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Dilema: To apply for English or not to apply...
...That is the question!
I'm currently in year 12 and I'm going through a bit of pre-application dilema at the moment;
Up until year 11 I always thought I would apply to read English at uni: it was my best subject and I enjoyed it. However, since then I have become really interested in current affairs and politics, and am now also getting really good grades in the social sciences and enjoying them. I've also found a great course offered at Cambridge called SPS (Social and Political Sciences).
But since starting AS English Lit (and having a fabulous Cambridge graduate English teacher), I've really started to rediscover my liking for the subject. I also think it sounds a more prestigious degree to take at uni (I know loads of people will say this shouldn't influence one's judgement at all...
)
I also find English Lit much more challenging than politics at A-Level (especially poetry). Sometimes we'll be given an extract and I simply wont have a clue about it, but once I'm sparked off there's no stopping me and I really get into it.
I was wondering... do all you English students find you are able to pick up an extract and instantly understand it (even if it is unfamilar / old-language / complex). I certainly don't, and it takes me a while and some promting until I feel confident. Despite this,t my Eng teacher says I'm very good. Is this therefore pointing to the fact that I'm a good worker but don't have the raw natural ability in the subject.
On the other hand, social sciences seem to come really naturally but I wonder if they are satisfying / stretching me as much as Eng is / would.
I'm looking to apply to good Unis (and give Cambridge a shot); the question is if I should do Eng or SPS. How did you all know that English was for you?
Any help is *much* appreciated!
I'm currently in year 12 and I'm going through a bit of pre-application dilema at the moment;
Up until year 11 I always thought I would apply to read English at uni: it was my best subject and I enjoyed it. However, since then I have become really interested in current affairs and politics, and am now also getting really good grades in the social sciences and enjoying them. I've also found a great course offered at Cambridge called SPS (Social and Political Sciences).
But since starting AS English Lit (and having a fabulous Cambridge graduate English teacher), I've really started to rediscover my liking for the subject. I also think it sounds a more prestigious degree to take at uni (I know loads of people will say this shouldn't influence one's judgement at all...
)I also find English Lit much more challenging than politics at A-Level (especially poetry). Sometimes we'll be given an extract and I simply wont have a clue about it, but once I'm sparked off there's no stopping me and I really get into it.
I was wondering... do all you English students find you are able to pick up an extract and instantly understand it (even if it is unfamilar / old-language / complex). I certainly don't, and it takes me a while and some promting until I feel confident. Despite this,t my Eng teacher says I'm very good. Is this therefore pointing to the fact that I'm a good worker but don't have the raw natural ability in the subject.
On the other hand, social sciences seem to come really naturally but I wonder if they are satisfying / stretching me as much as Eng is / would.
I'm looking to apply to good Unis (and give Cambridge a shot); the question is if I should do Eng or SPS. How did you all know that English was for you?
Any help is *much* appreciated!
Social sciences definitely are satisfying and do stretch you.
Don't be mistaken into thinking (as I was) that social science is some easy ride. There is a damn lot of reading and a damn load of essays. Personally I couldn't stand doing English beyond A Level - it was just too dry for me. Politics makes me tick, and so here I am studying it.
Basically, from my own personal perspective, I would say that if you like reading Shakepeare/poetry/novels and the like A LOT, and don't mind writing pages and pages of essays on them (I didn't mind the reading, but couldn't put two words together explaining it let alone essays - god knows how I passed
) then go for English. It definitely is the "more prestigious" and I have no hesitation in saying that.
However, if you're more into current affairs, international relations, whats happening in the real world, and would like to write essays about THAT, then do politics/IR. Since you say they would come naturally, then I seriously recommend it.
Oh, and yeah, Politics at SOAS requires BBC. Give it some thought
Don't be mistaken into thinking (as I was) that social science is some easy ride. There is a damn lot of reading and a damn load of essays. Personally I couldn't stand doing English beyond A Level - it was just too dry for me. Politics makes me tick, and so here I am studying it.
Basically, from my own personal perspective, I would say that if you like reading Shakepeare/poetry/novels and the like A LOT, and don't mind writing pages and pages of essays on them (I didn't mind the reading, but couldn't put two words together explaining it let alone essays - god knows how I passed
) then go for English. It definitely is the "more prestigious" and I have no hesitation in saying that.However, if you're more into current affairs, international relations, whats happening in the real world, and would like to write essays about THAT, then do politics/IR. Since you say they would come naturally, then I seriously recommend it.
Oh, and yeah, Politics at SOAS requires BBC. Give it some thought
just remember that sps is pretty much a course only at cambridge (i think only also at one or two other institutions). not many people, if any people, can pick up an extract and understand it completely straight away. although it's possible to have some impressions upon first glance, it does take at least a short while to compile and combine various thoughts, logic and associations.
as an english student in and english forum, i'd be bound to say that english is far more interesting than politics or social policy. so.. english is far more interesting than politics or social policy.
as an english student in and english forum, i'd be bound to say that english is far more interesting than politics or social policy. so.. english is far more interesting than politics or social policy.
