Opinions on UK schools? Bristol, East Anglia, University of London

[Mmphln]

Hello all, I am a Canadian who was accepted into three UK schools for taught MAs recently, East Anglia, Bristol, and the Royal Holloway College at the University of London. I chose to apply to these after an exhaustive search into the course content, but I am not familiar with UK schools and their reputation. Can anyone tell me any personal experiences or general opinions on these? The price is prohibitively high, so I do want to make sure that if I go to one, it'll be the best decision.

And if this is the wrong forum, please let me know!

[pietjekanarie]

I would say that it really depends on the program. I can only tell you something about the general reputation these schools have in Europe. Actually, I only know the University of London. This university is quite known and I believe it is the biggest university in the UK. The University of London holds King's College London and University College London and especially UCL is known as an excellent institution here. I have never heard of Royal Holloway College though, but that might be my ignorance.

The East Anglia and Bristol are not as known as the University of London, but that doesn't make them less good. I just don't know those. I would think about what you want to do in future: do you want to live in Canada? Do you want to start a PhD after this MA? If yes, I'd ask the profs in the department of your interest what they think of UK degrees. I sometimes read stories here of people having difficulties getting into a US program with a UK degree. If your goal is a PhD in Canada, I can imagine you want to do a MA there. On the other hand, a MA abroad is adventurous and adds to the experience and maybe you're not interested in a PhD anyway?

I personally would not go into huge debts for a MA.

[ootg]

What subject are you applying to do your MA in? Many of the schools in the UK are strong in some fields, but weak in others, so there is no blanket reputation. Take a look at their RAE rankings to get an indication on where they stand.

[someDay]

Bristol is an excellent institution and well known in the UK, East Anglia and Holloway fall into the "average, not much to say about" category. Although Holloway has a gorgeous campus. This might not apply to all courses though.

sD.

Edited March 11, 2010 by someDay

[Mmphln]

I did notice Holloway was gorgeous..one of the reasons I'm considering it. The other being that it is more of an industry based masters than academic, which I think is really good (It was for a producing MA). East Anglia was for media studies and they gave me the best financial package (well, the only), and Bristol was originally television studies, until they cancelled it and admitted me into film studies instead.

The price though is so high...I was thinking it might be worth it to try to defer admission, go to the UK and work/intern for a year and then go if I still want to. Am I correct in that you can get resident fees if you've lived there for a full year?

Bristol is an excellent institution and well known in the UK, East Anglia and Holloway fall into the "average, not much to say about" category. Although Holloway has a gorgeous campus. This might not apply to all courses though.

sD.

[Nancy]

I'm just finishing up my undergrad in Bristol, and I've loved every second of living here. It's a beautiful and really exciting city, full of great clubs, pubs, food places and independent shops.

The uni itself does have a really good reputation, and is a good stepping stone for both UK and international postgrad study. As for the fees, I'm not sure about the one year thing, do check that (I have a friend who's been resident for longer and doesn't qualify for PhD funding, so just be sure that's true before you relocate!).

All in all, Bristol is fab, and definitely worth considering. If there's any more specific info you think you would like (I still have internal web access so could possibly find out more about courses/costs/living etc), let me know!

Good luck choosing

[someDay]

The price though is so high...I was thinking it might be worth it to try to defer admission, go to the UK and work/intern for a year and then go if I still want to. Am I correct in that you can get resident fees if you've lived there for a full year?

To qualify for home fees, you'll need indefinite leave to remain status and "permanent resident" status, usually acquired after three years in the UK for purposes other than higher education. Besides, depending on your course the home fees might not even be cheaper, particularly for professional degrees.

sD.

[2010international]

I did my Masters in the UK, and from what I can gather University of East Anglia is outstanding for 2 areas: creative writing (alumni include ian mcewan, kazuo ishiguro, anne enright and writers of that caliber), and development studies. in the latter - while it is one of the best in terms of research i think students would still pick something like IDS (in Brighton), or LSE/SOAS over it because it doesn't command the kind of prestige as the latter do. Other than in these 2 areas I think it's fairly average

Royal Holloway and Bristol are decent - I don't know that much about either, honestly, but England can be fairly expensive so it makes sense to go to the one with a financial package. That said, Royal Holloway's location (from what I know) on the outskirts of London means that you have the 'quiet' side, but you can easily come into London and enjoy all the offerings there.

[pomegranate]

Bristol has an excellent reputation in the UK and tends to be ranked in top 10. Royal Holloway and UEA are more of top 20 -30 unis (depending on league tables) when it comes to general reputation. I guess internationally though RHUL might be most recognisable because of the University of London brand attached to it. But as it's already been mentioned here RAE is what you should really look into for postgrad as league tables in UK are based on undergrad degrees only.

Also, you said you're going for an industry based degree. I'd say the main thing to consider then are the links to the industry that your 3 unis/courses have. Are there any internship options on offer? do they help with placements? where are most companies within the industry based and how easily accessible are they going to be for you once at RHUL, UEA or Bristol?

RHUL has the benefit of being a part of UoL, which gives you access to more resource and libraries and intercollegiate events, etc. Though having said that Egham is really far, it's not really London and it would take you over 1 hour to get to central London. not only time consuming but expensive! something to bear in mind. On the other hand if you are after a campus based uni where everyone's life is very much centred around uni, then you would probably like RHUL. Egham hasn't got much to offer and is too far to just pop over to central london for a coffee or a pint so automatically campus life is much more vibrant then at any of the central london colleges, where it's really easy to just go off and do your own thing.

[Mmphln]

Oh my goodness, thanks so much for your help! I definitely have a lot to consider now...

As for the RAE, I looked into it, East Anglia has the second highest ranking in my field, with 50, 40, 10, 0 royal holloway is somewhat worse at 20, 55, 20, 5, and bristol is not listed

I was wrong about the residency fees, it was something I had been told, but I looked it up and it's 3 years of residency, not 1 to be eligible for home fees..I just wish they had a discount for commonwealth since the scholarships are no longer active

[pomegranate]

Oh my goodness, thanks so much for your help! I definitely have a lot to consider now...

As for the RAE, I looked into it, East Anglia has the second highest ranking in my field, with 50, 40, 10, 0 royal holloway is somewhat worse at 20, 55, 20, 5, and bristol is not listed

I was wrong about the residency fees, it was something I had been told, but I looked it up and it's 3 years of residency, not 1 to be eligible for home fees..I just wish they had a discount for commonwealth since the scholarships are no longer active

btw. one more tip. You might want to check out The Student Room postgraduate forum as many postgrad students and applicants in the UK post there. You might be able to get more insight into British schools and your specific course there.