English at King's, SOAS or Queen Mary?

Hi,

I'm currently super stuck with choosing my firm/insurance for BA English starting in Sept 2015. Originally I was set on putting KCL as my first choice and QM as my insurance, but now that I've reviewed the modules they seem very focused on Medieval/Biblical studies, whereas SOAS seems more contemporary.

The course as SOAS is also a joint English/Chinese course which I'm very interested in but I've also heard that joint courses are a bit eh - as in you learn less of both that you would if it was just a single course. However I feel like maybe the uniqueness of the course as SOAS might give me an edge after university when I'm applying for jobs... maybe help me stand out? I'm hoping to go into journalism.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone knows anything about any of the courses/universities because I'm stressing out right now. Thank you!

Reply 1

pippit

10

Original post by niicoleew

Hi,

I'm currently super stuck with choosing my firm/insurance for BA English starting in Sept 2015. Originally I was set on putting KCL as my first choice and QM as my insurance, but now that I've reviewed the modules they seem very focused on Medieval/Biblical studies, whereas SOAS seems more contemporary.

The course as SOAS is also a joint English/Chinese course which I'm very interested in but I've also heard that joint courses are a bit eh - as in you learn less of both that you would if it was just a single course. However I feel like maybe the uniqueness of the course as SOAS might give me an edge after university when I'm applying for jobs... maybe help me stand out? I'm hoping to go into journalism.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone knows anything about any of the courses/universities because I'm stressing out right now. Thank you!

I'm unsure about the English department at QMUL, but as a student I've done a fair amount of modules under their Comparative Literature department which I thoroughly enjoyed. All the professors are extremely approachable, friendly and extremely passionate about their research and are usually very willing to help students.

Ranking and reputation-wise, you are better off at King's, though I am unsure what their English department is like, I'm sure it is first-class. Nevertheless, QM has recently joined the Russell Group and is constantly striving for improvement across various areas so perhaps in this case, we are a more up and coming kind of institution.

As a joint honours student in German and Business, I think that so long as the Chinese part of your course in SOAS is focused on learning the language and aspects of Chinese literature and that you enjoy it, you will be able to find a way to sell it well on your CV. Rather, you should be asking yourself if you are truly interested in the subject.

Also, you may want to think about your personal views of East London, QM is in Mile End and some students do not like this area. However, having been there for four years, I always felt safe and did not have a problem whatsoever. The actual campus itself is really nice. (But if you are studying at King's, I think you'll be on the Strand campus which is probably much better needless to say).

Hope this helps! :smile:

If you're really unsure, go with what you feel most passionate about, this will help you survive the duration of your degree.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2

mm14

11

Original post by niicoleew

Hi,

I'm currently super stuck with choosing my firm/insurance for BA English starting in Sept 2015. Originally I was set on putting KCL as my first choice and QM as my insurance, but now that I've reviewed the modules they seem very focused on Medieval/Biblical studies, whereas SOAS seems more contemporary.

The course as SOAS is also a joint English/Chinese course which I'm very interested in but I've also heard that joint courses are a bit eh - as in you learn less of both that you would if it was just a single course. However I feel like maybe the uniqueness of the course as SOAS might give me an edge after university when I'm applying for jobs... maybe help me stand out? I'm hoping to go into journalism.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone knows anything about any of the courses/universities because I'm stressing out right now. Thank you!

I'm not sure why you're concerned, having a quick gander at the course structure for KCL's Q300 course I don't see the specialism or focus on Medieval/Biblical studies. I see that you'd have to take a course in Classical and Biblical Contexts of English Literature and Medieval Literary Culture in your first year but apart from that there's nothing else that you would have to take that specialises in those areas, that's 2 mandatory modules out of 24, it doesn't follow that the degree is heavily focused on Medieval/Biblical studies. Here's a list of all the other modules that you'd have to/you can take that aren't related to Medieval/Biblical studies from the English faculty (Excluding the Renaissance from Medieval because it starts late in the Medieval period and ends outside in the 17th Century):

Reading Poetry
Renaissance Literature
Writing London
Language and Time
Introducing Literary Theories
A Mad World, My Masters: Performing Culture in Jacobean England
American Fiction 1900-1945: Realisms and Modernisms
Australian Literature and Film
The Colonial Novel and British India
Comedy and Revolution
Creative Writing: Poetry
Creative Writing: Prose Fiction
Eighteenth-Century Travel Writing
Family, Authorship and Romanticism
Fin de Siècle
The Film of the Play
First World War Literature
History, Politics and the Elizabethan Imagination
Ideas of Nation
Irish Literature
Language of Dance: Nation, History and Authenticity
Literature and Psychoanalysis
Lyric and the Inner Life
Mapping Modernism
Modern Poetry and the Place of Writing
Modern Theatre
Moments of Culture
Old English Poems and Modern British Poetry
The Poetry of Revolution
Post-War American Fiction
Renaissance Wordplay
The Rise of the Novel
Theatre Capital
Victorians and Social Change
Wordplay in the English Renaissance
Writing the New Nation: Nineteenth-Century American Literature
Ancient Lyric and English Poetry
The Art of Samuel Beckett
Autobiography and Modern Self-Representation
Beowulf
British Literature and Film
Cinematic Modernism
Creative Writing: Drama
Critically Queer: Literature, Culture and Queer Theory
From Opium to Maximum City: India and China
The Gothic South
How to be a Critic
Literature and Impressionism
Literature and Media
Experimental Theatre
Austen in Context
Memory and Time
Melancholia and its Modern Afterlife
Modernism in Australia
Performance Philosophy
Photography USA
Poetry in America 1900-1950
Poetry in America 1950-Present
Postcolonial Perspectives
Pre-Conquest Sexualities
Sonnets, Renaissance to Modern
Testimony: The Holocaust and Rwanda
Twenty-First-Century American Fiction
Victorians Abroad
Waste and Idleness
Ulysses

The English course at KCL can* be made up of less than 10% in Medieval/Biblical studies, meaning that it can't very focused on Medieval/Biblical studies, you have nothing to worry about, keep calm choose KCL as your firm.

*(I say can because you choose the majority of your modules)

English at King's, SOAS or Queen Mary?

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