Overall score

Study experience

This course was interesting and provided a solid insight into public health with regards to nutrition on a national and international level. I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of this well rounded course which was taught on a theoretical level. This course was difficult and challenging which for me was great. All of the lecturers were inspiring and taught from a wealth of experience (which helped those who hadn't worked in the field to imagine what it may be like at the front line). Course notes were thorough as were reading lists and I did enjoy my time at the university. However I did feel it was lacking in helping students through to professional employment. The course had been described as vocational yet so many grads I know of have failed to find related employment. I feel the course would have benefited from a placement scheme of some sort. I got the impression lecturers were well integrated into the public health nutrition community and could have used this to the advantage of their students. Life after..... 1) When you take a postgraduate course in public health nutrition you are then eligible to apply to the Nutrition Society as an Associate Public Health Nutritionist as long as the course you take is accredited by the nutrition society. Beware.....this course wasn't accredited when I joined. When I was interviewing for a place on the course I was told that the department were in the process of applying for accreditation in Sep 2003 however by Nov 2005 when I applied to the Nutrition Society the course still had not gained accreditation. I did not receive the assoc public health nutritionist status I was told I would get; luckily I received Associate Nutritionist status due to the number of nutrition components I had completed in my undergraduate degree. I am unsure of how I will get the assoc PHN status I studied for. I do believe the department should have warned its students about the ramifications of their status on the student?s status and question why they didn't. It is fairly difficult to find work within this sector and after having managed to gain 1 years work experience through voluntary work and paid work I am re- evaluating my career choices, as I am put off by the lack of clear career progression or structure and decent pay. A lot of the students I went to Uni with have struggled to find employment in this sector as jobs are scarce due to the specialised nature of the work and this situation has recently been further exacerbated by the NHS budget situation. In addition to this assoc nutritionists are competing with dietitians for the same community based positions, a competition I am not sure that can be won as each field looks after its own and one is distinctly more established than the other (no prizes for guessing which one). Although these things are not related to the course itself, they must be considered in conjunction with the decision one might make to fork out ?6,000 in total study costs when they may not reap the benefits, not to mention the effort required to complete the course. So just a few pointers for anyone considering this path- tread carefully!

Facilities

Average facilities. Library needed more course based reference material

Postgraduate life

plenty of opportunities to socialize

This review is the subjective opinion of a postgraduatesearch.com reviewer and not of postgraduatesearch.com.

Overall score

Study experience

If you're going to apply for an MSc Nutrition at Kings, be prepared: it's going to be hard work! This isn't because the material is particularly difficult to understand, but because of the sheer load of new information that you get through, at a high level of detail. If you're thinking that for the final exams you'll be fine by spot-learning, let me tell you now that you literally have to learn everything and cannot leave a single lecture out because exam questions are impossible to predict. If you haven't got a background in nutrition, it's a good way of jumping into the deep end because there is a lot of information to take in within a short space of time: it's intense and it is quite stressful. Some people in my class dropped out from the stress and at the end of the year about 15% of the class failed. If you have a background in nutrition, I would probably not recommend this course because you would find it very repetitive, so only take this course if you want to have 1 year to revise what you mostly already know. The teaching is of a high level, taught by experienced and respected nutritionists. As in all universities the level of inspiration varies depending on the lecturer, but on the whole I would say the nutrition lecturers at kings who lectured me are not the friendliest in the world, not particularly helpful or inspiring. There are of course exceptions, and I can think of 1 or 2 lecturers of the 10 or so we had, that were a joy to listen to. On the other hand there is another lecturer I have in mind who's lecturers are very difficult to follow, so you have to be prepared to self-study because lecture notes are definitely not enough. The course entails courseworks (lab practicals, essays and oral presentations), exams and a final project. Every student gets a personal tutor assigned to them to help them throughout the course, but as already mentioned, a lot of the staff aren't particularly helpful, and one major flaw is that hardly anyone answers emails - that goes for lecturers and personal tutors.

Facilities

All my lectures were held in classrooms rather than lecture theaters (so no tiered seats - be sure to sit near the front). The classrooms at King's Waterloo Campus are modern and comfortable. Each chair has a little foldable desk to write on which is convenient. The labs are fitted with all the essential equipment and the lab technicians and lab teachers (who are not the usual lecturers) were very helpful. There are many IT rooms (called PAWS) within the building where you study, so you will always be able to find a computer free somewhere. How modern the computer is depends on which room you go to but almost all the computers are flatscreens and are not too slow, but not particularly fast either with regards to internet connection. The library is also found in the same building (in fact everything you need is found within one building so you never have to step out the building for anything - even the cafeteria is in the same builiding). The library is very modern, clean and tidy and is an excellent resource for books and has everything you'd need and more.

Postgraduate life

Although most students seemed to get along alright (the same as any other university I guess), I personally found the students in my class to be a bit unwelcoming, and not particularly ready to strike up a conversation with you or smile at you. Another review on here hits the nail on the head when he says: "You have your mates. Other than that you don't really concern yourself with the others" - that's exactly the mentality that you can feel at kings. But this may have just been my class and is not indicative of future classes. There is a female bias in the subject of nutrition, so boys are a rarity. I think they take on about 30 people to the Nutrition MSc course so if you want to get your place secured, apply early because logic suggests 30 places fill up quickly. The bottom line on Nutrition MSc at Kings is that although it's not perfect, it is a highly respected university and one of the most prestigious places to do an MSc in Nutrition in the UK. Just be prepared that it's not going to be a stroll in the park.

This review is the subjective opinion of a postgraduatesearch.com reviewer and not of postgraduatesearch.com.