applying to masters program

Hi all,
Does anyone here have any experience with applying to a postgraduate program
while living in the UK? I've been living here for over three years and will not qualify for
home status for many more, but I am considering doing an MA in Library Science
in the fall and think it will be easier to enroll in a program in London than in the U.S.
I went to an open evening at City University and walked away with the impression
that as long as I showed them my BA I'd get in. Is this true? That would make it
much easier to study here in the U.S.A., as I've missed taking the GRE this year.
I wouldn't  be going through all the loan paperwork- I'm expecting my husband to
find a full time job by the fall and I'll continue teaching part-time. So, the questions
are, is it really as easy as showing a diploma; does that make the degree of
dubious merit; and does anyone have any experience with City University or
London Met, the other London university offering a library qualification that
is still accepting applications?
Thanks very much!

I went to library school in the UK there aren't any tests involved, in most cases the admissions decision is made based on your BA transcript and your personal statement (and as you're already in the UK, they may want an interview as well.)  I don't think it would be that hard to get in, especially if you show some motivation for the career field.  And if you're still paying overseas fees then that would likely be a draw for the uni since overseas students bring a lot of money into the university.

I'm applying for UK library/information jobs right now, and pretty much 98% of the time it doesn't really matter where you got your qualification, as long as you have it.  Experience is *much* more important (most new UK grads from library science programs have at least 1 year of full time experience in the field so you have to work to distinguish yourself.)

Hi all,
Does anyone here have any experience with applying to a postgraduate program
while living in the UK? I've been living here for over three years and will not qualify for
home status for many more, but I am considering doing an MA in Library Science
in the fall and think it will be easier to enroll in a program in London than in the U.S.
I went to an open evening at City University and walked away with the impression
that as long as I showed them my BA I'd get in. Is this true? That would make it
much easier to study here in the U.S.A., as I've missed taking the GRE this year.
I wouldn't  be going through all the loan paperwork- I'm expecting my husband to
find a full time job by the fall and I'll continue teaching part-time. So, the questions
are, is it really as easy as showing a diploma; does that make the degree of
dubious merit; and does anyone have any experience with City University or
London Met, the other London university offering a library qualification that
is still accepting applications?
Thanks very much!

Why don't you qualify as a home student?  Generally the residence threshold is 3 years. 

Thanks for the responses. I don't qualify as a home student because I'm a student
dependent of another foreigner, not on a work visa or married to a Brit like many of you are. My husband would like to stay on under the highly skilled migrant program, but he needs his
PhD first, and then I suppose I could go to school here under home fees after
another three years. If anyone has any information to contradict what I've written,
I'd be very interested! But I'm quite sure that does not exist.

My MLS program in the U.S. didn't require the GRE's and was ALA. 

It might not matter here, but if you are planning to go back to the U.S. at some point having an ALA recognized degree will be important.

As Springhaze said, most MLS candidates work for at least a year before going for their degrees.  I am not sure how difficult it would be to get a library position without that background. 

Of course, I am not one to talk I suppose.  I have expereince and am having trouble finding a library job, most of that being my area.  I have seen three jobs within my area this year, all of them less than 10 hours a week. 

i'm doing an ma in librarianship in the uk now. i applied to two school and got into one, though technically i didn't meet either school's 3.0 gpa requirement for admission as i attended a non-traditional liberal arts college in the us where we received narrative evaluations instead of grades, hence graduating with no gpa. neither uni here had experience in dealing with that. oddly, the school with the better academic reputation was the one that offered me admission, while the other was more strict about sticking to their guidelines.

there is a reciprocal agreement between the ala and cilip stating that a library degree accredited by either will be good for employment in both countries. though since i've not studied library science in the us, i can't say for certain, my impression is that the course in the uk assumes more knowledge of how a library operates due to most students having a year of practical experience going in. i don't think the degree is of dubious merit at all. honestly, library science is not rocket science and the lecturers here have said as much. if you've completed a ba, you should be able to handle the coursework fairly easily. all library science degrees seem to hold pretty equal weight.

I don't think degrees here are of dubious merit, just if you want to go back to the U.S. go with a Cilip approved one.

A local Uni near my parent's offered a MLA that wasn't accredited.  They wouldn't even hire their own graduates to work in their library.   

I don't think degrees here are of dubious merit, just if you want to go back to the U.S. go with a Cilip approved one.

A CILIP accredited degree is accepted by the ALA as equivalent to ALA accreditation, so in theory there's no problem with being hired as a professional librarian in the US with a UK library degree.

No, no.  I know, I was just saying go for the Cilip one.  I'm am not sure if all library programs here are Cilip approved that's all.

No, no.  I know, I was just saying go for the Cilip one.  I'm am not sure if all library programs here are Cilip approved that's all.

ah, I see- sorry I misunderstood!  I'm pretty certain all library qualification programmes are CILIP accredited here, but of course you should double check.  The information-related courses that aren't CILIP accredited tend to be programs that aren't intended to be a first professional qualification, from what I can tell.

ah, I see- sorry I misunderstood!  I'm pretty certain all library qualification programmes are CILIP accredited here, but of course you should double check.  The information-related courses that aren't CILIP accredited tend to be programs that aren't intended to be a first professional qualification, from what I can tell.

Yeah, I don't understand why anyone would pay for an MLS programs in the US that wasn't ALA.  We had a lot of annoyed people working at Barnes and Noble with me.  Local libraries will sometimes hire the graduates, but not often.

Yeah, I don't understand why anyone would pay for an MLS programs in the US that wasn't ALA. 

Agreed!  That's just...shooting yourself in the foot, basically.  Weird.

Thanks! I wasn't even thinking of dubious merit in terms of CILIP vs ALA. The UK
programs did require experience (mine is all in writing and teaching), but City University has
apparently relaxed this requirement, perhaps to get more furriners with money in. I
should work in a library- I guess bookstores don't count- but I think I'm getting the
library degree in order to do so! Now I see that there is a 3000 pound difference
between London Met and City U, and both are CILIP certified. Hmm.

If you don't have much or any experience, check to see whether there's any kind of work placement programme you can take advantage of- my university had a dedicated work placements unit for the library school students because they didn't require you to have the 1 year of experience before enrolling (I had only 9 months of part time library experience before starting so my four month internship in Manchester was a great help.)

As someone with an ALA MLS and seven years of solid public & academic library experience (I worked at Harvard, for chrissakes!) who's just spent over a year trying to land even a no-degree-required part-time public library job, I strongly encourage you to put the library school thing off for a while and apply for a few library jobs - chances are you'll rise through the ranks and do just as well (well, in some libraries anyway - depends on what you want to do, eventually) without spending the time and money on a degree!   And if you find you want to take a degree, you'll have the required experience.