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abs
Got an offer to study Politics and Arabic but cant make up my mind!! CAN I justify choosing SOAS over Oxford?


Major "advantages" of SOAS:
Lots of drugs.
Lots of extremist groups on campus.

If that rocks you boat, go to SOAS.:rolleyes:
Oxford - obnoxious right wing snobs
SOAS - whiny junkie communists

Or perhaps, both are stupid generalisations and you should just choose the one which you like most and has the course you think will most benefit you.
Reply 3
Well i am of the guardian persuasion (liberal with a small l) so i should fit into soas! thats not what i am worried about i like an argument just as much as the nxt person! loved oxford but dont know if i will meet ppl who i will get along with and hwho ave had broadly similar experiences!
You'll meet all types at both really. While Oxford obviously has its strong academic tradition which makes it so prestigious in everyone's mind (regardless of the degree to which it deserves it), SOAS has a tradition of being very political. I'm not sure how much I'm going to fit into that, but I'm not worried about one sidedness - yes SOAS makes a lot of noise for a small university but its not all from the same direction. They have an active debate soc so if you like getting involved you can be sure that you'll get that oppurtunity
abs
i should fit into soas! loved oxford but dont know if i will meet ppl who i will get along with and hwho ave had broadly similar experiences!



Go to SOAS. Let some more focussed person come to Oxford instead of you.
Anyone silly enough to seriously consider SOAS when they have the opportunity to go to Oxford, does not deserve to come to Oxford.:rolleyes:

If you want "broadly similar experiences", you should stay in your village. university is about meeting people with grossly dissimilar lives.
Reply 6
I've maybe no place commenting here having nothing to do with either university or course but I would have said Oxford. Theres a lot to be said for being an Oxbridge graduate. Though, should you choose SOAS please put Oxford as insurance. I'm sure they don't get put as insurance often and if one day you are famous, you can be a legned because you can say Oxford wasn't good enough for you but you were good enough for them. Whilst that would be cool, go to Oxford if you have the chance. For a subject like politics that looks good and will be a definate bonus. For other subjects the university is of little importance to employers but not this one. Oxford is particularly renowned for politics - lots of the greats studied there.
Reply 7
I'm tempted to tell you to go to Oxford because it means you won't be staying at home...

And you will meet like minded people wherever you go. It will just take longer to find them sometimes.

And the prestige factor definitely far exceeds that of soas.
I'm actually quite surprised just how much weight everyone puts on the prestige. It's pretty clear to most people that while the prestige for Oxbridge far exeeds everything else, the teaching quality does not necessarily exceed everything to the same degree. Do any of you actually know anything about the course abs wants to do? He/ She has already told us that other factors such as closeness to home are important, don't just assume everyone has the same criteria whn choosing a university. Also, is the prestige really all that important, when you consider that on average, SOAS alumini have the highest starting salaries of any uni in the UK? it's not like going to SOAS would cripple your career plans

I'll just add that you're really not going to get any help with this sort of thread, did my best but only you know what is best for you and you;d be better off just asking questions about each university so you can consider what are the pros and cons for each - from your own perspective.
Reply 9
In fact i dont live in a village!! lived in one of the most densely populated areas in the uk!! (N1)all my life! (its a he by the way) and i dont think that its a no brainer what UNI 2 choose both have advantages and disadvantages and i can clearly see that u are not a fan of SOAS! am sure somewhere else feels the same way about Oxford. I worked my ass off to get there!! so i can say i deserve it! and i dont need 2 justify that!
But i take your point about meeting new people with different views thats why i currently on a gap year in china the most alien and diffrent place on the planet!!! AND statying close to home i would count as a disadvantage and thats a negative 4 going 2 SOAS.

Will definetly put oxford or soas as insurance just dont know which is firm reply!
Reply 10
For the course in Arabic, SOAS would have the edge, which would be the other way around for the course in Politics. Location-wise, SOAS is definitely better since it's right at the (intellectual and cultural) centre of London. Prestige-wise, overall, Oxford wins, but SOAS is the best institution of asian studies.
fundamentally

Anyone silly enough to seriously consider SOAS when they have the opportunity to go to Oxford, does not deserve to come to Oxford.:rolleyes:
dissimilar lives.


You do rolleyes, so you could be taking the piss here, but it's hard to know on the internet.
Oxbridge is not the be all of everything. Were I to get 3 As, I'd still have to think long and hard about whether I prefer Cambridge or SOAS for Japanese, London's /undoubtably/ a more exciting city, and I'm more interested in the language than the literature (though I am of course, interested in the literature).

It's not /silly/ to like any one uni over another, the place you'll do best, and have the best time is entirely subjective.
Reply 12
abs
In fact i dont live in a village!! lived in one of the most densely populated areas in the uk!! (N1)all my life! (its a he by the way) and i dont think that its a no brainer what UNI 2 choose both have advantages and disadvantages and i can clearly see that u are not a fan of SOAS! am sure somewhere else feels the same way about Oxford. I worked my ass off to get there!! so i can say i deserve it! and i dont need 2 justify that!
But i take your point about meeting new people with different views thats why i currently on a gap year in china the most alien and diffrent place on the planet!!! AND statying close to home i would count as a disadvantage and thats a negative 4 going 2 SOAS.

Will definetly put oxford or soas as insurance just dont know which is firm reply!


Go to Oxford - it's a heck of an opportunity. Go to SOAS for your MA and make the most of the lifestyle and specialist facilities then.
Reply 13
I have been moving towards going 2 oxford as an undergraduate as i may never again get the chance and an MA at SOAS that way should get best of both worlds!:smile: the course at Oxford is not similar to SOAS they are more restircitve as they dont do a stand alone politics degree u have 2 combine with history or PPE and u cant do it with Arabic so if i went there I would do Arabic and Modern Middle Eastern Studies.
Reply 14
IMO definitley go to oxford. SOAS politics makes me feel physicaly sick, and it is prehaps the most idle college of UoL. On the other hand it is getting better; SOAS now has a conservative society which promises to attract a lot of funding ( to spread the message into that wicked place) but in terms of prestige, Oxford definitley trumps SOAS
Doesn't that change things a bit then, if you wouldn't be studying politics at Oxford at all...?
Reply 16
Bissman
IMO definitley go to oxford. SOAS politics makes me feel physicaly sick, and it is prehaps the most idle college of UoL. On the other hand it is getting better; SOAS now has a conservative society which promises to attract a lot of funding ( to spread the message into that wicked place) but in terms of prestige, Oxford definitley trumps SOAS


SOAS Conservative Society never even got registered... It was a rumour, and a fairly wild one at that. Any society can get funding according to need. Justify it being the most idle college of UoL - since we probably have around the most events per capita of any uni anywhere?
I was told at KCL that they couldn't get enough members together for a Labour society. The minimum was 5.
Reply 18
Yeh it does! wasnt that concerned about politics in the first place though! more interested in Arabic just decided to do a two subject degree bcoz of advice at soas open day. The Arabic tutor felt that two subject degree was better than one it was better for employment etc. Choose politics just bcoz i am interested in it as opposed to law which my sis said was a nightmare!
Reply 19
Politics at Oxford is overrated. Sure the uni itself in unparalleled in prestige, but the department itself has nothing to shout about.

Arabic at SOAS is obviously better, and Politics course at SOAS is much more specialist which you will not get anywhere else.

Of course, if you want just prestige, then Oxford all the way. If you want a breath of fresh air (no pun intended), SOAS is the place.