KCL through clearing and London uni life

I'm considering going through clearing to get into KCL as I want to switch what undergraduate course I'm doing from Law at Manchester to International Relations at KCL. I've emailed KCL's accommodation team and they say they have very limited availability so I'm worried about securing accommodation. Also, I'm worried that since London is so expensive, it won't offer a typical uni experience and would ultimately be less enjoyable than Manchester. I was just wondering if anyone has any experiences or insight to help me make my decision. Thank you!

Reply 1

evefad

Original post by sophiekempson

Hey I’m a current first year at KCL so I’ll try to help.
The accommodation situation is a bit all over the place tbh. First years are guaranteed accommodation by a certain deadline (pretty sure that has passed now) so it can be very unlikely to be able to secure accommodation for yourself, especially because there are already people waiting for new rooms hopefully on results day and even my friend looking for second year accommodation hasn’t been able to secure one and will likely have to live at home which is a bit far for her. Most people will live at home or in private accomodation but at this time, private is very expensive, and I don’t hear of many students in London doing like house shares like other uni students do in the midlands for example etc.
The uni experience itself is okay - I mean it is what you make it. KCL is not just one campus, it’s not a big campus uni like Manchester and other outside London unis. I’d say for me this year, I went to my lectures etc on campus but outside of that, my social life didn’t really revolve around my campus. With my friends we would usually just go out around London, to do activities or go to restaurants etc (and I know others go to the uni bar like Guy’s bar, but also go to external events in London like Ministry). So I think for London unis, the “uni experience” isn’t really as much on campus as it is around London, compared to campus unis outside of London where most things happen on campus (I suppose Manchester is also a city though so you’d have the campus life and the city life for socials etc).
In terms of academics, I’m studying a healthcare course here so I can’t say much tbh on the academic side for your type of course. I would assume you would be on Strand campus though for IR (I’m never on this campus - I’m on Guy’s and occasionally Waterloo). Strand is a nice campus though.
The uni itself is okay. I think KCL will always have that good reputation but all in all, it’s just a normal uni if you get me. Nothing too special, like you will get your education and lectures etc but you do most of the work in terms of self-study, exams…

London is expensive but the SFE loan makes up for that as you get a lot. I get about 14k which is more than enough, especially because I was eligible for the KAAS scheme at King’s which meant I got reduced rent. For those not on KAAS, I think accom takes up a significant amount of their loan esp if they don’t get the max like me, but it’s still doable. King’s also have some bursaries etc that you can look into. And if you are able to work, there are plenty of part-time jobs that pay well in London.

Hope that helped!

Reply 2

sophiekempson

This is so helpful thank you so much!
It sounds like a great uni city in terms of things to do. I love visiting London so I’m sure I would enjoy studying there.

I’m from North Wales so would definitely have to live in London which makes things more expensive. It looks like I might have to stick with Manchester, given the accommodation situation at KCL. I’ll definitely have a look at some of the private accommodation available before I rule it out though.

Thank you so much for your help!

Reply 3

eev1e

Original post by sophiekempson

This is so helpful thank you so much!
It sounds like a great uni city in terms of things to do. I love visiting London so I’m sure I would enjoy studying there.
I’m from North Wales so would definitely have to live in London which makes things more expensive. It looks like I might have to stick with Manchester, given the accommodation situation at KCL. I’ll definitely have a look at some of the private accommodation available before I rule it out though.
Thank you so much for your help!

hiya, what ended up happening?

Reply 4

sophiekempson

Original post by eev1e

hiya, what ended up happening?

hey, i’m about to start law at manchester. i did call up kcl on results day but they couldn’t guarantee accommodation so I would have to go private which was too expensive.