IES London

Studying Abroad with IES London was truly my best and most memorable college experience. I loved my semester in London. I am a theatre major but didn't do the theatre studies program, which worked for me because I got to take a bunch of british literature classes while still enjoying the opportunity to take a theatre course that let me see a new production every week!

I found taking so many english classes that my course load was still challenging, but not outrageously so. I only had class three days a week, which left me four days to explore London or travel around the country and Europe. I did almost all of the field trips and they were interesting and made traveling to those places affordable and easy, without the hassle that can go in to planning and trying to get the best deal.

The dorm rooms are small, which can be a shock at first. But as another reviewer said, it really encourages you to get out of the room and see London! I also was matched with a great roommate and we got along really well. And the residence hall is definitely located in a great neighborhood.

There were really no downsides to the program for me, I would study with IES again in a minute if I had the opportunity.

I absolutely loved my semester in London. I am a theatre major and the theatre studies program at IES is all about getting you out in London to experience theatre. We saw shows every week for class and got to attend priveleged rehearsals and other theatre industry events that our professors were able to get us into.

Having classes only three days a week didn't make for my most challenging academic semester but it was exactly what I wanted: I learned a lot without working endlessly on schoolwork and was able to use my four day weekends to travel and see A LOT of London.

IES organizes a lot of day trips and a few overnights that I thought were fantastic. They took the planning aspect out of it for me and guaranteed that I would have friends on the trip.

Overall I had no real negative experiences with IES with the exception of a small dorm room but the building was in a fantastic neighborhood and at least it made me get out into the city and live life in London instead of sit at home!

IES London Direct Enrollment was an outstanding experience for me. The IES London Direct Enrollment program is great for independent students who want an immersive experience in the British education system. In this program you apply to study at a university in London (options include University College London, Queen Mary College, School of Oriental and African Studies, Slade School of Fine Arts, and more) and you become a normal student at this university, taking classes and living alongside the local students. My classes were excellent at University College London (UCL), however choose your university wisely as the British universities tend expect a bit more work outside of lecture than the universities in many other study abroad locations.

In contrast with many other people's experiences, my housing was very nice in London (spacious single room, my own bathroom, shared kitchen with great flatmates, ideal location in safe, central London). Important to note is that I lived in UCL housing just a 15 minute walk away from the campus. IES did a great job receiving us in London, having us arrive a day before we were expected to arrive at our host universities to get adjusted and even hired a coach bus to drive us to our university residence halls. In addition, I had no problems with paperwork between IES and UCL as IES took care of all of my arrangements effectively. With the Direct Enrollment programs you do not come into contact with the IES center very frequently, but I will say the few of us at UCL had lunch or dinner with our program director a few times throughout the semester and she constantly checked in to make sure we were adjusting well. Furthermore, one of the other students on the program got sick and ended up in the hospital for over a week and IES was there to make sure this other student was comfortable, taken care of, and that she was not having an problems with her insurance.

Finally, London is amazing. I genuinely refer to London as the capital of the world as the people are literally from every corner of the globe. For example, in my flat in the UCL residence halls my roommates were from the U.S., India, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, and Greece and the rest of London is just as fascinating. There are an unlimited number of cultural and entertainment events everyday, far more than anyone can experience in semester or year-long program.

All in all, my experience in London was excellent and I am glad I chose to do the IES Direct Enrollment program at University College London because it gave me the freedom to explore my own interests and to feel fully immersed in my location. In addition, having done the program with IES, I felt much more comfortable upon arrival and did not have to worry about any problems with paperwork or finances because they had taken care of all this before I left home.

IES London was a really great program. However the living situation was not the best. Granted we lived in a really nice part of London, but the rooms were about the size of a shoebox. It was nice to have a full kitchen to use which saved a lot of money though. The classes were really great, I learned a lot and the teachers were great. The theater of London and history of london class were by far my favorite.

IES London was a pretty awesome program overall. The dorm type thing we lived in was in a REALLY nice part of London, although the rooms were VERY small, which is even harder when you move in with someone you've never met. It was nice to have a bathroom per room and a full kitchen though. In terms of classes, there had a pretty good list of choices, and almost all of the professors were really cool. The academics were not as hard or bad as I thought, and I really liked having all of my classes about London/UK. I also highly recommend the theatre class, and you go to a play every single week for only about $100 total. Also, it was so easy to travel on the weekends, and the IES subsidized field trips were nice because what we did would have been much more expensive without IES helping us out. The administrators at the building where we took classes were also really helpful and gave us information about the city. London in and of itself is a very diverse, exciting city with so much to do, especially clubs and bars, which would easy to get to on the tube and fun to go to with a big group. All in all, good program with pretty good classes, great administrators, nice dorm (albeit small), and great weekend and class field trips for a pretty reasonable price.