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Postgraduate study and London

  
 
one point, oh
11:42 / 30.07.07
Dearest Barbelith, I have recently been offered a place on an MSc course in applied mathematics at Imperial College (which to be honest I was both surprised and pretty chuffed at). Unfortunately this course comes without funding and rather inconsiderately Imperial seems to have chosen to base itself in one of the most expensive places to live in the UK: South Kensington. I could have split this thread up into a number of already existing threads, but I decided (rather selfishly) that I’d rather have all my problems aired as one cohesive whole.
My problems start with money. Interestingly, I have also been offered place on a fully funded statistics course, with a maintenance grant, at another university; which is in fact the same university my partner of the past 2 years will be attending. Taking the statistics course would solve all my problems, especially given I would have to pay little to no rent, the major sticking point however is that I loathe statistics and the university (whilst good) pales in comparison to Imperial and its course. Unless something dramatically changes in my mindset imperial is distinctly my first choice, and this leaves only so many ways of funding myself: part time study, deferral or loans (or, if you folk know of any, some kind of sponsorship). All of these options come with their own problems; I’ve heard part time study is more than hard, with deferral there is no guarantee I will be able to save up enough money to complete my studies anyway and with loans there is the obvious issue of paying them back, especially if I decide I might like to do a PhD. I have no idea which is my best bet, but I am leaning towards loans (why deal with today what I can put off until tomorrow).
My second issue is with accommodation and London itself; I have never lived in London before, have no idea where would be a good place to live or how I should go about looking for housemates. This has essentially left me perusing Gumtree like a lost sheep, terrified of where and with whom I am going to end up living in a couple of months. The most important factor on my accommodation shopping list is price, followed closely by proximity to the South Kensington campus; unfortunately the two appear to be mutually exclusive.
My third and final concern is my relationship, although I have been avoiding thinking about this as much as possible. We are still extremely happy together, and I don’t really feel ready for it to end. On the other hand I don’t think I am going to have the money required for regular commutes or be that happy switching to a long distance relationship from what has been such a close relationship (emotionally and physically) for the past 2 years. We are both still very young; in a pragmatic sense this feels like such a natural and easy breakpoint that it scares me.
So, in essence Barbelith, I want you to find me loadsa money, a beautiful place to live and reconcile my internal conflict over my current relationship; surely all easy tasks for ones so wise. Thank you.
 
 
jentacular dreams
09:27 / 31.07.07
Hmm dovetail, not an easy request, but here goes.

I notice you haven't mentioned any considerations of part-time work? I did an MSc a few years ago, and only just scraped through finance-wise. I saved up as much money as I could over the previous year, but it didn't prove to be enough. In the end I had to get an evening job in a call centre over the summer, and working minimum hours only just kept me in my overdraft limit. But that aside, actually having to work every evening after labs, wasn't that bad. The job was abysmal, but most of my coursemates were also working, and whilst working in collections was emotionally exhausting, it gave me some space for intellectual down-time before I headed back to write my thesis every evening.

I'm also of the opinion that being happy when you're at home trumps avoiding a commute hands down. To me, who I'm living with is to a large extent more important than both rent and distance. Remember that your happiness over the year will both colour your enjoyment of the course (and maybe the quality of your work), and possibly some aspects of your relationship (which, if you're both very happy I'd recommend trying to maintain over long distance - the MSc is *only* a year after all, break it off and it could be a decade before you both meet anyone you're that happy with again, if at all).

So in short I'd encourage you to try to find some people who seem like good housemates, somewhere not a million miles away from kenstington, but a shade more affordable (say brixton, or kennington), visit your partener, or have them visit you when possible. Try to get a part time job if you can (24 hour supermarkets offer a great many flexible shifts - that was how I funded my undergrad). If you defer, you can still do all the above, but financial needs being a little less pressing.

This is just me, but I always view a loan as a last option, if you get one and have any kind of financial emergency then you're kind of cornered. The part time job I mentioned above was at capital one's collections department (basically calling up people who were behind on their payments and trying to help them sort out their situation), and I saw so much misery there that I'll always try to avoid getting myself into a similar position.
 
