TSR DECISIONS DROP IN Q and A NOW OPEN - GET FREE ADVICE HERE >>

Comparative Literature at SOAS or KCL?

I'm an Indian student weighing my options for pursuing Comparative Literature, and I'm torn between SOAS and KCL. I have a Bachelor’s in English Literature and a keen interest in the Japanese language. Which university do you think would be the better choice? I’m also curious if there are any other colleges you’d recommend that offer comparative literature programs just as good or better suited to my background and interests.

Reply 1

chelrra

Hi,

This reply is a bit late but I hope still relevant.

I'm in a similar situation looking at MA Comparative Literature (amongst other courses) at the moment, and with my BA dissertation being focused on a Chinese novel, I'm looking at continuing my research but studying relevant content.

They're both great universities, I'd suggest looking at the module choices first and foremost. I am also considering KCL, they say that you'll be able to 'explore literature from the modern and ancient worlds of Europe and the Americas, the Middle East and Turkey, South Asia and China, and Africa.' but their indicative modules are mostly European based. There's only a couple on there that mention non-European authors and I felt like some module choices are quite broad. They're releasing info soon for 2025 entry and you can check if then if they've updated anything, or try find old reading lists/module information from prev students. This list also doesn't include any modules from other courses that you might be able to take. It's a bit hard to find online but you might be able to find prev. years modules/reading lists/content around - or simply get in touch and ask the staff.

For me, personally, I'm leaning more towards SOAS as there are more country/regional specific modules available that I feel I can cater the course to myself more to help guide my future research, which is something my BA Liberal Arts degree has done, with multi-disciplinary choices to cater my degree towards my interests. (Though I'm currently also looking at Oxford's MPhil in Trad East Asia (which requires a preresquite of language proficiency). Additionally with SOAS, you can study an intensive language from beginner level with a summer abroad, so if you do have an interest in researching further in Japanese literature, having a boost from the language aspect is quite good. I find a lot of the time, and we are in the UK so it is to be expected, that most contemporary literature courses focus on European literature/classics despite (which are equally as important to be studied) which is why I'm drawn to SOAS as I want to try move from the broadness of my Liberal Arts BA and narrow my studies down a bit so that everything I study is relevant, and not just some of it, esp as I'm considering a PhD.

Again, the course I'm sure is very good, after all, it is KCL. Just depends on what sounds interesting to you and if you want to align your interests with your academics, and why you want the masters/what you want to do after etc.. You can always get in touch with their subject staff/attend open days and directly express your interests and ask what they offer, or ask for prev/indicative reading lists etc.

Good luck :smile: