Glasgow University

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harlequin
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:35 pm

Glasgow University

Post by harlequin »

Hi

My DD has a conditional offer to study Psychology at Glasgow Uni and although she has applied for a full time, 4 year BSc course - she has been offered a MA full time 4 year course.

Does anyone have any idea whether a Scottish MA is different than an English one? We have been given different opinions and no one can agree either way.

We are hoping to visit Glasgow Uni but we would also appreciate any feedback on the Uni itself.

Many thanks

Harlequin
Looking for help
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Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: Glasgow University

Post by Looking for help »

Yes it is different, and something I think only Glasgow University does it. I have an MA but it was a first degree, I believe a Masters degree in England is something you would do after you have graduated.

At Glasgow there are 2 distinct faculties (other than Vet and Medicine/Dentistry) , and if you study in the Arts faculty you will be awarded an MA and if you study in Science it will be a BSc. My degree was actually very scienced based, so you can chooses subjects from either, the only thing back in the day when I was there was that to qualify for an Arts degree you had to have a done a year's worth of Philosophy, which wasn't needed for Science.
another mother
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Re: Glasgow University

Post by another mother »

I too have an MA, from St Andrews, for my first degree which was Medieval History. In my day (back in the ark), you only got a BA if you did the three year ordinary degree I think. The MA is standard in Scottish Unis as far as I know.

Not all English employers know this of course :)
Though it doesn't take long to work it out from a CV. Good for first impressions however!

Glasgow is a great university - and it's an exciting city which is a great place to be a student in and considerably cheaper than Edinburgh or St Andrews. We have a couple of friends whose children are there now (both Londoners) who are really happy and thriving. Scotland is going to be an interesting place to be of course for the next couple of years - the thing that might be concerning, if you are coming from England, is the idea that you are subbing the Scots. And that friends won't be accruing debts that you are.
The other thing is that the first year can feel a bit like a catch up for students who come in with just highers, if you've done A-levels. I don't think that necessarily matters- it's a chance to get used to other aspects of being away from home - but it might grate if you're paying a lot for it.
Marylou
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Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: Glasgow University

Post by Marylou »

another mother wrote:but it might grate if you're paying a lot for it.
This was a concern of mine about DD applying to Edinburgh. Not just that she could be studying alongside Scottish students who would be getting it all for free, but potentially also residents of France, Greece, Bulgaria or any other EU country you care to mention - except of course England - who likewise wouldn't be expected to part with a centime. :evil:

We needn't have worried - she was rejected without interview for the second year running, despite meeting and this time even exceeding their standard academic and work experience requirements. I'm aware that international students were being offered places for the same course (without interview) back in November...but hey ho, water under the bridge now.

From what I've heard so far, Glasgow appears to be much more well-disposed towards English applicants... :) And the "automatic" Masters sounds like a bit of a bonus!
Marylou
Looking for help
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Re: Glasgow University

Post by Looking for help »

another mother wrote: - the thing that might be concerning, if you are coming from England, is the idea that you are subbing the Scots.
I'm hoping that people don't think that. :(

Such a shame for ordinary people if they do, as if the 'Scots' are somehow robbing everyone else, and that is not true.
Marylou
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Re: Glasgow University

Post by Marylou »

LFH - don't worry, I haven't got it in for Scotland (well maybe just Edinburgh vet school :lol: ) - but I just wish England, like Scotland, could have its own government, especially one that has the right idea and prioritizes education in the way that the Scottish one does! :wink: However, the situation in which nationals of every country in Europe except England (and Wales, to be fair - but they also subsidize their students up to a point) can study for free in Scotland is not Scotland's fault. As I understand it, this has arisen due to the application of arcane EU laws that consider England and Scotland to be different regions of the same country (devolution, anyone?). The English are not being discriminated against, it just seems that way - though I don't think it's a sustainable situation in the long term. If Scottish independence comes about, maybe the fees situation will change - though this issue does not seem to have been raised in any of the recent reports on the subject.
Marylou
Looking for help
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Re: Glasgow University

Post by Looking for help »

Thank you Marylou, I have been feeling very isolated this last week with all the talk of independence, and what appears to me to be almost racist comments from people I considered to be friends. I'm not sure whether my children will be too happy but I am thinking of moving back home.
I am not a fan of Alec Salmond, but I feel that David Cameron has shot himself in the foot. If it were to happen though, English people would get free university education, same as the Scots and Europeans, although I am sure that free tuition north of the border will soon be a thing of the past whether Scotland is independent or not.

