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can you really have the uni experience at soas

username196545

jonboyyork

No, because SOAS isn't a university... :rolleyes:

Seriously, what do you mean? Get a good education? - yes Go out - yes? Make great friends - yes. Live in one of the world's best cities in the world - yes.

I was initially worried about SOAS, but after having been there for my first term, I can say I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I think of all the boring places everyone from my school went...Newcastle, Leeds, Durham, and cringe for them because I truly feel SOAS is the best decision I made. You meet the coolest people from all over the world, study amazing subjects and get to live in London. I heart London so much! You don't just get the university experience in London, you get to live there too, and that's an experience in itself.

Reply 21

thegrassisgreenerontheotherside

13

Depends what you make of it at the end of the day really. If you want to have a good time, you'll make sure you will. Plus, you're studying in London. About 10 other unis are there too and you'll find mates from other unis if the worst comes to the worst.

Have fun :smile:

Reply 22

allieRAWR!

14

Not a student but my sister goes to SOAS.

She hates it. She didn't like the people, and found that whilst she wanted to go out and explore lots of different things - museums, bars, different music venues - it was was difficult to find people equally enthsiatic about going out and trying things out. It was also difficult to just meet people in general (not sure why though, didn't ask). Eventually she found herself really depressed at the place.

She hated it so much that at the end of last academic year, she was looking for a new uni to start at, but, despite getting a place at one she liked, for several factors couldn't move.

Really, really not meaning to put you off, but I just wouldn't like anyone to have the same experience as her. It's possible that it was just a personal experience for her rather then a general one, but even so, please do your research before going.

Reply 23

Undiscovery

numb3rb0y

Oh damn, this thread has me concerned. If I end up going to SOAS, would I be better off opting for intercollegiate halls, then? Is the social life in SOAS accommodation really that awful?

Ok, I'm kind of forced to say this, and it sounds harsh, but please do not listen to anything Yuffie says about SOAS. She had a crap time there because she ended up in a flat of people that weren't social and has been extremely bitter about it ever since. She clearly didn't make much of an effort to find friends elsewhere, I mean...you can have friends as flatmates, but you should also try to find friends outside of your flat.
The SOAS accommodation social life is really good, mostly on friday and Saturdays. I know loads of people who come to Dinwiddy at the weekend, who don't actually live at Dinwiddy, purely for this. Please don't be concerned. If you are a social person, and are not a racist (as Yuffie increasingly seems to be with every post) and can handle actually mixing with these scary ''foreigners'' then you'll be fine.

Another thing, SOAS isn't ''full of foreigners.'' Yuffie says this in such a worrying way, I'm beginning to wonder if she actually went to an open day before applying. More fool her. Yes, there is a large international population, but there are also lot's of British students. I'd say 70 per cent of my friends are from the UK, and 30 not, which is quite representative of the SOAS undergraduate population. I have no problem with having friends as international students, Yuffie obviously did, and this is why she failed at SOAS, and will probably struggle at other universities (except for Durham, which no surprises she has now applied to).

It really does rile me when she posts on here, she doesn't even go to SOAS, and is really biased against it because she allegedly had an awful time there, but I would say much of that is her own fault. You can't expect to have a great social life if you don't leave your on room and make the effort. What on earth as she doing during Fresher's Week (which I might add was not full of wacky events at all - there were loads of mainstream events, like pub crawls, club nights).

I honestly reccommend Dinwiddy - I know at least 5 people who opted for intercollegiate halls who end up spending a lot of time at Dinwiddy and several wished they had applied there for the social factor. Yes, Dinwiddy isn't the best accommodation, but its location is great and it's cheaper than intercollegiate, and nearly all my friends are at Dinwiddy.

I thought I'd give my opinion on this, as I'm concerned that many people will be just put off my the miserable and bitter writings of one user, that is now applying to Durham University, a cosmopolitan, international and reknowned hub of tolerance - enough said.

Reply 24

mimimimi

14

I went to SOAS last year and dropped out at the end of the year, for the reasons outlined above by yuffie and allierawr. I hated it! I'm now at Manchester and I much prefer it, since it's actually a proper university! Only go to SOAS if you (like most other people there) either are foreign, or wish you were, and don't find the fact there's a protest against something going on practically every day annoying...

Reply 25

Undiscovery

mimimimi

I went to SOAS last year and dropped out at the end of the year, for the reasons outlined above by yuffie and allierawr. I hated it! I'm now at Manchester and I much prefer it, since it's actually a proper university! Only go to SOAS if you (like most other people there) either are foreign, or wish you were, and don't find the fact there's a protest against something going on practically every day annoying...

Maybe the people at SOAS are just more intelligent than you? Besides, London trumps Manchester any day, and SOAS trumps Manchester University in the league tables.

Reply 26

mimimimi

14

jonboyyork

Maybe the people at SOAS are just more intelligent than you? Besides, London trumps Manchester any day, and SOAS trumps Manchester University in the league tables.

