University of Edinburgh

Whats all this about MAs?

Right, is anyone else confused about this...

On the University website, they advertise their degree courses as MA instead of BA's..... does this mean you HAVE to do a Masters? Why dont they offer Batchlors?

Worried :frown:

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

michaelnicholson88

It's the system used by the ancient Scottish universities. It's still a Bachelor's degree, despite the name.

University of Edinburgh

Reply 2

RougueFunkyMonkey

PHEW!

Thankyou, very relieved....so its all still a 3 year course ?

Reply 3

michaelnicholson88

Nope, it's a four year course. Again, the Scottish system. You get the opportunity to take a few outside courses in first year before gradually narrowing down to your chosen course. It gives you a bit more freedom but unfortunately means you have to do an extra year. It's all about getting both depth and breadth of knowledge.

Reply 4

oxymoronic

The Scottish MA is the equivilant of the English BA. (it just looks better when you write it down on your CV as English employers might not know about the Scottish system so therefore assume its better than a BA). Degrees take 4 years here, and are more varied as everyone follows 3 subjects in their first and second years, meaning you might apply to do Politics and Anthropology, do Spanish as an outside course and end up graduating in Spanish, or Politics/Anthropolgy and Spanish.

I've found it loads better than the English system.

Reply 5

lilcathstar

oxymoronic

Although some courses do allow direct entry into 2nd year, although there are many people who'd advise against this... and many who haven't had problems.

BTW, I'm from near Grimsby :smile:

Reply 6

RougueFunkyMonkey

OOO a fellow near-Grimbarian!
Im not actually from Grimsby-Waltham to be honest.

Where do you hail from???

Reply 7

lilcathstar

RougueFunkyMonkey

OOO a fellow near-Grimbarian!
Im not actually from Grimsby-Waltham to be honest.

Where do you hail from???

Brigg... tis near Scunthorpe, although we only associate ourselves with Scunthorpians for the sake of describing where we are!

Reply 8

jjarvis

Brigg's a nice place! I was there (briefly) on Monday.

Reply 9

lilcathstar

jjarvis

Brigg's a nice place! I was there (briefly) on Monday.

really?! ace! Doing anything exciting there?

Reply 10

jjarvis

Just getting brunch with my Dad before getting a train back here after a weekend with my grandparents, so not particularly. Do you know the Deli Diner?

Reply 11

moose3333

oxymoronic

Wait. I've applied to do Chinese...does that mean I can take up history and say french and end up potentially graduating with Chinese and History. Chinese and French??

Yes.

Hmm.. I don't know whether that's strictly true, it depends if there is a joint honours degree programme in those two subjects... for example, I could take chinese as an outside all the way through my 4 years I believe... but as there isn't a Geography & Chinese BSc/MA degree available, I could only graduate in Geography.

Reply 14

Micky666

After you complete the Scottish MA can you go on to do a postgraduate course, in an English university? A Master of the Arts.

Yes.

I was wondering if anyone could answer a couple of questions regarding the Scottish degree system (I'm considering applying to Edinburgh for English Literature).

Regarding studying three subjects at the beginning of the degree, are these studied in equal balance?

Do the marks awarded for these two 'extra' subjects contribute to the overall degree classification whether or not they are continued in some form?

Do people tend to take subjects they have studied for A Level/Highers for their two other subjects, or could you opt to study a new subject like Philosophy or one of the ab-initio modern language courses like Italian?

Thanks in advance. :smile:

Reply 17

GrantMac

lilcathstar

Or you could graduate in Chinese, surely?

Regarding studying three subjects at the beginning of the degree, are these studied in equal balance?

Do the marks awarded for these two 'extra' subjects contribute to the overall degree classification whether or not they are continued in some form?

Do people tend to take subjects they have studied for A Level/Highers for their two other subjects, or could you opt to study a new subject like Philosophy or one of the ab-initio modern language courses like Italian?

I'm not sure, but i think:

yes
No, cos you only do outsiders in the first 2 years and they dont count towards your degree
New stuff is often take

Reply 18

Gavin175

The MA isn't a BA equivilant because in England you can't get the Masters without the Bachelors, unless you do the 4 years straight off. The MA is better than the BA as it saves time and effort and you get a better degree.

Reply 19

lilcathstar

GrantMac

Or you could graduate in Chinese, surely?

Hmm, I'm not sure this would be possible, especially if Chinese is in a different department to your registered degree programme. Worth trying though if you're serious about it, bit it's by no means a definite route into getting a honours degree in Chinese!

Wildebeest

Regarding studying three subjects at the beginning of the degree, are these studied in equal balance?

Generally, yes. You will attend the same lectures/tutorials that the people intending to graduate in your outside courses will take.

Do the marks awarded for these two 'extra' subjects contribute to the overall degree classification whether or not they are continued in some form?

In general, outisde course are taken for the first two years only, and in these years the only requirement is to pass all the courses to make it onto the next year, so although the performance in your outside course is important in that you mucst pass the course, it is generally not counted towords your final degree mark until you reach the 3rd year. This might vary slightly between subjects.

Do people tend to take subjects they have studied for A Level/Highers for their two other subjects, or could you opt to study a new subject like Philosophy or one of the ab-initio modern language courses like Italian?

You can really do what ever you want as long as you fulfil the entry requirements, which are usually nothing, or if it's something specific like a language, maybe a gcse or an a level, or the regional equivalent. You can check this out on the Degree Programmes & Regulations of Study website - www.drps.ed.ac.uk This is the real beauty of the Scottish system - although I've been doing a geography degree i've done outside courses that match well with that, including things like Meterology & Global issues, as well as subjects that I've taken as an interest, eg archaeology & musical accoustics. Both of which don't contibute much to my degree but were very interesting to me and I've learnt a great deal from. My advice is to really look in detail at the ouside courses on offer, and pick what you think might interest you, there are so many choices that you can't really go wrong! A lot of people don't have much/any background in their outside courses so, really, just do what you think you will enjoy!
xx