Ancient History/History

[StColumbofNavron]

I know questions have been asked about these two before, however DS1 has slowly started scrolling through websites. He is 100% set on history and prefers antiquity and medieval but has a geographical bias in that he would like as many options as possible to study things like the Mongols, Mesopotamia, Persia etc. The few Ancient History courses that he has looked at so far seem focussed on Romans and Greeks and cover the sort of thing he is after in relation to them.

He is aware he will likely have to do some modern etc as core modules on most of the degrees but he would just like some guidance in terms of places that may have specialisms in this sort of area (he knows not everything runs every year).

He is actually only year 11 but came to me to ask as he hasn’t been able to find Ancient History A level offered anywhere so he is keen that he can focus that way a little at uni.

He is able and I think would probably try for Oxbridge.

I’m a modernist so rather out of my depth here.

@StColumbofNavron absolutely he may well change his mind once there. At Scottish unis there are options to take a very diverse range of subjects and many do change. Ds did quite an eclectic mix in first year ie a maths module as well as history.
Hope your ds manages to get to some open days to help him make up his mind.
My dd is also at St A as saw the fab time her brother had. She has just gone back and is living the student dream and having a fab freshers week! The hard work will start next week!

DD started off by looking at Ancient History courses, and ended up doing Classics and loving it. She considered Exeter, UCL, Liverpool among others. Some unis do require Greek or Latin. She also had the opportunity to do Classics at Oxford's Uniq which was amazing.

I have mentioned to him to look out for things like Uniq too. He has plenty of time as Y11 but is sort of working back from degree as he doesn't know what A levels to pick other than History.

DD did AH & H Alevels. She applied for Oxford, Exeter, St Mary’s, UCL and York.

She is doing H at UCL with a lot of AH modules. I know it is too close for you but worth looking at the others on that list.

DD is doing CAAH at Oxford....she has chosen to stay in Greek/Rome mainly but there do seem to be plenty of other options to select from, both in the classics faculty and wider ancient history. Had she not gone to Oxford, she would have been very happy to go to StA, as the varied options made the course really appealing. I'm sure she'd answer any CAAH questions.....

Has he looked at SOAS? www.soas.ac.uk/history/programmes/bahist/ Might fit the bill if there's enough ancient history as opposed to modern - certainly fits the geographical remit.

I know you aren't keen on applying to a London university/college/school, but it is possible for a London-based student to live out during their degree. Friends of ours live in SE London. Their son has just graduated from KCL, a few miles away, and he lived away from home through all three years - halls in the first year, renting thereafter. He had part-time work from early on to help with the cost of this, and that's turned into a full-time job now until he can start his postgrad course.

I agree, it would be an error not to look at UCL and SOAS irrespective of living in/out.

I’ll flag CAAH.

It seems a largish dept with lots of choice is useful.

My DD is about to start an Ancient and Modern History degree at Oxford this year. She studied History, Latin and English Lit at A level and also has a niche interest in the ancient Far East (Mongol Empire, China) as well as Ancient Rome. Oxford currently offer a course on the Mongols so she is hoping it will still run by the time she can choose that option. As previously mentioned, St Andrew's have a super broad course - you can do straight History and it covers pretty much everything. She also looked at Exeter and Durham. I would say my DD is more of an ancient historian who didn't want to give up studying some modern stuff (like Russian history). She prefers ancient texts to objects so archaeology is less of an interest.
She may be able to answer any particular Oxford AMH questions after she has started next month.

Lots to think about here and far less limited that it first seemed. Thanks so much. He now has lots of research to do. If anything it seems like the Oxford or Cambridge decision is made (if he decides to apply).

@StColumbofNavron

UCL is amazing but we live about 25 mins by bus away so he won’t get the chance to move away - though it’s possible he might consider the ability to really study what he wants more appealing.

The archaeology department at UCL might be worth a look too, they are consistently in the top 5 departments world wide. I studied there a long time ago and you can specialise in which ever part of world history/prehistory that you are interested in really. Also can take modules across UCL.

Following on from Borland’s comments, DD was also looking at modules across UCL. For example she looked at History of Art very recently.

Three of my children did Classical Civilisation (and History) A levels (and in one case also did English lit and the other one did geography) for reading ancient history at university. A levels in History, English lit and Classical Civ. are good A levels for the university ancient history degree. Two of mine read that subject at Bristol.

As mentioned above oxbridge, Durham are good. Bristol is easier to get to from London (where the poster lives as do we) than Durham. 3 of my children rejected Durham for Bristol and none tried Oxbridge as did not think they would get in.

Delighted to see you here @Xenia. He is hoping for a law career so I have read a lot of your advice to date.

He is definitely considering Classical Civilisation and I think it will come down to politics or Spanish.

@StColumbofNavron DD’s 3rd was Politics. Alongside the H and AH.

A bit irrelevant as it's the scottish system but DS1 did Highers in English, History, Geography, Biology and Computer Science and then narrowed down to Advanced Highers in English, History, and Geography (regretted Geography, very dry). Classics not available. at his school unfortunately.

I think politics is fine for a 3rd A level - my old son did it in the sixth form (easier than Spanish and not quite so well regarded). I am read law and am a lawyer and my A levels back in the dark ages were English lit, history an German.

I would not do politics and classical civilisation as then you have two of the easier A levels alongside history which may not look quite so good on a CV despite what some people might say.

Oh that’s interesting re politics and class civ. Personally, I think Spanish will give him space for something not so essay driven (I know there are essays in Spanish), but will allow for some other ways of learning alongside. I did double language GCSEs (Fr/Ger) and double A level (Fr/Sp) so I have to be careful that my own positivity around languages isn’t clouding my thoughts. But, he does enjoy Spanish, is likely to do well so I think it is a contender.

I am quite a fan of economics A level. One of my twins did Geography, History and Economics (and music AS level).

People will tell you that the universities no longer need to see 3 of the traditional facilitating subjects at A level but I still think they are the harder and better regarded ones and employers even may be looking at them in due course so ideally do 2 of them which I know all 5 of my chidren at their academic fee paying schools were encouraged to do.

"Facilitating subjects are the subjects most commonly required or preferred by universities to get on to a range of degree courses. They can help students keep their options open when choosing a degree and many of the top universities will ask you to have at least one A-level in a facilitating subject when you apply.

Facilitating subjects are:

biology
chemistry
english
geography
history
maths
modern and classical languages
physics"

I did Class Civ, French, and English Lit for A-Levels and was offered places at all my uni and course choices. The subjects didn't seem to matter as much as for friends who wanted to do other degrees. Admittedly that was a long time ago, and I think the exam boards the school used were more well regarded ones (apparently this was a thing back then?) None of the unis seemed to think Class Civ was an easy A-Level. It certainly didn't feel like a soft choice when I had a million texts to learn plus the art and sculpture from various time periods etc. It was very interesting though.

I had a long and winding road to A Levels (which I never actually gained, though I do have a BA and an MA now).

I think I picked
1st time Eng Lit, Sociology and French
2nd time History, French and Spanish
Last time before my parents said get a job GNVQ business (no idea what I was thinking, the dullest, most boring thing I’ve ever done) along with French A level.

I do think Politics is a good one for a History degree regardless of it’s facilitating nature mainly because all the -isms that come up in History at degree but aren’t taught as theoretical concepts at A level really in great detail are on the Politics syllabus so provide a really solid understanding.

A language is always useful for history.