Glasgow is a great city, the only thing against it is the weather :( , it also had a great Vet school when I was there (152 years ago :lol: )
another mother
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Re: Glasgow University

Post by another mother »

Like you LFH I'm finding the whole independence debate deeply unsettling and quite upsetting. I'm a Scot, albeit with an English mother (also eductated in Scotland), I was born and bred in Scotland but have been in England all my working life. We've always hoped our DCs would have a Scottish university education - I'm a big fan of the breadth you get in the first two years. But it's beginning to look a rather mad choice now (not that DD has offers from there yet - she has two from England to date)

I haven't yet been disturbed by anti Scottish remarks here (except from OH but don't think he means them :lol: ) but I have been irritated and slightly shocked by old school friends who have remained in Scotland and whose kids are also about to start uni, in Glasgow and Edinburgh, being gleeful about the fact they won't be paying, and in truth, fairly gleeful that we will. :?
And I don't quite agree that English students - including offspring of exiled Scots - won't be subbing the currently disasterous but not much discussed state of Scottish university funding. It seems clear that the univerities really need this income. My old prof is quite clear that the funding crisis is enormous - there is considerable worry about retaining the best staff as budgets are put under strain - and it's quite difficult to really work out what the SNP economic model for tertiary education really is.

I think it's true that the EU students won't get away much longer with not paying - if they can possibly find a legal way out of that they will. Whether there is enough money in Holyrood's coffers to pay for scots indefinitely is another question. Like you I absolutely believe that education should be a right - (and did anyone read the latest stats saying that because of the shortfall they now expect between monies loaned for fees, and those students who will repay, the treasury is going to be 2b worse off than if all students were still on the old model in England?!!!). But I'd like a bit more clarity about how the scottish economy is going to run..

And love my homeland as I do, I do think that my kids, despite all those holidays in the mist and heather, have the potential to feel a bit had, if they are stacking up £36,000 in debts and others aren't.
What seems increbibly sad is that I don't see how this is going to be anything other than divisive between two nations who have actually made quite a good fist on the whole of getting along since 1707. All very sad.
Looking for help
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Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: Glasgow University

Post by Looking for help »

another mother wrote:
And I don't quite agree that English students - including offspring of exiled Scots - won't be subbing the currently disasterous but not much discussed state of Scottish university funding. It seems clear that the univerities really need this income. My old prof is quite clear that the funding crisis is enormous - there is considerable worry about retaining the best staff as budgets are put under strain - and it's quite difficult to really work out what the SNP economic model for tertiary education really is.

I think it's true that the EU students won't get away much longer with not paying - if they can possibly find a legal way out of that they will. Whether there is enough money in Holyrood's coffers to pay for scots indefinitely is another question. Like you I absolutely believe that education should be a right - (and did anyone read the latest stats saying that because of the shortfall they now expect between monies loaned for fees, and those students who will repay, the treasury is going to be 2b worse off than if all students were still on the old model in England?!!!). But I'd like a bit more clarity about how the scottish economy is going to run..

And love my homeland as I do, I do think that my kids, despite all those holidays in the mist and heather, have the potential to feel a bit had, if they are stacking up £36,000 in debts and others aren't.
What seems increbibly sad is that I don't see how this is going to be anything other than divisive between two nations who have actually made quite a good fist on the whole of getting along since 1707. All very sad.
I know that I made a decision 18 years ago to come 'down south' because simply the huge company that my OH worked for decided then that they would not stay in Scotland. I also knew that at that point we were owed nothing by Scotland, so it came as no huge shock to me that my children could not freeload in Scotland, and would have to do the same as anyone in England does.

There is a whole load of bumf on the BBC website about whether Scotland pays its way or not, I imagine that university fees are part of the whole cost of Scotland but it is definitely in debate whether this is an inflow or outflow of money.

I have been very much upset this week by the nonsense peddled by the media, and I hope it goes away. The joke being of course that the debate has no place on this website, because there are no 11+ exams there :D
Kesteven
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Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:02 pm

Re: Glasgow University

Post by Kesteven »

another mother wrote:I too have an MA, from St Andrews, for my first degree which was Medieval History. In my day (back in the ark), you only got a BA if you did the three year ordinary degree I think. The MA is standard in Scottish Unis as far as I know.
The four year Masters (with honours) is standard only in the four Scottish ancient universities, I think (Glasgow/Edinburth/St Andrews/Aderdeen). The remainder have three year Bachelor degrees.
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