Wah, Studying in the UK

University may seem like a place where you will make lifelong friends, explore fun extracurricular activities, and maybe even move to a new country like the UK! But while it is definitely a place for all those things, university is still ultimately an avenue for higher education, and getting a better understanding of what the academic experience will be like is crucial in making a decision on where to study.

Disclaimer: generalisations have to be made in this article so don’t forget to check individual university websites if you’re sure you want to study in the UK!

What are course choices like in the UK?

One of the most, if not the most, important consideration in university decision-making is deciding what you want to study. On this, studying in the UK would be similar to studying in NUS or NTU as you would have to decide what you want to do a degree in when you apply. This is drastically different from studying in the US, where you can apply to the university with an ‘undeclared’ major, and you would only have to make up your mind usually at the end of your second year. As such, if you are still incredibly uncertain as to what you want to spend 3 to 4 years of your life studying, applying to the UK may not be the best choice. (Alternatively, check out our article on How to Choose a Course)

If you are afraid that you might change your mind halfway and you are already stuck in a UK university, don’t fret as there have been instances where your university might allow you to switch courses (subject to each individual university’s discretion).

Something else to take note of is the length of your degree - most degrees in the UK are 3 years’ long (there are exceptions such as Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) at the London School of Economics; medicine, which is 6 years’ long; or a combined Bac), as opposed to the usual 4 years in Singapore or the US. What this might mean is lower fees overall (compared to US), starting your career earlier, and a shorter university experience.

Minors? Double Degrees?

The UK university system makes it so that there are no such things as minors. Instead, if you wish to learn about two different subjects, they would be classified as a single degree on those two subjects - for instance, Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Computer Science and Philosophy, or Bachelors of Science (BSc) in Politics and Economics. These combinations are also relatively inflexible compared to US or Singapore, as you can only choose from the combinations that the university offers, and it is unlikely that you can make up your own combinations.

There are double degree offerings in the UK, but this is largely dependent on the university. For instance, LSE Law offers a Double Degree Programme with Columbia University Law School, where you will spend 2 years in LSE, and another 2 years in Columbia Law School, and eventually graduate with both an LLB and a JD.

What is the teaching like?

The teaching system in the UK is quite similar to that of Singapore Junior Colleges, consisting of both lectures and tutorials. Tutorial class sizes differ amongst universities - Oxbridge is famous for having very small tutorial class sizes of usually 1 professor to 2-3 students, while most other universities have classes of about 12-15 students. While this is usually the case, there are some modules, usually those with a small cohort size, that are taught in seminar-style classes, where lectures and tutorials are combined into a seminar.

With regards to frequency, lectures are usually 2 hours every week (either in one-go or split into two 1 hour sessions), and tutorials are either 1 hour every fortnight, or 1 hour every week per module, depending on your course and university. Students taking science degrees would also have lab sessions.

How this situation changes with Covid-19 is not 100% certain, but the general sentiment across multiple universities in the UK is that lectures will now be moved completely online, while tutorials can still take place in-person so long as social distancing measures are adhered to. Most, if not all, universities also offer the option of doing tutorials online if you are unable to be back on campus at least for the term starting in September 2020.

Examinations?

How you will be examined for your degree depends very much on the module that you take. Some examples include the standard 3 hour exam at the end of the year accounting for 100% of your grade (A Levels anyone?); or a 30% assessment in the middle of the year, and the remaining 70% at the end; or even fully take home exams that resemble research projects.

Again, with the Covid-19 situation, there is a chance that in-person examinations cannot be carried out. Based on the 2019/2020 Academic Year experience, alternatives can come in the form of 24-hour take home examinations, or changing the assessment to resemble a project that you are given 1-2 weeks to work on.

What about non-traditional degree opportunities?

The UK has many well-known schools for the arts. For example, if you are keen to pursue a degree in music, you can check out the Bachelor of Music (BMus) programmes at the Royal College of Music or the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, or a Bachelor of Arts in Music at Oxford or Cambridge. Goldsmiths is also an increasingly popular choice amongst Singaporeans choosing to study fine arts, or media and communications, or theatre and performance.

Anything else I should know?

Academics at university are going to be rigorous wherever you choose to study, so to make your life easier, do take the time to think carefully about how flexible you want your course choices to be, and the teaching style and environment you prefer so you can end up somewhere that you will like!

---

Up Next in the Starter Pack: Wah, Studying in the US