School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Reviews

Student Review: 1 /5

By member486806 On 25th May 23 Verified student

The university is very diverse and welcoming

Student Review: 4 /5

By member685356 On 28th April 23 Verified student

I enjoyed my time at SOAS, though it was significantly disrupted by strikes.

Student Review: 3.8 /5

By member884608 On 20th April 23 Verified student

SOAS is a good uni, a lot of nice spaces to do work and to chill out and friendly staff. The admin side of things is a bit of a joke and nothing gets done on time but I love SOAS

Student Review: 3 /5

By member784606 On 20th April 23 Verified student

SOAS has been very good for me. They’ve assisted me in getting a dyslexia diagnosis and extra time for exams, understood the time I needed mitigating circumstances and my teachers, especially in Japanese, are amazing. Although the wifi can drop a lot in the library for me which isn’t great but doesn’t happen too often.

Student Review: 4.2 /5

By member684601 On 20th April 23 Verified student

Highly enjoy it. Definitely a little niche, but if your interests are in Africa and Asia, it is great. Library fantastic. Lecturers are generally amazing. Maybe avoid the area studies department until they fix that mess; many who started in there ended up swapping into either the history, politics, or anthropology departments. A great community feeling. Soas has a reputation of being extreme-left politically, which sort of exists, but isn't as pervasive as the reputation implies. Administration tends to be mixed, at the lower levels some are good and some are useless, but the higher administration seems to be uniformly not fantastic. If all goes well, you won't need to interact with them but the administration is the one big issue.

Student Review: 4.2 /5

By member1179207 On 22nd February 23 Verified student

I am happy with my experience at the University of SOAS, especially the good resources and teaching quality. What I did not fancy were the people there some of them with very extreme socio-political views which sometimes felt like a narrative everyone there must follow. Also, the teaching was often done in a specific narrative with not much space for other points of view. Apart from that, the library, the canteen and the societies made my experience there positive.

Student Review: 3.6 /5

By member475368 On 20th January 23 Verified student

SOAS is a great school. The faculty are knowledgeable and friendly; I enjoy classes with them. As for the programs, it's a hit or miss. For the master's degree, the combine both UG and PG students, which shouldn't happen. The MA program just feels like an extension of my UG program, and I'm only taking eight classes that only focus on modern history. I'd say the programs are better for the UG. MA students might want to look elsewhere for a more in-depth and focused program that doesn't combine separate levels of academics. The grading scheme is weird as well. For American students, grades over 80% are for publication only! Anything in the 70% range is equal to an "A" level grade! Just a forewarning. Societies and Clubs, there are only a few I was interested in, but they haven't done anything interesting in a while, or the meeting times are during my classes. Wish they had more sports teams. SOAS only has three, and they were basic.

Student Review: 4.2 /5

By member1065369 On 12th January 22 Verified student

If you want to be constantly at war with the management of your uni come to SOAS, where everything is done in the most disorganised and inefficient way possible and lecturers and students alike share a shared dislike for the management's decisions.

Student Review: 5 /5

By member1154025 On 9th February 21 Verified student

Amazing university, great staff

stayed in Goldsmiths house from 2019-2020,it had been such a wonderful experience. I heard alot about horrible accomodations and flats,but this place wasn't. I came from a very socially connected family and country to study my master in the UK,and I was expecting myself to struggle with being lonely and not having the real sense of family,but it didn't happen. Can you imagine that I really started to miss my family back home when I moved out of Goldmiths?!. This is because the family atmosphere that I felt while living there. Also,this place has everything that you need make out the best of your studies for many reasons: Firstly,it is always clean,all the common areas are sparklingly clean all the day because of the very dedicated staff who are always there and they clean on a daily basis. The only thing you need to take care of is your room. Secondly, The availability of the quite study room helped me alot while searching for a place to focus and not sleep

Student Review: 4 /5

By member549086 On 5th June 20 Verified student

SOAS is a great place for cultures and languages, you will not be disappointed with the level of teaching. I feel like I have gone from zero to fluent in my target language. I wish they had their own gym/sports hall, but there is a student gym 2 minutes away, so it's not a big issue. There are many clubs and societies, but some of them can be quite disorganised. The SU is great, really involved, runs a shop and a bar and organises amazing events. I think SOAS offers a very unique uni experience you won't find anywhere else in the UK.

Great career fairs - well done

Unique, and honestly quite niche university. World class lecturers in some subjects, less so in others, but if you have a good idea of what it is you want to do, and SOAS does that well, SOAS is a fantastic institution. There language tuition and area studies expertise is second to none in the UK

Unique university with an amazing vibe.