I'm too tired to reply fully; but why are you considering this now? Do you seriously know how much left of the year you have?
With English, there are often various times when you understand things fully at face value, and times where you have to look deeper into things. Obviously, this latter aspect is the area studied by Literature, and therefore we learn of devices and methods, insights and views that writers adopt in order to discover what is meant, what is implied and what effect is trying to be created. So, yeah you won't know everything straight away, it's a process of learning how to approach a text.
Just go through your courses and don't worry, and see where you are at the end of the year.
With English, there are often various times when you understand things fully at face value, and times where you have to look deeper into things. Obviously, this latter aspect is the area studied by Literature, and therefore we learn of devices and methods, insights and views that writers adopt in order to discover what is meant, what is implied and what effect is trying to be created. So, yeah you won't know everything straight away, it's a process of learning how to approach a text.
Just go through your courses and don't worry, and see where you are at the end of the year.
Why not apply to to SPS at the three uni's that do it and English at three unis that do it then you can choose based on grades and responses from uni's. Or if it comes to it maybe the uni's that do sps do joint honours in sps and english?
"Whether you think you can or think you can't you're right".
Okay, so it doesn't entirely adress the situation. But it does affirm the fact that there is no indecision. If you try tossing a coin (allocating a decision to each side) and pledge to live with whichever you get, and get the one you DONT want, you'll know it.
xx
Okay, so it doesn't entirely adress the situation. But it does affirm the fact that there is no indecision. If you try tossing a coin (allocating a decision to each side) and pledge to live with whichever you get, and get the one you DONT want, you'll know it.
xx
You know, a month or so before I came to York to study English I had the same doubt. I was properly into debating and discussing current affairs with anyone who would listen and I read vast amounts about issues like the replacement of judges on the US Supreme Court, Iraq, trade issues etc. I had crazy notions of dropping out of UCAS and applying for something like Arabic and Politics and becoming a diplomat or similar.
Having been studying English for a term now, I can say without any doubt that switching to politics (or even combining English with politics) would have been a pretty serious mistake from my point of view. I am still really interested in current affairs; I still enjoy posting here about topical issues or chatting with friends about political matters. English is so much deeper though. If you study literature at university you will realise the full creative potential of the subject and its limitless range. I expect there are sides to the study of literature about which you currently have no idea (I didn't at your level). Also, not understanding immediately is a huge advantage when it comes to analysis! If you can say of a text "oh, it means this..." then you're probably missing something. If you need to re-read a few times and can gradually begin to let the words form some sort of sense then you are more likely to appreciate fully the ambiguities which are bound to be there.
Also, don't see the two (politics and literature) as mutually exclusive - notions of power pervade both subjects I'd imagine. English can be extremely political (sometimes critics can seem frustratingly so in fact). Nobody will beat out of you your interest in politics, and English is so vast a subject that finding SPS-style material about which to write would not be difficult. Imagine trying to write an SPS essay on a literary matter - much more difficult.
So yeah, as an English student I am clearly going to recommend English. But not without good reason I don't feel.
Having been studying English for a term now, I can say without any doubt that switching to politics (or even combining English with politics) would have been a pretty serious mistake from my point of view. I am still really interested in current affairs; I still enjoy posting here about topical issues or chatting with friends about political matters. English is so much deeper though. If you study literature at university you will realise the full creative potential of the subject and its limitless range. I expect there are sides to the study of literature about which you currently have no idea (I didn't at your level). Also, not understanding immediately is a huge advantage when it comes to analysis! If you can say of a text "oh, it means this..." then you're probably missing something. If you need to re-read a few times and can gradually begin to let the words form some sort of sense then you are more likely to appreciate fully the ambiguities which are bound to be there.
Also, don't see the two (politics and literature) as mutually exclusive - notions of power pervade both subjects I'd imagine. English can be extremely political (sometimes critics can seem frustratingly so in fact). Nobody will beat out of you your interest in politics, and English is so vast a subject that finding SPS-style material about which to write would not be difficult. Imagine trying to write an SPS essay on a literary matter - much more difficult.
So yeah, as an English student I am clearly going to recommend English. But not without good reason I don't feel.
Although it's nothing like actually studying it, when you go to open days try and see if you can go to both the talks about Politics/ SPS and English. It'll give you a much better idea of which you think you would find more interesting, and some open days even do mini-lectures in their talks (Royal Holloway did for English) to give you more of a 'feel' for the subject at university level. Obviously it's not the truest representation, but you might feel more of a natural attraction to one of the subjects. I know when I was considering doing a joint-honours degree with a language, and couldn't decide between German and Spanish, reading the prospectuses and going to the different talks really helped as I just found Spanish language and culture much more interesting. Then I decided I'd prefer to just do straight English, but that's another story completely.
