I’m thinking of doing an MA in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck – any thoughts? (I did a modern languages degree at Cambridge 10 years ago, so I’ve studied literature, just not in English). I hear Birkbeck is good in the area, and want to study part time and work full time – would love to hear your experiences of Birkbeck, doing Victorian Studies, and best of all, the actual course. thanks very much for your thoughts....

I'm afraid I don't know anything about that actual course at Birkbeck, but I can say that Birkbeck is a really good university for postgraduate study, with good teaching and research. I wanted to go there to do an MA in a different subject area and despite being a strong candidate (as I was told), I was rejected. I was later told by my tutors that my rejection could have been due to my age (21), as they are used to taking older students with more professional backgrounds. I was a bit put out by this but at the same time I do not have anything against the university and would certainly recommend it to others - I may even apply to do my MPhil/PhD there in due course, I have another Masters place now which I think will be much better for me.

There is an open evening soon (sorry if it has already passed), I went to one back in February and it was really good, go on the website and book a place. Good luck!

Thanks ever so much - that is very encouraging