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Fair enough. That's not totally dissimilar then, expect that the ESRC accredit particular courses rather than subject areas.

The latter sounds like basically the ESRC open competition system. Harsh, though :frown: I take it you have to write a research proposal for the AHRC masters application? So glad all my deadlines were in Feb, trying to pen one now and finish your final year must be nigh on impossible!
Yup, writing it as we speak so that referees can fill their bit in this week and it'll be sent ASAP.

Thankfully I've got an idea for what I want to do dissertation wise next year.
Good luck Vicky! I hope you get the funding. It's a massive weight off if you do.

What are you planning on writing your MA diss on?
I'd advise you to go for Durham, as far as academic reputation goes. Also, I disagree with all of the (clearly southern!) posters who say that Durham is in the middle of nowhere... it's about 15 minutes on the train from Newcastle, a major city, and also reasonably close to York.
Cheers - I'm working on the basis that I won't get it so am saving as much as possible and will work as much as poss during the summer but if you don't apply you don't get do you?

Diss is hopefully going to be around the impact that the media had on social reform work of the late 19th century, using key examples like William Stead who was the 19th cen version of Piers Morgan! Impact on prostitution and child prostitution type thing, gender issues etc etc.

It follows on from what I'm working on at the moment.
It's a good way to be. That way if you do get funded, you get jump around like a lunatic and celebrate rather than viewing it as a pleasant inevitability. :wink:

That sounds really interesting. I take it you're modern history then?
Reply 26
Thanks for all the advice! I think I'm going to go with Durham. :smile:
Reply 27
Hedgeman49
I'd advise you to go for Durham, as far as academic reputation goes. Also, I disagree with all of the (clearly southern!) posters who say that Durham is in the middle of nowhere... it's about 15 minutes on the train from Newcastle, a major city, and also reasonably close to York.

Thank you! Durham is really close to Newcastle (I'd say definitely less than 15 mins!) and it's mega cheap to get between the two.
Reply 28
My boyfriend did the Euromasters at Bath - I can get him to post here in a bit if you still need advice?
Reply 29
Thanks Angelil! That would be really helpful as I haven't made a final decision yet.
I indeed did the Euromasters a few years ago (04/05), but I'm probably not representative of the Euromasters population. I also had a look at the Durham page, but there's not much information.
As some people have pointed out, the degree at Bath is quite research oriented, but I don't know how that compares to Durham.
What I would advise you to do is try to contact some former Euromasters students, through the Euromasters office at Bath, or through Facebook, Linkedin, the yahoo groups etc. Also try to know about the student intake (about 60 at Bath) if you think that would affect your experience.
One advantage of the programme at Bath is that it's probably more international (but I found the entry standards to be quite low) and that you get to move between at least two universities in Europe (although you might find you're not really treated like a proper student at some sites).
All the argument that's been going on about which university had the best reputation is also not valid here, as we're talking about postgraduate studies (some lower ranked universities have really good postgraduate programmes) and these two universities are virtually unknown in the rest of the world - at least in secluded France where I hail from.
I also understand you are American: I remember there was some sort of partnership between the UNC at Chapel Hill and Bath.
Reply 31
Thanks for your help! The study abroad component was what appealed to me the most.
The Boosh
absolutely. i agree 100% with that.

to the op - people on tsr that fail to get into oxbridge sometimes feel the need to declare that durham is "like oxbridge" when, to be fair, it really isn't. it's a great uni in it's own right and doesn't need the "like oxbridge" tag to be a great uni. but fundamentally, it's a different university in terms of size, amount of academics and research output and research funding won etc and it's more like bath, york and st andrews than oxbridge. yes, it had old buildings and yes it has a tutorial system, but beyond that there isn't an awful lot to warrant claims read on tsr.

look closely at the league tables that have been mentioned over and over again - york, bath and durham have typically floated around the 10th spot. the sunday times placed durham 8th in 2006, and 9th in 2005. york has been 8th in both years. bath has been 10th in 2005 and 11th in 2006. in the times gug this year, durham is 9th, bath is 11th, and york is 16th, whereas in the (non-times) gug this year, bath is 9th, durham is 10th and york is 14th. the difference really is marginal and the universities switch positions each year. all 3 universities have been inside and outside of the so-called "top-10" in recent years.

sorry to nag, but it's one of those things which come up over and over again on on tsr.


Supposedly York is only dropping places recently because they're having to cut back on student spending to fund their new campus, but it's still academically the same quality as it always was.
no idea, perhaps. universities are dynamic and fluid places which change all the time, but this change is never really captured in the league tables because teaching and research measures are few and far between whilst being ambiguous at best. given this, any drop in york will be down to the introduction of new measures or a different weighting on existing measures, in addition to those annual changes (such as spending). i think the spending measures are about 3-4 years out of date (they are certainly not new) so unless the cut backs have been occurring for a while they may not actually be reflected in league table position. exeter is in the process of something insane like £500m refurb but i don't see cutbacks, just bags of cash and constant spending so it may be that york are not cutting back at all (?)

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