And yeah, like others have said, I couldn't tell you anyone who could just analyse something straight off. I went to an open day at a Cambridge college and they did a mock interview with a third year English student, giving her a poem which had been used on either an exam or as part of the interview previously, and she was struggling to answer the tutor's questions straight off. It's the taking time to unravel a piece of writing and discovering things along the way which is the most interesting part, anyway!
And yeah, like others have said, I couldn't tell you anyone who could just analyse something straight off. I went to an open day at a Cambridge college and they did a mock interview with a third year English student, giving her a poem which had been used on either an exam or as part of the interview previously, and she was struggling to answer the tutor's questions straight off. It's the taking time to unravel a piece of writing and discovering things along the way which is the most interesting part, anyway!
Also, don't discount how much politics you can study within an English degree. I'm on my first year at Nottingham and you need 120 credits to pass this year. 80 of these credits are compulsory English modules (4) but the rest can be made up with any combination of modules you want. I'm doing a 10 credit politics module, a 10 credit philosophy module and a 20 credit American lit module. There's no reason why for you that couldn't all be politics. That way you would have a degree in English, but you would have expanded your knowledge in politics and satisfied your interests. Many universities offer this option of taking subsidiary modules, you could do a bit of research into it if you like the sound of unofficially combining subjects. xx
Surely the whole point is that you don't delve deep on initial reading? You can draw so many different levels of meaning from poetry that points that you make after an initial reading are just as valid as those considered carefully, even if you don't seem to 'get it' at the start. Stop fretting!
And anyway you realllllllly don't need to be thinking about this now, I've changed my mind a million times about what I wanted to study in the past year. Trust me you'll know when you come to apply what you want to do and you may be really influenced by the place you want to go to. My boyfriend lives in another city so I've applied to his uni and that affected my choice of course. Don't stress yet, you have enough to worry about with your AS levels.
And anyway you realllllllly don't need to be thinking about this now, I've changed my mind a million times about what I wanted to study in the past year. Trust me you'll know when you come to apply what you want to do and you may be really influenced by the place you want to go to. My boyfriend lives in another city so I've applied to his uni and that affected my choice of course. Don't stress yet, you have enough to worry about with your AS levels.
englishstudent
You know, a month or so before I came to York to study English I had the same doubt. I was properly into debating and discussing current affairs with anyone who would listen and I read vast amounts about issues like the replacement of judges on the US Supreme Court, Iraq, trade issues etc. I had crazy notions of dropping out of UCAS and applying for something like Arabic and Politics and becoming a diplomat or similar.
Having been studying English for a term now, I can say without any doubt that switching to politics (or even combining English with politics) would have been a pretty serious mistake from my point of view. I am still really interested in current affairs; I still enjoy posting here about topical issues or chatting with friends about political matters. English is so much deeper though. If you study literature at university you will realise the full creative potential of the subject and its limitless range. I expect there are sides to the study of literature about which you currently have no idea (I didn't at your level). Also, not understanding immediately is a huge advantage when it comes to analysis! If you can say of a text "oh, it means this..." then you're probably missing something. If you need to re-read a few times and can gradually begin to let the words form some sort of sense then you are more likely to appreciate fully the ambiguities which are bound to be there.
Also, don't see the two (politics and literature) as mutually exclusive - notions of power pervade both subjects I'd imagine. English can be extremely political (sometimes critics can seem frustratingly so in fact). Nobody will beat out of you your interest in politics, and English is so vast a subject that finding SPS-style material about which to write would not be difficult. Imagine trying to write an SPS essay on a literary matter - much more difficult.
So yeah, as an English student I am clearly going to recommend English. But not without good reason I don't feel.
Having been studying English for a term now, I can say without any doubt that switching to politics (or even combining English with politics) would have been a pretty serious mistake from my point of view. I am still really interested in current affairs; I still enjoy posting here about topical issues or chatting with friends about political matters. English is so much deeper though. If you study literature at university you will realise the full creative potential of the subject and its limitless range. I expect there are sides to the study of literature about which you currently have no idea (I didn't at your level). Also, not understanding immediately is a huge advantage when it comes to analysis! If you can say of a text "oh, it means this..." then you're probably missing something. If you need to re-read a few times and can gradually begin to let the words form some sort of sense then you are more likely to appreciate fully the ambiguities which are bound to be there.
Also, don't see the two (politics and literature) as mutually exclusive - notions of power pervade both subjects I'd imagine. English can be extremely political (sometimes critics can seem frustratingly so in fact). Nobody will beat out of you your interest in politics, and English is so vast a subject that finding SPS-style material about which to write would not be difficult. Imagine trying to write an SPS essay on a literary matter - much more difficult.
