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KCL Postgraduate Applicants/Offer Holders 2015 entry

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Original post by dasha93
Hey! Im currently an international student at Edinburgh University and I applied for both KCL Political Economy and SciencesPo International Security.

After all the research I have been doing for the past few months I can say that Sciences Po is a very good school and also a member of the professional schools of international affairs association, which makes it very reputable and internationally recognised like LSE and Graduate Institute of Geneva for ex. However, SciencesPo is more recognised in Europe than in USA and beyond. SciencesPo is good if you want to work in Europe plus from what I know it offers students to do an internship in your last semester in your 2nd year of your masters. BUT In addition to that, if you look at the university rankings such as TimesHigherEducation and QS KCL and UCL are in the top 20.
SciencesPo is basically the French version of LSE and the top uni to go to in France and in Europe for IR, but LSE is more internationally recognised.

Anyway, I got my offer from KCL last week and I accepted it as I was tired of waiting from Sciences Po... its been 2 months since I sent my application and still no "admissible"! I must confess that after weighting the pros and cons, I don't regret accepting KCL, because first of all it's one year instead of two years at Sciences Po, it is internationally recognised and the employers know that it is a good school and that the school exists, and finally it is in London, which makes it easier to apply for English speaking jobs after you graduate compared to if I did it France.

Anyway both Sciences Po and KCL are very good schools, but I would think more about career options like what the school can offer you after the completion of your degree and what you want to do after graduation. I would have chosen Sciences Po if I got the offer before KCL, but as I am still waiting and already got KCL Im just gonna stick to that :biggrin:



WOW thanks so much for all the details. :h:
It was very helpful. :smile: Sciences Po is highly regarded in France but I did not realize its reputation crossed that much our domestic boundaries.

If you look at IR rankings, Sciences Po seems to be the best university I have reached. Thing is, I'm questioning whether for a french person, it is not better to go to a foreign university, especially if you consider that I already have gone for my undergraduate studies to a higly regarded school in France. What do you think about that?
The diversity of degrees and countries appealed to me.
In my perfect scenario, I would have had an offer from Sciences Po's english "cousin", LSE, but for some reasons I was rejected. (Life would not be so much fun if our plans worked out perfectly :wink:).
I also tried Oxbridge, but I knew it was a long shot, especially since I attended a business school before. I guess it did not make me fit into their "perfect profiles" for IR.

Since you talked about King's and UCL being in the rankings' top 20, I will ask your point on another subject as well. :biggrin: (I know I know so many questions, I'm such a pain :tongue:)
I am not sure how much employers are aware of rankings by subjects (i.e. IR here). Some people tell me they do, and others say they have just an idea about the overall reputation of the university. Who do you tend to agree with?
Because in the case of IR, it changes it all since Sciences Po is first of my options in that category, but is by far the least desirable option if you consider overall university reputation.
I am torned between these two points of view ... :confused:

Thanks so much for your help and time. I do realize I have too many questions :colondollar:

And by the way, this is not a closed discussion people, I am ready to take as many points as I can :smile:
Waterfront bar, King's College
King's College London
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Original post by xoJessicaAnn
Did you receive an offer for this? I applied for two courses, had an interview and offer from one but for the China one, not even recognition!

Yes, I did. 15 weeks after submitting my application. I had stopped hoping for a positive reply about a month before my offer came and committed to a similar program at LSE . When I emailed Kings rep asking why that may have happened she told me 15 weeks was much longer than their usual processing time and that she would ask Admissions about it. I would really like to know why it took them more than three months to offer me a place but I don't think I will be rejecting LSE without a good reason now.
Original post by YulianaRus
Yes, I did. 15 weeks after submitting my application. I had stopped hoping for a positive reply about a month before my offer came and committed to a similar program at LSE . When I emailed Kings rep asking why that may have happened she told me 15 weeks was much longer than their usual processing time and that she would ask Admissions about it. I would really like to know why it took them more than three months to offer me a place but I don't think I will be rejecting LSE without a good reason now.


Yuliana, I can't believe it took them almost 4 months to process your application, that's a seriously poor admissions process. I submitted my own application about 7 weeks ago and I have the feeling I will also be waiting for a long time before I hear back. I contacted them a couple of days ago to ask for progress and when I could expect a decision and I just received a very unhelpful and generic message from the admissions officer, copy-pasting the standard KCL policy that it takes them between 4-6 weeks. Yeah, I know that, I'm contacting you because it's been longer than 6 weeks... I'm very tempted to just accept the offer I had from Birkbeck, as I don't think the KCL administration bodes very well...
Original post by Yellow 03
Yuliana, I can't believe it took them almost 4 months to process your application, that's a seriously poor admissions process. I submitted my own application about 7 weeks ago and I have the feeling I will also be waiting for a long time before I hear back. I contacted them a couple of days ago to ask for progress and when I could expect a decision and I just received a very unhelpful and generic message from the admissions officer, copy-pasting the standard KCL policy that it takes them between 4-6 weeks. Yeah, I know that, I'm contacting you because it's been longer than 6 weeks... I'm very tempted to just accept the offer I had from Birkbeck, as I don't think the KCL administration bodes very well...


