Applying to York with an Ancient and Modern History Personal Statement.

i'm looking to apply for history courses which include both ancient and modern history elements -
oxford - ancient and modern history
st. andrews - history (includes ancient history anyways)
edinburgh - history and classics
durham - ancient, medieval and modern history

and york. except york doesn't offer a course with both ancient and modern history elements. if i were to still apply to york's history course with my personal statement which will be around half ancient history, would this be detrimental to my application? i'd assume they would dislike the fact that half of what i have written is irrelevant to their course which doesn't include any ancient history.

alternatively, does anyone have any suggestions about other universities which offer the course i'm looking for? ideally, i'd like it to be a bit of a safer option since my first 4 have really quite high entry reqs/are hard to get into. but living in a nice/beautiful city (or campus) with enough to do is also quite important to me.

thank you!

Reply 1

UoA Enquiry Team

Official Rep

Original post by haum3a

Hi, this is the University of Aberdeen rep account. Can't speak for how exactly York would assess this but just wanted to chip in. I think most universities are fairly understanding of the fact that your personal statement is being used to apply to programmes at different universities, and so will sometimes be more general in what it talks about than what that university is specifically offering. The fact that it will be a personal statement catered to history and will also be focusing on modern history elements already makes it very relevant to their course!

If you did want to have more which is applicable though, remember that the personal statement is a chance to outline things about yourself that make you suitable for the course beyond what your qualifications show. You can also put emphasis on these things so that there are plenty of relevant details to be considered by whatever university you are applying to. Hope this was helpful to read and all the best in making your application!

- Matthew, Enquiry Team