 Good afternoon and welcome to the Making a PG application to Sew Us. My name is Laura Hayes and I'm from the International Office here at Sew Us. So today's webinar, what we're going to go through is making an application. I'll give you a brief introduction to Sew Us, just a bit of information about the school, the programs that we have on offer, including entry requirements, and then we'll go through how to make an application, including the documents which are required, for example the supporting statement, academic references, and so on. Then I'll go through what happens next in the process. There will be answering questions towards the end of the webinar, so please do write in your questions now and I will answer them towards the end. Sew Us, we are the School of Oriental and African Studies, part of the University of London. The school was set up in 1916, there's very much a training ground for the Diplomatic Service, so we're very well known for subject areas such as politics, international relations, law, and so on. The school is the largest school in Europe which specialises entirely in the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. So we offer an unmatched combination of broad global subjects as specialist regional classes. We also offer small group teaching, so for example on average, Sew Us classes have 11 students to every one member of staff, which is quite unusual for universities in the UK especially. Our teaching quality is consistently rated of a very high level, for example in the 2016 National Student Survey we were rated number one in terms of our teaching quality. Our regional expertise is currently obviously in areas where changes are taking place in the world which makes our staff and our students highly employable. The school is unique and distinctive, we're a very international school with nearly 50% of our students from overseas. And the Sew Us library for example is a very well regarded facility. It's one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It attracts scholars from all over the world and there are over 1.3 million volumes. As a Sew Us student you also have access to the University of London library and the other libraries that are part of the University of London. So that includes UCL for example, King's College, LSE and so on. So Sew Us is a fairly small school by UK standards. We have just over 5,000 students on campus. Half of the students are actually studying for a master's or a PhD program and the other half are undergraduate. Sew Us is a very international university as I mentioned previously. We are probably one of the most international universities in the UK with nearly, with over 50% of our students from overseas. And we're very lucky at Sew Us to welcome students from over 140 different countries. I think it goes without saying that you're guaranteed to be in a class of students with at least a minimum of 8 to 10 different nationalities. So so many opportunities to meet and work with students from all around the world. Just to give you an update about our academic staff. Now, Sew Us academic staff are experts in the media. They're often called upon for new to report upon current events in the world on CNN, for example, the BBC. On average, Sew Us academics appear in the media 80 times per month. For example, one of our academics from politics has recently appeared on the BBC news channel reporting on discussing US politics and Trump's first year. We have a number of academics who regularly appear on El Jazeera, plus also writing reports for various newspapers and so on. So this gives Sew Us very much a global reach, a global appeal, raising our profile in countries around the world. We're based in central London, so I don't know how many of you are familiar with the city. We're in an ideal location. The area where we're located is called Bloomsbury, and it's very much the heart of the University of London. So we're about a 10 minute walk from other colleges such as King's, Ellisey, and also very close to UCL. The school is located about a two minute walk from the British Museum. It's a very pleasant environment in which to study is made up of beautiful squares. It's a very green, pretty environment. We're also very close to areas such as Oxford Street and also Comet Garden. So if you're looking to obviously study in London, Sew Us is an ideal location. And we do have our accommodation, which is located near King's Cross Station, which is about a 15 minute walk from the main campus. So looking to study a taught master's programme at Sew Us, so we offer over 200 taught master's programmes. Now the majority of programmes will be for one year, which makes the UK a very attractive study destination for master's programmes. Students are actually enrolled for the full academic year, so that's from September through to the following September. And we only have currently at Sew Us one intake, which is in September, so we don't have a January intake. The range of degree programmes obviously they're fully available on our website. Sew Us does pride itself on interdisciplinary study, so we have a number of master's degrees that focus on particular regions. And they allow students to take courses across the Sew Us departments. So there's a lot of flexibility within our degree programmes to make up your own sort of personal, to direct your own area of study. So for example, if you're interested in the Middle East, there's opportunities to take Middle Eastern studies and make up a programme that covers areas such as politics, language, culture, music and so on. So to have that interdisciplinary approach is very much part of the Sew Us way of teaching and thinking. There's lots of linkages across our different departments as well, so you'll get exposure to different disciplines. The one year master's programme is obviously a fully internationally recognised qualification. It's recognised across the world to go on to further PhD studies. So different from other countries around the world that offer two year master's programmes. The UK offers the one year master's, which is fully acceptable around the world, particularly if you want to go on to further academic studies. In terms of the structure of most of the taught master's programmes, so usually students will choose a range of between four to six modules. Now there are core modules, which students do have to take, but there's also the opportunity to take optional course units. And again, please do refer to either the website or the postgraduate prospectus to see the full list of actual course modules available. Now also within the postgraduate master's programme, you will be expected to write 10,000 word dissertation. And the dissertation, students start to think about their dissertation as soon as they enroll on the programme. However, most students will probably write up the dissertation during the summer period, as classes will finish at the end of May when exams take place. So this gives you an indication of so as departments, as you see, we have a range of departments focusing on the social sciences, law, arts, humanities and languages and cultures. In terms of entry requirements for our master's programme, so we're looking for students with a minimum of a two one from a UK university or equivalent. This tends to equate to a GPA of 3.3 out of four in the US system, for example. Obviously we're very familiar with other international qualifications. There is a full list on our website and also on our country pages. But we are obviously very familiar with welcoming students from around the world. And please if you do, if you want to get in touch with any of the international officers, they will be able to tell you firsthand what the actual minimum entry requirement is from your country. The online application opens on the first of November and there is no application fee. And the deadline for applications is the end of June. However, we do encourage students to make an earlier application. Most we do run a rolling