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Reply 120
verse
fickle me is now considering scottish unis. the breadth in the first 2 years kinda makes me think its a blend between the uk and american systems. (though that might be for better or worse) is the masters degree awarded by scottish unis considered as 'one level' higher than a bachelors though?
No; you are right to see similarities with the US system. The Scottish MA is an undergraduate degree.
verse
thanks for the input!

the living costs at egham are high? :frown: oh no. i'd have thought it would be cheap(er) since its supposedly a small town? do you have a weekly/monthly figure of how much it costs?

nightlife's not really an issue. i'm not really into clubbing (i'd prefer more 'chillout' places) though a night out once in awhile's fine by me.



Self catering en suite halls for a 38 week let (includes christmas and easters hols) works out at £121 a week! UCL has cheaper hall costs to put it into perspective.

Renting wise - a friend of mine rents in Egham and she's paying between £300-£400 a month just for a room.

Nightlife wise - Egham's got more than people think it has pub wise. If you want clubbing - Windsor or Staines.

verse

fickle me is now considering scottish unis. the breadth in the first 2 years kinda makes me think its a blend between the uk and american systems. (though that might be for better or worse) is the masters degree awarded by scottish unis considered as 'one level' higher than a bachelors though?


It's still seen as a BA. An MA from a Scottish university will not mean you're "more qualified" (can't think of a better way to put it at the mo) than someone with a BA and then an MA. It's the same for the MA that is awarded after a certain amount of years at Oxbridge. It's still an undergraduate qualification.
Reply 122
is york specifically good at any aspect of history?

i won't be able to get into their v100 course but i'm looking at history/sociology course and the modules seem to complement each other well.
verse
is york specifically good at any aspect of history?

i won't be able to get into their v100 course but i'm looking at history/sociology course and the modules seem to complement each other well.

York is excellent for medieval history at least, they have a sizable number of staff and cross-departmental terms they are among the top places in the UK to study it. Great place to research in particular, although they're quite northern in their outlook understandably.

Is it generally easier to get onto a joint course? Interdisciplinary study is usually a good path to take if it is done properly, especially for topics (such as medieval) which require competency in differing methods (literary, linguistic, etc.).
Reply 124
yup, from what i've seen from various unis the joint degrees or more specialised degrees have lower requirements than the classic v100.

and york does quite well on the league tables for both history and sociology. don't really like the modern look of the campus though...personally i'd like something which looks more urm..'hallowed'...but that's a superficial concern haha.

their international office seemed abit indifferent to me though. there was no link on their website for international students to request for a prospectus and when i emailed the international office to request for one all i got in response was a generic looking reply telling me to go to the respective weblinks for undergrad queries, for downloading the online prospectus and for international student queries. bleah.
Reply 125
verse
yup, from what i've seen from various unis the joint degrees or more specialised degrees have lower requirements than the classic v100.

Hmm, I think that depends on the institution and the course. History and Politics, History and English etc. can be more popular at some unis (e.g Oxford and Durham).
Reply 126
Wez
Hmm, I think that depends on the institution and the course. History and Politics, History and English etc. can be more popular at some unis (e.g Oxford and Durham).


haha yeah you're right...history/english at york seems more competitive than v100.

sadly, socio/history is AAB :frown: :frown:
I had a chat to my history teacher.
Im even more confused now!
I told him I was interested in Leicester, to which he replied I'd be selling myself short and to look at the top10.
I'm not sure I'm good enough personally.
Gah!
Out of those only Warwick and Bristol seem to jump out at me.
Any comments on either of them?
Or Royal Holloway, that's 10th and low entry requirements if you honestly think you won't have high enough grades to get into others.
For A levels Im looking at hopefully A's in History and in Poltics, and B's in Psychology and English.
Reply 130
hmm i've got the opinion of some 'laymen' (don't think dirty haha...meaning heartlanders or general folk) from my country through forums and some have said leicester's a 'lousy' school with 'no reputation'...and i've been to an alumni forum for singporean leicester students before and the people there didn't really strike me as intellectually developed...some even typed in broken english and admitted that they went to leicester because they couldn;t make it to singapore's universities (no offence to tomber and anyone else from leics! personally i like the course based on what i've seen online and what i've read from here i think i'll like the area too)
Reply 131
gee_shakedown
I told him I was interested in Leicester, to which he replied I'd be selling myself short and to look at the top10.
This is exactly the sort of advice that makes me so mad! Really really mad. Choose your course not on the basis of whether it's a top ten uni or not, but on whether its content and style appeal to you. This sort of approach is how people end up with a full house of rejections.
That said, there's nothing wrong with high aspirations, so by all means look at the top ten/twenty and see if anything takes your fancy. Again I say it: it's the course content that's important. If you like what they offer, by all means include one or two of the top ten in your choices especially if your AS results are really good and you can be predicted AAA. If you are eligible for an access scheme, use it. Have a look at this History Degree too.
gee_shakedown
I had a chat to my history teacher.
Im even more confused now!
I told him I was interested in Leicester, to which he replied I'd be selling myself short and to look at the top10.
I'm not sure I'm good enough personally.
Gah!
Out of those only Warwick and Bristol seem to jump out at me.
Any comments on either of them?

Both are quite good, although Warwick only goes as far back as early modern history (if that is an issue). Warwick lifted an early modernist professor (Knights) who I was dying to have when abroad at UEA actually, and his absence essentially committed me to medieval history instead of straddling the two. Bristol has a Ronald Hutton, who is world class (we read him in the US) among many others. Looking at the entry requirements sticky thread, you have a lot of great options!

