[E....]

Hello,
I'm considering studying American Studies and Film Studies as a Joint Honours. I'm from Glasgow but I can't study this anywhere in Scotland so am having to consider English universities. One of the attractions of studying American Studies is the option of having a year studying in the US but this is not always an option when studying it with Film.

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations with regards universities that would offer this and would be a good option for me coming from Scotland? Or just any general advice would be appreciated

[megan.c]

If the main attraction is studying in the US for a year then you could look into unis that offer years abroad in the US for other subjects? I know plenty of unis (Keele for instance but probably lots more) that offer a year abroad (including in America) in subjects not specifically relating to the country, so you could do film with something else and still have a year abroad (if that would be easier)

[E....]

I haven't considered Keele, thank you!

I'm really interested in American Politics and culture and so this subject really appeals to me, I just thought that studying in the US for a year would be an added bonus but I suppose I might need to compromise. Some American Studies courses offer modules that cover aspects of Film so maybe I could just do American Studies by itself. I don't really know haha!
Thank you for the recommendation though, I hadn't thought of Keele

[megan.c]

(Original post by E....)
I haven't considered Keele, thank you!

I'm really interested in American Politics and culture and so this subject really appeals to me, I just thought that studying in the US for a year would be an added bonus but I suppose I might need to compromise. Some American Studies courses offer modules that cover aspects of Film so maybe I could just do American Studies by itself. I don't really know haha!
Thank you for the recommendation though, I hadn't thought of Keele

I'm going to Keele so that's why I know about it!
They really really emphasise joint honours, and their modules are insanely diverse, I'm doing English and Film but a lot of modules that count for my subjects are specifically on American culture. And likewise, the American Studies course (might be called English and American literatures though) has the option of doing a lot of film modules. Even if you didn't specifically do the degree in American Studies you'd still have the opportunity for travel and modules in American culture.
I feel like I'm trying to sell it now! xD

[E....]

It definitely sounds worth looking at, thank you so much for all your information!
I think I really want to do some variation of a Joint Honours so if Keele offer a lot of options then I will definitely look into that.
Do you need to have a lot of knowledge of film previously before uni? English was another option I was considering aswell!

[megan.c]

(Original post by E....)
It definitely sounds worth looking at, thank you so much for all your information!
I think I really want to do some variation of a Joint Honours so if Keele offer a lot of options then I will definitely look into that.
Do you need to have a lot of knowledge of film previously before uni? English was another option I was considering aswell!

You don't need to have any film knowledge but English is preferred, essentially all film studies is is English on screen!
Keele a good with variation within degrees and years abroad - I'd definately have a look if I were you

[E....]

Okay, that's good, I'm doing Advanced Higher English next year.
Thank you so much for all your help and information, I will look into Keele!

[Philraw123]

Watch out and be VERY careful.. I wanted to study American Studies and I'm really interested in it, however it isn't a degree valued by employers! I applied to study this, I am now taking a year out and re-applying for a better, more respected course

[E....]

Surely an American Studies Degree is valued the same as an English or Politics or History Degree etc?
How do you know that it isn't valued the same?

[Ella1094]

(Original post by E....)
Hello,
I'm considering studying American Studies and Film Studies as a Joint Honours. I'm from Glasgow but I can't study this anywhere in Scotland so am having to consider English universities. One of the attractions of studying American Studies is the option of having a year studying in the US but this is not always an option when studying it with Film.

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations with regards universities that would offer this and would be a good option for me coming from Scotland? Or just any general advice would be appreciated

hey! im going to uni this year! spent the whole year searching for this exact course, film and american studies with a year abroad, i ended up visiting, keele, York st john, Canterbury, East Anglia, and Hull
its going to be difficult for you to see the universities because of where you live! so id do some research of the places!
Keele is quite a reclusive university! its lovely, but if you want to experience city nightlife and society outside of the university then i wouldnt reccomend it!
York st john! is also a lovely uni, its a quirky and beautiful place to live aswell! and theres a great community!
Canterbury is a breathtaking place! however it asks for LOW grades, so people may not look at it as a prestigious university!
East Anglia was my favourite university! they ask for two A's and a B. its a campus uni, so the accomodation is on campus (which is great when you just want to roll of of bed after a late night to get to your lecture) the accomodation has stunning views too. the city is also just as beautiful as york! and everyone is lovely! the student union aranges amazing bands each year to play, and norwich is home to a pub for every day of the year! the only problem with UEA (university of east anglia) is the the course American Film Studies, is actually just american film, you dont get the politics/law/society/lit/etc, however there is a year abroad!
my first choice this year was hull! they ask for 3B's, loads of people might class hull as the low of lows, but i love it! its got similarities to where i live which probably helps! however the course im on for hull is American Studies, as the joint honours with film doesnt have a year abroad at the moment, but the module options for my course are around 50% film, and 50% a mixture of everything else, so im looking at it as a joint honours, you can also specalise in film if you like, and you get to choose any course when you are in america, so you can focus more of film then!
i fell in love with hull because the lectures were so down to earth! on the open day theyd taken the time to memorize our names and various other random details on our personal statements. for me its important that i have people who care more, as i feel id do better! some of the other unis i looked at seemed to care more about grades on paper than their students!

