Warwick, Bristol, York, or Sheffield (Masters in Int'l Relations)

I've offers from Bristol, York, Sheffield, Surrey and Sussex for masters in International Relations. Still waiting for a decision from Warwick but just wanted to see what others think. I'm leaning towards Bristol unless Warwick gives me an offer. Here's how I would rank them:

1. Warwick (IF I get an offer)
2. Bristol
3. Sheffield
4. York
5. Surrey
6. Sussex

Except for Sheffield and Bristol, all offers are for MA in International Relations. Sheffield is MA in International Political Economy and Bristol is MSc in International Relations.

My plan is to do a PhD after so I'm also keeping that in mind before making a decision. I'm an international student so I don't have the option of visiting campuses.

According to RAE 2008, Sheffield is ranked higher in Politics research than Bristol and Warwick so that's why I'm a bit indecisive.

I would appreciate any feedback.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1

dltp2013

Firstly congrats on your offers!

I am applying for International Relations too, and have offers from Bristol and Durham so far (waiting to hear from KCL, UCL, and Warwick).

I've read that Warwick is very highly regarded, and I think I'm right in saying that Bristol and Sheffield are also pretty high up the list too. I would say though that Bristol is a great city and university in general, and is my first choice at the moment!

Whereabouts are you from? Have you ever visited any of the cities you've applied to before?

Original post by polisci_junkie

I've offers from Bristol, York, Sheffield, Surrey and Sussex for masters in International Relations. Still waiting for a decision from Warwick but just wanted to see what others think. I'm leaning towards Bristol unless Warwick gives me an offer. Here's how I would rank them:

1. Warwick (IF I get an offer)
2. Bristol
3. Sheffield
4. York
5. Surrey
6. Sussex

Except for Sheffield and Bristol, all offers are for MA in International Relations. Sheffield is MA in International Political Economy and Bristol is MSc in International Relations.

My plan is to do a PhD after so I'm also keeping that in mind before making a decision. I'm an international student so I don't have the option of visiting campuses.

According to RAE 2008, Sheffield is ranked higher in Politics research than Bristol and Warwick so that's why I'm a bit indecisive.

I would appreciate any feedback.

Original post by dltp2013

Firstly congrats on your offers!

I am applying for International Relations too, and have offers from Bristol and Durham so far (waiting to hear from KCL, UCL, and Warwick).

I've read that Warwick is very highly regarded, and I think I'm right in saying that Bristol and Sheffield are also pretty high up the list too. I would say though that Bristol is a great city and university in general, and is my first choice at the moment!

Whereabouts are you from? Have you ever visited any of the cities you've applied to before?

Warwick and Bristol are probably the top two in those lists (add KCL if you get an offer). The decision then comes down to which course you think suits your interests best and which department seems to have the best potential Supervisor. I have some limited knowledge of the Bristol IR department, my dealings with them have been very positive and constructive. The city of Bristol is great, a lot going on, easy access in or out ie good transport links, good nightlife (apparently, not tried it first hand!).

Reply 3

wilson_smith

17

Original post by polisci_junkie

I've offers from Bristol, York, Sheffield, Surrey and Sussex for masters in International Relations. Still waiting for a decision from Warwick but just wanted to see what others think. I'm leaning towards Bristol unless Warwick gives me an offer. Here's how I would rank them:

1. Warwick (IF I get an offer)
2. Bristol
3. Sheffield
4. York
5. Surrey
6. Sussex

Except for Sheffield and Bristol, all offers are for MA in International Relations. Sheffield is MA in International Political Economy and Bristol is MSc in International Relations.

My plan is to do a PhD after so I'm also keeping that in mind before making a decision. I'm an international student so I don't have the option of visiting campuses.

According to RAE 2008, Sheffield is ranked higher in Politics research than Bristol and Warwick so that's why I'm a bit indecisive.

I would appreciate any feedback.

I would not take RAE assessments as a useful signifier of the quality of a department. As with any post-graduate, the vast variation in content / staff/ whatever among prospective departments means a department is only going to be meaningfully 'best' relative to you; so, what are you interested in, and what do you want from the course?

Warwick is the only on the list that I could make a reasonable comment on, whose IR course seems great (particularly if your like Critical Theory / Critical Security Studies, or other meta-theoretical positions of that ilk). I've heard people talk warmly of Sussex, though couldn't substantiate on that myself. The University of York is brilliant, though their Politics department is not particularly IR oriented.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 4

wilson_smith

17

Original post by dltp2013

Firstly congrats on your offers!

I am applying for International Relations too, and have offers from Bristol and Durham so far (waiting to hear from KCL, UCL, and Warwick).

I've read that Warwick is very highly regarded, and I think I'm right in saying that Bristol and Sheffield are also pretty high up the list too. I would say though that Bristol is a great city and university in general, and is my first choice at the moment!

Whereabouts are you from? Have you ever visited any of the cities you've applied to before?

In terms of general status within IR academia, it would list something like: KCL > Warwick > (then I don't know, I haven't heard anything about UCL, Sheffield or Bristol). But then again, that ostensible ranking collapses on a moments consideration, and the obvious realisation that each department has different strengths suiting different interests, etc.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 5

You!Me!Dancing!

13

Sheffield is pretty IR focused these days, I know this as a disgruntled political sociologist. You should really figure out if you like IR or IPE better. I know they're linked, but I could imagine the modules are quite different. Even across IR courses module choices are likely to vary as every department has different specialisms.

Modules and potential dissertation supervisors should always come above everything else. What are your research interests?

Also, I'm pretty sure KCL's departmental strength is due to the fact it's War Studies department is great. That's not really relevant if you're interested in IPE.

Warwick, Bristol, York, or Sheffield (Masters in Int'l Relations)

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