International Politics

Hi there!

I'm starting off my second year in IP & Sociology in September, so I hope I can help =)

The IP course at city has 2 core modules which will open you up to the discipline. I don't know if you have a background in these studies, but the course in itself is designed so that even without previous knowledge, you can really ease yourself into it.

It's rather lightweight in terms of hours (about 8 a week ) but you need to be doing the reading each week for your tutorials or you'll quickly be left behind. Tutorials are the occasion to debate and delve deeper into the previous week's corresponding lecture, but don't expect the tutor to have done the work for you, you should come prepared!

It's still first year, so don't worry too much. My only advice is to just do a bit of reading to have a good idea of the subject being discussed and read the newspapers regularly (something other than the daily mail so probably FT / guardian / independent) and you'll actually start finding international affairs really interesting!

If you need any help regarding advice for accomodation within London or uni prep, drop me an email =)

I'm going into my third year of IP in September and I would say it really depends on what your interest is and whether you want to do IP as a career choice or just as a gateway degree to any career field. As melboudi says, it's not too demanding in terms of actual hours but you do get a lot of readings and such every week. The first year isn't so fun in terms of electives (you have to take really general ones plus two rather standard core modules) and the second year gets better in term of IP-related electives; however, both years are quite random in terms of what your experience will be like specifically (eg. your tutorial could end up having 2 out of 15 people attending the whole term, or your tutor could be really inaccessible and detached when you want support). Overall, I can't really complain about the teaching staff but I do wish the assessment were not entirely subjective (which it appears to be, leaving your mark to pretty much lottery-like odds) and I certainly wish the admin side were better. It's July and we still have no information on 3rd year module choice, disso requirements and deadlines, or anything else!

On the whole, if you're into IP as a field, I think the City course will give you a good overview and prepare you for further study if that's your aspiration. However, if you're just considering IP as a gateway course to get the transferrable skills everyone seems to need these days, I'd suggest you choose a more respectable university, as ultimately that'll probably have more effect on your chances than the particular course you did.

If you have any particular questions, drop me a message and I'll be happy to tell you more if you want!

*ETA: If you're doing just IP without Soc, then there are in fact three core modules in year 1 and one elective (or two electives if you do a language). The core module I forgot to count is actually the really interesting one! Sorry about that.

Ive also got on offer for International Poltics!
but since I went through clearing the university accommodation has all gone...
anybody else in this situation?

I rang the university and then was given an email address to contact, they said
"Almost all of the rooms in the City accommodation are now booked, and so it is very unlikely that you will be offered a room there."