Haha - so? I'd rather save money and have a good time for 4 years, thanks!
How can the people at SOAS be more intelligent than me? I got the same grades as them! Just because I didn't spend thousands of pounds to spend a year in Africa "helping" people I'm suddenly less intelligent than them?

Look, I know there are people who enjoy spending time at SOAS (for some reason) but let me have my own opinion, please, I did spend a year there, after all.

Reply 27

Undiscovery

mimimimi

Haha - so? I'd rather save money and have a good time for 4 years, thanks!
How can the people at SOAS be more intelligent than me? I got the same grades as them! Just because I didn't spend thousands of pounds to spend a year in Africa "helping" people I'm suddenly less intelligent than them?

Look, I know there are people who enjoy spending time at SOAS (for some reason) but let me have my own opinion, please, I did spend a year there, after all.

Ok, but you have to understand that...SOAS isn't UCL, or King's. If you're expecting some wild frat party and you're slightly racist or have a superiority complex, you're going to find SOAS a nightmare from day one.

I go out a lot in London, and I have fun in Dinwiddy, but I think it's a different type of fun really, to what some of my old school friends get up to in less exciting places like Newcastle, Manchester or Durham...as I said, they're living in a non-stop frat party, doing dull things like getting absolutely wasted six out of seven nights a week...people do drink at SOAS, but they also do decent degrees that are incredibly time consuming, such as myself and remember why they are at university - to study. Fun comes after, surely.

I do Arabic and History, which means a lot of in-uni time a week. But I have a good time at the weekends, this is clearly a balance you found difficult, no?

Reply 28

mimimimi

14

jonboyyork

Ok, but you have to understand that...SOAS isn't UCL, or King's. If you're expecting some wild frat party and you're slightly racist or have a superiority complex, you're going to find SOAS a nightmare from day one.

I go out a lot in London, and I have fun in Dinwiddy, but I think it's a different type of fun really, to what some of my old school friends get up to in less exciting places like Newcastle, Manchester or Durham...as I said, they're living in a non-stop frat party, doing dull things like getting absolutely wasted six out of seven nights a week...Most people do drink, but they also do decent degrees that are incredibly time consuming, such as myself.

I do Arabic and History, which means a lot of in-uni time a week. But I have a good time at the weekends, this is clearly a balance you found difficult, no?

I was never expecting a wild frat party, am not slightly racist, and do not have a superiority complex (though I think people who do *ahem* actually get on quite well at SOAS, they all think they're better than everyone else, and are convinced they can save the world)... But hey, never mind.
I don't actually spend my evenings having 'frat parties' in Manchester, I'm afraid, and I also do a decent degree which is time consuming! I think you might be the one with the superiority complex :s-smilie:

I can't really be bothered to argue about this anymore, I'll let you be all smug for some obscure reason, have a nice time at the School of Organised Anti-Semitism :wink:

Reply 29

Undiscovery

mimimimi

I was never expecting a wild frat party, am not slightly racist, and do not have a superiority complex (though I think people who do *ahem* actually get on quite well at SOAS, they all think they're better than everyone else, and are convinced they can save the world)... But hey, never mind.
I don't actually spend my evenings having 'frat parties' in Manchester, I'm afraid, and I also do a decent degree which is time consuming! I think you might be the one with the superiority complex :s-smilie:

I can't really be bothered to argue about this anymore, I'll let you be all smug for some obscure reason, have a nice time at the School of Organised Anti-Semitism :wink:

And have fun in Manchester, all the best :smile:

Reply 30

Glorious Lozhka

8

To be honest, I'm really surprised at some of the replies on here. Before I came to SOAS, I was practically a shut-in, but I actually have a social life now, thanks to the fabulously crazy, quirky people that I've had the great fortune to meet there. :biggrin:

I don't think I would've met such cool people at other universities, TBH. (I mean, you have to be at least slightly bonkers to be able to study at SOAS. LOL.) Living in Dinwiddy for my first year really helped with the social side of things as well, since it was easy to meet up with coursemates and go places (or even just hang out in each other's flats, for that matter), and I was also lucky enough to have great flatmates who I still keep in contact with two years on.

I'm really glad I decided to go to SOAS, personally.

Reply 31

Tufts

17

jonboyyork

No, because SOAS isn't a university... :rolleyes:

Seriously, what do you mean? Get a good education? - yes Go out - yes? Make great friends - yes. Live in one of the world's best cities in the world - yes.

I was initially worried about SOAS, but after having been there for my first term, I can say I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I think of all the boring places everyone from my school went...Newcastle, Leeds, Durham, and cringe for them because I truly feel SOAS is the best decision I made. You meet the coolest people from all over the world, study amazing subjects and get to live in London. I heart London so much! You don't just get the university experience in London, you get to live there too, and that's an experience in itself.