So yeah, as an English student I am clearly going to recommend English. But not without good reason I don't feel.
Well said.
As a politics student, I agree with everything you've said. It is simply a matter of perspective. Though you would have made a good politics student ES - you might have had to change your nick
I'm just gonna go for the sentimental approach and say go with your heart. 
It's what I did!
Of course it helps if your a genius as well :P
It's what I did!
Of course it helps if your a genius as well :P
museummouth
I'm too tired to reply fully; but why are you considering this now? Do you seriously know how much left of the year you have?
Well why not consider it now? I started researching universities more than a year before applying and I'm so glad I did. It's important to be aware of what your strengths are and what goals you should be working towards.
Zahra7fold
I'm just gonna go for the sentimental approach and say go with your heart.
It's what I did!
Of course it helps if your a genius as well :P
It's what I did!
Of course it helps if your a genius as well :P
Agreed! this time last year I was all set to study French further, simply because I was adamant it would lead to a better job. However, I then went on a French trip and missed England so much; I was away for a mere week! I genuinely love English and it gives me more satisfaction that any other subject ever could. You need to picture the future and determine whether you really have a passion for the subject. Disregard whether or not the degree is "prestigious" and just do what your heart tells you.
and remember english at uni is nothing like english at a level. its so much more enjoyable, its not just about sitting there and answering assessment objectives, like it is at A level. I'm enjoying english at uni more than i ever did at school. At york for example, you get to choose what you write about, and the title, and you can incorporate a whole range of subjects and contexts - so you can keep up your interests in sociology and politics, and history. It'll be nothing like A level, just 10 times better!
elbow_fan
Well why not consider it now? I started researching universities more than a year before applying and I'm so glad I did. It's important to be aware of what your strengths are and what goals you should be working towards.
I had no idea what I wanted to do at uni until beginning of y13.
elbow_fan
Well why not consider it now? I started researching universities more than a year before applying and I'm so glad I did. It's important to be aware of what your strengths are and what goals you should be working towards.
Agreed! this time last year I was all set to study French further, simply because I was adamant it would lead to a better job. However, I then went on a French trip and missed England so much; I was away for a mere week! I genuinely love English and it gives me more satisfaction that any other subject ever could. You need to picture the future and determine whether you really have a passion for the subject. Disregard whether or not the degree is "prestigious" and just do what your heart tells you.
Agreed! this time last year I was all set to study French further, simply because I was adamant it would lead to a better job. However, I then went on a French trip and missed England so much; I was away for a mere week! I genuinely love English and it gives me more satisfaction that any other subject ever could. You need to picture the future and determine whether you really have a passion for the subject. Disregard whether or not the degree is "prestigious" and just do what your heart tells you.
Yeah and you can totally incorporate French into English Lit anyway!
And when you get homesick you can always come back to the loving arms of Shakespeare and co.
I'm a finalist at Warwick studying English Literature and I love it. I always planned to do law (and will hopefully do a conversion next year), but did english because I simply enjoyed it. If anything, I had to work the hardest to get my A in English!
Studying English Literature at degree level gets more and more intense every year. You only need to look around my Shakespeare lectures (you have to earn the right to study Shakespeare at Warwick, so not till the third year!) that you can actually see the enthuasium. It's incredible and hard to describe. I 'liked' English Literature when I started my degree, now I feel totally differently!
With regards to analysising the poetry, I wouldn't worry about that in the slightest. You are taught new ways to read at uni and as a result, its very different to A Level and GCSE. Poetry is subjective in any case, and there's nothing wrong with taking your time to formulate your own opinion!
In short, I can't stress enough how important it is to enjoy the subject you choose. You're going to be living your subject for the next three years. I think whoever said go with your gut feeling is totally right! If you enjoy something, you won't mind going to the effort of reading four texts a week, and writing and researching essays!
Hope that helps!
Studying English Literature at degree level gets more and more intense every year. You only need to look around my Shakespeare lectures (you have to earn the right to study Shakespeare at Warwick, so not till the third year!) that you can actually see the enthuasium. It's incredible and hard to describe. I 'liked' English Literature when I started my degree, now I feel totally differently!
With regards to analysising the poetry, I wouldn't worry about that in the slightest. You are taught new ways to read at uni and as a result, its very different to A Level and GCSE. Poetry is subjective in any case, and there's nothing wrong with taking your time to formulate your own opinion!
In short, I can't stress enough how important it is to enjoy the subject you choose. You're going to be living your subject for the next three years. I think whoever said go with your gut feeling is totally right! If you enjoy something, you won't mind going to the effort of reading four texts a week, and writing and researching essays!
Hope that helps!
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