Philosophy at KCL

yeah I am, and it's great! =) the course is good, the staff are really friendly and and I am really really liking it so far!

Hi is anyone reading or applying to read philosophy at KCL?

I read philosophy at King's from 94 to 97, before going on to postgraduate work at UCL. Then, as now, King's was widely regarded to be in the top 3 philosophy departments in the country, and probably in the top 20 in the world. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have!

After my three years at King's, I took a place on the graduate recruitment scheme at the Home Office, and then worked as an operations analyst at an investment bank. Philosophy didn't directly help with getting or doing either of those jobs, but it was generally well respected (by some, at least; although there are always others who will denigrate philosophy, generally those with no understanding of it!) You will always be in competition for jobs against people with more 'relevant' degrees - business, law, economics - but if you have a passion for philosophy, your enthusiasm will shine through in interviews, and (in my experience!) that's as valuable as a vocational degree.

One big advantage of philosophy at London University is that lectures are intercollegiate, based at King's, UCL, LSE and Birkbeck, which helps you feel integrated into the university, not just your college. Tutorials are at your home college.

On the subject of tutorials, a word of warning: King's students are worked HARD! In addition to attending lectures, I had to write a 1,500 to 2,000 word essay every week, read it out to my tutor and defend it against his (constructive) criticisms! One the other hand, there aren't many places outside Oxbridge where you still have one-to-one tutorials (I had some two-to-one tutorials in the first year, but in the second and third years they were all one-to-one).

You could definitely do a conversion course after graduation. Several people from my year went on to the PgDL (Postgraduate Diploma in Law) and are now solicitors and barristers. The ones I'm still in touch with all tell me the same thing - that having done philosophy was considered beneficial to their applications, because it showed analytical and independent thinking, which is obviously very valuable in law. I briefly considered that route myself - I was offered a place on the PgDL at City University (generally regarded the best conversion course, particularly for people hoping to become barristers), but I didn't end up taking it. A degree in philosophy definitely won't hamper your chances of a career in law - especially if it's from somewhere like King's, which is the kind of place the best Solicitors' firms and Barristers' Chambers like to recruit from.

I don't know anyone who did a journalism conversion course after graduation, but I do know one person who went straight on to a job writing for the NME (New Musical Express). He had been very involved with the college paper as an undergraduate - much more involved in that than with his studies, in fact!

Other graduates from my year went on to work for NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations), still others took Civil Service posts (me included - I went to the Home Office - others went to the Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office, etc.) Some took media jobs, like advertising, and others went into IT. So far as I know, I'm the only one who went into investment banking, although a King's Historian I know also did. Lots of graduates go on to postgraduate work in philosophy and other subjects, with many going to top universities worldwide. I'm now doing postgraduate work myself, reading for a masters in psychoanalysis at UCL. However, I'm now thinking of going back to university to read medicine!

As you can see, while philosophy might not particulary open doors, it certainly doesn't close them.

Let me know if you have any more questions. Good luck!