Kings College London - War Studies

[CatherineCawood]

Anyone else got a DC applied for War Studies at KCL?

Kind of an unusual choice! DD's other applications are for biology/anthropology/human sciences.

Alumni seem to often go into the forces which she really isn't interested in. Seems a bizarre choice.

Anyone got any thoughts on it or experience?

Ha! That's brilliant!

Glad 'Peace' is winning!

I note Peace has won more times than War...

I think History at Oxford with war studies modules within it, trumps Kings for undergrad.

But if not interested in a course with only history? War studies has history in it but also other modules. Maybe IR more similar to it? WS is part of the IR department at king's college
. DC was interested in it but decided to go for history...as broader....

History usually has a huge variety of options. War being one of them. Also in IR and Politics. I cannot find any evidence that war studies for undergrads trumps these courses. For masters - that’s different. For services personnel - that’s different again. For UN when competing in a global market - not sure it’s that valuable.

As an academic in a not particularly related area, I know that War Studies at Kings is an internationally renowned department, a jewel in UK academia. But whether an employer in a wholly unrelated area would know this is a different question.

But whether an employer in a wholly unrelated area would know this is a different question.

Whereas an applicant with a BA in History, even if they had hunted down an taken every available module most similar to the range on offer within the KCL degree, would be snapped up in an instant. Whatever any employer's line of business, 'History' is relevant when selecting new members of staff. Perhaps King's should stop relying on the odd person having looked into their War Studies course and recognising its virtues, and rename it to make it more generally desirable?

To be honest thought Phphion I imagine the KCL badge speaks for itself? I think the field most War Studies grads go into would mean the degree would be known.

Not wanting to make a point for or against any course, but dc's friend is from a W-European country, specially come over to do war studies. If he had wanted to do history he would have stayed in his own country. But I have no idee what he plans to do with it, or indeed whether he has any plans...
Also as mentioned before, I don't think War Studies is a "small/specialised field of history"; the course has some history in it but lots of other modules.
Even less relevant, I did a science degree and no idea why anyone would want to do history in the first place .

Just a correction that WS is not part of IR at kcl, it's a dept in it's own right.

War studies at KCL is a very long established, very well regarded degree. Probably the equal of IR at LSE. Yes a slightly anachronistic title, but department academics and the decree itself are well known internationally.

If an employer has not heard of it, I hope they would be intrigued enough to look it up. I would expect that the degree would deliver the skill set desired by employers of good history grads. And should someone be looking for an international or diplomatic career, it would be as good a place as any to start. Almost certainly better than many IR degrees, which do not seem to offer anything like the same exposure to current policy concerns and thinking.

If an employer has not heard of it, I hope they would be intrigued enough to look it up

You'd hope!

I still remember my interview at Oxford when the lecturer rolled his eyes and asked me to explain Scottish exams (and therefore my qualifications) to him. I very patiently and sweetly did this. The adult me wishes I had said to him 'if you are interested enough in me to be interviewing me, and if you are in the world of education, why haven't you found this out for yourself?'. I probably would have got a place then!!

If an employer has not heard of it, I hope they would be intrigued enough to look it up.

You'd hope!

@Needmoresleep, @Piggywaspushed, you took the words right out of my mouth.

Nothing the matter with straight 'school subject' degrees, of course; the world needs mathematicians and language / literature specialists and physicists et al. But I do think it's rather sad when anything which comes in a different box is put down, because employers won't recognise it. And can't be arsed to find out about it and that's the way it should be.

I'm jolly glad I'm not an Employer; I'd rather retain my sense of enquiry and imagination.

More seriously it’s one of those degrees that you hear about as an adult, and wish you had been aware of it when you were 17. It sounds really interesting., and is certainly prestigious. Well done OPs DC for finding out about it.

@fiveoldteddies "Even less relevant, I did a science degree and no idea why anyone would want to do history in the first place grin." Brilliant - but have to say my son took the rather primrose path of History, & he thinks War studies at KCL is a very very respectable degree ( he tends towards understatement)

BasiliskStare yes my son is of the same opinion, doining history but liked the idea of WS as well

Hi OP, KCL War Studies academic here (MN regular but have name-changed for this). Glad to hear your DD is thinking of applying to us!

