Comparing Unis in and around london

Hi, new here.  Recently looking into applying to several schools in the UK for postgrad study in International Relations, Global Politics, or Political Communication.  So far I'm looking at LSE, Kings College, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway (for their "new political communication" unit), and Exeter.

From what I've read, LSE is the best for IR (if I can get in), and I'm interested in the QMU global and comparitve politics MA if anyone knows anything about that?

But mostly, I wanted to ask about the location and environment at each college.  Since I don't really know London or the area, I have no real way of judging whether the locations are good places or not (especially in the city, are there any not so safe areas to avoid? I've heard mixed reviews about the tube...).  Also, even though I'll be postgrad, I'd like to live in some sort of student housing since I don't know anyone in the UK and want to get more of a college atmosphere...but not necessarily in the middle of nowhere.

Any information is appreciated And if there are other Uni's you would reccommend for studying some sort of politics track please let me know!  Oh, and also, can I wait until I figure out the applications and submit them to apply for loans and everything or is that a process I should start asap?

WEll, um.  Exeter isn't in or near London.

But otherwise, I've recently been to Royal Holloway to look round and if you want a London University it is pretty far out.  It's in Egham in Surrey and is a lot more Surrey than it is London. Not a city at all.   It's very campusy but in my opinion is kind of remote. 

Right, I knew Exeter wasn't in London but from what I've read from other posts seems to be a college town with plenty to do nearby? I currently am in Ithaca, NY, home of Cornell and Ithaca College so its a pretty busy town despite being in the absolute middle of nowhere.  Not sure I want that vs. a city experience but just to try to get an idea of what people would say about it vs. city living (ie. is it worth the higher living costs to experience london for a year?)

I think I need to get a map...where is Surrey? I assume that surrounding areas have regular transportation into the city (tends to be this way in the us)

oh, and on another unrelated note, if I wanted to take some language classes in addition to classes for my MA is that doable or are the one-year degree programs too intensive to take outside courses?

Right, I knew Exeter wasn't in London but from what I've read from other posts seems to be a college town with plenty to do nearby? I currently am in Ithaca, NY, home of Cornell and Ithaca College so its a pretty busy town despite being in the absolute middle of nowhere.  Not sure I want that vs. a city experience but just to try to get an idea of what people would say about it vs. city living (ie. is it worth the higher living costs to experience london for a year?)

Exeter would be fairly similar to Ithica.

I think I need to get a map...where is Surrey? I assume that surrounding areas have regular transportation into the city (tends to be this way in the us)

oh, and on another unrelated note, if I wanted to take some language classes in addition to classes for my MA is that doable or are the one-year degree programs too intensive to take outside courses?

Surrey is the county right outside of London.  It's pretty suburban and commuter-belt.  Egham is a smallish town in Surrey.  The campus is a hike from the town.  There would be regular trains and buses into London.  It's just not a London campus if that's what you're looking at.  But it does have a good reputation.

oh, and on another unrelated note, if I wanted to take some language classes in addition to classes for my MA is that doable or are the one-year degree programs too intensive to take outside courses?

Depends on how much time and work the classes will take and whether or not you want to do anything other than study   

I too am applying to LSE. Good luck! Here are some good website that I have found in research for studying in London

http://moving2london.com/ A good website, though geared towards Australians, provides WONDERFUL videos of London transport, London hot spots, finding work, visas, etc.
http://www.universityfinder.co.uk/ Provides student reviews about different universities in the UK
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/good_university_guide/ This websites contains school and course rankings, student guides for writing personal statements, staying out of debt, etc.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/article2056420.ece A students guide about attending LSE

SOAS is a wonderful school for linguistics and language. If not, London has plenty of schools you could study if you have the money 

I hope it helped.

Right, I knew Exeter wasn't in London but from what I've read from other posts seems to be a college town with plenty to do nearby?

Exeter is on the other side of the country to London - about 4 hours drive away. London is south east England, Exeter is south west England. There are quite a few universities and college towns between the two .

Having said that though, I did my undergraduate degree at Exeter University and there's a chance I might be moving back down to Exeter in a few months (had a job interview there recently and am waiting to hear back from the company). Exeter is a lovely city: population 100,000, 12,000 of whom are students, it has a good high street shopping centre (some parts newly built  a couple of years ago), 3 movie theatres (multiscreen, 4-screen and independent arts cinema), a bowling alley, 5 nightclubs, a beautiful cathedral and green and the River Exe. The beach is only about a 20-minute train journey away and nearby larger cities include Plymouth and Bristol.

