English Lit at Edinburgh?

[edinmaybe]

Anyone’s DC doing English Lit at Edinburgh?
DD loves the City and Edinburgh would probably be their first choice if they get an offer. The talk at the open day wasn’t particularly inspiring ( in my mind) and also wondering how the strikes affected the students.
Just after some feedback. She knows contact hours are low but they tend to be everywhere for English Lit!

Just bumping this thread for you, OP. Hopefully someone will be along soon who has some experience of Eng Lit at Edinburgh.

I’ll reply as it will bump you. I’ve seen several posts in here recently of dc experiencing a lot of disruption at Edinburgh due to strikes and advising caution.
Have you factored in its 4 years to fund? My English DC is at a different Scottish uni so 4 years.

Daughter at Edinburgh studying music in third year. We are Scottish and she was fully funded, she enjoyed first year on campus at Pollock but was the only student from a state secondary. She lives in the city now but finds it lonely as the campus is so spread out and dominated by overseas students.

Course was significantly impacted by strike action this year which was frustrating.

Her sisters have had a better experience at RGU/Napier

You probably already know this, but with English Lit it is so important to look carefully at the course content. It varies so much between unis, so she needs to be really sure she likes the look of it.

Don’t worry about an open day talk. That’s just one academic talking about one topic.

I'm guessing you were at the same open day as us, last week? My DD was also unimpressed with Edinburgh's offering and having been to other open days thinks she might prefer Dundee as a second choice as their open day was much better. The top choice is St Andrews but that's notoriously difficult for Scottish students to get into.

I live in Edinburgh and went to Edinburgh Uni many years ago. It is an excellent uni and contact hours for things like this are low. City is gorgeous and rent is high but doable.

However, strikes have caused issues with some students not getting grades on graduation due to finals not being marked.

Also, I was a grammar school kid from a pretty modest background and in subjects like English Lit and politics it is very much private school ‘yah’ types and it can feel like they have just gone from boarding school to Edinburgh. I’m not a radical leftie but they did enrage me with their snobbishness and entitlement. I worked as a waitress and that blew their minds that my parents didn’t fund me. It hasn’t changed, if anything it is worse and regularly gets called out on the news for posh yahs making fools of Scottish students and making them feel crap. Just a watch out If your kid goes to state school.

Should add, my DD fell in love with Stirling, and the campus was nice.

One good thing about Scottish Unis is that you study three subjects in years one and two, then specialise in years three and four. So if you hate your degree is is easier to change.

@edinmaybe My daughter is doing English lit & creative writing at Aberdeen university and loves it. She applied to Edinburgh but then decided against it. She also applied to Dundee university (where we live)and was offered a place but decided to branch out and go to Aberdeen.
Im glad she did. because of the strikes at Dundee lots of classes are being cancelled. I’m doing my nursing degree and some our classes are cancelled until January.

Strikes are cancelled now at Dundee. DS doing English Lit there plus Philosophy - loves it.

Thanks all- we’re English and only considering Edinburgh in Scotland. St Andrews way too small! Everyone we know at Edinburgh ( lots of different subjects) is having a great time so lots to think about! Strikes are popping up every hard to know what to do! Will wait and see if gets an offer and then decide.

Edinburgh's a great place to live in general, but classes will be huge in 1st year and yeah the strikes keep happening (I guess these things might be true lots of places).
Just bc not mentioned yet on thread, has your DD considered visiting Glasgow Uni, their open days are usually good as is their English dept?

Have you looked at Glasgow? My sons there (doing science) but 2 of his flatmates are from England doing English lit or similar and they all seem to be having a great time. The university area always seems buzzing whenever we’ve popped up and it’s warmer than Edinburgh! (Admittedly wetter!!)

To coin a Scots phrase, I have always felt Edinburgh uni is all fur coat and nae knickers.

A lot of English people seem drawn to it but its place in the league tables isn't that stellar.

I think there are many better universities for the study of English .

Oh, and I think literature is one of the departments where the uni is making cuts.

It would be a great city to live for 4 years. So much going on. Are you ok paying for that extra year however? Another £20k for tuition and accom.

the English degree at Leeds is excellent if you need another option

I don’t know Edinburgh but I work in the school of English at another university and English literature is a subject in decline generally. I would look very carefully at departments that are strong and not losing student numbers. Ours is making redundancies which means there’s less choice of options for students - not to mention low morale and possible strikes.

Thanks for all the pointers. UCAS choices all made so not considering anywhere else. They’re quite fixed about Cities they’d be happy to live in. Just trying to get more info from people who are studying English at Edinburgh.

If we knew the other choices , some of us might have insight into whether those are better/worse/ the same.

Loving a city is all well and good but the precariousness of some courses (and in Edinburgh's case it's draconian management responses) , and the quality of the courses, are what can make or break the experience.

I am assuming, perhaps wrongly, that the background here is affluent but it is certainly true that Edinburgh is very expensive.

DD didn't apply as it had the same entry requirements as Cambridge! She also wants cities and had offers from Leeds, York and Manc. I hadn't realised the private school element but I'm glad she didn't apply now! Sorry, not speaking from actual experience of the Uni.

DD actually quite liked the talk at Edinburgh- it was only me who found it a bit uninspiring. We were also there the day of the massive storm which slightly dampened the spirits! The best one by far was at UCL. But I do think, within reason, that where you study is very important. For English, Durham and St Andrews are always high up in the tables but DD hated both of them ( although liked the architecture etc) and could
see why some people might love them.
I have an older DC who was adamant they wanted a campus university and is at York. Younger DD wants a bigger city with lots of other stuff going on and I know they will take full advantage of it. Although they also like York but don’t want to go to the same place as sister!
Also really likes Manchester.
Anyway, hopefully we can go to offer holder days and make some
decisions then. I know they were very helpful for my older DD.

But if anyone has a DC studying English at Edinburgh ( or Manchester) I’d still be grateful for first hand info!

DS went to Edinburgh and a couple of his friends were studying English Lit. Interesting to chat to them because it’s my subject - the impression I got was that the course had a reasonable amount of freedom of choice but you wouldn’t always get the module you wanted if it was popular and filled up quickly. The strikes were disruptive and contact hours pretty low (as they usually are for English Lit, tbf). Be aware that the uni generally is one of those that opposes gender critical beliefs very assertively and DS’s friends certainly felt that the English Lit course was quite prescriptive in that regard. It’s not a course I would choose were I applying for my degree now, I have to say.

The Eng Lit degree I’ve heard spoken of most highly in recent years is Leeds.

Have a dc studying English with another subject at Edin. The final year where they are now is by far the most interestin course-wise, sadly the strikes have had a really detrimental effect - although more on the other subject being studied. However, I think strikes are going to be more and more of an issue everywhere in the next few years, so I don't know if it's possible to outrun them. They love the city and their friendship group isn't posh boarding school at all - quite the opposite.