(Ancient) History with lower grades

[Notsureabouthis]

Not really sure what my DS is going to get (sitting next year) but I’m helping him out with a bit of research/narrowing down the options before he goes to open days.

He loves the idea of Birmingham and I see Nottingham do a foundation Ancient History option which looks good.

ABB (Birmingham) is likely to be optimistic so I’m looking for other options to balance that out. Overwhelmed a bit!

He’s keen on Ancient History but will also look at History. He’s not really interested in joint honours.

Any ideas of good options? I’ve looked at the league tables but would really like to here some experiences from others. Thanks! 😊

I’ll drginiteky add Reading to the list, thanks.

Another thing to add into the mix. He’s keen to have a year abroad -study/work as part of his degree. Has anyone any experience of this? I see Kent offers it and some others too. Thanks again.

Waste of time academically if he's doing AH or H. He'll have a lot of fun though, I'm sure. Friend's DC has spent a year in Canada as part of a history degree - it doesn't add anything towards his degree. Because he got 3 As at A level he did get a £3k bursary though....

Twitterqueen -quite a sweeping statement that! 😆

I saw one Uni offered a year in Rome or Athens. An amazing experience!

I agree that Canada isn’t an obvious choice for Ancient History 😊

I was waiting for someone to come on and say History is a waste of time. I was prepared for that. But to say it's a waste of time academically is crackers!

Just a heads up OP, the Warwick campus is very modern.

In the interests of full disclosure, I'm a history graduate (Manchester)and my daughter is currently studying history at Sheffield

Lots of history graduates become City lawyers on £100k or £1m by the way.

Um... where have I said studying History is a waste of time? I haven't said that at all. RTFT. I said that spending a year abroad is (IME) a waste of time - and that is mainly because the quality of teaching the UK is brilliant.

Perhaps it was you saying "Waste of time academically if he's doing AH or H" that made us think that maybe @TwitterQueen1

And maybe if you'd RTFT @BitOutOfPractice you would have understood that I was responding to the OP's question about having a year abroad studying as part of a H or AH degree.
And maybe you would have also seen that I have a child studying Ancient History.
And maybe you would have understood that the OP has asked for others' experiences, which is why I am responding with my own comments on open days, other unis, and year abroad comments - based on my my own DC's research.

Crikey TwitterQueen1 you've clearly got out of bed on the wrong side today!

I had RTFT but, and apologies for this, I hadn't made a careful enough note of the user names of the dozens of people who had responded and what they'd said. So your "waste of time" comment, coming out of context, was rather ambiguous. As was pointed out by several people.

But yeah, I'll pay more attention to your words of wisdom in future

BitofPractice- how is your daughter enjoying History at Sheffield?

She is absolutely LOVING it. She found done of the early lectures about compiling bibliographies, referencing etc a bit tedious but she's flying now! I'm living through her vicariously

both DH and I did Ancient History (at different unis) many moons ago and didn't need an ancient language, though we both did one as part of our course. It's Classics that you need that for, they are not the same course at all (I hated doing Latin otherwise I would have studied Classics rather than Ancient History which, tbh, I found pretty dry. It's just one bloody battle after another.)

Oh, and in answer to your comment about grades, I got an EE offer (but my course was very obscure - not actually AH but near enough) - don't know if they exist anymore.

Thanks! Bitofpractice - do you mind my asking what her offer/grades were. I fancied Sheffield myself -great city - but the course didn’t quite suit me so I went elsewhere.

She was offered ABB (lower offer on the strength of her EPQ) and got AAB (and A* in her EPQ). There were very few low offers for history that I heard of last year from Russell group unis. Not like my day. I was offered CDD back in the 80s!

I just read that RiverTam had s similar experience way back in, ironically, history. I'm not sure those low offers exist anymore at the unis you're looking at. It's madness isn't it?

When you go abroad to study, this may well add a year to the degree. It most certainly isn’t a waste of time. It can demonstrate great self reliance and many skills the home educated students don’t have. However places are often limited but it’s a great experience if you can secure a place.

I think posters have thought Greek and Latin are pre requirements for the Ancient History courses. That’s not the case for many courses but as Twitter says, there may be mandatory modules in y1 which is where students come unstuck. It’s hard work if you discover it’s not your thing!

No, I didn't get out of the wrong side of my bed at all. I've had a lovely walk in the sunshine thank you. And if other people found my comment ambiguous they clearly didn't RTFT either .

You jumped right in with your "I was waiting for someone to come on and say History is a waste of time...." Looking for a fight there I think .

I wish your DS lots of luck OP, whatever course he chooses.

BitOut I'm certain it happened on my course because it was so obscure (only 5 students in my year!) and they've got to keep up the numbers - every other AH course I got offers for were BBC or BCC or similar (hardly anywhere wanted As in those days!). As it turned out I bombed in my A levels so was very lucky to have this placed, and did end up with a 2:1!!

Hey give it a test Twitter. I wasn't looking for a fight. It seems like you are though.

*rest

RiverTam I'm glad it worked out for you. It seems nowadays that the good offers go to the students who don't need them! It's certainly all changed since my day. And yes, I am old!

Not ancient history, but when DD and I were at an open day at Lancaster we were told that only the students with strong A levels (AAA or higher) were allowed a year abroad. They also had to have a good academic track record from their time at university. I think the settling in to a new environment can affect academic study in the ealy months of being abroad.

Maybe other universities have different criteria, but something to bear in mind.

At my current & last institutions year abroad candidates need(ed) to achieve above a certain mark (mid 2:1) in the first year to be able to do it, rather than being judged on A-levels. We have Classics & Ancient History students on the Year Abroad scheme at my current institution, and they have a fantastic time. It contributes to their understanding of the world, and different approaches to the academic field (and why those might come about), so even if it's not necessary it's often a very positive academic experience.