Manchester is my dream Uni city, so I built my degree choices around it. I originally aimed to study in London but realised it was infeasible due to living costs and my parents’ safety concerns, so I looked to the next best thing. In hindsight, I could never see myself living in London but Manchester ticks all my boxes: it’s diverse, there’s so much food to try, I can cycle, there are study abroad options, and there are plenty of sober activities to try.

On a more academic note, GDI is highly ranked for development studies and is in a Russel Group Uni: when I was applying it stood at 6th in the UK for Development Studies and even 2nd in the world for SDG impact. I didn’t want to spend 3 years being bored and the curriculum of Global Development BSc was appealing. It’s interdisciplinary so I get the chance to explore my preferences AND you can take stats class (puts the Science in BSc), which is a welcome boost to my grades.

Favourite things !

Year abroad (vs semester)

As I’m writing this, I am in Amsterdam undertaking my year abroad! This is by far my favourite feature of this course – many only offer a single semester in the second year. For me, the semester would have been much too short – I just felt settled in December! GDI has several options, mainly in Asia, North America and Oceania so you can pick which is right for you. Options to study abroad was one of my priorities when picking my degree.

Small course

I love the course size – in my cohort there are less than 25 of us. Yes, it’s a bit reminiscent of secondary school, but in my opinion it provides the ideal learning environment. There is always room for discussion, and there’s less pressure when asking questions. And it’s a major plus if you wear glasses, you don’t have to squint to write your notes.

If you want to experience the lecture hall life, you can always choose a course from Politics or another big degree programme from the second year onwards. It’s also a good experience, but I still prefer it back home at GDI.

It also means that I have a closer relationship with the lecturers and course convenors, so it doesn’t feel like a first meeting when I go to office hours. I can easily discuss options for assignments and personal matters with them because we’re familiar. Also, my course convenor often asks for my input for improving the course, something that’s harder to achieve with hundreds of students.

Networking

Connections are arguably the most important reasons to apply to a university. We have regular guest lectures by the big guys of GDI who have probably thousands of publications each to their name and we have also hosted conferences and foreign policy makers. I’ve got to explore many career options and ask questions to the most experienced. Wherever you end up going for university, the best advice is to talk with people who know more than you. No conversation is ever wasted.

A blog by Chiamaka O.

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