Urgent Joint/Single Honours help needed [History/Politics]

I am interested in BA History, but really want to apply to Warwick as an option, though my only issue is with the language course - I understand it is a useful, employable skill to speak a language, but nonetheless I'm not 100% sure whether I want to do this part. I took French GCSE but I've never been enthused by languages really. Though I want to go to Warwick and I like the options in its history course, and with my interest in political thought and history I thought JS History and Politics would be a good option. In fact, it may be a better option overall.

But if I apply for BA History at a majority of places, will my PS and reference being more history focused damage me? My reference does have a fair bit of politics in it, but my PS political content is restricted to political charities/movements, magazine subscriptions, debating societies etc. and a couple of books I could fit as well, though it would detract from the history element. Though if I strike that balance you need I may get the 3 places I apply for History straight honours thinking 'wtf?'. Do I have to pick one route or can you mix and match like some science applicants do?

This is urgent as I have roughly a week to decide. And for reasons you can probably guess, this would also help me with another University dilemma I'm STILL having - though I prefer Oxford anyway.

Thank you for any help!

Reply 1

ndk

If you are applying for Joint Honours, you will need to demonstrate a commitment to both parts of the course. Bear in mind that not all courses offer the same combinations, so inbalance could occur in any case. Hopefully someone with more experience will be able to shed some light on this. I assume you are referring to the University of Oxford and not Oxford Brookes. If so, I am currently at the former university, so if you have any questions, do post again. Good luck with your applications.

Reply 2

Lucible

9

As a History and Politics student, I thought I'd step up to the plate and offer my advice. I applied for History and Politics at a range of universities asking for BBB-AAA. Although the degrees were all joint honours (history and politics in equal parts) my focus was History, the base of my knowledge was historical and my main interest was history. Like you I also enjoyed Politics but perhaps it wasn't held in the same regard as History. Because of this, my Personal Statement wasn't an equal balance. When discussing my subjects it was about 2/3s History to 1/3 Politics. I don't believe this counted against me. I received offers from 4 out of 5 and the one that refused me said it was down to my A Level predictions (Exeter were preferably looking for AAA and I had ABB predicted, though I was one mark from AAB in my AS. Got AAB at A2)
Although I can't say conclusively whether you can do the same, I don't believe it will be too much of a problem if you can't strike a really even balance. And the universities where you are applying for straight History will probably guess why you have politics written in your Personal Statement. If you can relate your Politics area to History, it may add to your straight History application, showing depth and breadth of knowledge.
I too nearly applied to Warwick but the language thing put me off. Have you thought about making all applications History and Politics to make things easier? Or just going for History? I don't think a mix will be a problem but I can see it's concerning you. :smile:

Hope I've been of help.

Reply 3

angelmxxx

14

hp92

I am interested in BA History, but really want to apply to Warwick as an option, though my only issue is with the language course - I understand it is a useful, employable skill to speak a language, but nonetheless I'm not 100% sure whether I want to do this part. I took French GCSE but I've never been enthused by languages really. Though I want to go to Warwick and I like the options in its history course, and with my interest in political thought and history I thought JS History and Politics would be a good option. In fact, it may be a better option overall.

But if I apply for BA History at a majority of places, will my PS and reference being more history focused damage me? My reference does have a fair bit of politics in it, but my PS political content is restricted to political charities/movements, magazine subscriptions, debating societies etc. and a couple of books I could fit as well, though it would detract from the history element. Though if I strike that balance you need I may get the 3 places I apply for History straight honours thinking 'wtf?'. Do I have to pick one route or can you mix and match like some science applicants do?

This is urgent as I have roughly a week to decide. And for reasons you can probably guess, this would also help me with another University dilemma I'm STILL having - though I prefer Oxford anyway.

Thank you for any help!

Pick the History & Culture option for Warwick and you don't have to do any languages. Also you may be able to do politics electives at all the unis (except Oxford) - check the degree specifications. :smile:

Reply 4

jw127

I'm in kind of the same situation as you OP, applying for a history/politics joint honours course except so far I feel my Politics side is stronger than my History side. This is mainly due to the fact I decided to apply for a joint honours pretty recently. I was going to do pure politics but decided I would prefer to do both.

I guess as long as you can persuade the admissions people your enthusiastic about both it wont matter. Also you state your History sections a lot stronger, how so?

Reply 5

hp92

OP

Thanks for your information and advice. After a brief panic I emailed most of the ones I was interested in and they said it would be fine to apply that way. In fact, they said pretty much what Lucible did. However, I think I might just go down the single honours course anyway. A lot of the Uni's I like have a focus on political ideas/theory in the History courses anyway, missing out the often less interesting 'public policy and Government' modules many have, and also focus on Modern History in JS's. And two of them are 25% electives in their first and even second years, and only Cambridge/Oxford don't offer any electives I think, so I can explore politics anyhow.

Reply 6

JoJoJee

This helped! I was having the same dilemma. Struck a balance nicely in the end, wasn't quite even but didn't seem to matter :biggrin:

Urgent Joint/Single Honours help needed [History/Politics]

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you