do expect to be able to enjoy and engage in what I study and the people I meet.The ones I met at SOAS were and are far more valuable acquaintances than the ones I had from Birmingham.

If you want to know about SOAS life, you need to know about all the aspects of it, not just one disgruntled student's two line rant. SOAS is not for everyone, but it is absolutely not full of activists or preachy people. On the contrary, I'd say it's full of mad, eccentric and INTERESTING people...and since I spent 12 months there without a single conversation with anyone about attending a protest rally or a march of ANY kind...I would say that you should gather more opinions.

Reply 4

Pulse.

Original post by SOASllbsurvivor

As in firm? What made you make that decision?

Reply 5

SOASllbsurvivor

Original post by Pulse.

As in firm? What made you make that decision?

The belief that SOAS wasn't badly run and that it was a valuable degree. Wrong on both.

Reply 6

ozonozo

Hey there! I'm a second year Economics student at SOAS and I really enjoyed my two years up till now. The campus is quite small and cozy, but active and buzzing with life pretty much all year round. If you are passionate about Asia/Africa culture then this is definitely the place for you as there are so many events going on around the subject. If not, there's a lot more going on, I'm sure you'll find something that matches your interests. There are a lot of international students which makes for an interesting experience, and most students are really passionate about what they are studying!

Hope this helps

(edited 8 years ago)

Quick Reply

Latest

Articles for you

What is student accommodation like at uni?

What should you do if you don't get a place in student halls?

How easy is it to switch courses once I’m at university?

What are university fairs and how can you squeeze the most out of them?

What is SOAS Uni like?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you