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Feeling nervous and unprepared

Within the last couple of years I have become interested in studying politics and international relations. However, it is still a relatively new subject for me, I have only really started watching the news, reading papers or being interested in the world around me for the last year so my knowledge is incredibly limited.

Where should I start? I don't want to sound like a moron in my personal statement or during any interviews
It depends... Are you willing to apply for undergraduate or graduate courses?
Reply 2
I'm going to be applying for an undergraduate course
Original post by Feasty80
I'm going to be applying for an undergraduate course


If you are applying for undergraduate courses it is not a problem: they are precisely meant to build up your knowledge of politics, political science, and international relations.

For your personal statement my advice is to follow the news, and to read specialized magazines (the economist, for instance). If you want to increase a little bit more your background there are also introductory level textbooks on politics and IR that might help you. But, in case you want to read some books, I'd rather start with something historical (on the 20th century and on the history of British/European politics). In this way you won't need any background knowledge of political science or international relations theory. For what concerns international relations, another way is to look for edited books on topics in IR, as Beeson and Bisley 2013, Issues in 21st Century World Politics.

However I really think that newspapers and magazines might be more than enough for the PS, but up to you :smile:
Reply 4
Thank you - thats a huge relief, I've got a while to get up to date so will just keep reading up on the areas i'm really interested in.

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