I'm applying to different universities for different courses
Hi,
I'm applying to different universities but I will be applying for different (yet similar) courses, but I don't know what I should write in my personal statement?
These are the courses I'm thinking of applying for:
University of York: History & Philosophy
Newcastle: History
University of Birmingham: Ancient History
University of Manchester: Ancient History
King College London: Ancient History
So as you can see they're quite similar but York is my first choice; I don't want to focus too much on history in my PS and not get accepted onto the course? Any help would be much appreciated!!
Cheers
I'm applying to different universities but I will be applying for different (yet similar) courses, but I don't know what I should write in my personal statement?
These are the courses I'm thinking of applying for:
University of York: History & Philosophy
Newcastle: History
University of Birmingham: Ancient History
University of Manchester: Ancient History
King College London: Ancient History
So as you can see they're quite similar but York is my first choice; I don't want to focus too much on history in my PS and not get accepted onto the course? Any help would be much appreciated!!
Cheers
You can mention history by name but for the philosophy side of it, instead of specifically saying philosophy, maybe talk about how history is open for interpretation etc.? Not sure what else to suggest, but I hope this helps somewhat. I'm currently having the same issue with applying to different courses that are basically the same in all but name.
It's unwise to choose to apply for different courses - why are you not applying for single honours history at York?
Original post by *Interrobang*
It's unwise to choose to apply for different courses - why are you not applying for single honours history at York?
I know it is, but I can't do a combined degree anywhere else for my course. The course at York is the exact one I want to do and I don't like a lot of the other history courses out there - I want quite a broad course like what is on offer there and at Newcastle
Original post by ficarter97
I know it is, but I can't do a combined degree anywhere else for my course. The course at York is the exact one I want to do and I don't like a lot of the other history courses out there - I want quite a broad course like what is on offer there and at Newcastle
You can't find any other courses that are history and philosophy? A quick search found at least another 2/3, and at decent universities as well. Not to mention doing electives in other subjects. For example, at York you can do history and do 40 credits in other departments in Year 2: https://www.york.ac.uk/media/studenthome/studying/examsandassessments/History%20UG%20Statement%20of%20Assessment.pdf
I know you can do history and philosophy at other universities but just not at the ones I've selected, and I'm a bit fussy when it comes to the history part. I would like to do the joint degree as personal preference. If I went to the other universities then I would do a philosophy module
(edited 9 years ago)
You will struggle to write a PS that will adequately cover both types of courses tho
Check the module options at York - if it is possible for your History modules to be entirely ancient (or at least not modern) then you might be able to manage this by focusing in on
a) greek philosophers (or other ancient philosophers - take your pick)
and
b) the history of philosophy - but in order to keep your PS relevant to ancient history you will need to make this very targeted towards ancient ideas rather than how ideas have changed through time
however if the York course includes a compulsory modern/medieval history set of modules then there's more content to be covered than you will be able to fit into the space available.
Your other option is to just include some discussion of modern/medieval topics that interest you and hope that this wouldn't put off the ancient history admissions staff (although I'm afraid with historians the split between ancient and non-ancient academics tends to be quite combative so this would be a risky tactic).
Ultimately it is down to you to decide which of your choices you want to target with your PS and whether you're willing to take the risk that a targeted PS will put off your other choices.
Finally of the choices that you've listed ancient history as your option it might be worth looking into the following instead (as these would be more appropriate to apply to with a history/phil PS):
Combined Honours (flexible) at Newcastle
Classical lit and civilisation and phil at Birmingham
MHist course at Manchester
(the only thing I kind find at KCL is War Studies with phil which I'm assuming you've decided against already but would similarly be more appropriate to apply to with a hist/phil PS than for single honours ancient history).
a) greek philosophers (or other ancient philosophers - take your pick)
and
b) the history of philosophy - but in order to keep your PS relevant to ancient history you will need to make this very targeted towards ancient ideas rather than how ideas have changed through time
however if the York course includes a compulsory modern/medieval history set of modules then there's more content to be covered than you will be able to fit into the space available.
Your other option is to just include some discussion of modern/medieval topics that interest you and hope that this wouldn't put off the ancient history admissions staff (although I'm afraid with historians the split between ancient and non-ancient academics tends to be quite combative so this would be a risky tactic).
Ultimately it is down to you to decide which of your choices you want to target with your PS and whether you're willing to take the risk that a targeted PS will put off your other choices.
Finally of the choices that you've listed ancient history as your option it might be worth looking into the following instead (as these would be more appropriate to apply to with a history/phil PS):
Combined Honours (flexible) at Newcastle
Classical lit and civilisation and phil at Birmingham
MHist course at Manchester
(the only thing I kind find at KCL is War Studies with phil which I'm assuming you've decided against already but would similarly be more appropriate to apply to with a hist/phil PS than for single honours ancient history).
Original post by PQ
Check the module options at York - if it is possible for your History modules to be entirely ancient (or at least not modern) then you might be able to manage this by focusing in on
a) greek philosophers (or other ancient philosophers - take your pick)
and
b) the history of philosophy - but in order to keep your PS relevant to ancient history you will need to make this very targeted towards ancient ideas rather than how ideas have changed through time
however if the York course includes a compulsory modern/medieval history set of modules then there's more content to be covered than you will be able to fit into the space available.
