The Student Room Group
what sort of thing would you recommend as work experience for history because i want to do something to add a little bit extra to my ps and to confirm my interest in history.
Reply 2
Thanks, couldn't find anything though :frown:
Reply 3
I can only think of museums/record office/archives work...I can't think of anything else!
that doesnt really sound that interesting and id be a bit wary of putting it in my ps because im planning on applying to cambridge so if they picking up on it in my interview, i dont think id come across as very passionate. is work experience really necessary for a non-vocational course?
Reply 5
I think it would be more interesting than it sounds.
Reply 6
You really DON'T need 'history' work exp... do something for a career than interests you... or just get a job that develops some skills or something.
hmm...when you say "dont need", does that mean that work exp is completely unnecessary, or does it mean that it would not majorly disadvantage your application if you didnt arrange any work exp
Having some sort of work experience that somehow relates to history (quite tricky anyway) can't hurt your application, then again not having it won't hurt it either.
Reply 9
You don't really need history related work experience, I suppose it would help, but if you don't have any I wouldn't worry. I didn't do any history related work experience and I got six offers from really good unis, so I don't think it's that important. Even if you're applying for Oxbridge I don't think it's that necessary, if you are passionate about history it will come across in your interview and they will be able to tell. If you want to go into a specific career after your degree eg journalism, law etc then i would be better to do work experience in that area.
JohnStuartMill
Having some sort of work experience that somehow relates to history (quite tricky anyway) can't hurt your application, then again not having it won't hurt it either.

Exactly. I know a lot of first-year historians here and I've yet to come across *any* that did specifically 'history' related work experience! Mine consisted of helping out a in reception class at a primary school and as a junior reporter for my local newspaper. Most people seem to have done something similar. That's not to say that if you did find something history-related it wouldn't be a nice thing to mention in interview/on a PS. And I'm sure it'd be lots of fun - I'm hopefully volunteering at an English Heritage property near me this summer, just because I'd like to take part in it all. But it certainly won't 'majorly disadvantage your application' if you don't arrange specifically history-related work experience for those applicants wondering about how useful it might be. If it was that important, more people here would have done it and they haven't.

It sounds silly because I know this is very much stating the obvious but I'm going to go ahead anyway. :p: If you enjoy history and want to study it at uni, you are most likely somebody who enjoys reading, learning new things and then discovering more in greater depth, and you'll focus on your studies and try to do as well as you can in your AS levels. Exploring/developing these qualities or the skills needed for them are far better things to aim for than reading X amount of books on every existing branch of history or doing a stint in a museum just for the sake of it.
Reply 11
White_redrose


It sounds silly because I know this is very much stating the obvious but I'm going to go ahead anyway. :p: If you enjoy history and want to study it at uni, you are most likely somebody who enjoys reading, learning new things and then discovering more in greater depth, and you'll focus on your studies and try to do as well as you can in your AS levels. Exploring/developing these qualities or the skills needed for them are far better things to aim for than reading X amount of books on every existing branch of history or doing a stint in a museum just for the sake of it.

I've done this in my AS levels, I couldn't have worked any harder. I am doing some work experience in the holidays for personal interest as well as something I can say I've done. I'm enjoying researching my personal study at the moment, and will probably do a lot of reading around it :smile:
Reply 12
If you want to go into a specific career after your degree eg journalism, law etc then i would be better to do work experience in that area.


That's what I did on my PS - wrote about radio journalism. But like... it was only a v brief sentece... most of my PS was academic stuff.
Reply 13
I've got a job at the local library, where I'll be involved in working in the archives. That's the best I could find.