And never, ever, sell yourself short; pick one which is a reach and probably is not going to happen. It's better to have a rejection than to have the 'what if?' questions dangling about in my opinion. Otherwise, you'll never know will you?
Caspar David Friedrich

And never, ever, sell yourself short; pick one which is a reach and probably is not going to happen. It's better to have a rejection than to have the 'what if?' questions dangling about in my opinion. Otherwise, you'll never know will you?


I totally agree with this statement; I am a mature student (only 29 mind :p: )
and my GCSE grades were just dreadful! I was so scared that they would only look at those and disregard what I am academically able to achieve now (I am achieving high grades in all modules on my access course), and I thought my ps was pretty special too.

My tutor suggested that maybe I was aiming too high; but I did not want to be forever wondering if "I could have;" so I applied to 5 good unis and disregarded her advice - yep not all top in the league tables, I mean top as well known and having decent departments.

Haha - I got 4 offers. :cool:

She was delighted for me and I feel comfortable now knowing that I had the guts to apply to UCL; they rejected me - but that doesn't matter, I got 4 good offers and I might take a module at UCL in my 2nd/3rd year anyway :biggrin:

Good luck.

x
Reply 134
york's history dept just got back to me. the tutor strongly encouraged me to apply and told me i have a good chance at getting in and that AAC's 'excellent'. the cynical side of me thinks he's just saying that for my big international tuition fee. =/
Reply 135
verse
york's history dept just got back to me. the tutor strongly encouraged me to apply and told me i have a good chance at getting in and that AAC's 'excellent'. the cynical side of me thinks he's just saying that for my big international tuition fee. =/


It's one choice in 5, if you like it then go for it. The trick is to make a balanced application so that you don't only apply to choices that are going to be a 'stretch'.
Reply 136
verse
york's history dept just got back to me. the tutor strongly encouraged me to apply and told me i have a good chance at getting in and that AAC's 'excellent'. the cynical side of me thinks he's just saying that for my big international tuition fee. =/

If it means you get an offer, I'm sure you won't be complaining!
doingmybest
I totally agree with this statement; I am a mature student (only 29 mind :p: )
and my GCSE grades were just dreadful! I was so scared that they would only look at those and disregard what I am academically able to achieve now (I am achieving high grades in all modules on my access course), and I thought my ps was pretty special too.

My tutor suggested that maybe I was aiming too high; but I did not want to be forever wondering if "I could have;" so I applied to 5 good unis and disregarded her advice - yep not all top in the league tables, I mean top as well known and having decent departments.

Haha - I got 4 offers. :cool:

She was delighted for me and I feel comfortable now knowing that I had the guts to apply to UCL; they rejected me - but that doesn't matter, I got 4 good offers and I might take a module at UCL in my 2nd/3rd year anyway :biggrin:

Good luck.

x

Good story! Just goes to show that education is NOT simply about qualifications and certificates, a point which is lost these days.

verse
york's history dept just got back to me. the tutor strongly encouraged me to apply and told me i have a good chance at getting in and that AAC's 'excellent'. the cynical side of me thinks he's just saying that for my big international tuition fee. =/

Go for it! Maybe they just want the money, maybe they just want to encourage as many potential applicants as possible (a good policy regardless for them, they seem more selective and have a wider choice themselves). Either way, it's an excellent university and they say its worth applying:smile:
Reply 138
gee_shakedown

I told him I was interested in Leicester, to which he replied I'd be selling myself short and to look at the top10.


Grr, if he can explain to me exactly what constitutes a 'top 10' history department I might listen to him. Leicester is in terms of size, academic quality and resources, as good as any history department in the country outside of Oxford and Cambridge (with whom no one else can compete). It suffers from not many people knowing just how good it is.

As an example, I'll post a letter written by a tutor of mine, Professor Christopher Dyer, about some of the history resources at Leicester. Christopher Dyer is one of the most eminent medieval historians in the country at the moment, he was Fords Lecturer at Oxford in 2001 (which means he delivered the most prestigious series of history lectures in Oxford), he was Professor of History at the University of Birmingham for 30 years and he also taught Gordon Brown at Edinburgh :p: He wrote this about our local history holdings, which I know, using them all the time, are really outstanding. Bear in mind that 'local history', as he writes in the last sentence, is much broader than people usually think.

Professor Dyer

“The University of Leicester Library's local history collection is one of the best in the UK. It began with the Hatton collection of early county histories, many of them belonging to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which formed part of the library's foundation collection of books in 1920.

Since then the library has subscribed to every significant learned journal relating to local history ­ mainly published by societies based in individual counties ­ and the many county and city societies publishing records. In many cases these go back to their beginnings in the nineteenth century.

The library has also devoted funds to buying local history books and pamphlets, so that each county is well served by a book collection that rarely disappoints the researcher. The maintenance of the collection has of course reflected the activities of the Department, later Centre, for English Local History, since 1948, for which Leicester is famous.

I have used many University library collections, and can assert the high quality of the Leicester local history holdings. I used to think that the University of Birmingham's holdings were excellent, but Leicester's periodicals and books are of better quality. It is superior to both the Institute of Historical Research and the Senate House collections.

The Leicester collection is used by staff, postgraduate students, and undergraduate students at Leicester, mainly by those taking courses in the Centre for English Local History. Local historians unconnected with the university use the collection, and we have occasional visitors,
attached fellows etc.

The quality of the Leicester collection ought to be better known. We are always anxious to build bridges and make contacts beyond Leicester, and we are confident that the excellence of the library could be the basis of more national and international connections.

It ought to be said that although the collection, and the Centre, are labelled 'local history' the contents of much of the library materials are used by social, economic, cultural and landscape historians. It has a much broader user base than 'local history' might imply.”


Hope that gives a bit of insight into some of the resources here, which I do believe are really outstanding :smile:
Tomber
Bear in mind that 'local history', as he writes in the last sentence, is much broader than people usually think.

Hmm, what exactly is meant by local history actually?

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