King's VS Bath VS Soas

I am holding offers from King's, Bath and SOAS for International Relations courses in 2015.

Which faculty would be the best according to you?

Reply 1

mm14

SOAS's syllabus naturally focuses more on Asia and Africa bringing together all the departments SOAS is famous for. Bath has a contemporary mix of options in their degree offering more variety. KCL's degree borrows a lot from their world famous War Studies department with a mix of economics thrown in. In reality they're quite different degrees, I would recommend looking at what interests you most more than which faculty is 'best'. If I had to rank them personally I would say:
KCL
SOAS
Bath

This is mainly personal preference to be honest but I do think KCL and SOAS are more well known for their work in International Relations, Bath may have national acclaim but I don't think that reaches further out than the UK.

King's College London

London

Reply 2

nikortu

Hi, thanks for your response first.

My interests space in between politics history and economics, but I also love the 'development' aspect of international relations.

However, I think that the atmosphere at Bath could be helpful in order to achieve better grades, as London could be quite overwhelming.

What do you think of this? Thanks for your advice

Reply 3

mm14

Original post by nikortu

If you like development then International Relations at KCL is not necessarily the best course for you, you would probably be more suited towards their course in International Development. For development I think that SOAS has better resources and is more inclined towards that area than Bath is but if you're so set towards being outside London then Bath may be the optimal choice. I have found that London isn't anywhere near as overwhelming as other people have described but this is quite a subjective area of discussion, personally I got used to living in London in about a week, but this is only one point of view.

Reply 4

HenriettaLewis

That's quite hard. My sisters at SOAS and she loves it there, apparently everyone is just chilled and relaxed. Have you visited all universities?

Reply 5

nikortu

I haven't had the chance to visit any of them. From what I have seen, SOAS seems to be quite backward, not modern, and people there seem not to be that friendly as SOAS would have liked you to think.

When in it comes to bath, everything is wonderful except for the fact that the university is mainly a scientific subjects uni, so compared to SOAS or king's i don't know if it would be worth it.

Finally, KCL is great, the course is really really good (as the one at SOAS, but here the facilities seems to be amazing). On the other hand, when it comes to have a look at unistats, KCL doesn't seem to do a good job..

Reply 6

dxplorer

Hi, I am in a similar situation.

I have been accepted at:

Kings for MSc in emerging economies and inclusive development
SOAS for MSc in development studies

I want to choose the school and program which will offer the best opportunities when graduating, and the best support.
Would you have any recommendation?
I would like to work in development studies, emerging economies (as shown in my choice of programs) and I wanted a program that helped me specialize in the field.
Which school would also offer the best network for this type of career?

I would need an answer asap if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated !!!