University of Edinburgh

[antecedent]

I did! Applied back in March I think. I've written them an email pointing out that 1) I didn't apply for what I got 2) I can't afford what I got 3) the three places I did apply for were all cheaper than what I got, and asking how I can get allocated somewhere less expensive. Also, I didn't mention this, but I would like to end up somewhere where I will have fewer than 11 (!!!) other flatmates. I know they don't promise to offer you what you requested on the application, but this seems a little silly.

I had really been hoping for one of the 77 pound/week rooms at Mylnes Court. The place I ended up with (Roxburgh Pl) is 111 pounds or so per week, which ends up being like $730 per month USD. Sigh.

[antecedent]

Well, it looks like I might be back on the housing market if allocations never gets back to me. If anyone here has a friend in Edinburgh with an empty room in their flat, please let me know!

[antecedent]

I emailed allocations, did a little begging and pleading, called them a few times, and voila - affordable housing! Not quite Mylnes Court (alas) but at least I got one of my three choices this time - Blackwood Crescent!

So how's everyone feeling? Getting excited? I have exactly one month (aaaah!) until my flight leaves for London, and one week after that I move in and week zero begins! I'm so excited!

[SweetPea_45]

Hi there! Blackwood Crescent is a really nice flat! I think you'll really enjoy it. What is really nice is that you'll get to walk through the meadows on your way to uni, which really is a beautiful walk.

I am crazy excited! I've been freaking out about my visa situation, checking the mail about four times a day, alas nothing has come. I got an e-mail today saying that it is in the mail, delivery by UPS tomorrow at 10:00AM! Crossing my fingers that all goes to plan! Then I can FINALLY book my flight and start feeling like this is really happening!

I'm in the mist of planning my European holiday. I'm pretty sure my two week holiday is going to consist of Edinburgh--->Pisa--->Florance--->Rome--->Venice-->Vienna--->Prague-->back to Edinburgh!

Hope you are all having a great summer & looking forward to Edinburgh!

[SweetPea_45]

Hey there! So good news! I got my visa back exactly when the consulate said it would arrive! I was able to book my flights to Edinburgh (found a reasonable priced one-way flight $480 from NYC --> EDI w/ one connection) and now I'm just counting down the days! 6 days until I leave NY and 7 days until I arrive! This is becoming very real... very quickly!!!

[antecedent]

Yay SweetPea! I'm glad that finally came through for you!

I'm glad to hear Blackwood Crescent is nice! I was a bit nervous cause there are no photos of it online, but the price and location are right.

I have four more days left at my job, then a month of vacation before school starts, yippee! I've got my plane ticket and my bus ticket to visit my family. I've been looking at various ways to get from the South of England to Edinburgh - looks like a 12 hour bus ride is going to be the cheapest and least expensive! I can't wait to get there.

How are you doing, Jon? Getting excited?

[antecedent]

Is everyone registering ok? I'm not quite sure how it works. I sent in my matriculation form and the scan of my passport, and now in my MyEd account it says I'm registered. Is there anything else we can do from over here? We register for our optional courses once we get there, right? And we are encouraged to pay our fees before we start classes but we can also do it after? I find the university pages on this really hard to read through and never quite get my questions answered.

...any help for a confused American?

[SweetPea_45]

I'll be registering when I get to Edinburgh. I leave on Monday (yes THREE days from now!!!) & there is just too much to do between now & then! Luckily, the classes for the MPP program are laid out for me, so I don't have to worry about registering for optional courses. I have to figure out how the fee payment thing will work. I'm trying to see if I can pay for it via credit card, so I can rack up the points (perhaps a free flight home?), but I have to be sure that the merchant (edi uni) won't put it through as a cash advance. If that is the case, then I'll have to go through a bank account transfer. Everything with fees is super complicated... the exchange rate for USD to GBP is around 1.568 dollars for every pound. Edinburgh says they accept dollars, but at a rate of 1.666, hello!!?? That is an awful exchange rate. So yeah, it is complicated... but I'm sure I'm not the only American student who is paying for fees. I feel like a nice appointment with the fees office will help with my concerns.

In terms of anything else you can do... you may want to check out the freshers week calendar. I am a super dork and made a google calendar of all the events I plan on going to, that way I don't miss out on anything. What is really nice is that they have events especially designed for PG students (ie: coffee crawls, speed networking, wine and cheese, etc), so that way you aren't mixed in with 17/18 year olds. If any of you guys plan on attending any of these events, let me know! I'll try and drop in for a few of them.

Best of luck with those last few days of work. It was KILLER for me to get through it! Enjoy your time off as well!

[antecedent]

So is it common to show up and just pay tuition once you get there? I'm trying to avoid going to Adams House if I don't have to because I have a departmental thing right before and right after my allotted time to go there to register. Also, that's really good to know about the exchange rate info - I've been having my dad talk me through the options and it's pretty confusing - I don't remember what we last decided I will do for paying

I've taken a look at the Fresher's week schedule and there are some rad-looking events! I will probably try to go to several of them, particularly the city tours and society mixers. Also the PG events, if only to hang out with people over 18 years old

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my (delayed) flight to California to visit my family. Vacation has officially begun, and it feels AWESOME. I'm so stoked to be a student again!

[SweetPea_45]

I've arrived in Edinburgh!!!! When I arrived, it is a beautiful day!!! 70s and sunny! Hoping the weather holds out, of course knowing Scotland it won't... but hey, a girl can wish!

I managed to get through airport security, no problems there, of course they did ask me quite a few questions (where will I be staying, how will I be paying for tuition, etc). I guess they liked my answers, because they admitted me in! Today is my first full day in Edinburgh, so I'll be checking out the fringe festival for sure.