How is Durham and Newcastle boring? NEWCASTLE for gawds sake! :eek:

Reply 32

Undiscovery

Tufts

How is Durham and Newcastle boring? NEWCASTLE for gawds sake! :eek:

In relative terms, I think so. I've been to visit friends there since coming to London, and I hated it, the whole time there. Especially Duurham. I lived in the countryside almost all my life, I went there and yes, it's pretty, but I got bored very quickly.
As for Newcastle, it's out of London's league. It's mindset and attitudes really, people at SOAS and people London are very different to those in Newcastle, my friends in Newcastle included.

But if they came to London, I'm sure they'd say the same thing :biggrin:

Reply 33

Tufts

17

jonboyyork

In relative terms, I think so. I've been to visit friends there since coming to London, and I hated it, the whole time there. Especially Duurham. I lived in the countryside almost all my life, I went there and yes, it's pretty, but I got bored very quickly.
As for Newcastle, it's out of London's league. It's mindset and attitudes really, people at SOAS and people London are very different to those in Newcastle, my friends in Newcastle included.

But if they came to London, I'm sure they'd say the same thing :biggrin:

Can you elaborate on 'mindset and attitudes'? Also, where did you go for your nights out in Newcastle?

Reply 34

Undiscovery

Tufts

Can you elaborate on 'mindset and attitudes'? Also, where did you go for your nights out in Newcastle?

The students in Newcastle I met were just not the sort of people I would be friends with here. They spent most of their time asking me how I deal with having international students as friends. They boasted that in Newcastle ''its them and us because we have nothing in common.'' This madde me very angry inside, but I didn't say anything. It was clear that I have a very different attitude to my friends and their friends in Newcastle, Durham, Birmingham etc. This is just one example.

We went to Tiger Tiger first, which was the same as the one in London - commercial. We then went to somewhere called Liquid Envy or something.

Reply 35

Tufts

17

jonboyyork

The students in Newcastle I met were just not the sort of people I would be friends with here. They spent most of their time asking me how I deal with having international students as friends. They boasted that in Newcastle ''its them and us because we have nothing in common.'' This madde me very angry inside, but I didn't say anything. It was clear that I have a very different attitude to my friends and their friends in Newcastle, Durham, Birmingham etc. This is just one example.

What did they mean by that?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you tar students with a very broad brush depending on where they are from. A kind of quasi-racism.

Reply 36

Undiscovery

Tufts

What did they mean by that?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you tar students with a very broad brush depending on where they are from. A kind of quasi-racism.

Yes, that's right, I'm racist. I laughed at how international students don't fit in at British universities, and they should stay separated from British students becaue we supposedly have nothing in common with them. Dear god, some people frighten me.

I think the only answer to the question of this thread is that you need to ask yourself what kind of university experience you want. If you want non stop drinking, doing no work whatsoever and getting away with it and a homogenous student population then obviously SOAS isn't for you. You need to have an interest in your subject, a passion rather, and be hard working enough to keep at it, because boy it gets tough sometimes, especially on my degree. If you're doing one of the harder degrees offered by SOAS such as languages, and by that I mean Japanese, Arabic, Chinese maybe Hindi, then you have to be prepared to sacrifice part of your social life during the weekdays. If you don't, you will get yourself into a vicious cycle of missing lectures, not being up to date with work and eventually having to resit the year, as quite a few in my Arabic lectures have had to.

But of course you can have the university experience at SOAS. And you can be in London, which, as I have said, is an awesome place. SOAS isn't just about admiring diversity, not at all. Think about why SOAS first came into existence, what its main purpose was. That purpose is somewhat similar today; for people who might want to work abroad. Or more simply for people that have an honest passion for their subject. If you don't have the passion, like Yuffie, or the ability to be socially mobile and polite enough to make the effort to make friends, then the obvious result is failure and dropping out.

I'm sure Yuffie and the others who have said they dropped out will be much happier at their chosen universities, and frankly, SOAS will be better off without them.

Urgh.

jonboyyork

Yes, that's ... without them.

I'd just like to add, I agree with Jon's points and I know that there a loads more who love being at SOAS. In the end, you have to do your research before you go to uni, otherwise you'll just end up like all these other people who had a bad time, because they chose the uni which offered them what they didn't want in the first place.

People in Dinwiddy go out plenty. As for whoever's sister said they couldn't find anyone interested in exploring London, they didn't look very far. The people I know do these kinda things all the time... (?)
I really like SOAS, but yeah the union isn't great. If you want to spend all your time there, look elsewhere. There are a lot of political socs which like to make a lot of noise, so if you're easily annoyed, go somewhere else. Personally, I'm not interested in them either but it's easy enough to ignore them. Also, neither me nor my friends are obsessed with "saving the world."

Reply 39

Undiscovery

mimimimi

Urgh.

What happened to not being bothered to argue this anymore? Fickle, much?

can you really have the uni experience at soas

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