History at KCL

Anyone here taking history?? This is one of the six I'm applying to, so anything you could tell me about the course or the uni would be great. Thanks!

Reply 1

Vincente

Yeah i am applying too. There is a selection interview which is a bit more laid back than oxbridge. But advice read history books and put it on your statement as they will ask you about it.

GCSE- 6A*and 3A
A-Level- AAAB (stupid B did that in one year)

Reply 2

Sijia

I'm currently taking history right now and I think it's an incredible course at King's.

There is, however, a big workload. But that's to be expected of any university.

For example, I had my first supervision yesterday and was asked a simple question regarding a time in history. I spent 4 hours in the library with my supervision group looking for books the professor suggested and only then found 4 out of the 7. So that's about 1000+ pages of possible reading for a paper that's due this coming Thursday. You don't have a lot of time to read everything, but you are expected to come to a solid conclusion about the evidence you do have.

I have only 4 hours of contact time a week, which includes 3 lectures and 1 supervision, all 1 hour each. So that leaves plenty of free time, but apparently, that's supposed to be used for research and the like. :wink:

Reply 3

katyrouth

As Sijia said, the difference between History at KCL and everywhere else (excepting Oxbridge) is that it's all based around tutorials and writing an essay a week, rather than sitting in lectures and getting told what to do in the exam.

I think it's the best way to learn - it really makes you work everything out for yourself and think through arguments in a way that lectures can't. You'll often go into a tutorial being certain of something, then someone challenges you and you really have to prove what you believe.

The lack of contact time can also be good in that it means you can study when you like - for example, I don't like mornings - so I rarely get up early, and do most of my work late afternoon or evening time, which is when I'm happiest studying. I also do most of my studying in bed, which is rather nice.

BUT - you do need to be very well motivated - if you're not capable of getting yourself down to the library and studying without a teacher standing over you, you're not going to do well. This is something you can pick up though - I was just chatting to a guy who graduated last year, and he got a 2:2 in his first year cause he did no work, but completely turned it round by the time he graduated.

If you've applied and get invited to interview than you'll get the whole spiel then anyway, from tutors and from any students you meet.

@sijia
Sorry to hear about the library trip :frown:

Chancery Lane? Can't stand the place myself, always prefer Senate House.

Reply 4

Sijia

katyrouth

@sijia
Sorry to hear about the library trip :frown:

Chancery Lane? Can't stand the place myself, always prefer Senate House.

Yeah, Chancery Lane. My god what a nightmare. Senate House was actually better so I was quite happy with that. And it's only like 10 minutes away from my halls, so I didn't have to carry the books very far. :p:

Reply 5

Darkowl

I made my offer to KCL for History with the IB exams last May, scored 36 and a 7 in history. I took a deferred entry though, so I'm currently waiting at a restaurant to save up for skiing (I can't say enough how irritating it is serving people :mad:

- can't wait to hit the snow).

The problem is that although I've got relatively weak grades, I scored highly on the HAT last year, and I blew one interview big time, and I know for sure that if I should go around Oxford again I'd probably knock the socks off most of the other candidates.

The thing is, I'm agonising over the decision and I'm running out of time. What do current KCL historians think, is it worth sacrificing for another shot at Oxford? If so are there any other unis that can come close (e.g. UCL)? Or, should I dare do it, would KCL accept me if I turned down the place and then reapplied?