SOAS or Edinburgh for Chinese?

I'm really stuck between SOAS or Edinburgh for Chinese. I love the course at SOAS, it seems more focussed on Chinese, but Edinburgh is reeaaallly beautiful and the course is more flexible. Is there anyone else in the same position? What do you think?

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Reply 1

Socrates

SOAS without a doubt.

Reply 2

digitalparadox

Socrates

SOAS without a doubt.

I could not agree more. Just think about the specialist material available at SOAS and no where else in the country. Yes, Edinburgh may have a few specialist books but no where as much as SOAS would ever have. Trust me, i've been to the SOAS library and their oriental books are impressive.

Any info/advice?

It won''t cost you more than SOAS halls really. Instead of a 20 min walk you might have a 20 min tube journey. It's worth it.

Reply 5

Alexii

Plus Edinburgh is actually surprisingly expensive anyway!

Reply 6

Socrates

hungryhamish

Hey, here's a valiant attempt to revive a dormant thread....

I'm trying to choose between them too, and I'm tempted by SOAS but put off by the London-ness of it.

Will I have to find high-cost, far-away, private acommodation after 1st year? I have visions of spending tedious hours and precious pounds just to get to Russell Sq and back each day.

Any info/advice?

Not particularly. There are accomodations at reasonable prices in areas about 20 mins away from SOAS by bus.

Reply 7

jsdmorrison

Hey there!

I was in exactly the same position as you! Join the club

I'll be studying chinese starting september 2007 and had applied and been accepted into both edinburgh and soas. As a scot if i'd chosen edinbrugh i would have been entitled to free tuition at edinburgh.

Instead i chose soas. I felt that the soas course looked a bit more focused on learning the chinese language, and going to the open day comfirmed that. Edinburgh is a great university and i love the city, but ultimately for me it was where was i going to get a better education? Plus i don't know very much about Edinburgh's year abroad in Dalian. I have friends in Beijing and felt that I would get more from a year in Beijing.

Plus I wanted a change from living in scotland. Its small.

Hope that helps!

SOAS for sure.

But why SOAS? I've heard from some UoL students (mainly UCL) that SOAS is a *****hole, for whatever reason. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks!

Reply 10

cheesecakebobby

Yes, ask in a SOAS forum, full of students who chose or want to go to SOAS, if it is a ****hole. That's very smart.

Reply 11

Socrates

It is. We'll be better off without prats like you. And UCL students are hardly going to have a kind word for SOAS.

Reply 12

asattar9

Its coz they hardly have any programs in common and they dont know much about it.. and from what ive seen ucl students are extremely arrogant think they are better than lse ,imperial aswell:P its a generalization but most i know do

Reply 13

chex

imo it's the insular homogenised world of ucl that's the real ****hole

you go to uni to learn and meet interesting people, not to look at buildings

Reply 14

newbie06

sorry didn't mean to offend anyone, it's just what i've heard and made me wonder what it's like at soas because it seems so different from all other unis i've seen for chinese.

Reply 15

pharmakos

I'm a UCL student and I think SOAS is excellent in its specialisation.

Reply 16

*Miss-Brightside*

Ooo someone else in the same position as me. I've applied to SOAS and Edinburgh to read Chinese and History for 2008. Haven't heard from either of them yet, but am so confused as to which one I'd prefer. I live in London so SOAS is the easier choice for me, but part of me does want to leave home, so Edinburgh would be good but it is so far!

Also I'm not too sure which course is better because although SOAS specialises in Chinese, Edinburgh has more flexibility with its programme concerning History which is want I want. Financially wise, Edinburgh is the second most expensive city in the UK after London and I guess prices won't differ that much, so I wouldn't decide between them based on how much it'd cost. Even though staying in London would be cheaper for me!

Has anyone else applied to read Chinese and History?

Reply 17

Luxun3

Well I also applied for Chinese and History at both institutions but I also quite sure that I will choose SOAS, although I would not have to pay any tuition fees at Edinburgh University as I am an EU citizen... However Edinburgh's Chinese course has only been running for approximately 18 years or something and what is that compared to the experience of the department at SOAS. Also the year in Dalian is definitely a reason for not choosing Edinburgh as Dalian isnt a really famous uni in China, whereas Beijing Normal University is the best university of China... I dont know much about the flexibility of the History course at Edinburgh but I can guess that you study History in a more general way at Edinburgh as it does not focus on Asia/Africa like the SOAS history course. However I think for someone doing joint honours Chinese and History its very likely to specialize in Asian history, what can be done best at SOAS I guess.

btw I am always wondering why people post these threads("Edinburgh or SOAS?") in the SOAS/Edinburgh forum. I mean of course everyone here will tell you to choose SOAS, as you will mainly find people here, that already study at SOAS or applied for a course at SOAS(what means that they also wont dislike it much...). For the Edinburgh forum it wont be very different I guess..., which is why I would just post it in the modern languages forum or somewhere, where you find students of both unis

Reply 18

jsdmorrison

I don't mean to play down SOAS because I study there, but there is a difference between Beijing University and BNU (Beijing Normal University), the latter is where SOAS sends us in year 2, and is mostly populated with Chinese training to be teachers along with mostly Japanese and Koreans studying Chinese, Dalian is meant to be a beautiful city, from what folks who've been there have told me, and thus a great place to spend a year abroad.

Reply 19

Luxun3

Oh I did not know that ... well I hoped its beida but however its still Beijing whats great... maybe thats an advantage of the course at Cambridge then as you spend your whole 3rd year (yes from 2008 its the whole year that is spent there) at Beijing University

However I dont really know how important it is which of the unis it is that you attend as I doubt that it would make any difference on a CV^^ basically you use the year abroad to take language classes there and maybe do some research... for me its only important to spend it in Beijing as I have lived there for a year already and just loved it