International studying (update first uni gave me green light to study

[Kia Zi Shiru]

hi guys,

 

I'm getting lost in all of the websites about uni's in the UK. So rather than spending 100 hours looking around for the HOW and WHEN and WHERE I need to make everything work and than spending the next 500 hours looking through 110 uni's that are available for applying to and than figuring out what courses they have. To conclude that I was too late to sign in for anything and need to look for something else entirely.....

 

So I figured I could at least ask you guys for some help. I'm looking for a uni in the UK where I can follow a full English course(undergraduate and also post-graduate if possible) and with writing, editing and other writing and reading related courses.

 

I can follow English at uni in Holland but it's mostly cultural related and there are no writing classes at all. It's main focus is on translating and cultural aspects and I'm not really interested in those.

 

So who knows a good uni that has a good English course or can help me out in another way?

 

Greets

 

Kia

 

 

The list of uni's I can choose from (from high on the lists to low on the lists)

1. Lancaster (don't have a mail back from them yet)

2. Bath Spa (still in contact)

3. Gloucestershire (got automated mail so no attention yet)

4. Bolton (GOT ACCEPTED IF I HAVE A GOOD IELTS SCORE AND FINISH THIS YEAR)

5. York St Yohn (no mail back yet)

6. Chicester (told me that they would look further at my qualifications if I apply and have a good IELTS score)

7. Roehampton (Crazy people.... >< (see post))

8. Edge Hill (auto mail)

9. Huddersfield (no mail back)

10. Northumbria (still in contact)

11. Hertfordshire (no mail back)

12. Glamorgan (no mail back)

13. Westminister (auto mail)

14. Plymouth (no mail back)

15. Middlesex (stupid auto mail)

 

'accepted': Bolton, Chichester

auto mail, so not gonna pay attention unless I don't have 6 uni's to apply to: Gloucestershire, Edge Hill, Westminister, Middlesex

 

no mail back: 6 to go

Edited December 8, 2009 by Kia Zi Shiru

[Daisy]

I'll think about it. My courses were anything but english so I'm not really sure about where is good and where's not. But first off, what type of grades are you expected to get and what type of qualification are they as that will narrow down where to look at.

 

and are you going next year? Because there is a set path to apply and there are deadlines you need to make sure you meet. UCAS is the method everyone has to use to apply. But you'll likely have until next year sometime.

 

celia

Edited December 1, 2009 by Smarties

[Kia Zi Shiru]

THESE are the 110 uni's I'm allowed to apply to.

 

I need to be able to at least get an official Bachelors degree, since after that one I can do my master practically everywhere....

 

I want to go next year...... of the dates I saw january 15th was the first I needed to get stuff sorted out (not sure what anymore since I was looking at all different types of websites at the same time....), so yeah, not that much time to sort things out, but at the same time enough to make me decide whether I want to really continue this or not....

 

ECTS are nice but not something I need to worry about....

 

*looks* yeah january 15th is deadline for UCAS....

[Nephylim]

Come to Cardiff... it's an excellent uni and you can stay with me while you're looking for somewhere to live And then you can help me party and introduce me to all the hot sexy goth men who will be flocking around you. I can handle sloppy seconds

[paya]

Come to Cardiff... it's an excellent uni and you can stay with me while you're looking for somewhere to live

[Nephylim]

Oh I'd go to Cardiff! John Loughlin teaches there! But he's so busy that he doesn't accept post-grad students

 

 

You can come stay with me anyway if you like

[Daisy]

Maybe try one of the newspaper league tables. They could give you an idea of where is supposed to be good for english. I don't trust them entirely though, as reputations seem to be developed outside of it, at least from my experience from the subjects I've taken. But it's a starting point.

 

I recomend visiting though if you can. And also thinking not just about the subject and how and what is taught. But also the type of place you want to live, for example on a campus that is nowhere near a city (e.g. Warwick), or in a city itself (Manchester). Or a town versus a city. All those sorts of things. They are just as important in determining whether you will like living there.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/universityguide

Edited December 3, 2009 by Smarties

[hombre]

Come to Cardiff... it's an excellent uni and you can stay with me while you're looking for somewhere to live And then you can help me party and introduce me to all the hot sexy goth men who will be flocking around you. I can handle sloppy seconds

 

 

I would go to Cardiff in a split second! That is where the film Doctor Who, and John Barrowman is there!! WOO HOO! Plus I could go down to Port Eyenon and look up my relatives on my dad's side!

