History Applicants 2014 entry

actually someone has told me it is not that bad of a uni, but I'd prefer Royal Holloway or SOAS to it. I've heard Royal Holloway has got a very interesting course, but it is not a part of Russell Group.

Different point entirely; but since Edinburgh offers Scandinavian Studies, I think that will probably make me more inclined to go there as I'd really like to learn Swedish

I went there on an open day as a history applicant... I hated the campus (set around a grave yard) and only a small number of students actually stay on campus so it felt quite small and empty. Its location in the east end is not great and it's a lengthy tube journey to the centre of London. Plus they have a shopping list approach to history which is not great according to a UCL history professor (although biased I'm sure). I hope I don't come across too badly, it's just that I felt there were distinct reasons for its low entry requirements relative to other courses. I would highly recommend visiting the campus before committing via application as it really doesn't suit everyone. Something to think about...<br />
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I don't know whether you mean graveyard literally or figuratively but that still wouldn't bother me. And I thought they were quite a big uni, so what do you mean by small and empty? It says on the website they have great student satisfaction and they can't just lie about the stats.

Not every uni offers every course. Mine doesn't offer History & language Joint Honours degrees

Good choice.

You can do Scandinavian Studies and History at UCL too, but the history will be based at SSEES rather than general history at Edinburgh. SSEES history is pretty much Russian and Central/Eastern European history but I think you can take the odd module from other University of London history departments. The modules do look pretty good though.

They do! But I still wouldn't be able to do SSEES History with Spanish, and I don't think I should bother applying to do Swedish + History at UCL considering the fact my personal statement is about Spanish + History and they'll probably wonder why I've even bothered applying there. Where are you applying?

It's mildly worrying how many people here care about whether a Uni is in the Russell Group or not. All that membership signifies is increased research funding. It isn't some kind of exclusive club for the best unis. Granted, if it's in the Russell Group it's going to be good, but the same goes for the 1994 group (unis like Lancaster or RHUL), or unis like St. Andrews which aren't affiliated with either. Basing your decision at all on RG membership is a bad plan. Just base it on the Uni's reputation, how much you liked the course, whether you think you'd like to live there and how impressed you were with the course/department generally.

I sent my application to Cambridge, Warwick, Exeter, York and Nottingham. Nottingham gave me an offer on Friday

I don't think anyone here is stupid enough to base their choice entirely on that...but the fact is, universities have greater prestige if they're in the Russel Group. After saying *why do you care* you just admitted yourself that they have increased research funding and they're obviously going to be good. I've read somewhere that it was partly created to signify to students the top unis that they can aim for, since it wasn't as clear before.

Ah I see, well you could always just apply for history at SSEES and if you get an offer/decide you want t go there ask if you could switch to Swedish and History? I doubt they'd say no.

I'm applying for Scandinavian Studies and History at UCL, Scandinavian Studies at UCL and Edinburgh... and probbaly History at St Andrews and European Studies at Aberdeen.

Congrats! Nottingham's great. Did you get to see your teacher's reference? I heard that under the Data Protection Act or something, students were allowed to ask for it once they get sent out. Oh, and, do you know if universities will respond this fast to all the non-Oxbridge applicants? I hope they do.

That's a good point, I hadn't really thought about that

I think you can do Scandinavian Studies at Aberdeen, I took a look at the course content while I was supposed to be looking at the Spanish course content So are you applying to UCL twice? Because you can do History + Scandinavian Studies at Edinburgh too. (Unless you just listed UCL twice by accident, in which case just ignore my confusion)

They don't necessarily have greater prestige if they're in the Russell Group. This is a myth which people continue to propagate, and I honestly don't know why. And research funding doesn't mean at all that the teaching quality is going to be good.

The only thing that being in the Russell Group originally signified was being a previously-established larger university trying to protect their research interests in the face of the wave of polytechnics given university status after 1992. The smaller ones made the 1994 group to protect their interests, and there were others that remained outside such a system.

The Russell Group was not created to signify to students what the top unis were to aim for; or if it was, that was a distinction made by those universities. I think that any group dedicated to signifying the "top unis" without universities like Warwick, York, Exeter, St. Andrews and Durham (four of which admittedly joined much, much later) wasn't doing its job properly.

Having said that, being in the Russell Group does mean it's going to be a good university. I was just mildly worried by a few comments here where people said that they weren't sure about a university because it wasn't in the Russell Group, that's all.

I sent my application to Cambridge, Warwick, Exeter, York and Nottingham. Nottingham gave me an offer on Friday