Ma International Relations

I think you've primarily answered your own questions there :smile:

An IR degree would be an excellent choice and they regularly accept lawyers. If you choose to stay in London those universities would be advisable, but if you want to broaden your horizons, Aber, St Andrews, Warwick, Nottingham, etc would all be worth looking at. Yes, it would be advisable to do the MA before the LPC so that you can get sponsored for your training contract. One to consider also is Sheffield's global politics and law MA.

As far as I know Geneva is also excellent.

Future prospects - the UN might be an idea. You'd have a good academic background, certainly.

Reply 2

No I dont think I have mate

Reply 3

Riz_K

No I dont think I have mate

My point is, you're asking questions which are right. You've already identified good programmes and universities which you'd like to apply for, you've got it the right way round with the MA and LPC, etc etc. :smile:

Reply 4

SOAS's MA in International Studies and Diplomacy is aimed at non politics graduates, so its definitely worth a shot.

Reply 5

Rainy

LPC after the masters, if legal practice is your desired career path. After a year's break you might decide otherwise.

There are plenty of MA courses in IR. That's a research project of your own: whether you're willing to trade off university brand name for department, finances, location etc. I'll toss the Sussex IR faculty in as being seemingly full of raving lefties: Kees Van Der Pijl, Justin Rosenberg, Benno Teschke etc.

Reply 6

Hey thanks guys so much!!!! You lot have helped me out because I was so confused. People were saying do an LPC first then MA which didnt make sense. Okay guys i just want to know when I apply for these programs and what do I need?

Lastly, U know for SOAS- which is the better course- MSC International Politics or MA in International Studies and Diplomacy ? Which course is more or less the same as IR ?

Regarding Geneva guys, Ive been on the website but im not sure how good this is school is.

Could you guys give me a ranking of the following for IR:-

LSE
KINGS
SOAS
WARWICK
NOTTINGHAM
GENEVA
ST ANDREWS
KEELE
SUSSEX

Thankyou!

Reply 7

MSc International Politics will require assume political knowledge before hand, whereas MA IS&D is a taught from scratch course and is more IR orientated.

Reply 8

thanks! When do I apply to these programs by and what other information do you guys have regarding applications?

Lastly could you guys please give me a ranking of the courses at the universitys i've mentioned above

Reply 9

In terms of the SOAS application, you can apply all the way until June, but probably best to apply by about January.

Regarding rankings, its hard to do since its very subjective, and it depends on what your criteria is.

Reply 10

what do you mean by my criteria?

Reply 11

Is soas ranked the lowest out of Kings,LSE,Nottingham?

Reply 12

SOCRATES 1 more question- What about Geneva? Do you know anything about this school at all? Is it better for IR than the english unis ive mentioned? Also, whats the application process, do you have any information?

This is my last question now sorry! I'm heading for a 2.1 degree right but it won't be a high 2.1, I reckon a low 2.1! What do all these unis require?

Reply 13

As I said it depends on the criteria. Different rankings use different criteria. I'd rate SOAS over Notts (and possibly Kings) but lower than LSE, others might disagree.

AFAIK, LSE and SOAS require a 2.i (they don't specify low or high), I'm not sure about the others, have a look on their websites.

I don't know anything about Geneva.

Reply 14

Riz_K

what do you mean by my criteria?

Point is, we can't say 'x is better than y' definitively - there may be scenarios where the opposite is true depending on your criteria.

For instance, St Andrews is an excellent university and department, but would be no good for me, because I'm a political scientists rather than an IR specialist. Bit of a daft example, but you take the point.

You need to take into consideration what your subfields of interest are, what you want to get out of it, your plans for the future, what the courses are like, where you want to live, the academics at each department, etc etc. We can't override all those things by telling you LSE is better than SOAS, because it's nothing more than a very broad and (likely) irrelevant generalisation.

Reply 15

Hey what do you mean by my criteria?

Could you please answer the following questions, as this will really help me.

1. What degree classification and requirements do these unis require, such as SOAS,LSE,KINGS,NOTTINGHAM?
(Im heading for a 2.1, but a low 2.1 im afaid! Is this going to affect me?) If so, should I take a gap year?

2. Regarding Geneva, will this school be of more benefit to me as compared to studying at the english universities i have mentioned? Do you know anything regarding requirements,costs etc?

3. Does SOAS have a very good reputation as compared to LSE and KINGS.

Reply 16