Your other option is to just include some discussion of modern/medieval topics that interest you and hope that this wouldn't put off the ancient history admissions staff (although I'm afraid with historians the split between ancient and non-ancient academics tends to be quite combative so this would be a risky tactic).
Ultimately it is down to you to decide which of your choices you want to target with your PS and whether you're willing to take the risk that a targeted PS will put off your other choices.
Finally of the choices that you've listed ancient history as your option it might be worth looking into the following instead (as these would be more appropriate to apply to with a history/phil PS):
Combined Honours (flexible) at Newcastle
Classical lit and civilisation and phil at Birmingham
MHist course at Manchester
(the only thing I kind find at KCL is War Studies with phil which I'm assuming you've decided against already but would similarly be more appropriate to apply to with a hist/phil PS than for single honours ancient history).
a) greek philosophers (or other ancient philosophers - take your pick)
and
b) the history of philosophy - but in order to keep your PS relevant to ancient history you will need to make this very targeted towards ancient ideas rather than how ideas have changed through time
however if the York course includes a compulsory modern/medieval history set of modules then there's more content to be covered than you will be able to fit into the space available.
Your other option is to just include some discussion of modern/medieval topics that interest you and hope that this wouldn't put off the ancient history admissions staff (although I'm afraid with historians the split between ancient and non-ancient academics tends to be quite combative so this would be a risky tactic).
Ultimately it is down to you to decide which of your choices you want to target with your PS and whether you're willing to take the risk that a targeted PS will put off your other choices.
Finally of the choices that you've listed ancient history as your option it might be worth looking into the following instead (as these would be more appropriate to apply to with a history/phil PS):
Combined Honours (flexible) at Newcastle
Classical lit and civilisation and phil at Birmingham
MHist course at Manchester
(the only thing I kind find at KCL is War Studies with phil which I'm assuming you've decided against already but would similarly be more appropriate to apply to with a hist/phil PS than for single honours ancient history).
Thanks a lot
I'll try that and see what happensOriginal post by PQ
Check the module options at York - if it is possible for your History modules to be entirely ancient (or at least not modern) then you might be able to manage this by focusing in on
a) greek philosophers (or other ancient philosophers - take your pick)
and
b) the history of philosophy - but in order to keep your PS relevant to ancient history you will need to make this very targeted towards ancient ideas rather than how ideas have changed through time
however if the York course includes a compulsory modern/medieval history set of modules then there's more content to be covered than you will be able to fit into the space available.
Your other option is to just include some discussion of modern/medieval topics that interest you and hope that this wouldn't put off the ancient history admissions staff (although I'm afraid with historians the split between ancient and non-ancient academics tends to be quite combative so this would be a risky tactic).
Ultimately it is down to you to decide which of your choices you want to target with your PS and whether you're willing to take the risk that a targeted PS will put off your other choices.
Finally of the choices that you've listed ancient history as your option it might be worth looking into the following instead (as these would be more appropriate to apply to with a history/phil PS):
Combined Honours (flexible) at Newcastle
Classical lit and civilisation and phil at Birmingham
MHist course at Manchester
(the only thing I kind find at KCL is War Studies with phil which I'm assuming you've decided against already but would similarly be more appropriate to apply to with a hist/phil PS than for single honours ancient history).
a) greek philosophers (or other ancient philosophers - take your pick)
and
b) the history of philosophy - but in order to keep your PS relevant to ancient history you will need to make this very targeted towards ancient ideas rather than how ideas have changed through time
however if the York course includes a compulsory modern/medieval history set of modules then there's more content to be covered than you will be able to fit into the space available.
Your other option is to just include some discussion of modern/medieval topics that interest you and hope that this wouldn't put off the ancient history admissions staff (although I'm afraid with historians the split between ancient and non-ancient academics tends to be quite combative so this would be a risky tactic).
Ultimately it is down to you to decide which of your choices you want to target with your PS and whether you're willing to take the risk that a targeted PS will put off your other choices.
Finally of the choices that you've listed ancient history as your option it might be worth looking into the following instead (as these would be more appropriate to apply to with a history/phil PS):
Combined Honours (flexible) at Newcastle
Classical lit and civilisation and phil at Birmingham
MHist course at Manchester
(the only thing I kind find at KCL is War Studies with phil which I'm assuming you've decided against already but would similarly be more appropriate to apply to with a hist/phil PS than for single honours ancient history).
Original post by ficarter97
Thanks a lot I'll try that and see what happens
I'll try that and see what happensI think that this is excellent advice, but I want to just add my perspective on this situation with history/ ancient history from a classics perspective. My concern about this particular situation is that ancient history and history are taught very differently with ancient history focusing almost entirely on primary source material and building arguments. While admittedly there is some cross over in approaches, I wouldn't advise targeting the statement towards ancient history because there's a big enough gap between the subjects to make applying to history courses with ancient history included in the statement rather odd. If it were me, I would either apply for joint honours (if possible), apply for history and look to take subsids in ancient history, or go down the ancient history route and then take history modules (there are a few joint philosophy/ ancient history/ classical civilisation courses so you could apply for these too). It's definitely a risk and it might be worth spending some time thinking through your options again.
You've had lots of advice already, but I wanted to add that admissions folk are very used to statements that have to be tailored to more than one course and won't penalise you for it. If you're worried you should contact the admissions tutors at the departments you're interested in: they are always happy to answer questions in that way.
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