Yeah, I agree with what you say. I received replies from all five universities I applied to by the end of March and King`s application was the only one outstanding.
I sent them a couple of messages through King`s Apply after my 9th and 11th week. The first time I received a reply saying my application was sitting with an academic selector and awaiting consideration. My second message was ignored :frown:.
I love their program but the whole admission process was very discouraging considering that LSE Admissions team was much more helpful and definitely faster.
Anyway, I wish you success with your application and I hope that you will receive your offer faster than I did :wink:
Original post by YulianaRus
Yeah, I agree with what you say. I received replies from all five universities I applied to by the end of March and King`s application was the only one outstanding.
I sent them a couple of messages through King`s Apply after my 9th and 11th week. The first time I received a reply saying my application was sitting with an academic selector and awaiting consideration. My second message was ignored :frown:.
I love their program but the whole admission process was very discouraging considering that LSE Admissions team was much more helpful and definitely faster.
Anyway, I wish you success with your application and I hope that you will receive your offer faster than I did :wink:


Thanks, and congratulations on your LSE offer, it's fantastic! :smile:
Original post by YulianaRus
Yes, I did. 15 weeks after submitting my application. I had stopped hoping for a positive reply about a month before my offer came and committed to a similar program at LSE . When I emailed Kings rep asking why that may have happened she told me 15 weeks was much longer than their usual processing time and that she would ask Admissions about it. I would really like to know why it took them more than three months to offer me a place but I don't think I will be rejecting LSE without a good reason now.


Well done on LSE! I totally see where you're coming from, I'm contemplating accepting my MA Modern History offer from Kings which I presume would cause automatic rejection of my China app which is sad... I'd definitely rather have heard from both :confused:
Original post by rdver1
Hi there, im a MSc Risk Analysis applicant from the Netherlands.
Im assuming many of you have received an offer by now, so congrats!

Could you please help me with the following:
I send in my application in early februari of this year. At the end of March, I was shocked to find a request for an additional referee. Not an uncommon request, but odd nonetheless, considering I already had four (both academic and professional)! I honoured the request and have been waiting for a response ever since. Document status still says 'received' for most of my academic records and 'Document is OK' for my diploma and references. Reflecting on your own experience, what would you guys make of this? Good news?
For now, im just super glad it wasnt a rejection.

Any other applicants for this specific programme?


Hi dude

I applied for this in late March and got an offer on Friday. Both my references said 'Document is OK' or whatever it was.

I'm in two minds about accepting the offer though because it seems too academic? The UCL version seems a bit more practical so i am waiting for a reply from them.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 247
Original post by DickDastardly
Hi dude

I applied for this in late March and got an offer on Friday. Both my references said 'Document is OK' or whatever it was.

I'm in two minds about accepting the offer though because it seems too academic? The UCL version seems a bit more practical so i am waiting for a reply from them.


Im not a dude, but thanks for the swift response!
And congrats on your offer!
You're right, KCL's programme is indeed slightly more academic than UCL. That is exactually why it appealed to me.

Good luck on making your decision
Original post by rdver1
Im not a dude, but thanks for the swift response!
And congrats on your offer!
You're right, KCL's programme is indeed slightly more academic than UCL. That is exactually why it appealed to me.

Good luck on making your decision


thank you

it's nearing on 4 months since you applied though, i would try to get in touch with them if you can as this seems like an unreasonable amount of time to process your application

the kings application system seems to be quite bug heavy, there were lots of times where i received an email about a new message for my application, but upon log-in found that there wasn't, so the extra reference may have possibly been a bug as you had already provided 4
(edited 8 years ago)
This APEL form is driving me crazy. It estimates that it takes 2 hours to complete, however I have been spending days on mine! Starting to think I've gone into way too much detail...
Finally heard from King's and I need to submit extra documents about my Erasmus :s-smilie: hoping this is a good sign. ugh!
Reply 251
Got a rejection for Msc International Management -.-

Too competitive this year apparently...
Reply 252
Original post by DickDastardly
thank you

it's nearing on 4 months since you applied though, i would try to get in touch with them if you can as this seems like an unreasonable amount of time to process your application

the kings application system seems to be quite bug heavy, there were lots of times where i received an email about a new message for my application, but upon log-in found that there wasn't, so the extra reference may have possibly been a bug as you had already provided 4


Thats what I reckoned. I've send them several messages over the last few weeks, but they fail to respond. Quite annoying!
Reply 253
How strict are KCL for missed entry requirements? For example AAB when the offer is AAA?
Original post by lp617
How strict are KCL for missed entry requirements? For example AAB when the offer is AAA?


I'm not sure but it's always best to write to them and find out. Of course, it'll take ages for them to reply back.

Are you an undergraduate student? There's a thread for undergraduate offer holders, you might have better luck there :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by rdver1
Thats what I reckoned. I've send them several messages over the last few weeks, but they fail to respond. Quite annoying!


maybe should try calling them if you can, you'll be passed around a lot but it might kick them into gear a bit?

i called them earlier in the year and after speaking to 5 different people eventually got asked to put my question down in an email and send it to them lol

thankfully they replied to it a few days after i called & sent the email - though with what turned out to be incorrect information...
Reply 256
Biomedical and molecular science MRes offer holder here :smile: anyone else out there on this course or similar??
Can someone please tell me what Document is OK mean? =/ So, have they reviewed it or are they merely acknowledging it?
Reply 258
Original post by pippit
Can someone please tell me what Document is OK mean? =/ So, have they reviewed it or are they merely acknowledging it?


The website is not updated regularly. If you have received your offer, you don't have to worry about that.
Original post by Josb
The website is not updated regularly. If you have received your offer, you don't have to worry about that.


Ahh, thanks I just had the status of all the documents I handed in changed to 'Documents is OK for assessment' but I haven't actually received an offer yet. Rather nervous now...!

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