King's college vs Queen Mary's college

Columbia_Student · 10-25-2009, 03:55 PM

Hi,
Does anyone here have any information about these 2 colleges? Which is better for study abroad program? They are both in London.
Thanks ahead

SeptemberGirl · 10-25-2009, 04:20 PM

I'd just choose the school that I feel has the best program for what I am studying. They are both outstanding schools.

Columbia_Student · 10-25-2009, 04:47 PM

What about location? Which is better?

Dionysus58 · 10-26-2009, 01:39 AM

KCL is in a better part of London IMO. QMUL is east whilst KCL is more central. Technically they're both part of the same university, but Kings has a general better reputation. Saying that though it really depends on what you want to study/get out of your time abroad.

Laylah · 10-26-2009, 05:10 AM

KCL is definitely in a nicer part of London, but QMUL isn't horrible. It's just a little scruffier and not as central. What do you want to study? KCL is particularly known for anything war-related: it has the only research centre in the UK devoted solely to war as a phenomenon.

Columbia_Student · 10-26-2009, 07:07 PM

Thanks for all your replies. I think King's college has the major that D1 wants to study but it's too late to apply for Spring 2010. When is a good term to study in England, Fall or Spring? Pros and Cons please.

Dionysus58 · 10-27-2009, 10:21 AM

That's a tough question to answer, again it really depends what your daughter wants out of her time abroad.

Is weather a factor? Interestingly i just saw a news report on the difference in weather between today and this day last year. Its 17c today but it was -5c last year with snow. So you can never be sure what you'll get! I'd say spring is better than autumn, partly because theres more light and partly because its a better time for long weekends in Europe!

Columbia_Student · 10-27-2009, 11:45 PM

D1 has decided on Spring term. I have a few more questions. Her college allows pass/fail for study abroad classes but is the following applicable for UK colleges.

Quote:

students should be aware that graduate and professional schools usually request a copy of the letter-graded transcript from the overseas institution, which may factor into admissions decisions.

Do the UK colleges give grades for each class? I thought at the end of 3 years, a student takes a final exam. If UK colleges do not give out grades then what kind of records are they keeping if she needs transcript for graduate school in the future?

How to translate the following terms in the link below such as fisrt year module, second year module, final year module to the equivalent US year. Is Junior year second year module or final year module?

Programmes listed by subject area : Course Catalogue : King's College London

Again many thanks ahead for answering these questions.

Laylah · 10-28-2009, 05:07 AM

At most UK universities, students do exams or assessments every year; at the end, these marks are averaged into a final grade. The only exception AFAIK is Oxford, where most students take two sets of exams, and the final set of results is averaged to get a final grade.

All UK universities will give students transcripts if requested, but they might have a different name, e.g. 'record of examination results' or something like that. They will usually be percentages, not letter grades. However, you can ask universities to provide a brief explanation of how they award percentages, and I'm sure US universities would be able to translate these into letter grades.

I imagine that a second year module would be equivalent to Junior year, but that's probably something to email the programme administrators at King's about.