English at UCL

Thanks so much, that was really helpful! I firmed UCL, and I'm really excited.

On a side note, is it possible to switch from English to English plus a modern language?

Thanks so much, that was really helpful! I firmed UCL, and I'm really excited.

On a side note, is it possible to switch from English to English plus a modern language?

After all, when you have lecturers who say things like "'Plato' and 'potato' had been sitting around, waiting to be rhymed for hundreds of years... then along came Byron!", Foster Court is basically a 24-hour fun house. Another memorable moment is a Romantic poet's spouting of ideas being compared to an ejaculation, but now I'm digressing...

I'm guessing Prof. Mullan?

Who else?
And Marky Mark Ford for the ejaculation comment.

Lucky girl, you're going to have so much fun! Shame it's over before you know it. I'll be starting my third year of English in September and I still feel like a fresher...

As others have said, you can try emailing the department to see if you can switch but I'll warn you now, don't get your hopes up. Places to study the Modern Languages Plus course (as it's called) are few and far between; for example only two students are taken on to study English and French per year. That's not to say it's not worth a try - you might be one of those lucky ones!

As for the course content. The UCL website is really rubbish at showing the breadth of possibility within the three years of study. I don't know why they haven't bothered listing all the module choices, which is why it currently looks like we only seem to do old stuff. Rest assured you're able to choose anything from Old English to The Modern Period to History of the Language Since Chaucer in your second and third years. You'll be spoilt for choice.

Fun. Plenty of fun. After all, when you have lecturers who say things like "'Plato' and 'potato' had been sitting around, waiting to be rhymed for hundreds of years... then along came Byron!", Foster Court is basically a 24-hour fun house. Another memorable moment is a Romantic poet's spouting of ideas being compared to an ejaculation, but now I'm digressing...

But more seriously. You're free to read whatever interests you as long as it falls under the heading of the course you're studying (first year is admittedly a little more prescribed, but this is actually really good because it brings everyone up to speed and fills any general gaps people have). So the course is what you make it. You may want to have a look at exam papers from past years when planning your reading so you get some direction and a good idea of the kinds of things that come up time and again, alongside reading freely.

Studying abroad. No opportunities for this at undergraduate level (no official ones, anyway), unless you're doing English plus a language, in which case there's the obvious third year abroad. Plenty of people go travelling in the holidays though - after all, you have to fill the long, long summer we get somehow.

Sadly there's not much scope for courses in other departments unless they're literature-based. We were offered ones like: Medieval French literature, Medieval German literature, Early Italian (which contains the opportunity to study Italian ab initio) and something about Medieval Archaeology that I didn't pay much attention to.



So, erm, an essay of a post. But if there's anything more you want to know, do get in touch. Best of luck for September! We might even bump into each other at Freshers' Cocktails and never know...

Hey, so what's it like with the reading list, would you say it's necessary to buy them all?

I had the same question this time last year when I was a Fresher and I called one of the professors to find out. You have to buy the set Narrative Texts and the Old English Texts, as well as some of the Classics texts. If it's in another language, buy it. So things like Dante's Inferno, Riverside Chaucer, Introduction to Old English, Mill on the Floss, Tristram Shandy, The Prelude.