Best place in UK to study CompLit(MA)

[Derkatch]

The heading says it all. I was googling the staff of the highest-rated unis and none stood out. I also read various student reviews. St. Andrews happened to have a bit more positive ones.

Is it a good idea at all to study CompLit in UK? If not - would appreciate any other suggestions. Except the expensive ones, though, I'm kind of limited in finances, since courses cost more for students outside EU.

 

Thanks ahead!

[wreckofthehope]

The heading says it all. I was googling the staff of the highest-rated unis and none stood out. I also read various student reviews. St. Andrews happened to have a bit more positive ones.

Is it a good idea at all to study CompLit in UK? If not - would appreciate any other suggestions. Except the expensive ones, though, I'm kind of limited in finances, since courses cost more for students outside EU.

 

Thanks ahead!

 

There are actually only a few universities that really do Comp Lit in the UK, and even then my sense of the discipline there is that is doesn't have a strong a sense of being a distinct discipline, if you know what I mean. A lot of places offering comp lit degrees tend to be more along the lines of somewhere like Minnesota's Cultural Studies and Comp Lit, than a traditional comp lit department. 

 

Maybe that appeals? In which case, look at Goldsmiths, Queen Mary, Birkbeck, Warwick (?)....If it doesn't, UCL's department seems a little more traditional and language-based.

[Vincenzo Salvatore]

First of all, what are you considering taught degrees or reserach degrees? Or a combined program? There are some good schools (and often also not so expensive) and a lot of excellent professors, but the fellowships/scholarships are few and the system is completely different from the US. So far, my opion is that the best universities for comp lit are UCL, Kings College, Goldsmiths, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St. Andrews (these are the most comprehensive: universities like Mancheste, Warwick etc. offers similar courses but less "humanistic", I can elaborate this concept if you are interested). I have a strong predilection for Scotland, because the European non-English students (SIC!) have the possibility to get SAAS state scholarships for tuitions and fees. The choice depends, IMHO, from what literatures and langues do you study and which kind of project do you want to pursue: personally, I needed an American/Italian/German environment grounded in post-colonial and neo-gramscian critical theory. Well, I considered UCL, Glasgow and Edinburgh and, eventually, I applied only to Edinburgh with Prof. Davide Messina. Although I have already got admitted to a couple of American universities, I will nevertheless pursue this call http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/student-funding/pgr-application to see what it will happen. If you want, feel free to contact me via PM.

[lacma]

What about Oxford?

[wreckofthehope]

What about Oxford?

Oxford doesn't do Comp Lit. 

 

You could cobble together a comp lit-y degree in the Modern Languages MSt, but if I were looking to do a Comp Lit degree I think I would prefer to be in a Comp Lit department...

[Vincenzo Salvatore]

What about Oxford?

 

 

Oxford doesn't do Comp Lit. 

 

You could cobble together a comp lit-y degree in the Modern Languages MSt, but if I were looking to do a Comp Lit degree I think I would prefer to be in a Comp Lit department...

 

Alas, it is true. There many amazing literary programs in UK, but the comp lit ones comparable with the American offers are more or less just those above mentioned. Or, at least, those are the most representative.

[Vincenzo Salvatore]

Anyway, this is the Oxford's particular offer for comp lit studies: http://grad.mml.ox.ac.uk/comparative_lit

Edited January 27, 2013 by Vincenzo Salvatore