UCL MSc International Public Policy 2013-2014

Hi all, just sent off my application for the MSc European Public Policy, anyone else applied? I really want my application to go in before the winter rush but my referees haven't submitted my references yet Don't wana be rude by harassing them too much though haha

Hey man, what did you include on your application form and how long was it?

Definitely. I and many of my coursemates had internships or part-time work throughout the course.

Due to the way the course is structured, you'll have one semester that's busier than the other (8 hours p/w as opposed to 6 in the other). This will depend on what electives you pick. I did an internship for 2 days a week during my (less busy) spring semester and it was absolutely fine. The only time it became a problem was when we hit April, when you have all essays due in for the end of the month, and exams to start thinking about - so I left at that point.

I'd definitely recommend trying to find something - there's plenty of time to play with as long as you possess some basic time management skills!

Hello

Sorry for intruding on the thread. I am currently on the IPP programme at UCL, I did it part-time over 2 years and have just submitted my dissertation.

Feel free to ask me any questions about the programme if you want! I also have a few books I want to sell that you may need/want for the course. I've listed the books under the relevant courses.

Quantitative Methods
- Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences 4th ed. - Agresti & Finlay (£25)
- A Gentle Introduction to STATA 3rd ed. - Acock (£25)

Public Policy and Economic Analysis (PPEA)
- Economics of the Public Sector 3rd ed. - Stiglitz (£25) - this book was a must for the course, pretty much every weeks reading was from it, i assume it will be the same again unless there have been major revisions to the course.

International Security
- Contemporary Security Studies 2nd ed. - Collins (£15)

If anyone is on the course and had a look at the required reading list and want to purchase the books feel free to private message me. I am based in London and won't be starting work till October.

Hi

In my opinion the course is relatively straightforward and there are few surprises. The levels of the courses are not much harder than at undergraduate level, though I guess the strain comes from having to do your dissertation over the summer which is a little tougher.

My advice would be to make sure you balance out courses assessed by essays and those assessed by end of year exams. I would say don't have too many of either as that will make your year a lot tougher. With the essay subjects as well, as soon as the questions for the paper are released I would start on it straight away. I know you're paying a lot of money for the masters and you should really do all the reading to make sure you contribute to all the seminars, but to be fair I learnt very little from the seminars and concentrating my efforts on the essays earlier on helped reduce the workload and stress through the year. The seminars are mostly in groups of 10-15 and can be pretty pointless in my opinion (I came from an undergrad degree with supervisions of 1-3 people which were much more intense and productive).

Also, as probably mentioned already, start on your dissertation as early as possible. In terms of topics, just start exploring avenues of research and project possibilities early on, as doing the leg work and reading round the subject is critical to narrowing down a dissertation project. I would happily recommend doing dissertation reading rather than course or seminar readings (for the courses that are assessed by essay), though thats me.

Exam wise, I think UCL are pretty lax. They don't require references in the essay, so to be fair any coherent argument seems satisfactory. The key being a well laid out and sign posted argument.

I applied for the Civil Service Faststream, which is the graduate scheme for the UK government and will be starting as an analyst in the Cabinet Office in October. Though I'm sure many others are going onto more exciting and relevant jobs.

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Hi, do you mean the personal statement? If so, I kept it to one side of an A4 since it's what they suggest in their FAQ...but I trimmed the margins and reduced spaces, etc. to make it all fit :P I think it was somewhere between 600-800 words in the end!

I explained what my background was, what research topics particularly interest me, and why this UCL course was the right fit for me (which modules I would take, why I liked UCL). To be fair my bit about UCL was the shortest because there's only so much arse-kissing you can do...? IDK

I am doing the course now and finding the R program to be really hard and they have changed the exam structure now - do you have any tips?

Hey, thanks for replying and giving me insight! yes, I also seen that but on the generic FAQ page, I think I seen it where it said 1-2 sides was acceptable! so didn't know whether to include more but however, less maybe more? :3. I'm still in the process of doing my application form, I had wanted to get it done by the end of November at least but I guess, my time management has been so bad! have you got an offer back yet?

Hey, no worries I totally understand your reasoning :-) No reply yet, I think there's a delay of about 6-8 weeks (cant remember where I read that) so I'm expecting a reply in January I guess?

Ah right, good luck! have you applied anywhere else?

You too!! Yes, so far I've applied to LSE and Oxford (lol but no harm in trying you never know right). Planning to apply to a joint LSE/SciencePo programme in January (have exams in two weeks so needed to spread out writing personal statements, etc.). I'll also apply to my current university which is University College Dublin (Ireland) :-) How about yourself?

ofc, must wish you good luck then! what do you study as of current if you don't mind me asking? and I was looking at LSE but I don't think I'll apply there, possibly Kings College is another choice of mine but the rest I am still looking. Just basing this Personal Statement solely on UCL at the moment :3 so I may be putting all my eggs into one basket!