[kathykkw]

Hey I am franticly trying to understand which colleges at Oxford at good at history but I have a hard time finding out since i can't find any site on the internet nor can anyone at my school point me to the right direction since history is not a path many of the pupils follow so I would appreciate your advice.

Thanks

[MC REN]

balliol is best for everything, the rest are all alright

[sophisti_kate]

Originally Posted by kathykkw

Hey I am franticly trying to understand which colleges at Oxford at good at history but I have a hard time finding out since i can't find any site on the internet nor can anyone at my school point me to the right direction since history is not a path many of the pupils follow so I would appreciate your advice.

Thanks

All colleges do history so you will have to weed them out by looking at other important factors such as accomodation, location, style etc

Lots of teaching after the first year is done with tutors outside your own college so lots of opportunities to be taught by others - but if you have a specialist interest, have a look on college websites and it should say what the tutor's specific areas of interest are.

[Mook]

Originally Posted by kathykkw

Hey I am franticly trying to understand which colleges at Oxford at good at history but I have a hard time finding out since i can't find any site on the internet nor can anyone at my school point me to the right direction since history is not a path many of the pupils follow so I would appreciate your advice.

Thanks

As sophisti_kate said, there's no college which is particularly good at History, so you'll have to use other criteria to make your decision. Some obvious things to consider are:
(1) Accomodation. Do you want all three years or would you prefer to live out?
(2) Location. Being central is pretty handy for access to the Bod, getting to lectures and the like, but some of the ones a little bit further out have bigger grounds and are less touristy.
(3) Traditional or modern. No college will force you to get involved in pomp and ceremony if that's not your thing, but some people like the idea of things like formal hall and others think it's a bit antiquated.
(4) Number of students. History is one of the largest subjects in the university, but the size of a year group can vary between a tiny college like Corpus and big colleges like Christ Church or St. Catz. It won't make a huge difference but might be worth considering.
(5) Tutors. Old dinosaurs or young 'uns? If you want to do a particular paper in your first year (especially for British history in Michaelmas) then you might want to check out whether a tutor at your college of choice teaches it, or whether they are happy to send students out to other colleges in the first term.
(6) College library. History is one of the most book-based subjects in Oxford, so whilst you'll be able to find pretty much everything you need in the Bodleian or the History Faculty, having a decent provision in your college library can make things a lot easier. Is it open 24 hours? How well-funded is it i.e. will they be happy to buy extra books for your course if needed?

At the end of the day, the most important thing is picking a college where you think you'll be happy, and most people will be happy wherever they end up. But you have the option to choose, so you might as well use it to try and make sure you're in the best possible place for you as an individual.

[Christelle19]

Hello,

I will be applying for History and Politics (Jnt Hon.) this autumn, but I have no idea which college to apply to. Looking around the city, I found Brasenose, Hertford, New, University and Wadham to be my top five.
In terms of History/Politics, are any of these colleges known for anything related to History or Politics? I heard that colleges take very few History and Politics applicants; I think that the average is something like 2 per college. Are they any which accept more than average ? - as I would like to have a few people to discuss and debate with.

Thanks

[Mook]

Originally Posted by Christelle19

. Are they any which accept more than average ? - as I would like to have a few people to discuss and debate with.

It's a small joint school (45 per year, according to the Oxford website), so I think numbers are likely to be fairly small at all the colleges/PPHs that offer it. 29 claim to on the Oxford website, so I can't imagine that any will take more than 2 ... However, you shouldn't be too worried about having people to discuss and debate with, as you'll be doing many of the same papers as straight Historians (of whom there are always a fair few) and PPEists as well (I think). History and PPE are the two largest subjects in the university, so whilst History and Politics is a small subject in its own right, you won't be isolated by any means.

[Andy the Anarchist]

Originally Posted by Mook

It's a small joint school (45 per year, according to the Oxford website), so I think numbers are likely to be fairly small at all the colleges/PPHs that offer it. 29 claim to on the Oxford website, so I can't imagine that any will take more than 2 ... However, you shouldn't be too worried about having people to discuss and debate with, as you'll be doing many of the same papers as straight Historians (of whom there are always a fair few) and PPEists as well (I think). History and PPE are the two largest subjects in the university, so whilst History and Politics is a small subject in its own right, you won't be isolated by any means.

Mansfield accepted 3 this year according to its stats, which is bizarre for such a small college.

I have no idea about other colleges, I suspect some will take more than that.

[Mook]

Originally Posted by Andy the Anarchist

Mansfield accepted 3 this year according to its stats, which is bizarre for such a small college.

I have no idea about other colleges, I suspect some will take more than that.

Hmmmm intriguing ... That's quite an odd subject spread at Mansfield generally, though. History is the largest (including the joint schools) , fair enough, but PPE seems to normally be right up there in terms of students/year. And that's a lot of geographers! And not so many scientists. Clearly quite a lazy college.

[Andy the Anarchist]

Originally Posted by Mook

Hmmmm intriguing ... That's quite an odd subject spread at Mansfield generally, though. History is the largest (including the joint schools) , fair enough, but PPE seems to normally be right up there in terms of students/year. And that's a lot of geographers! And not so many scientists. Clearly quite a lazy college.

Yeah, it's quite dominated by arts students. Which would probably go some way to explaining the comparatively poor Norrington score (given that science subjects get proportionally more firsts, which the Norrington is heavily weighted towards).