KCL

I'm an aspiring international student from Italy, and I applied for Classics at KCL, and as I know nothing about your education system I need you to share your experience with me and give me your opinion /:

The reasons why I m worried I won't get in are:
1) I m 24 years old, I m afraid it s too late to apply to such a good university
2) I have never studied Greek or Latin before, and although there are alternative pathways specifically designed for those like me, although I studied by myself with online courses, as reccommended by the guide lines on kcl website, I m still very very worried
3) I graduated with a score of 85/100 which corresponds to an english AAB level (this is what UCAS website says), the minimum required for my course

Besides that it says on the online prospectus that the kind of student they look for is someone with an attitude for languages and a genuine interest in learning them
So, besides italian (mother tongue) and english (already have the right certificate for that) I also included in my personal statement that I have a good level in French and Spanish (with DELF and DELE certificates) and some basic skills in Japanese (as I ve been living in Japan for the last few months and I took some language course)

I decided to apply to such a prestigious uni also considering the fact that getting into Classics it's easier than other courses, like Law, Nursing, English (or at least this is what I heard D: )
But now I'm reconsidering my choices, maybe it wasn't such a good idea...
I need to know if I have any chance to receive an offer... help me ):

Reply 1

Marie_Antoinette

Ciao, esiste un thread specifico per gli applicants italiani che si stanno iscrivendo per il ciclo 2016, loro possono aiutarti :smile:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3663019

Reply 2

Copperknickers

Original post

by ChiaraNihon

2) I have never studied Greek or Latin before, and although there are alternative pathways specifically designed for those like me, although I studied by myself with online courses, as reccommended by the guide lines on kcl website, I m still very very worried.

Worried about what? As you say, the pathway is specifically designed for people who haven't studied Greek or Latin. You would receive language classes in both starting from beginner level.

3) I graduated with a score of 85/100 which corresponds to an english AAB level (this is what UCAS website says), the minimum required for my course.

Then you satisfy the requirements for the course, as regards grades.

Besides that it says on the online prospectus that the kind of student they look for is someone with an attitude for languages and a genuine interest in learning them
So, besides italian (mother tongue) and english (already have the right certificate for that) I also included in my personal statement that I have a good level in French and Spanish (with DELF and DELE certificates) and some basic skills in Japanese (as I ve been living in Japan for the last few months and I took some language course)

5 languages? That's more languages than most Oxbridge Classics professors speak! If you added Latin and Greek to make it 7 languages, they'd probably make a BBC documentary about you. :biggrin:

I decided to apply to such a prestigious uni also considering the fact that getting into Classics it's easier than other courses, like Law, Nursing, English (or at least this is what I heard D: )

Well, that doesn't sound like you have a particular interest in Classics, if you were also considering Law and Nursing. Classics used to be easy to get into because there was no pathway for students who had not studied Latin to A-level, which automatically eliminated 99% of the British population. Although even now that that is not true, I doubt things have changed much. Very few people in the UK actually know what Classics is, so it's not a good degree to study because 'it's easy to get into'. There are quite a lot of British people who would see 'Classics, King's College London' and think it was some kind of musical qualification from an unknown sixth form college to be honest (it happens to me daily).

But maybe I have misunderstood your post, but do you actually want to apply for Classics? It seems like your qualifications are too good to apply for a subject you don't want to do.

Reply 3

ChiaraNihon

Then you satisfy the requirements for the course, as regards grades.

Hi! Thank you so much for your detailed answer :biggrin:

I do satisfy the minimum entry requirements, but, as they say clearly everywere in the course description, that doesn't grant me a place at KCL /: so maybe I need to have something more than that.

5 languages? That's more languages than most Oxbridge Classics professors speak! If you added Latin and Greek to make it 7 languages, they'd probably make a BBC documentary about you. :biggrin:

Ahah thank you, but I'm afraid quite a lot of people speak more than one foreigner language nowadays /:
Maybe it's true that generally it would be considered a pretty impressive skill, but as we're talking of one of the most famous universities in the uk (in the world, probably lol) I'm afraid it's going to be pretty competitive among the applicants...
Plus, even though my english is decent, my french and spanish are pretty basic (b1 level), as well as my japanese (n4 level ): ). I just wanted to know if that could help, but judgin from your answer it looks like it does, thanks ahah

Well, that doesn't sound like you have a particular interest in Classics, if you were also considering Law and Nursing. Classics used to be easy to get into because there was no pathway for students who had not studied Latin to A-level, which automatically eliminated 99% of the British population. Although even now that that is not true, I doubt things have changed much. Very few people in the UK actually know what Classics is, so it's not a good degree to study because 'it's easy to get into'. There are quite a lot of British people who would see 'Classics, King's College London' and think it was some kind of musical qualification from an unknown sixth form college to be honest (it happens to me daily).But maybe I have misunderstood your post, but do you actually want to apply for Classics? It seems like your qualifications are too good to apply for a subject you don't want to do.

Sorry, that's not what I meant.I heard that Classics it's easier to get in, but that's not the reason why I choose it.Greek and Latin are exactly what I want to study, but maybe I would have not even dared to try a prestigious uni such as KCL or UCL if I hadn't ear that it's quite easy to get in compared to other courses, because I would have thought I had no chance at all lol I'd have tried somewhere else, where there's no such competitive selection :smile:

you know what I mean?Thank you again for your answer! I hope to be one of you Classics students soon :'(

Reply 4

Copperknickers

Original post

by ChiaraNihon

Hi! Thank you so much for your detailed answer :biggrin:

I do satisfy the minimum entry requirements, but, as they say clearly everywere in the course description, that doesn't grant me a place at KCL /: so maybe I need to have something more than that.

Entry requirements are a sine qua non, but they are only part of the admissions decision. You will be competing against others who have the same grades so of course you have to stand out in other ways. But it is possible to get into KCL with the minimum grades, as long as you have other things going for you: it's not a major advantage to get AAA rather than AAB (or equivalent).

Ahah thank you, but I'm afraid quite a lot of people speak more than one foreigner language nowadays /:

Not in the UK we don't. Few people in Britain speak more than 2 or 3 languages, and most of those are of foreign descent.

Maybe it's true that generally it would be considered a pretty impressive skill, but as we're talking of one of the most famous universities in the uk (in the world, probably lol) I'm afraid it's going to be pretty competitive among the applicants...

Well, KCL is not a massively competitive university or among the top 5 most famous in the UK, at least for Classics. The more competitive and better known universities are places like St Andrews, Oxbridge, UCL and Durham. But KCL performs poorly in the rankings because of its location and size, its teaching quality is on the same level with the above institutions.

Sorry, that's not what I meant.I heard that Classics it's easier to get in, but that's not the reason why I choose it.Greek and Latin are exactly what I want to study, but maybe I would have not even dared to try a prestigious uni such as KCL or UCL if I hadn't heard that it's quite easy to get in compared to other courses, because I would have thought I had no chance at all lol I'd have tried somewhere else, where there's no such competitive selection :smile:

you know what I mean?Thank you again for your answer! I hope to be one of you Classics students soon :'(

Fair enough. :smile:

I believe that there are about 3 applicants for each place at KCL, and 5 for UCL. For Cambridge it is only 2. But these numbers can vary hugely because so few people apply to study the subject at all.