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History at Oxford - confused questions, please help!

In the Ox. prospectus, it says 'History'. However, on the general oxford uni website, it calls it "modern history", as do some of the colleges. But other colleges simply call it "history"...
I've looked at the modules and some of them are periods of history from 1300 onwards...

I'm really confused. Is History at Oxford 'modern' or can you study all periods? Or perhaps "modern history" means 1300 onwards...but I always thought "modern history" was 1700 onwards...

:confused: :confused: please help!
Reply 1
In name of the degree was changed from Modern History to History at the start of the last academic year. I imagine some parts of the website haven't updated.

In terms of what you study, the History degree encompasses periods from the fall of Rome to the modern day; over the course of the degree, you have to study at least one medieval paper (up to about 1400), one early modern (1400 - 1750ish) and one modern paper ( 1700- present)
at oxford university you can do several courses in history. one is history (ancient and modern) a three year ba course. this combines history from ad 285 to more modern eras. this includes greek and roman, general non-british history of a period chosen by the faculty and a period of british history. though it does seem geared more towards ancient greek and roman history to provide a basis for modern times.

you can also do a 3 year ba on general history. the time lines for this course seem to range mainly from the 1800's to the late 1900's. but there are also topics from c.527-c.700, 1600-1715 and c.1475-1525. but this is more modern histroy.

the other courses involving history are combined with other subjects such as economics and english.

hope this may have helped.
Reply 3
Ah thanks, yeah, that was helpful. :smile:

I have another question perhaps you could answer:
:suitd: Is the course mainly geared towards modern history, or do you have loads of freedom as to what periods of history you study? e.g. if I'm interested in medieval History, am I allowed to do more than one paper on it?

:suitd: Also, I'm having difficulty deciding on which college to apply for. Are there any History lecturers in certain colleges which I should avoid?

Thanks
Reply 4
You can study what ever you want as long as the three periods are included. Over the three years you will do two British and two General papers, which are the ones in which have to fulfill the period requirements, but beyond that there are optional and further papers, as well as your thesis, which have no such restrictions, so if there is anything which grabs your attention in the British or General papers, you can pursue it as far as you want to.

Collegewise, I wouldn't worry too much about which tutor is at which college, as certainly beyond the first year, and in some colleges including the first year you'll have most of your tutes outside your college, depending on the papers you choose, as you'll always be taught by someone who specialises in that period. I advise you to choose on things like size, location, three years of accommodation etc... Hope that helps!
Reply 5
You get quite a lot of choice - you have to study at least one paper from certain periods over your degree but you can use your special subjects and optional subjects to boost the amount of a particular area you study. (I know that probably doesn't make much sense but look at the prospectus course breakdown and you can see which papers you have to do). I've done three medieval papers personally.

And as for avoiding certain lecturers - not possible I'm afraid! Actual teaching is organised from the faculty for the most part so whatever college you're at, you'll have lecturers and tutors from others. I'd advise picking a college based on location and facilities and essentially forgetting about the academic side which will be much the same across the board.

Hope that helps!
piper forever
at oxford university you can do several courses in history. one is history (ancient and modern) a three year ba course. this combines history from ad 285 to more modern eras. this includes greek and roman, general non-british history of a period chosen by the faculty and a period of british history. though it does seem geared more towards ancient greek and roman history to provide a basis for modern times.

you can also do a 3 year ba on general history. the time lines for this course seem to range mainly from the 1800's to the late 1900's. but there are also topics from c.527-c.700, 1600-1715 and c.1475-1525. but this is more modern histroy.

the other courses involving history are combined with other subjects such as economics and english.

hope this may have helped.


That's not actually right (and I'm not saying this in a rude way at all - jus think it's important to give the right advice... I think you're being v helpful)

You can do History which is called Modern History/History interchangeably. Or you can do Ancient and Modern History. Or you can do History & Politics/Economics/a language.

Straight History (aka Modern History) covers pretty much the entire period of History since the Romans throughout the world. The only stipulation as others have said on this thread is that you study at least one period of British History pre-1300ish (sorry I can't remember the exact date cos I do History & Politics where you dnt have any of these stipulations!), and a period of General History (more of an overview of a period). And that's over the three year course. Other than that, the degree gives you a ridiculous amount of choice - especially if you do one of the joint honours courses like mine. I'm choosing every single module I'm taking for the next two years.
Reply 7
Ok, thanks, all the comments were really helpful :smile:
The course sounds great, it's good that you have lots of freedom as to what you study.

Cheers :wink:

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