SOAS Applicants Thread 2012

Just got an offer for Politics & Arabic!! Anyone else?

Got an offer for eco and arabic. Do you speak arabic because i dont- even a little and am worried that most people would speak arabic and i wont understand anything

Offer for Arabic and Islamic Studies !!

Got my Offer for Law from SOAS a day after my jan Results so i assume they were in fact waiting for my jan results :|

Got an offer for eco and arabic. Do you speak arabic because i dont- even a little and am worried that most people would speak arabic and i wont understand anything

Thanks.



Well, SOAS sports are getting better - but you're right that they're not up to much compared to other unis. Having said that, the rugby team are doing well this season. We also use the Peel Centre for lots of sports, which is by Kings Cross, and is a good space.

Because SOAS is a part of the University of London (with UCL, LSE, KCL, Queen Mary's, Goldsmiths, School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, etc. etc...) there are lots of shared facilities. ULU (the University of London Union), of which SOAS students are members, has a great gym and a big swimming pool. UCL also has a big gym with lots of classes (Bloomsbury Fitness), which SOAS students can join.



The Hari Krishnas come every lunchtime and give free curry Monday-Friday for anyone who wants it. We can also teach you to freegan. A few SOAS students squat, so if you want to live really cheaply that's the way to do it.



So, as you know, SOAS doesn't offer and undergraduate IR degree. But you can do quite a bit of IR in the Politics degree if you want to. The IR teaching at SOAS is AMAZING - it's firmly rooted in the critical academy, and the focus is on the critical schools (constructivism, historical materialism, feminism, postcolonialism), and critiquing Realism and Liberalism. It's quite rare to get that approach elsewhere. Although I don't know about Leeds.



Erm, it might be a bit tricky at first, but it's definitely possible to do IR without doing Politics first.



Yeah, it's wonderful. Not a huge number of postgrads at SOAS get involved, but the ones who do are very interesting and are always worth chatting to.



Easy. I have loads of French and German-speaking friends. We also have various semi-official "language cafes", where you sit down and drink coffee or wine and chat to someone in the language you want to practice. Also, loads of people arrange informal language exchanges with friends and other students and staff.



This isn't a contradiction. Basically, SOAS had a wonderful, friendly, welcoming and diverse community (not just diverse in the sense of nationality, also in the sense of beliefs, values and interests), which I think is fantastic. Everyone is very welcome to get involved. However, this being London, many people have their own lives outside SOAS. They see SOAS simply as a place to come and attend lectures, but all their interests and friendships lie elsewhere, so they don't spend any time in the common room or anything. Which is of course fine too. But the community is there if you want it.



When do you need to decide by?



It is. Unless you want to go into banking.



Maybe I can try and balance it out. Ok, so I admit there are some bad things (the admin is TERRIBLE). But I absolutely love SOAS, I wouldn't change it for the world, if I went back to UCAS again I wouldn't have even bothered applying to Cambridge, LSE, Bristol etc., and would turn down ANYWHERE else to come here. It's been incredible and lifechanging. I'm really going to miss this place (unless I get an offer for an MA here ). Having said that, it can seem quite intimidating at first. Like, you hear people say it's diverse, but I never realised quite HOW diverse it was. Now, I think that's an incredibly bonus. At first though, walking in to eye a landscape where businessmen-like people are chatting to someone putting up a yurt who seems to be dressed in cloth bags, and where a group handing out free Qurans is simultaneously manning an SWP stall, or where someone's trying to shift a load of basketballs by throwing them out the window then getting to them by climbing out the window onto the bins, or where there's a huge dreamcatcher hanging down the side of the entire building, or where management have got into a frenzy because the previous night someone sneakily scaled the building to put and LGBT flag on the flagpole, or where you walk into the common room and can't find a beanbag at 2 in the afternoon because people are still sleeping after the impromptu music jam from the night before... yes, it can seem a bit weird and intimidating. But you'll grow to love it.

On top of this, the teaching is top quality and world class, and the staff are incredible.



Well, yeah, you could, and I'm sure you'd have a fun time .



Well, SOAS definitely has a great community to help you if you want it.



No probs

Joe

yay yay yay.... offer for Law... :-D

Congratsss!!
Yeah you were right.
Whats the offeR?

Got rejected for Korean and I don't know what to do...
So pissed off right now as the rejection doesn't even contain a reason why they chose their decision.

Got an offer for eco and arabic. Do you speak arabic because i dont- even a little and am worried that most people would speak arabic and i wont understand anything

Mh... If you gave me a bit more background (do you speak Korean? Are you of Korean origin or have lived in Korea for extended periods of time? Have you learned it before? How are your grades? etc.) I might be able to help you understand if that helps. There might be a few places in clearing though, so you can check them out when they come out.

Thnk you ! Erm, AAA for law, well thats what they wanted when i applied, have you applied for the same thing ?