Still not sure about fees and all. I'm just showing up and paying. My sense is that it doesn't really matter when you pay, as long as you do pay (at least the first installment) by the time the semester starts.

Of course I was super excited about the Freshers event (I created a google calendar spread! took me forever!) only to find out that M-F of freshers week, my program is having their own induction week. I am booked 9AM-5PM! Oh well! That does leave the weekends and after 5PM free, but I'll be missing some of the tours and meet ups that I was looking forward to.

Antecedant- I hope you enjoy California! I love California during this time of the year!

[antecedent]

Heeeey guys! How's it going? How are you settling in? I'm finding people to be oddly hard to connect with here, but the academic element is just as amazing as I had hoped it would be. I love my department/program and LangSoc is great and I've already been to a research group lecture and it was so good. Also this city is so incredible - I can't wait to explore the rest of the country!

In the interest of collegiality, if any of you are interested in meeting up and having a celebratory drink I'd certainly be down. Let me know and I'll send around a PM.

Cheers!

[Coleoptera-Kinbote]

I guess I'll just bump this thread for the next round of acceptances...

 

Hi! I was accepted at Edinburgh recently for their Modern and Contemporary Art MSc program, and it sounds really exciting and like exactly what I need to spend the next year doing. I've applied to all the scholarships I can find, and Edinburgh is essentially my first choice unless I get some crazy funding offer I can't refuse from Georgetown or SAIC. Also, I'm going to the information session in DC this weekend! Anyone else accepted for fall 2013 on here?

[TallyW]

Also bumping this thread. Congrats on your acceptance Coleoptera-Kinbote!

I got accepted to their Psychological Research MSc. Soooooo happy since it's my top choice!! Honestly didn't think I would get in anywhere since my grades aren't stellar but I do have a lot of experience in my major. I'm also attending an info session in Vancouver, BC. I have so many questions about accommodation and living there. I think I got the visa thing down since I had to get a foreign visa for my undergrad lol 


 

[Coleoptera-Kinbote]

Awesome! I'm not sure if I want to do student housing or just rent on my own because I do have someone I could split rent with. I also had to get a visa during undergrad, for a semester in Italy, which was annoying because the local consulate was so disorganized, so hopefully working with the UK will go a little better. My goals for this program would be to get an internship or a work placement for experience while also producing a publishable paper. Edinburgh is one of the few contemporary-focused Masters programs that incorporate an internship element alongside research and writing which is what makes it so appeaing.

[SocPsyPhDWannabe]

Hey, Jumping in on this a little late. I am very new to this site! I am wanting to apply to Edinburgh for the MSc in Research Psychology. I am nervous about acceptance because my GPA will only be a 3.2 in October when I apply for the Fall 2014 year. I am published (with an Edinburgh PhD graduate), working on a  second publication (with the same professor), doing field research in Cognitive Neuroscience for another professor this summer, and have been working at a research and evaluation center at the University of North Florida for over a year. The problem was my freshman year (cliche, I know) but I entered into my Sophmore year with a 2.74 and currently hold a 3.13 (proudly!). I have A's in all of my Psych Research and Experimental courses, as well as my statistics course.

  What do you guys think my chances are??? I do a ton of research and paper writing. I am very extracurricular. I'm hoping that will outweigh my lackluster GPA! 

Also, congrats to those of you who were accepted!! I hope on day to be in your shoes!

[onefellsloop]

Thread bump!

 

Having just recently returned from a couple of weeks abroad (including a visit to the university), I thought I'd try and revive this thread to see if there are any other newly accepted or current/returning post-grads who might be interested in a little collegial chatter! I, myself, am newly accepted and will be working on my MScR in Scottish History. I'm so incredibly excited to be joining this program as it was my first choice and would be very happy to chat with or meet up with anyone else studying in Edinburgh whether in History or not. Hope to get some responses soon!

[Hillary79]

I've an unconditional offer for the criminology MSc. I'm split between that and University of Kent's. I really like the courses at Kent's but Edinburgh is amazing and I know that I'll get the research experience I need/want from them (not that i wouldn't get it from Kent too, but Edinburgh has specific modules for research). My only concern with Edinburgh is whether the classes I want will be available--there's some discrepancies between the prospectus and the programme degree page. Might need to antagonize the department head again.

 

Anybody else for criminology or law? 

[nm486]

Hello there,

 

I'll be doing my Msc in high-performance computing this fall.  I've never lived alone abroad so I'm really excited!  I wonder how diverse the international community at Edinburgh is.  Looking forward to meeting new people

[savannahre]

I know this is pretty early but I just got accepted to the Urban Strategies and Design Program (MSc Fall '15). Anyone else on here looking at attending Edinburgh next fall?

[windrainfireandbooks]

I have applied to the English PhD program for September 2015. Still waiting on one reference letter before they look at my application, but fingers crossed. Edinburgh is a lovely place!

[araby]

Bump again. Got accepted to the Evolution of Language and Cognition for fall '15. I can't wait--September is so far away! 

 

It's way too early to be doing this, but I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on gumtree looking for flats and checking out the areas on google maps. I'm also looking for a flatmate (yes it is way too early to be doing this as well...) so let me know if anyone's interested!

[talina]

Bump again. Got accepted to the Evolution of Language and Cognition for fall '15. I can't wait--September is so far away! 

 

It's way too early to be doing this, but I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on gumtree looking for flats and checking out the areas on google maps. I'm also looking for a flatmate (yes it is way too early to be doing this as well...) so let me know if anyone's interested!

 

Hi araby!

I also got accepted. My program is in Science and Technology in Society. I'm overjoyed, but I don't think I'll be able to make it without funding. Have you applied for scholarships yet? If I solve the financial matter, I'll be definitely interested in sharing a flat!