[Kia Zi Shiru]

Right now I'm looking through two league tables (guardians and Pushs) and dotting all the uni's that have creative writing courses combines with lit or anything else fun

 

boring but very useful

[Daisy]

Right now I'm looking through two league tables (guardians and Pushs) and dotting all the uni's that have creative writing courses combines with lit or anything else fun

 

boring but very useful

 

Goodluck . Applying for things is always tedious. Let us know which ones you narrow it down to.

 

Under UCAS you can apply to 6 universities btw.

[Kia Zi Shiru]

This is my list of 15 uni's that have my subject..... from best rated to worst rated... I'm gonna send emails about my situation to all of them and then I'll probably have a smaller list. After that I'm gonna see if I can get my finances right and gonna apply. I hope I 'll be abe to do that soon.....

 

list:

york, Lancaster, Bath Spa, Gloucesrershire, bolton, Chichester, Roehampton, Edge Hill, Huddersfield, Northumbria, Hertfordshire, Glamorgan, Westminister, Plymouth, Middlesex

Edited December 3, 2009 by Kia Zi Shiru

[Daisy]

This is my list of 15 uni's that have my subject..... from best rated to worst rated... I'm gonna send emails about my situation to all of them and then I'll probably have a smaller list. After that I'm gonna see if I can get my finances right and gonna apply. I hope I 'll be abe to do that soon.....

 

list:

york, Lancaster, Bath Spa, Gloucesrershire, bolton, Chichester, Roehampton, Edge Hill, Huddersfield, Northumbria, Hertfordshire, Glamorgan, Westminister, Plymouth, Middlesex

 

York's a good uni and a historic city. Lancaster, that was my 2nd choice when I applied. It's a market town in the northwest, but the campus is about 10mins away from the town I think. The town's nice but I'm not so sure about the campus itself. Bath, never been there, but heard it's lovely . Edge Hill, well that's near where I live and lots of old school mates went there. It's near Liverpool but away from it. It's less of a big uni though. Northumbria, I think that's where my step-brother is. It's in the north east, not the prettiest of locations and a smaller uni with a lower rep. I know someone from Bolton, be ready for thick accents , but apart from that I know nothing about the place. Westminster, at least you'd be in the heart of the country, if you can face living in London.

Edited December 3, 2009 by Smarties

[Kia Zi Shiru]

thanks Smarties, things like that are very useful

 

well, I hope I can get the list down to a reasonable amount by the end of this weekend

[tomon]

My friend is studying english literature at York currently. I could ask her about what it's like for you if you want? She loves York.

 

Consider the town/city as well as the course, you want to have fun on your study abroad too

[Kia Zi Shiru]

I would like that tomon.

 

I send out e-mails today, a couple I got back were only ones linking to websites I already read and didn't have interesting information to me, and only 2 were personally answered and I'm gonna look into those 2 first.... so yeah, next couple of days are going to be interesting....

[tomon]

I asked her some things that I thought might be helpful:

 

 

1) Is york good for that course maybe if you know?

 

Well you already but it at the top of the best rated but she said " If it's in the English and Related Literature department, then it's on of the top in the country and very prestigious. If it's in the Language and Linguistics department, it's not as highly ranked, but it's still damn good with some of the top researchers in their field (I'm happy enough with it)"

 

 

 

2) Do you like York? Would you recommend it?

 

I like it a lot, it's a really nice city. If you want a massive city with loads of clubs then maybe a bigger city would be better, but Leeds isn't too far. There are hardly any chavs. It's really pretty in summer and at xmas

 

 

3) Is it good for international students?

 

There's quite a big international/erasmus social scene at York so yeah and obviously everyone usually mixes in with english people. From what I can tell there are plenty of ways to meet other international students and event/trips a put on, plus theres all sorts of other societies to join.

 

 

 

4) What's the best bar?

 

best bar = Evil Eye Lounge http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A22084445

 

 

Hope you can go to York! Let us know how it goes!

Edited December 7, 2009 by tomon

[Kia Zi Shiru]

Right now, the 2 personal e-mails were from Chichester and Bath Spa, they are 6th and 2nd on my list. Gonna ask around there first, didn't get a mail back from York yet. Though York dropped from being 1st to being 5th on the list since I didn't look right and it turns out to be York St John... so yeah, waiting for their mail.

 

For now, till I have all my e-mails replied, I'm not gonna mail back the ones which didn't give me a personal mail but just send me a standard form thing.... I think it means a lot when universities don't just send you a standardized e-mail when you ask a pretty specific question....

