MFL/Philosophy at Leeds or Bristol

[GinAndTony]

DD is thinking of applying for Spanish and philosophy at either Leeds or Bristol. Just wondered if anyone had any knowledge of these courses? If you have DC who studied there. how did they find it?

Thanks.

Wow how random – I studied phi and German at Bristol! Looooong time ago tho. I am sure my intel is out of date.

There were two of us on my course and three taking French and phi. The phi course was self-directed after the first year and you could do what you wanted or nothing at all. This made for a challenging series of final-year exams tbh. I am sure it is better now.

Two things to bear in mind:
• Joint hons is a lot more work that two halves of a degree. In my final year exams for phi I sat three papers (plus a load of German obvs) and the single hons phi students sat – ohhhh four
• If you take MFL plus a non-MFL, all the phi students you knew in your first and second years will be gone. Our dept mixed up 2nd and 3rd years completely (as in – free form curriculum, as noted above) but even then, I came back from Germany and knew no one.

Why philosophy btw? A lot of people I know rave about it but, while I have used my German in my career (in an ad hoc way mostly, tho I did also teach MFL in school for a while and still tutor) I cannot say the phi has ever been any use. People talk a lot about how it helps you debate a point and present arguments. OKaaaay but so do lots of things tbh.

One of DS's friends graduated recently from Bristol having studied philosophy (but not Spanish). I believe he was happy with his degree.