system of making offers, so we will start making offers as soon as we receive the applications in November. Some courses will fill up and we would recommend that all students try and make their application really by the no later than March or April. This is particularly important for those of you applying for overseas when if a visa is required, as the whole process does take time and you want to be able to have time in order to apply for your visa process. There is a £1,000 deposit required now to confer which needs to be paid on confirmation of your offer. So looking at our English language requirements, as you can see from the slide, in terms of IELTS, we are looking for an overall score of 6.5 with a 6.5 score in writing. We do also accept TOEFL, currently we are looking for an overall score of 100 and a minimum of 23 scoring writing, that is the internet based test. In terms of we do offer pre-sessionals, so for students who perhaps don't make the requirement of 6.5 overall, we do have a series of 4, 8 and 12 week pre-sessional programs. And obviously when you make your application we will then discuss and let you know about the requirements which are suitable to you. We do also offer in-sessional programs, so for some students a condition of their offer will be to attend an in-sessional and this is really a series of lectures which take place during your time or so as to help with your English language programs. So how to apply? So as I mentioned the application is now all online. The application itself is fairly straightforward and is fairly straightforward. What is required obviously is the supporting statement and this is what sort of differentiates you out from other candidates. This is the only opportunity you'll have to tell us about your interest in studying for the program. We don't interview students anymore, so this is your one chance to really make an impact on the admissions tutor. So the supporting statement needs to be no more than a thousand words and this is really where we make a decision on whether the course that you've applied for is suitable for you. So within the supporting statement you need to really highlight your suitability for your chosen program. It's always helpful in this supporting statement to indicate perhaps the area of studying which you want to pursue. So perhaps you want to identify particular course modules that you're interested in studying at SOAS. But within the supporting statement you need to cover your skills, motivations and relevant experiences towards the chosen program. It's also interesting for us if you highlight your ambitions and interests, what you intend to do after studying at SOAS, your career aspirations and so on. But it really is key to make sure that the supporting statement is very much geared towards the program you're studying, you've applied to study at SOAS. You can include an up-to-date CV, ensure there are no gaps in between dates. Again, CV needs to be no longer than two sides of type day four. In terms of your academic transcripts, if you haven't obviously completed your bachelor's degree, you obviously don't need to send these in yet. If you have completed your degree then please do send your transcript, your certificate and we do want the original transcript or certificate. Now this can either be stamped by the university and scanned and sent to us, updated onto the application form or you can send it to us by post. If you have graduated then we do require the official degree certificate and again as I said this can either be scanned and emailed to us or sent by post. We do require two academic references. Now if you've graduated less than three years ago, we will require two academic references from your current or most recent place of study. If you've been out of education for more than three years, we can consider earlier academic references as long as they are relevant to the program you're applying for and we will also accept professional references but only for those of you who have been out of academic study for more than three years. So ideally references need to be submitted through the application system which means submitted electronically. From your academic references, you need to add in their name and also their email address. We won't accept email accounts such as you who, or Gmail. So we're looking for obviously academic email addresses. So you need to add in the name and the email address of your referee and then we contact the referee and ask them to send your reference. So do approach your referees beforehand, give them some warning that SOAS will be contacting them for a reference. And this is important because often the whole process can slow down because we're chasing referees references. So do please obviously make your referee aware that they will be expecting an email from SOAS to send in a reference. Now in some cases we will accept it was difficult for your referee to send an email reference. We will accept a hard copy and again this can be scanned and emailed to us or sent in by the post. However the reference does need to be written on a headed paper and the postal address, all of these details are available online. In terms of English language proficiency, now this can be submitted at a later date. We only accept IELTS results in IBT within two years, so you have to have taken your IELTS to prior two years to making your application. This can either again be scanned or sent to us in the post but as I said, when you make the application you don't need to include this this can be sent in at a later date. Obviously many students haven't actually taken their IELTS or TOEFL tests when they make their application to SOAS. So what happens next? Once we've received the application on average we take four to six weeks to make a decision and reply back to you. So as mentioned the sorts of things that will hold up a decision are waiting for references perhaps other sort of technical issues might also hold up the application but on average we take four to six weeks to make a decision. The offer we make will either obviously be unconditional if we've decided that we'd like to make your place, you've completed university, you meet the minimum entry requirements and if you have the required English language level then the offer would be unconditional. However if you're still waiting to complete your degree and you don't have the required English language requirements then the offer will be conditional. And the offer will be emailed to you and if the offer is conditional then we will highlight the conditions and the requirements that are needed. So you decide whether to accept or decline the offer. If you decide to accept the offer from SOAS we then require the £1000 deposit. Now for those of you who require a visa to study in the UK we can only submit, you need to tell us that you need the visa and this is called a CAS request. And in order to obtain the CAS you need to have an unconditional offer from SOAS. And you can only apply for the visa three months prior to starting at SOAS. So this is very much this gives an example very much why you know applying by the end of March is really sort of the deadline because it can take up to sort of 46 weeks to receive an answer from SOAS and then you need to obviously get your transcripts together and then apply for your CAS, the CAS request. And this again can take some time and you can only apply for the visa three months prior to the programme. So once once you've received your offer you would then send us your transcripts, your English language information, we would then send you can then send your CAS request, we will send your CAS and you can go off and apply for your visa. And then an enrolment information will follow during the summer period. So if you have any further questions please do contact the Masters and Admissions team directly, there's the website available please do also contact international officers directly and our details are available on the web page. Thank you.