Language Applicants for 2014!

Not too early at all. I was wondering when i would find this thread.

I'm looking at studying French and Spanish as a degree with the possibility of merging it with linguistics/european studies. I'm feeling incredibly indecisive at the moment!

I have been focusing on Bath, Southampton, Exeter, Warwick and Durham/Cambridge as a long shot.

Southampton was rated 3rd for modern languages in one of the university rankings and the facilities are apparently great. They have a huge range of language courses as well which is clouding my decision as they do linguistics, European studies, language learning and language in society with two (or 3) languages. Definitely worth considering.

I'm completely the opposite when it comes to literature, I want to avoid it as much as possible! The strange thing is I like reading but I hate over-analyzing a book. I prefer the culture and linguistics side of things.

I haven't really considered any London universities as they are too close to home for me and I prefer a campus uni to a city one (i think).

Fair enough... UCL is my only London uni as I live in London and, frankly... you couldn't pay me enough to stay at home (nothing against my parents... I think that's a fairly normal reaction). I'll give Southampton a look as I've got a fifth spot spare.

I assume you're a Londoner too?

Hi,
I'm coming from Scotland, so I'm hoping to have done well enough in my highers in August. I'm currently looking at applying for German and Russian at Cambridge, Durham, St Andrews, Edinburgh, and perhaps Glasgow or UCL. Part of me still wants to do history in addition to this, however, or joint honours. I particularly like the look of St Andrew's, since the subject choice in the first two years is so flexible.

St Andrews are meant to be quite good, aren't they? The only thing is that their degrees are meant to take an extra year... I don't get why though? It might prove handy as they offer a Spanish, German and English course so it might be worth swallowing the extra year to study a bit more about all three in depth. That way I don't have to choose between English and German (I'm finding that impossible atm!)

Yes, I've only heard good things about St As. Their degrees are 4 years long (5, if you count the year abroad, I think) because Scottish students can technically apply to university in 5th year (Year 12) because Scottish unis make you an offer based on your higher exam results, as opposed to advanced highers.

Ah, I see. That's actually quite a nice idea, takes loadsa pressure off the last year. I'll have to think over whether I want to do a 5 year course, but given it's such a good university... it'd be worth it if I did.

BTW, how are you 'preparing' for German? (I hate that phrase it makes me sound like I'm cheating the whole application system by cramming for my personal statement... I just have a really poor knowledge of German literature and teachers who aren't the most approachable ) Any books you've read that you think are any good?

Admittedly, I haven't really spent much time reading a lot of German literature, although I currently have Herman Hesse's Steppenwolf (in English) and am going to try Der Vorleser in German over the summer. I tried a sample of a Kafka novel, so think I will read some of his works over the summer. I'm not very prepared either!

Hi guys, I'm hoping to study Spanish and Arabic at uni.
I've been thinking about applying to St Andrews, Exeter, UCL, Leeds and potentially Durham or Cambridge if I get decent AS grades and UMS; however, having completely messed up AS Maths, I'm not feeling too optimistic.

The Language and Culture degree does look absolutely amazing. (Although, I'd only be able to minor in Arabic which is something that I'm not sure I want.)

In the nicest possible way, I'm glad I'm not the only one who hasn't done much. Tbh my school doesn't have many people who study German (I'm one of 6 in my year) and I'm the first in 3 or 4 years to consider doing it at university, so nobody's really got a clue of what to do! I'm studying Der Vorleser for A2 so I'll read that (I've already read it in English). Also I'm going to Germany for the first time over the holiday so hopefully that should improve my pretty awful oral skills!

German is not very popular at my school either, nor are languages in general I must say. Currently there are four people in my Higher (AS) class, and I'm the only person continuing it at Advanced Higher next year. Usually there is only one person doing both Higher and Advanced Higher German every year, so uptake is very low. I know that I'm going to be studying Andorra by Max Frisch as one of my texts next year, although I'm not sure about the other one.
Ooh, that'll be great. I'm involved in a German exchange, so got the chance to spend a week in Germany last year which was really good in helping to build up my confidence with the spoken language. My exchange partner is actually coming here in a couple of weeks. I'll also be spending a week or two in Germany this summer with my family.

It does look good, doesn't it? It just gives me a channel to feed my ridiculous love for literature while doing German and Spanish at the same time.

Have you considered Oxford, if you're a good enough applicant but a bit wary about UMS (like I am ) maybe it'd be an idea to check them out. (I'm not trying to plug Oxford... it's just I'm essentially having the same doubts as you)

Yeah, I like how broad and how versatile the course is. Have to say, I'm also a bit of a literature geek. So, would Spanish be your main language?
I have considered Oxford and the fact that the course is very literature heavy is quite appealing, but I wasn't sure whether there would be enough language. But I probably haven't looked into it enough, so you make a good point. I'd say it's pretty unlikely I'll get 93%+ UMS in my top three subjects... But I also don't know how kindly the universities will take to a bad fourth subject (Maths ^^"). I guess I'll just have to wait until results day to find out whether applying is a possibility. Haha.

Yes, I've only heard good things about St As. Their degrees are 4 years long (5, if you count the year abroad, I think) because Scottish students can technically apply to university in 5th year (Year 12) because Scottish unis make you an offer based on your higher exam results, as opposed to advanced highers.