[otterymary]

Hello all!

I really need your help!

I already have my grades: A*A*Aa (English, French, History, Music) and I've just taken a gap year to save some money (gap year number two coming up next year!!) so I'm looking at various universities to study English (usually Q300) and I'm trying to compare the various pros and cons of each course. I'm specifically looking at these few:

Birmingham
University College London
Cardiff
Leeds
Durham
Exeter
King’s College London
Bristol
Liverpool

My friend's sister has just graduated from English at Exeter and she tells me that in first year, they have 10 contact hours a week, and 1 seminar and 1 lecture a week for the big core modules and then 1 seminar every fortnight for the smaller modules. This is the sort of info I'm after for all of them really - can anyone help?
Also, I'm really worried about the course being ALL exams as I'm absolutely awful at exams! So if anyone knows what the assessments are like that would be SUPER useful too! (so, like, if coursework counts for half or whatever)

I'm trying to get as much info as possible so that I can make the right decision for £9000 a year. Stakes are high!

Thanks in advance - you'd be doing me a MASSIVE favour.

[otterymary]

Many thanks, SilGathien! Just another quick query - I was just wondering how big the year was? Like...how many people do English?

Thanks

[SilGathien]

(Original post by otterymary)
Many thanks, SilGathien! Just another quick query - I was just wondering how big the year was? Like...how many people do English?

Thanks

I think Cardiff has a bigger undergraduate intake than some other universities. Probably between 125-150 people do English in my year, but I'm not quite sure of the numbers. First year lectures are quite big though - especially for straight English - because humanities students do three subjects in year one. Lectures definitely get smaller as you go into years 2 and 3 though!

[Reader 79]

(Original post by otterymary)
I'm really worried about the course being ALL exams as I'm absolutely awful at exams! So if anyone knows what the assessments are like that would be SUPER useful too! (so, like, if coursework counts for half or whatever)

It's not on your list, but have you considered York? The website for their English department has student views to help prospective applicants, and one of them says that the modules are almost entirely coursework assessed.

Apparently, York also runs small tutorial groups, which are not greatly bigger than Oxbridge ones.

When you add to this the fact that it's a top-rated department with entry grades as high as your other possible unis, and that it came top for English in the last RAE, I'd say it's well worth looking at.

[otterymary]

Hi -

Yes - I'm just working my way through the first half of the Russell Group at the moment.

Thanks though.

[Aeschylus]

(Original post by Reader 79)
It's not on your list, but have you considered York? The website for their English department has student views to help prospective applicants, and one of them says that the modules are almost entirely coursework assessed.

Apparently, York also runs small tutorial groups, which are not greatly bigger than Oxbridge ones.

When you add to this the fact that it's a top-rated department with entry grades as high as your other possible unis, and that it came top for English in the last RAE, I'd say it's well worth looking at.

They have changed the course slightly so that there are some exams, but it is sitll 80% coursework based minimum. Came 4th in the CUG subject table ranking for english this year so we're doing something right