PGCE courses in London

Overall score

I've chosen this course to broaden and deepen my knowledge in literature and literary theory, to experience the studies abroad, in a multicultural uni and surroundings and to enhance my perspectives for getting a nice job. It was a great pleasure and honour to be accepted to study at the 4th uni in the world. But the actual life hire is, on all levels, very chalenging. The course is (1) exciting, but extremely (2) demanding and, from the perspective of an overseas student (3) very expensive. This course runs for one year full time, and two years part time, and I would strongly recommend to everybody, especially to students comming from the university background different than UK, to take the part-time option. However, visa students are not allowed to take the part time course, which is a pitty.

Study experience

The course itself is a bit hectic, with enormously big amount of the coursework (for example, I had to write about 32,000 words for the various coursework - essays etc. during the year plus the 15, 000 words for the dissertation during the summer) The good thing is that the course covers many fields, theories, approaches, but the bad thing however is that you might get lost in this schizophrenic conglomerate of doctrines and demands. The other good thing is that, although it is a taught course, you have the opportunity to focus on your own interests, and this opportunity is strongly encouraged by the teachers. The lectures were mainly 'very academic' i.e. with not much space for the debate and discussions. The seminars with the course faciliators (usually phd students) were however amazing, and it is A+ for them. Some of the lectures were breathtakingly brilliant, and others were rather boring, but I guess it largely depends on your own preferences within the field. Financial support for the international students is barely available. I suggest applying for the uni as early as possible (january/february) in order to be elligible to apply for the scholarshisps available for international/overseas students. Once you enroll the uni, it is impossible (or extremely difficult) to get the financial help if you're not domestic/eu student. The UK bank loans are not available for the visa-students. I funded my course by myself with the crucial help of my family: personal and bank loans of my parents secured the paying of the fees, but it was very difficult to raise all the money, due to the high amount of the fees and no other financial facilities for the international students, and of course due to the fact that my family is not rich. Plus I had to work part time to pay the rent and the food, and I do not recomend at all working part time and studying full time at the institution such as UCL. I thought that I had super powers of managing everything, but my academic performance was inevitably affected. So if you are PG at a big institution such as UCL, if possible focus on your studies only, please!

Facilities

The library is lovely and in May it was open 24hours, which I found very convenient. I would be happy if l ibrary had this opening hours during the whole year. I would give the 5 stars to the IT facilities, but please bare in mind that the previous uni I attendend didn't have ANY computers for students, so UCL in a way was a space ship for me.

Postgraduate life

London is a vibrant city and having the uni in the heart of London is a blessing. Personally, I could never study in an 'isolated', solely student areas, such as Cambridge, Oxford etc. The problem with London is however that it offers too much, so you might easily neglect your studies, unless you are perfectly organized Friends that I met on the uni I consider the bigest and life-lasting capital. Meeting all this wonderful people from so many different countries is absolutely the best thing that happened to me this year. If you want to get t uni's acoomodation, the early application is crucial. I have used the serveces of the London housing which are available to all students of the University of London. I have found a beautiful and affordable place and I would always recomend LHS.

Job prospects

I still do not know, since I am currently applying for the internships and work placements. It is more difficult for international students to find a job anyhow, because of the very competitive graduate market and the visa issues they are facing, but I would give 5 stars to the UCL career services and outher career focused departments. All people that work for these departments are very friendly, supportive and helpful.

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