 
Sebastian Flyte
16:05 / 01.08.07
I went to Imperial for my undergraduate degree (and actually then went on to edit the Student Newspaper there), so I may be of assistance.

Life at Imperial will be expensive; there's no avoiding it. If you live far away (as I did for a couple of years) you'll be spending a fair bit on travel, if you live close by you'll either be living in a scummy hovel (and there are a good few of those around, due to the student demand), or paying a small fortune... or more likely both.

The Union and the College both provide good housing advice... so they are probably a good first port of call for seeking somewhere to stay. The Imperial halls of residence are also, generally, relatively nice, and often have places available for post-grad students... which could work for you in the short term.

The students' union is also a good place to look for employment. The bar and union building offer a number of different places to work, and the staff consists of a mix of both postgrads and undergrads. They pay relatively well, and are as understanding about working hours as they relate to study as one could hope for.

The relationship issues I shall leave to other 'lithers to advise you on, save one point... Imperial (and its main campus especially) has a seriously skewed male:female ratio, and is generally a Very Strange Place in that regard. This may or may not be something you wish to consider, in context.
 
 
one point, oh
22:24 / 01.08.07
Thank you, Mice and Sebastian, for the heap of good advice from the pair of you.

Part time work is definitely an important consideration, and something that I full well intend to use in order to supplement what little money I do have. The sad truth is, though, that (if I am doing the course full time) whatever money it brings in will be a drop in the ocean of my deficit for the year: without loans, the money I do have is enough to cover the tuition fees and several months rent, tops. Having said that, your concerns, Mice, about loans have made me think twice; the other option that I feel is realistic is part time study, but I am unsure of how easy it is to juggle both study and work commitments. I might try find out more about what hours I’d be studying on the part time course and look into finding suitable jobs; in the meantime, if anyone has any experience of part time study, any input would be appreciated.

As for accommodation, it is true that Imperial’s halls of residence do look incredibly nice for the price, but my enquiries to the accommodation office were mostly greeted with comments about waiting lists, coming to the queue somewhat late, preference being given to international students and some (admittedly helpful) advice on where else to look. Gumtree has had a couple of promising ads to which I have responded. Who I end up living with is, of course, incredibly important; I am, however, finding it a lot more difficult to gauge over the internet what these people are really like, as opposed to the fairly straightforward task of discerning between the possible flatshares off the back of rent and location. The posters of the ads I have responded to all described themselves as laidback, which I instantly took (rather bizarrely) to mean left leaning, open minded and easy to be around. Hopefully I’ll be able to arrange some viewings and find some folk that I think I can get along with.

I’ve been thinking about it a little bit more, and I do plan on going to London with every intention of maintaining my current relationship. My previous relationship also became a long distance relationship that ended more towards the apathy and bitterness end of the scale than was pleasant. The possibility that the same could happen to the current one does worry me, it is probably all unfounded though; the rocky end of the last relationship was probably more down to the people in it, rather than the fact it was long distance.

Thanks for all the advice on the union and such like, Sebastian; I hadn’t checked out the union’s website before, but it appears to be pretty slick. Are there any Imperial College tips you’d care to share? Generous vending machines, quiet/relatively undiscovered computer rooms, decent societies, etc? All would be appreciated and investigated; at my last university I considered the quest to chart all of the quiet study spaces (as well as toilets, oddly enough) as tantamount to the scramble for Africa.
 
 
Squirmelia
07:58 / 02.08.07
I'm also going to be starting an MSc in September, but at UCL, in Human-Computer Interaction with Ergonomics. Similarly, I don't have funding, but I do have savings.

UCL said that as well as tuition fees (£3,675 for my course), living expenses for a single person will be about £225 a week. I don't think I'd even consider doing an MSc if I didn't have savings. Perhaps doing it part-time would make it more possible to work as well though?

I am also worried about finding accommodation!
 
  
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