Oxford history 2017 applicants

That's interesting, thanks for the pointer. If I word my personal statement well enough, I could probably get away with applying to History at Oxford and History and Politics at my other choices. I find it odd that people are so keen on the History and Politics route when the subjects overlap so much, with political history being such a huge area of history, and with it also being the majority of what makes up politics, beyond the most contemporary stuff and the theoretical/ideological side. I also find it odd that Oxford does not want to offer a straight Politics degree, which is probably why History and Politics is so over-applied to.

That's interesting, thanks for the pointer. If I word my personal statement well enough, I could probably get away with applying to History at Oxford and History and Politics at my other choices. I find it odd that people are so keen on the History and Politics route when the subjects overlap so much, with political history being such a huge area of history, and with it also being the majority of what makes up politics, beyond the most contemporary stuff and the theoretical/ideological side. I also find it odd that Oxford does not want to offer a straight Politics degree, which is probably why History and Politics is so over-applied to.

Why are you applying for history and politcs at other unis, then? And there is of course some overlap, but I'm reading through some stuff now before starting in October, and I'm realising that you really do get something different from each. There's a heavy 'socially scientific' element to the politics stuff I've read so far. Quite different to studying politics in history.

For example, there is a UK since 1900 history paper, and UK since 1900 politics paper, and they would be very different.

For the same reason anyone else applies for History and Politics rather than single honours History - I am interested in both history and politics in almost equal measure. I perform academically well in history, whereas I keep up a very strong interest in politics at home.

My comment was more directed at a sense of surprise that, as the subjects are similar (but not identical), so many opt for the History and Politics route when they have a better chance at getting in for History. Personally, I would sacrifice some of the politics modules for the chance to get to study at Oxford at all.

I'm really stuck.
Is Ancient and Modern history tougher to get in for than straight history?

Hi all,

I can't wait to get to know you all and get involved with the discussion, wishing everyone all the best!

I'm a Gap Year Student, whose reapplying to Oxford. My GCSEs: 9A*s 4As 1B
A Levels: A*AA (Maths, History and Classics) I also did Chemistry at AS, getting a B.

Not indicative of success this year, but for those who find it interesting I scored 68 on the HAT last year.

I'd love to get into Merton College! Went to the UNIQ Summer School in 2015 and stayed there.

Also applying to: LSE, Durham, UCL and Exeter (For History ofc )

Special thanks to drriversong for setting up the thread!

Constantinople

Hello
So did you get rejected last year? What were the interviews and HAT like? Good luck

Hey History applicants!

I was an applicant last year and I'm now about to start at Balliol to read History!! People on TSR who'd gone through the process really helped me out when I was applying, so if anyone has any qs about anything at all (literally anything, from college choice, to my application stats, to HAT/interview advice), please do get in touch with me!

I wish you all the absolute best of luck. You're starting on one of the most exciting journeys ever!!

Wow nice, what was your interview like if you don't mind me asking

No problem! I'll try my best to remember...

I had 2 interviews at Balliol (pretty much everyone has 2 interviews at their first choice college). Some people got called to other colleges for more interviews, but I wasn't one of them.

The whole experience of interviews was amazing - you get to stay in college for 3-4 days and I made some great friends who I'm still in touch with now.

The History interviews at Balliol seem to follow a very specific structure that they've obvs decided is a good way of doing things. Because of this tho, my experience is very Balliol-specific! So your interviews may be quite different.

My first interview was based entirely on the essay I submitted (side note - make sure the essay you submit is something good and that you found interesting/you feel like you could discuss!). The two tutors went through it and raised certain points about it. We basically discussed it, going a little deeper and them pushing me a bit further every time. That's when you get questions like, as I got in mine, 'what is modernity?'. But the thing is, thats not an out of the blue question - we had already been discussing the people's desire for more from politics, I suggested they wanted modernity, they asked me how I would define modernity. So it all builds up to the big questions I felt like that first one was really fun, even if I couldn't tell how 'well' it had gone (it's really hard to tell!).

My second one was almost entirely based on an excerpt from a historical source they gave me - mine was a letter from Walter Raleigh. They told us they had deliberately chosen stuff we hadn't done at school, so we'd know nothing about it! I got 25 mins to read it beforehand, and then they asked me about it - again starting with really simple questions and building up into really stretching stuff. The tutors were really friendly in both and we had a laugh about the source, which was pretty sexist! I felt like this one went less well than the first, but I think everyone feels that with the source one cos you feel on the back foot all the time (with the first interview I knew my essay inside out; I'd never seen the source before).

So there's my experience! I wasn't asked about my PS or application at all, which I was really surprised about. Prepare for them to ask you, though - could just have been the tutors' whim on that day! I really enjoyed my interviews but I was super nervous beforehand - for one of them I went to the wrong place to start with and had to sprint to a different building, and in the second one I couldn't open the door on the way out and one of the tutors had to do it for me! So the moral of the story is, they don't reject you just cos you did something really stupid 😂

Hope this helps!

Thanks! Sounds like a good interview though I just heard that they offers are made based off 30% GCSE, 30% interview, 30% HAT and 10% written work...annoying that my GCSEs were average for my school which just frustrates me😂

Haha thanks 😂
Yeah that's right - that's what the admissions data they sent me after I got my offer said. I guess you know someone on the inside huh
Ah well, everyone has good grades so it's kinda irrelevant statistically if you ask me. At the end of the day, if they like you, they'll take you
What college(s) are you thinking of, out of interest?

Thanks for the reassurance! Thinking of applying to Lincoln