Best university for history

It's coming up to that time where I need to make decisions and so I was wondering what universities have the best history departments. From what I've already read of these threads, it is generally said to look at the modules. However, I'm currently looking at universities where students are pushed academically. Once I get a sense of that I can look at the modules for those universities.

I hope that doesn't sound arrogant - I just want to apply to universities that actually care about the students. I don't want to feel like I'm wasting three years of my life.

Reply 1

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Which specific areas and periods of history are you hoping to study?

Reply 2

Picnicl

Kent, Leicester, and East Anglia currently have the best research quality for History. Possibly not what you expected as their entry standards aren't some of the highest but Leicester did help find the body of Richard III so that's some great research there.

If you want universities that have got a combination of very good research rating (top 15) and high entry standards (top 15):
UCL (ABB (contextual) - AAA)
St Andrews (AAA-ABB)
Exeter (BBB (contextual)- AAA/AAB)
King's College London (ABB (contextual) - AAA)
Glasgow (AAB-BBB)

If we extend it to top 25 for both:
Manchester
Birmingham
Warwick
York
Oxford
Durham
Bristol
Nottingham
LSE
Edinburgh

Interesting that Cambridge couldn't make it to the top 25 for research quality (they reached 29th).

Source: www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 3

Gloobmaster

Original post by PQ

Which specific areas and periods of history are you hoping to study?

I like the idea of being able to study a wide range in terms of themes and periods (which is why I'm not so keen in LSE's course) but I definitely lean more towards the social and cultural side of history.

Reply 4

Stiffy Byng

I wouldn't take any one set of rankings as definitive. I am not sure whether any meaningful assessment of the quality of research in history can be made.

I doubt that many would suggest that, for example, Leicester ranks above Oxford or Cambridge as a university for undergraduate study of history, because of some arbitrary measurement of research quality.

The Oxford history course has changed a fair bit since I did it, but it is still both wide and deep. You can to a large extent follow your interests by focusing on topics and themes within broad categories. There is usually a good choice of topics in the exam questions, allowing a student to play to their strengths.

History may be one of the subjects best suited to the Oxford tutorial system. An hour a week in rigorous debate with a practising historian is usually great fun. My tutors were a demanding lot who accepted no bluster or waffle. In between the tutorials, reading huge amounts of history in the Radcliffe Camera and elsewhere can be a great pleasure for an industrious student.

Although these days I read law for a living, I have retained a lifelong interest in history, and still read history with the critical eye that my tutors taught me to use.

If you are on target for high grades, and you relish a challenge, maybe give Oxford or Cambridge a try, but treat the application as a long shot and don't beat yourself up if you don't get in. There just aren't enough places to go round.

Reply 5

Supermature

Original post by Stiffy Byng

I wouldn't take any one set of rankings as definitive. I am not sure whether any meaningful assessment of the quality of research in history can be made.
I doubt that many would suggest that, for example, Leicester ranks above Oxford or Cambridge as a university for undergraduate study of history, because of some arbitrary measurement of research quality.
The Oxford history course has changed a fair bit since I did it, but it is still both wide and deep. You can to a large extent follow your interests by focusing on topics and themes within broad categories. There is usually a good choice of topics in the exam questions, allowing a student to play to their strengths.
History may be one of the subjects best suited to the Oxford tutorial system. An hour a week in rigorous debate with a practising historian is usually great fun. My tutors were a demanding lot who accepted no bluster or waffle. In between the tutorials, reading huge amounts of history in the Radcliffe Camera and elsewhere can be a great pleasure for an industrious student.
Although these days I read law for a living, I have retained a lifelong interest in history, and still read history with the critical eye that my tutors taught me to use.
If you are on target for high grades, and you relish a challenge, maybe give Oxford or Cambridge a try, but treat the application as a long shot and don't beat yourself up if you don't get in. There just aren't enough places to go round.

What an excellent response!

The problem with Oxbridge is, as the above comment reminds us, one of supply and demand combined with an idiosyncratic admissions process. But one or the other is worth a shot if you are prepared to jump through the hoops.

The list in Reply 2 is a fairly reliable guide but remember that as well as choosing the right course you actually have to live there for three years. Durham and Manchester, for example, are both excellent choices - but the day to day experience of living and studying in those two places couldn't be more different.

(edited 2 weeks ago)

Reply 6

YSJstudents

Official Rep

Original post by Gloobmaster

It's coming up to that time where I need to make decisions and so I was wondering what universities have the best history departments. From what I've already read of these threads, it is generally said to look at the modules. However, I'm currently looking at universities where students are pushed academically. Once I get a sense of that I can look at the modules for those universities.
I hope that doesn't sound arrogant - I just want to apply to universities that actually care about the students. I don't want to feel like I'm wasting three years of my life.

Hi there,

I would suggest looking at what the different courses at the different universities offer and what modules interest you the most. I know at York St John our history courses cover a whole range of different time periods and use the history of the city on our doorstep within the course.

As @Supermature have mentioned you have to consider both whether the course is right for you as well as if the city where the university is, is a city which you would like to live in as 3 years can be a long time in the wrong city. To help you decide if the city is right for you I would suggest visiting the universities for an open or decision day and looking round them as well as looking round the city as well. This can help you to decide if the city feels right for you and if you can see yourself living there as well. If there are more than one university you like and can see yourself living in that city I would suggest visiting more than once to hep with the final decision.

I hope this helps 😊
Katie - Student Ambassador

(edited 2 weeks ago)

Reply 7

Gloobmaster

Thank you all so much for the advice. I really appreciate it.

Reply 8

Stiffy Byng

I am biased. I read history at Oxford. I attach one of the reasons why I think it's the best university for history. This is a great piece about a great book, a book which blew my mind when I first read it in 1982. I was lucky enough to be taught by the book's author Keith Thomas, the greatest living historian (he's now 91).

As the article in Oxford's history journal "Past and Present" explains, "Religion And The Decline Of Magic" is very much a product of the Oxford historical world. The article includes some entertaining notes on the feuding characteristics of Hugh Trevor-Roper, who dominated the Oxford historical scene for decades before an ill-fated move to Peterhouse, and whom I heard holding Court at Oriel one evening in 1983. A long read, but a good read.

https://academic.oup.com/past/article/261/1/259/7246025?login=false