MML at Cambridge or European Social and Political Studies at UCL?

Hi! I'm currently in Year 12 and don't really know what degree to do. I'm really passionate about languages (studying French and Spanish, along with Maths & Further Maths) and have been getting A/A*s in my mock exams, but I'm also kind of worried about the usefulness of a pure language degree. I know I don't want to go into translation or teaching and other than that I'm not sure what other pathways there are.
On the other hand, UCL's course would offer social sciences along with languages which seems much more employable (especially if I ever go into diplomacy) but I'm not sure if I would enjoy it as much? But then again, literature might not be as interesting as law or economics so I don't think I can really judge yet lmao. I'm also not too keen on living in London given the higher cost of living.
Sorry for the rambling, but I was wondering would the prestige of MML at Cambridge outweigh the higher range in UCL's European and Political Sciences degree? Any help would be so appreciated thank you xx

Reply 1

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by YC399

There's no decision to make until you hold offers for both. Apply to them both and see what happens. It will take some careful explanation, but give it a go.

Reply 2

SosbanFach

Original post by YC399

I can't offer any advice on the UCL course, but I studied MML at Cambridge so I have experience of that side of things.

Firstly, I partly agree with threeportdrift above: if you think both courses could potentially be of interest, you've nothing to lose applying to both. That said, you do need to consider very carefully your motivation for applying to them, especially as these are two quite different programmes. On that note, I would strongly discourage applying for any university courses based on perceived "prestige"; these are courses you're going to have to endure for four years, so it's worth choosing a course you'd find genuinely stimulating, rather than just considering what'll look best on your CV! Also, with graduate employers increasingly moving away from traditional CV-based recruitment to online reasoning and psychometric assessments, the "Oxbridge brand" arguably carries less weight than it used to in some professions.

It is worthwhile looking at whether certain degrees might be better suited to your future employment aspirations, however. To find that out, I'd suggest you look up the prerequisites for some of the jobs that might interest you. You mention diplomacy, so I can tell you that entry to the Civil Service Diplomatic Fast Stream has no specific degree requirements as long as you get a 2:2 or better. However, some roles in social research or policy for thinktanks, charities or private companies may require social sciences, which would be better met by the UCL course. Routes into work from MML are far more diverse than you may think, though - translation and teaching represent a minority of the total. Others go into fields including: further study (sometimes changing specialism/angle for a master's e.g. international relations, regional studies); law conversions; finance and consulting careers; public sector policy/project work; publishing; HR; business management; and copywriting. That's just a selection of examples off the top of my head thinking about my cohort, but it's worth bearing in mind that many graduates from most disciplines go on to work in a field that isn't directly related to their degree, and languages can be a marketable 'bonus' to have in some of these too. (I'm not trying to sell you the Cambridge course here! Just trying to help clear up a few misconceptions about graduate employment generally.)

More important than all of that, though, is the actual content of the course. You say that you aren't sure whether you'd enjoy social sciences as much as language work, so that's a key question you need to answer. Looking at the UCL course, it appears that, regardless of your language route (one sole major language, one major and one minor language, or two major languages), you end up taking a first-year paper called Introduction to History, Law, Politics and Philosophy. Have a look at the preliminary reading list there, pick a title that seems interesting and read some of it - some articles will be available online, your local library might have one or two of the books, or else you could try and persuade a local uni library to let you in to read. If you find it totally dull and couldn't imagine studying it, try another one. If you find that dull as well, that might indicate that the course isn't necessarily perfect for you. (If, on the other hand, you find it interesting but don't entirely understand, that's fine - my uni experience is that nobody knows what any of the work means at first!)

On the Cambridge MML front, you absolutely must be prepared to study literature (and it looks like it's compulsory in the UCL course as well, in first year). In first and second year it's pretty much unavoidable (although you can replace some with film, linguistics, or new ab initio languages in second year); fourth year allows a bit more flexibility, with the possibility to replace literature entirely with history, visual art, film, linguistics, and papers from other faculties, but almost everyone still does at least some literature. You should also make sure you have some evidence of critically reading in your language(s) by the time you come to write the personal statement. It doesn't need to be a lot - what's important is the insights you have about what you've read, not just being able to list several large Romantic novels without elaborating. You could start with something like Adolfo Bioy Casares' La invención de Morel in Spanish, available in PDF form online (he's an Argentine, so bonus points if you can spot some regional language differences!). For French, maybe some Camus, e.g. La Chute (NOT L'Étranger, though - everyone talks about L'Étranger at interview, it's become a bit of a cliché). You could also look at Apollinaire's Calligrammes, which are a bit wacky but quite fun. And film is also a good way in, and much quicker than reading a novel in a foreign language: have a look at Truffaut, Godard, Varda in French (all darlings of the Cambridge French department); Almodóvar, Buñuel, del Toro on the Spanish/LatAm side. If you want any more suggestions I'm happy to try and help!

Finally, don't discount the importance of the place. Hopefully, later in the summer/September/October it might become possible to visit a few cities and campuses, which should help give you an idea of what you're looking for in your university town. It's boring, but you might want to make an example budget based on the places you're interested in, which should help you work out what you can afford accommodation-wise in each place (the cost of an ensuite room in Newcastle or Leeds will get you a large cupboard in London zone 2, for example!) Consider things like transport (which, in Cambridge, will basically be walking or cycling and so very cheap, whereas some places might need bus/tube/tram fares factoring in).

Sorry, that all got much longer than I intended. I hope some of it is useful. Importantly, don't panic about it all - you're still pretty early, and these things come together eventually, even with the world as it is right now!

Reply 3

missrona-19

Thank you, I found this really helpful as I have the same dilemma. I'm doing pre-U Russian and French so I've had some exposure to literature which I have found really difficult and is making me nervous to study so much literature in a foreign language at uni. Is this a reason not to consider 4 years of MML?

MML at Cambridge or European Social and Political Studies at UCL?

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