BA Politics & International Relations: SOAS v Birmingham v Kent

So, I'm stumped on how I'd prioritise my response to offers from SOAS, Birmingham and Kent for Pol&IR.

I've not seen any of the institutions in the flesh, and I'm thinking in terms of potential for subject-specific reasons like future postgrad/research opportunities, rather than 'which one has the best party life'.

Here're my minor, fairly unsubstantiated thoughts:

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SOAS - Seems like the most impressive politics-specific institution; features high on politics world rankings. Most academically robust? University of London - good thing? Doesn't seem to register too high for overall UK uni though?

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Birmingham - Russell grp; consistently highest world ranking out of the three. Most prestigious overall university?

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Kent - Highest UK ranking for both 'overall' and 'politics'. Doesn't seem as prestigious as the other two?

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Wildcard extra! UEA - Not very internationally recognised, but a decent UK uni. Relatively speaking, not as academically renowned?

What order would you prioritise these three?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

crimsonavenger

I have visited all of those and have offers from three of them.. I personally didn't like SOAS (its just a personal thing so I didn't apply there but I cant say I was struck with any of the London universities, I want a campus University)

Anyway, For me It would probably be Kent first Bham second with UEA a very close third.

I really do think you should visit them if it's possible, they all feel quite different and you are looking for something that will suit you personally for the next three years.

If you are in the country it's well worth the time to visit. Look at the Unistats website as well. When visiting the Uni's I always like to speak at length to the current students, it's a great way to get a feel of the place and the Unistats website helps with that if you can't get to the Uni itself.

Reply 2

jelly1000

Original post by Juanitor

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SOAS - Seems like the most impressive politics-specific institution, especially for the IR component. Most academically robust? University of London - good thing? Doesn't seem to register too high for overall UK uni though?

•

Birmingham - Russell grp; consistently highest world ranking out of the three. Most prestigious overall university?

•

Kent - Highest UK ranking for both 'overall' and 'politics'. Doesn't seem as prestigious as the other two?

•

Wildcard extra! UEA - Not very internationally recognised, but a decent UK uni. Relatively speaking, not as academically renowned?

What order would you prioritise these three?

You need to consider course content.

Reply 3

crimsonavenger

Of course , although the descriptions of the courses was reasonably similar UEA was much more self led than the others which wouldn't be as good for me . There are so many things you have to consider it is really hard and of course you can't possibly know if you make the right choice . We just all have to give it our best shot as this will be our home, school and social life for the next three years.