 

though that bar does sound awesome ^^

Edited December 7, 2009 by Kia Zi Shiru

[Kia Zi Shiru]

Okay Bolton told me that I would be accepted if I finish my year here and don't fail any classes Oh yeah, have to pass the IELTS test too, but not really worrying about that one

Chichester told me that they would look at my grades if I apply first, I can live with that

 

Roehampton told me I can only get in when I have a vwo certificate and all my grades are 7/10 and English is at least 8/10..... Which is simple ridiculous.... If I went to secondary education in the UK I would have to have a B in a A grade and 2 C's.... meaning either one 6/10 and 2 5/10 or if I look at it less positive a 7/10 and 2 6/10.... Which I could live with.... but we have 10 classes that we graduate in (well graduate in 8 out of the 10 anyway), so that would mean I'd have to get a crazy ammount of grades.... with grades like that we can get into medical school without having to do any tests on forehand..... Crazy I tell you.....

So yeah, not mailing them back.....

 

so till this moment I have 2 uni's I might apply to and my mentor at school toild me he would love to write my letter of recommendation

[Tarin]

'Gratz on Bolton.

 

It's not on your short list, but my aunt teaches ethics at Exeter, which is on the larger list. 5th in UK for English according to The Times Good University Guide 2010. They offer undergraduate and postgraduate.

[Nephylim]

Roehampton *giggles* This a POSH place dahling. Most of the people who go here are from public schools and their daddies own yachts. If you thing Roehampton thing Gossip Girl

 

York is awesome. Chichester is a beautiful city and a good university but Bolton is a good solid choice. It is in the North of England so it's not 'cool' but that means that everything from accommodation to a good night out will be cheaper.

 

Fab news... really fab news... we will HAVE to have a GA get together in the UK when you are over here.

[Daisy]

Roehampton *giggles* This a POSH place dahling. Most of the people who go here are from public schools and their daddies own yachts. If you thing Roehampton thing Gossip Girl

 

York is awesome. Chichester is a beautiful city and a good university but Bolton is a good solid choice. It is in the North of England so it's not 'cool' but that means that everything from accommodation to a good night out will be cheaper.

 

Fab news... really fab news... we will HAVE to have a GA get together in the UK when you are over here.

 

the north not cool; bleh. and you're right, we are cheaper . Never heard of Roehampton before. I went to Durham first, there were plenty of posh people there too. But still we were in the north. But it was like an oasis in the north for southern people. so many southern and posh accents. In my college alone in first year I knew/lived with FIVE people from Eton, that's ridiculous. Everyone was great though no matter where they were from though, usually. There were many clones walking around though.

 

Congrats on Bolton. Have you got in touch with the departments or the international offices' at the uni's? There could be a difference in how they get back to you maybe.

[Kia Zi Shiru]

@ tarin, the problem with Exeter is that it doesn't have a Creative writing course... Which is the course I want to take... Thanks for the idea anyway

 

@ neph, that get together might happen anyway, just need to make sure I have the money and the time So even if I don't get in the get together should happen

 

@ smarties, I have gotten in touch with most IO's some haven't mailed me back but yeah well... happens.

 

Right now my list that I have applied to:

 

1 Chichester, in the south, close to the sea, DUH! Plus their course is said to be pretty good.

2 Bolton, in the north, good course plus one of my Fav writers (Melvin Burgess) visited there to give a class and he is awesome!

3 Bath Spa, in the middle, pretty big but also looks pretty good and has been on my list from the start. Plus with a name like that, who doesn't want to go there?

4 Lancaster, they didn't reply but it's on the top list of good schools(by far on my list) and sounds pretty awesome. they even have a gothic reading club Like YAY!

5 ?? not sure yet.... Still looking around for what to do... Any idea's?

 

 

For all of the uni's I applied for Creative Writing and Literature, which keeps my options open and also enables me to switch if I might want to later on.

 

Now I just need to get the finance done and than I can wait for the end of March when their mail will get in ^^

[Tarin]

@ tarin, the problem with Exeter is that it doesn't have a Creative writing course... Which is the course I want to take... Thanks for the idea anyway

Oh, I know they offer an MA in creative writing. Strange they don't have an undergraduate program. Sorry.

 

 

Good luck.

 

 

[thatboyChase]

Edge Hill, sounds like there is hella drugs there!

 

Is there actually a school called Bath Spa? I remember in the movie The Duchess there was a resort/retreat they went to called Bath, same one? Hahahaha \?