The university is on a lovely, green campus (apparently voted the most beautiful campus in the UK!), although it is built on a hill. The university grounds have a large stately home and a scenic walk within them. Campus facilities include catered and non-catered student accommodation, a large campus library, bank, convenience store, 6 bars, a nightclub, cafes and on-campus food places, small open-air swimming pool and sports centre.

I would definitely recommend Exeter as a lovely university, campus and city (I was a Physics major, so can help you on the International Relations front, I'm afraid) .

thanks for the help everyone rynn, those links were very helpful!!

however, I've just done some google map searches and think I've confused myself more than I was before - not sure if it's just the addresses google has or that I don't have a sense of where everything around london is located but: LSE is the only school I'm looking at that is actually IN london? It looks as if Kings and Queen Mary are just as far out as royal holloway?

I'm thinking I definitely want to be in the city...what other universities have campuses that are actually IN London?  I'm sure this is a very silly question, but this is much easier to ask someone who knows the area than try more internet searches haha.

Kings College, London is right in the middle of the city - just on the banks of the River Thames and only 0.2 miles (about 5 minutes walk) from LSE. Queen Mary is in the East End of London - still in the city itself, though (only 4 miles from LSE). Having said that though, Royal Holloway is also right in the middle of the city (only 1.3 miles from LSE), very close to Waterloo Station and just the other side of the river from the Westminster and Buckingham Palace areas!

Not sure if they have International Relations courses available, but other universities nearby include UCL (University College London), Imperial, Brunel University and City University London.

I think maybe you are confusing the area known as 'City of London' with London itself. The City of London is a tiny area (only 1 sq. mile in size) of Central London with a population of about 8,000 people, whereas the entire city (Greater London) has a population of 7.5 million and covers an area of over 600 sq. miles.

Edited to add: A second Google maps search now shows Royal Holloway as out in Egham so I'm confusing myself now. Just ignore what I said above.

My university is in London: Roehampton University

It's in SW London, so a bit out of the main city centre, but near bus/tube.

I have no idea what the IR/politics stuff is like there, as I'm in Television Studies. I also don't live there (I live closer to Bristol and do the two-hour commute once a month or so), but it is a lovely campus. I think it's the only uni properly in London to have a full campus.

Yeah, city of london vs. london is definitely confusing me.  I'm comparing what I know about Boston, where there is the city proper, and then smaller neighborhoods surrounding the city that are close distance-wise, but it's a pain to get into the actual city for shopping, nightlife, etc.  I'm guessing this is not the case with london?

also, when I searched "kings college london" google maps gave me a different location than just "kings college, uk".  excellent haha.

Yeah, city of london vs. london is definitely confusing me.  I'm comparing what I know about Boston, where there is the city proper, and then smaller neighborhoods surrounding the city that are close distance-wise, but it's a pain to get into the actual city for shopping, nightlife, etc.  I'm guessing this is not the case with london?

You can get around most of London either on foot or by using the underground train services/overground buses. The majority of the universities that are in the city (LSE, Kings, Queen Mary, UCL, Brunel etc.) are right in Central London and so are very close to hundreds of shops, bars, pubs, restaurants, theatres etc. and you can travel around this area relatively easily. I think of it as being similar to Manhattan in that everything is close together, there are lots of people walking around the streets and very few people living right in Central London actually own a car and so rely on public transport or walking instead.

Unlike other US cities which are very spread out, the freeway runs right through the city and you can't get anywhere without a car, many UK cities are so compact that you can walk or take public transport around them fairly easily (when I lived in Exeter, I could walk from the campus, through the city centre to the river on the other side of the city in 40 minutes). You can get from Heathrow Airport right into Central London (about 20 miles) in just 25-30 minutes on the underground .

also, when I searched "kings college london" google maps gave me a different location than just "kings college, uk".  excellent haha.

That's what just happened to me when I searched for Royal Holloway and got a result in Central London! The actual Kings College is on The Strand in Central London (it's famous for being one of the streets on the Monopoly board ).

Ooh, this topic is right up my alley as I've been attempting to do some google searches for unis in London just this morning. It's definitely not easy. I just need somewhere sorta cheap that I can go to (maybe with some kind of work/study thing? Does that exist there?) and get my course done and get a job post-study. I will be following this topic as well. Thanks for asking the question K8. When do you plan on starting your course?

Goldsmiths College is also a London University and I think there is also a University of East London.  As well as the School of Oriental and African Studies.  There must be more.

Gotta- I'm applying this fall to start courses next year...it's a little harder to find out about the application process and I have no idea what sort of chance I have at getting in at various places so I'm sort of picking a few where I like the programs and seeing what happens!!