Hi LLMguide colleagues.

As some of you already know, my fiancée and I are off to London in September. But Im in huge dilemma at the moment and Ive decided to reach out to you for some help.

My fiancée is having a hard time with her IELTS exam. Shes tried twice already and couldnt pull it off. Its a real bugger cause she missed it both times just by half a point (UCL ask for a 7.5, but shes stuck at 7.0). And now shes really set her mind on giving in and calling it quits Ive been trying to talk her out of it, but I dont think Ill be able to bring it off and make her see its worth trying again.

Shes got some sort of traumatic experience when it comes to tests as if shed been traumatised in her childhood by an evil English teacher whod slap her every time she misspelt a phrase like Three witches watch three Swatch watches. Which witch watch which Swatch watch?.

Shes got an offer from Queen Mary and her current IELTS marks meet QMs language requirements. Thats the main reason why shes decided to quit trying i.e., shes already secured a place on a good university. I believe and Ive even said it before on other posts round here that QM might be the lowest brand among UoLs colleges putting aside SOAS, Birbeck and others that in my opinion are way below QM and I dont reckon much to their reputation (just my opinion, please dont chop my head off!!!).

Anyway, taking account of the fact Ill probably fail in talking her through the advantages of sitting the exam again, I would like to know if either of you know anything that could help answer the following:

i. Hows Queen Marys programme for criminal law? I know they havent got a long-established expertise in that field, but just some thoughts on it would be greatly appreciated.

ii. Hows the pre-sessional English course at UCL? Ive whipped through the Language Centre website and I know how it works in theory, but Id like to know if anybody is acquainted with how it is in practice is it difficult to get the 75% they ask for entry on the LLM?

iii. Do you think itd be feasible to live together with me at UCL and her at QM? Ive been to London once and I believe it would, especially cause some classes (either at UCL or QM) are held at the Senate House, or the IALS building or (for QM only) at Lincolns Inns Fields and you dont have to go to class everyday and theres always the tube. But do you think itd be a very burdensome way of living, even if just for a year? Does anybody know if QMs Mile End campus is too far off Mile End tube station?

I appreciate any help and sorry for the long post its been troubling me and I tried to type it off didn't work!

:_ (

Thanks,

beicon,

I can only really help with (iii), but I'm not really sure what you have in mind. You certainly will not want to walk between Bloomsbury and Mile End regularly. If you're willing to use the tube though, it should be approximately 30 mins door-to-door between the two faculties.

Anywhere near Bloomsbury (and increasingly so near Mile End, strangely) you'll pay an arm and a leg for a shoebox -- so it may be best to find somewhere a bit further afield and bring a book (but perhaps not your dignity) along for the commute. But that's really down to your personal choice.

Hope your fiancee makes it in to her preferred programme, one way or another. Have you pleaded with admissions for leniency (I see a lot of posts here that this sometimes works)? In any case there's no shame in going to QMUL, it's a very good school, though I don't know anything specific about its criminal law specialisation.

Hi amt233.

Thanks for the reply. Its been of great help.

But if I may: when you say pay an arm and a leg for a shoebox, how much do you mean exactly? And how small would that shoebox be (cause my feet arent really big so it might fit)?

Ive been going over loads of websites with flats and houses out to let and, although they arent as cheap as Id hoped for, the prices havent scared me off. Im not bursting with money, but Ive laying aside every pence that Ive got for quite sometime. Even though I dont plan to buzz about in Oxford Street and buy out a penthouse overlooking the River Thames, I want to find a reasonable flat to live in, even if my fiancée and I have to move in with other couples.

Ive budgeted about 12,000 for twelve months of accommodation (6,000 for me and 6,000 for my fiancée). Do you think thats enough to find some place in the Bloomsbury area? Or maybe somewhere between UCL and QM?

Just so you know, we tried asking for some leniency but it didnt come off.

Once again, thanks for the reply!

Assuming a budget of £1000/month, I believe it would be very tough to find something adequate in Bloomsbury, regardless of your foot size. This will likely be the case in any of the EC/WC post codes that comprise central London -- demand is huge to live in these areas and the number of residential properties is quite scarce.

King's Cross or Holloway, just to the north of UCL should be considerably cheaper. This area a bit dingy, but it's been cleaned up considerably recently. They're still a pretty good value for such a central area (especially convenient to UCL).