As other people have said, we have a global reputation as a centre of expertise in our field(s) - though on the downside, yes, the department's performance in the Tolstoy Cup over the years has left a lot to be desired. The department and the degree are very well known, and a major asset when it comes to jobs - both because of our reputation and because of the skills our students develop (again, with the lamentable exception of football).

One of the great things about the degree, and the department is that precisely because it's not a standard History or IR degree, it tends to attract people who are genuinely interested in the subject. That makes for a much better experience for students (and for us).

The degree is a mix of several disciplines: history, IR, security studies, strategic studies are the most obvious ones. Students can study a huge range of things, from the history of naval warfare to international law, cybersecurity, the conflict in the Middle East, Russian foreign policy, disaster response, conflict journalism, war and and gender, the history of nationalism, security in Latin America, early 20th century international history, and a lot of other things. You can get a sense of the variety of what we do and teach from our War Studies podcast series.

Not many of our students go into the armed forces. Most of our students seem to go into the normal Russell Group social sciences/humanities jobs (law, management consultancy, the civil service, etc) but some end up in areas connected to the degree - security research analysis, journalism, working for organisations like the UN, the OSCE.

If you have any questions about the degree, the department, or KCL, happy to try to answer them here, or you/your DD can DM me.

When I'm presented with a shortlist for a media-related role which naturally attracts Politics, IR, History, Law, English Lit, Linguistics and Philosophy applicants (a recent grad role had more than 6,000 applications), I have to say that War Studies applicants definitely stand out.

@WarProf

Hi OP, KCL War Studies academic here (MN regular but have name-changed for this). Glad to hear your DD is thinking of applying to us!

As other people have said, we have a global reputation as a centre of expertise in our field(s) - though on the downside, yes, the department's performance in the Tolstoy Cup over the years has left a lot to be desired. The department and the degree are very well known, and a major asset when it comes to jobs - both because of our reputation and because of the skills our students develop (again, with the lamentable exception of football).

One of the great things about the degree, and the department is that precisely because it's not a standard History or IR degree, it tends to attract people who are genuinely interested in the subject. That makes for a much better experience for students (and for us).

The degree is a mix of several disciplines: history, IR, security studies, strategic studies are the most obvious ones. Students can study a huge range of things, from the history of naval warfare to international law, cybersecurity, the conflict in the Middle East, Russian foreign policy, disaster response, conflict journalism, war and and gender, the history of nationalism, security in Latin America, early 20th century international history, and a lot of other things. You can get a sense of the variety of what we do and teach from our War Studies podcast series.

Not many of our students go into the armed forces. Most of our students seem to go into the normal Russell Group social sciences/humanities jobs (law, management consultancy, the civil service, etc) but some end up in areas connected to the degree - security research analysis, journalism, working for organisations like the UN, the OSCE.

If you have any questions about the degree, the department, or KCL, happy to try to answer them here, or you/your DD can DM me.

Thank you SO much for your reply. It is really helpful. Looks like DD is 100% sure that she is going to accept the place. I hope that she enjoys it.

She's a good student and a very good writer. She has spent much of her gap year writing various blogs and articles for all sorts of companies, on a freelance basis.

I may well PM you a bit later on with some questions. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

HenryIV - 6,000 applicants 😯 good grief, how do you even start to sift through the CVs?!

Ah this is making me sad, I read geography at kcl and so very nearly swapped to war studies (we shared a staircase, their dept looked more interesting). Drat. Tell your kids to go for it, it's fascinating and incredibly well renowned.

@MarchingFrogs

But whether an employer in a wholly unrelated area would know this is a different question.

Whereas an applicant with a BA in History, even if they had hunted down an taken every available module most similar to the range on offer within the KCL degree, would be snapped up in an instant. Whatever any employer's line of business, 'History' is relevant when selecting new members of staff. Perhaps King's should stop relying on the odd person having looked into their War Studies course and recognising its virtues, and rename it to make it more generally desirable?

Yes, you’d have thought something like military history would be a better title? I’m fairly sure one of my brothers did a military history degree course.....somewhere like manchester or possibly Salford.

But it's so much more than just military history. As per DC who has a friend doing it

@CovidCorvid, I'm sorry to have misled you, but my tongue was fairly firmly pinned in my cheek when I wrote the bit about History degrees.

BA History apparently being the luxury apartment of the graduate world (defying the basic laws of supply and demand; however many are produced , the price that folk are willing to pay for them never goes down), something I have learnt from the wacky world of HE advice on Mumsnet.