American Studies at Manchester University-What is it really like?

I have been offered a place to study American Studies at Manchester University and I really like the look of the course however, I realise that the reality of a course can be very different to what is portrayed at open days and on websites. I was wondering if anyone could help me and tell me what studying American Studies is really like? For example, how much reading is required per week? How many contact hours are there with lecturers? What is the course content really like? etc. I would be grateful for any help because it could potentially effect my choice of university. Thank you!

I'm currently a joint-honours English & American studies student at UoM, first year, and honestly, I absolutely love it.
I wasn't sure on choosing something I'd never studied before, especially when my heart was set on the literature side of things, but I've actually come to grow & enjoy the American studies side of things more than the lit side. It's very interdisciplinary; last semester there was quite a heavy focus on literature, but that was simply due to who my tutor was, and how my classes fell - I know some of the other students on the American Studies course had seminars and assignments on popular music, whereas I was studying 1950s LGBT/travel literature instead.

My academic advisor is great, her & the other lecturers are incredibly passionate about the subjects that they teach, and are more than willing to chat with you at the end of lectures, in office hours, or via email about any problems you've been having, how to make the jump from a 2:1 to a first, what they're looking for in assignments, etc.

This semester has been quite a leap; I've taken two American Studies modules and one literature, and this has opened me up to studying history, American film, politics, music, conspiracy theories, gender - just to name a few. It's a real whirlwind, but personally I think this is going to help when we need to whittle down in year II to more specified modules.

Drop us a PM if you've got any more questions; I'd be more than happy to help, and I'll see if I can find any single honours coursemates if there's anything specific you want to know that you can't find out online.

I'm currently a joint-honours English & American studies student at UoM, first year, and honestly, I absolutely love it.
I wasn't sure on choosing something I'd never studied before, especially when my heart was set on the literature side of things, but I've actually come to grow & enjoy the American studies side of things more than the lit side. It's very interdisciplinary; last semester there was quite a heavy focus on literature, but that was simply due to who my tutor was, and how my classes fell - I know some of the other students on the American Studies course had seminars and assignments on popular music, whereas I was studying 1950s LGBT/travel literature instead.

My academic advisor is great, her & the other lecturers are incredibly passionate about the subjects that they teach, and are more than willing to chat with you at the end of lectures, in office hours, or via email about any problems you've been having, how to make the jump from a 2:1 to a first, what they're looking for in assignments, etc.

This semester has been quite a leap; I've taken two American Studies modules and one literature, and this has opened me up to studying history, American film, politics, music, conspiracy theories, gender - just to name a few. It's a real whirlwind, but personally I think this is going to help when we need to whittle down in year II to more specified modules.

Drop us a PM if you've got any more questions; I'd be more than happy to help, and I'll see if I can find any single honours coursemates if there's anything specific you want to know that you can't find out online.