bit of an essay, and sorry for the spelling! in a rush but i hope this helps! just look around and make sure you find a corse which suits you, remember you cant always get the right uni and course together so you will have to compromise

[Ella1094]

forgot to say, i also looked at essex uni! its also a campus uni, and it was probably the third favourite! it was friendly and had everything you want, but unfortunately it was a little to out of the way for me again, and i had my hopes going there with a friend, but she wouldnt have been able to get the grades, so without her it didnt seem the same!
also, i disagree! most employers (especially if you want to live/work in america) value a course which is not specific in one subject as it shows your broad knowledge.
you can also do conversion courses, for example, if you do a pure american studies course you can do a one year conversion course to become a lawyer

[E....]

I cannot thank you enough for all your information! You're right, it will be difficult for me to visit the universities so your descriptions were hugely helpful! Hull is one of the universities I was considering but the fact that you couldn't have a year abroad if you were doing it with film did put me off a bit but I hadn't thought that I could focus on film in America and through my other module choices so I will definitely reconsider.
Essex was another possibility due to the fact that you can still have the year abroad if you do American Studies and Film.
I'm not really sure what they class as low or high entry requirements because of the different exams in Scotland so I'm having to look up what the Scottish equivalents would be!
Thank you again for such a detailed answer, it was exactly what I was looking for! Did you look at Nottingham uni at all? It's another of my possibilities.
Thank you so much

[Philraw123]

If you're certain about doing American studies, Nottingham is one of the best to do it at! The course is American and Canadian Literature, History and Culture (International Study); though if you do film and television studies you cannot have the year abroad. I'm not saying you wouldn't get a job with it; however I've seen too many websites and opinions that state it's a crap degree. I just wouldn't want to risk it; instead I'm looking for a course which is equally as interesting to me and offers the same range of skills, which is also slightly more traditional. Anthropology! The study of Humankind; if you're interested in culture and media I suggest looking for this course.

[Ella1094]

youre more than welcome!
i didnt know that nottingham had a joint american and film course? so i didnt look there, i also didnt want to be that close to home though, because i live half an hour away in leicester.
i deffinitely reccomend going to visit your favourite two uni's if you get the chance! it helps A LOT to meet potential lecturers and hear about the experiences of older students, as well as to look round the uni and city!
for me my favourites were east anglia, hull then essex! i just chose hull becuase it had more of the things that i was looking for! so doing your research helps! and i was looking for the same course as you, unfortunately its just hard to attain every element of your dream course so as i said you need to make compromises :/ for me hull was the easiest compromise to make as it allowed me to have the majority of what i was looking for in my course, and i wanted a university where the lectures cared about you more that your grades, and i know that if i emailed them now, they'd know exactly who i was etc...
at the end of the day you have a good 3 months to look around before ucas gets ergent, so e-mail a few of the unis, or explore their websites! im sure if you e-mail a lecturer in your course and explain the situation, you could ask if its possible to contact a student. im sure if you asked they would be happy enough to tell you their experiences so far, opinions on the uni and city, and reasons for choosing it they may also send you a few pictures so you could get an idea of what the place/uni/city is like

[Larsson]

hi, i am (hopefully) going to be doing American Studies (4 years) at Leicester this year...

the course there offers the majoirty of aspects and covers US politics, history, literature, film and other aspects of America

it was my favourite of the uni's i visted (i also went to Swansea, Warwick, Nottingham, Sussex, Essex...) and had a entry requirement i think i can achive (ABB, but we will see on the 16th ^^)

its definately worth a look as the city is nice along with the campus and accomodation plus its ranked well in overall and subject rankings (if that makes a difference to your view)

hope this helped!

[E....]

Since your post, I looked into East Anglia (I hadn't considered them before) and I think their course looks quite good. I definitely agree with you that I will need to try and visit some before making a decision, I've found that a few have open days on the same days which is quite inconvenient -_- So far I've only visited Scottish unis so I'll need to make arrangements to see as many down in England as I can because that might change my views of which university I want to go to.

Leicester was one I had considered actually and really liked the sound of the course but you can't do it with film, however I might change my mind as to what I want to do because I'm finding it difficult to find the right course!
As a matter of interest, do any of you know what you want to do after your degree?