Ancient History

[bosepose]

Hello,

My ds is really into his ancient history. His school doesn't offer it, so he's studying History, Maths and Geography to A level.

He wants to apply for Ancient History at university, he has very good grades and so will be applying to a mix of places, and might try Oxford.

Has anyone got any experience of applying for Ancient History?

Is it a respectable subject? What can he do with it!

@bosepose Ds did History at Oxford - Any analytical degree will be fine and respectable at a decent university. So ( if humanities ) - won't let you work at CERN or be a surgeon but could lead to career in law or business , or anything which needs thinking and reasoned argument - or - just a decent degree, most employers who want graduates will be fine with it ( unless a specialised job) Further training is available after degree.

As I recall - Oxford do Archeology and Ancient History - or the straight History degree lets you study some ancient history ( but not exclusively)

There is joint Honours Ancient and Modern History or History as far as I am aware. Therefore he needs to look in depth at the faculty info and get to an open day. The faculty day has possibly gone. There is also HAT and the submission of work to consider. Does his school send many to Oxford?

As to a job: it’s up to him! He will be competing with other humanities grads but Oxford helps!

You can do a stand alone ancient history degree at St Andrews I believe.

Well point one is get on the web sites and see who offers ancient history or look at the syllabus offered by various universities. @bubblesbuddy @ wigglybeezer have given good advice I think.

He might also need to be aware that often Ancient History courses say that students don’t need to know Latin and Greek beforehand but during the course these languages become necessary. A friend of DDs discovered this was too difficult for her and swapped courses after y1. This was Exeter. So he does need to evaluate his love of ancient languages! (Or otherwise)

There isn't a faculty day for History at Oxford, that was dropped a few years ago. Ther are just the main Open Days in late June/ early July and again in Sept. Yes, watch the languages side of things.

Good friend of DD did Ancient History at Bristol and loved it. She didn't get an offer from Oxford, but all things being equal, she was very happy at Bristol.

Mine that read it / or are currently doing so did A levels of (1) classical civilsation I think it was called and (2) history (3) plus English or geography (and another subject at AS eg economics,) so I am not sure whether you need some kind of classics at A level but definitely worth checking.

One of my is a high paid London lawyer. My son drives a van for a living (his choice and he's happy but that is nothing to do with the subject - he just didn't want a traditional professional career; it wasn't the fault of ancient history)

My oldest is doing Ancient history at Southampton, he's in his first year and loving it. He has no idea yet what he wants to do but is seriously considering teaching.

DD has just finished Joint Honours History & Ancient History at Reading. She loved it is now looking at doing a masters as she wants to get into curating.

My understanding is that all history degrees are very versatile.

Cardiff uni used to offer Ancient history - not sure if they still do.

My son is planning to do it for A level.

A good degree in Ancient History from a good university will set him up as well as anything else. It might seem like an obscure subject (my DS is doing Classics!) but there are many other valuable skills you learn by doing a degree, as well as the actual subject.

I was pushed into studying a 'sensible' subject that would help me find a 'good' job (economics) and I absolutely loathed it. I would have got much better degree if I had studied history, a subject I loved.

Actually my DB did history, and is now an accountant, I did economics and ended up working at the British Museum!