Whats philosophy like at KCL?

Hey,

I'm studying war studies and philosophy at KCL. For starters a guy in one of my tutorials is doing the physics and philosophy degree - he loves it!!

The building on Surrey Street you passed is the philosophy dept and that is where the tutorials take place. Yes the building is no contest for the adjoining Somerset House! Despite the fact that the philosophy building is rather like a hobbit hole - and by that i mean terribly cosy haha! However yes the building is fit for purpose - it's honestly fine!

In rankings (something i didn't know before applying to kCL) the philosophy dept is very very highly regarded! And the teaching honestly does match the praise! The lecturers are great and you can talk to them after.

Tutorials are really good - the class sizes are roughly 6 people - which is a lot smaller than my War Studies tutorials which are about 15 people.

The PhD students who take the tutorials are incredible!!!!! Honestly its fantastic to be able to sit in a room weekly with such brainy people who can honestly make the course a lot more enjoyable.

I've just finished my first year and am very happy about my first year!! Take the joint honours!!

Thanks for the advice, how many hours of lectures and tutorials do you have per week for the philosophy part of your degree?

and its a bit of a stupid question, but whats the 'homework' like? I've never studied philosophy before at school, so I'm wondering do you just get set a question and then you have to write an essay on it? (or something like that)

The lectures per philosophy module (so youll take two modules each term with the joint honours like me) are one hour - roughly, sometimes they can go over with questions ect. General rule though is one hour lectures and one hour corresponding tutorial.

Regards homework:

Each week you will most probably study a new topic, so there will be readings to complete - which will be specified in a course outline (if you message me your email i can send you some of the course outline pdf's i worked from this year). You have to complete the readings, preferably before lecture and tutorial, but defo tutorial at least! These can sometimes be quite long, as you may have three or four different readings to complete - but usually the lecturer specifies the parts of books or articles that require attention, not everyone has the time to read whole books each week!

Regards essays at KCL, the philosophy dept set two essays a term, one due in the middle of the term during reading week (5th week) and the other due in at the end of the term (10th week). These are formative and are designed to assess your writing capabilities, with feedback provided from the tutorial leader.

There are generally set questions which can again be found on the course outline pdf, the questions will usually be addressed to a particular topic within the module. You can start the essays as soon as you want, speaking from a war studies and philosophy perspective, we were encouraged to write one essay a week (each half term id have two philosophy essays and two war studies ones - so do one a week). TBH i never did one a week, more like all five in the last week :P

Philosophy essays want you to argue, the key is being succinct and clear. Clearly outline the arguments you are going to discuss, highlight where you are going to come down in agreement (however be aware it is perfectly reasonable in philosophy to say you don't know where to come down or which argument to agree with - just say why!).

Thanks again. I'm PM'ed you my email address

So its 4 hours in total of contact time each week for the philosophy side? (2 modules for a whole term, so 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of tutorial per week)

What typically goes on in tutorials? Is it just about going through the topics with a small group and discussing them?

and when you said you were encouraged to write an essay a week (two philosophy ones for each half-term), just to clarify, these aren't mandatory/formal 'homework' and are they therefore not marked? because you also mentioned that the philosophy dept sets only two essays for the whole term

Hi all,

I have a place to study Philosophy at KCL - does anybody have a sample timetable I can see? I am not going to be living in London, and want to know how many times a week I will be commuting! Thanks.

Thanks for the information!

I'm going to be commuting too from Reading, Berkshire, so it's interesting that you have been commuting too!

Since I'll be commuting, and it's going to be very tiring, how *fatal* is it if I don't come in for one day? Is missing the odd lecture/tutorial really frowned upon, even if you're a good student?

I did find an official timetable from a previous year for Philosophy, and it's a little confusing. Take a look: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/philosophy/study/handbook/teaching/timetables.aspx

I think this shows all the philosophy teaching by all lecturers per week. Either way, it looks as though I'll be coming in most days. :-/

Commuting this year wasn't my first choice but i applied to king's on results day and everything was last min and the accommodation i wanted was not available, so decided to just stay at home. It's been fine though, you just need to be a little more proactive in socialising ext, but don't think you're just going to be going to lectures and tutorials.

Obviously missing lectures and tutorials isn't ideal, but if you do miss the odd one it won't be fatal. Missing lectures is possibly from my view more fatal than missing tutorials, because lectures are where the prof will basically help you make sense of that weeks readings or topic/questions - so i'd advise if you're choosing between missing something one day i'd choose to miss the tutorial. HOWEVER, tutorials are just as valuable, some would say more because they are in groups of 6 and you spend the time talking about the readings and coming up with counter responses to the arguments put forward and generally debating the topic/philosopher/view. These can really inform your essays!

Plus attendance at tutorials is monitored, so if you miss alot of tutorials then the tutor is going to be less inclined to push out the boat to help and also the lecturers have been know to ask for attendance lists. Some tutors really frown upon you missing tutorials, others don't mind - these others are more inclined to think that you don't like their teaching/tutor style and so are choosing to not turn up. I haven't heard of anyone being reprimanded because of absence but you never know!!

Conversely, and i know you wont be studying this so doesnt really apply (but maybe something to consider from a teaching standards point of view for king's as a whole), the War Studies dept on the other hand is very pro keeping a track of attendance. For one of my modules if you missed three seminars out of the total of 20 for the year, there would be ramifications - i.e. you may not be able to sit the exam or there would be measures taken against you.

Also it's worth bearing in mind that the people (ususally PhD students - who in my experience have been far over qualified to be teaching philosophy to mere first years, this is another reason not to miss out on tutorials, you have the chance to sit in a room and talk for an hour with a fantastic mind who can help you resolve any problems you have in understanding or application), its also worth bearing in mind that the people who take the tutorials write reports up on you, much like teaching reports that were sent home. only these aren't sent home, theyre kept on file for future reference - for instance if in year three you are borderline 2:1 1:1 and they have no other way of deciding if you deserve the first, they will look at your first year and subsequent years and see if on merit you deserve the boost to first!!!! The reports cover things like, attendance, how much you contribute in discussions, whether you just agree or actually engage, timekeeping - if you turn up ect.

I may have gone slightly overboard in my response, sorry - but i think it's nice to always get a current students perspective. And any way you only said whats the worse that will happen if i miss one or two lectures and tutorials, and honestly (because i have this year because of the devastating hang over or out of sheer unwillingness to go because i know i haven't yet done the reading and my duvet is much more appealing) there is nothing that will happen. Obviously if you never turn up ever, thats another story - but i doubt you'll seriously consider that!! haha

(I should really crack on with revision for my exam now haha :P)