A bit further east is Islington, which is more refined, trendier, and consequently pricier (but not, for the most part, as expensive as Bloomsbury). I lived in Islington when I went to UCL (for the first time). I almost always walked to class, which took about 20 minutes (Mile End would probably be around 25 mins via tube). I paid a little over £500 per month for a bedroom in a two bedroom flat. Great area -- I'd definitely recommend it, if you can find a decent bargain there.

There are also areas closer to QM that may be feasible for you, like Whitechapel or Spitalfields. Whether the east end is a war zone or an up and coming (for the last 30 years, mind) hipster mecca is the subject of ongoing debate. There's probably some truth to either view . Probably worth considering if you like going out, and aren't bothered by some rough edges. These areas ought to be suitable to your budget and pretty convenient to both UCL and QM.

If you and your fiancee anticipate living separately (leaving you with £500/m each) it will be exceedingly difficult to find accommodation anywhere in London other than bedsits or shared flats.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I am in a similar situation -- except my fiancee is a native Londoner, so she has her own ideas about where's best to live, alas!

I agree with amt33. Obviously it would be cheaper to get a flat near mile end, and for you to take the tube in to Euston, but I doubt that would provide a great "London" experience (some friends of mine bought their first flat near mile end tube station and though it was affordable the location ended up putting a lot of strain on the relationship, particularly after their first child was born. but I digress...)

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/19807614/QUEEN-MARY-LLM-TIMETABLE-%28provisional%29/

Taking this on face value, only a small portion of LLM modules are held at the Mile End campus. As you correctly noted initially, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Senate House and the IALS are all near the UCL campus.

More importantly, I didn't see any crim law modules listed, nor did I see a criminal law specialisation on the QM website. I could well be missing something though.

I think I chose the wrong set of words shell be studying more like social justice, re-socialisation of former inmates, gender and law and things like that. Shell try to look at these issues from a criminal law perspective, but its not necessarily criminal law UCL offers a specialisation in Criminal Law, whereas QM doesnt, but QM does have some good modules in the area my fiancées chosen.

And thank you amt233 and legalien for your thoughts on this issue.

OK -- I presumed you were probably aware of this but just thought it best to make certain. I sometimes see notices on schools' websites that particular modules or specialisations may not be available every year. What a nightmare that would be.

I think I chose the wrong set of words shell be studying more like social justice, re-socialisation of former inmates, gender and law and things like that. Shell try to look at these issues from a criminal law perspective, but its not necessarily criminal law UCL offers a specialisation in Criminal Law, whereas QM doesnt, but QM does have some good modules in the area my fiancées chosen.

And thank you amt233 and legalien for your thoughts on this issue.

I think so too. At first she thought about applying for an MA (to Oxford and Edinburgh she did apply for an MsC), but that would narrow her choices down to KCL (unless, of course, she applied for a research programme). And the language requirement is the same...

So for some unexplainable reason, she tossed aside the idea of an MA/MsC and decided to apply for LLMs. Actually, it was my fault. I talked her into it I thought it could impair our chances of gaining admission at the same university or in the same city and, if that should happen, we wouldnt be able to live together (I must admit I shouldn't have done that).

Anyway, the real problem for her, however, is the language. It's not that she doesn't know how to speak, read, write or listen in English, but rather that she gets too nervous at the test and just can't bring herself to calm down and focus properly. So she's stuck at an overall 7.0 (with one 6.5 in the listening part). I've told her a million times that if she could just try it once more and get a 7.0 (with none of the subtests below 7.0) she'd squeeze her way into KCL and they've got a wider range of options in the areas she is most interested. I think she'll eventually come round, but I am working with the worst case scenario here (where she doesn't come round and simple gives up).

Leaving my guilt aside for a moment, even on LLMs shes found some interesting things to study and, to ease my guilty consciousness, I do think shes quite happy at some modules on QMs programme (even though the list isnt as big as on other programmes, such as KLC and UCL). Lets just hope they dont all get cancelled in the upcoming teaching year but, to tell the truth, thats something that can happen anywhere because all universities make the same disclaimer: not all modules are available every year. And to make my own personal disclaimer, Ive harped on and on about the possibility of her having to re-think her study plan if the modules got cancelled.