History degrees in London

[RoryPond]

I'd like to ask people for their DC's experiences of History/HistPol degrees in London unis? I mean LSE, UCL and KCL.

I'd like to get a sense of the course content, academic environment and general social life and community feel.

Difficult to answer.
Lse's history is quite limited as in no old history=Romans and greek.
DD was disappointed few weeks ago as they cancelled two modules at short notice (may have been ir ones).
She had some major issues with the admissions team in year 2 but after weeks her personal tutor managed to sort it.
They organise lots of interesting lectures.

DD involved on lots of societies.
Manage to have a part-time job along side it.
She isn't very ambitious as in won't put effort to get good grades as it would mean less fun....

DC1 was at one of the other unis you mentioned. Liked being in London but not sure what else he thought about it.

@Wronginformation thank you

@RoryPond

As far as the social side is concerned, I would suggest looking at UCL first because of where it is. Although it's not a campus per se, the streets around UCL make up a kind of 'campus' - there are several halls of residence, other colleges (SOAS, RADA, Birkbeck), Senate House (HQ University of London), a big bookshop with several floors and a coffee shop and various places where students hang out.

www.ucl.ac.uk/history/

@RoryPond Unis in London have a broad international intake. Therefore they can feel very different to other unis. After halls in y1, students very much disperse. Some live at home all the time and in y2 others can be some distance away from their college with quite a commute. This choice is often driven by money, London is so expensive, cheaper rentals can be vital for some students.

I cannot tell you about course content but they are given on the web sites. Remember some options might get pulled and new ones appear before your DC gets to choose. The narrowest probably is LSE but if they’re offering suits, have a go!

Why just London though? Do you live there? Some other unis are great for history too.

I studied history at KCL in the 90s (BA and PhD). I'm sure things will have changed a lot since my day, but I looked at the current course outline there and have a few thoughts. It has a very broad first year, in which all students cover the whole sweep of history from the 4th to 21st centuries. Personally I think this is a good thing as it introduces topics students are unlikely to have studied at school and allows them to discover new interests. After the compulsory 1st year modules are done there is a huge range of options. As KCL is part of the University of London, students are able to take 2nd and 3rd year modules at other colleges (UCL, QMU, Royal Holloway etc). This gives them a massive amount of choice and is an incredible benefit of studying history in London. This certainly also applies to UCL and I expect also LSE.

As @TheSquareMile says, UCL has quite a campus feel, but KCL has become much more campus-y than it used to be, with a pedestrianised area in front of the main buildings. It has also expanded into Bush House opposite (former BBC World Service building) and part of Somerset House next door. KCL also took over the old Public Record Office building in Chancery Lane after the PRO moved to Kew and converted it into the Maughan Library, which is a fantastic resource.

I would definitely suggest going to open days at both UCL and KCL to see how your DC feels about both the locations and the courses. My DD went to an open day at UCL (science subject), found the campus claustrophobic and didn't take to it at all, but I know others love it. She didn't visit KCL but we have walked round the area and she much preferred it to UCL. LSE is a slightly different beast as it specialises in more modern history, so I would suggest looking closely at the course to see whether it appeals. It is hard to get into and also has a reputation for giving out offers very late which can be stressful. If the course is right, and if your DC is predicted top grades and is prepared for offer / no offer / delayed offer stress then go for it. Otherwise KCL and UCL are probably a better bet. Having said that, a friend's DD studied history at LSE 10 years ago and I know she very loved it. All three unis have an excellent reputation for history.

@TizerorFizz yes we live in London

@RoryPond Do is the idea to live at home? Where is the easy commute? Have you visited the unis and the areas?

@PumpkinKnitter ‘s answer is excellent. Either UCL or KCL are great universities for the humanities. I know KCL better - it’s History academics are top notch. Really world leading and in the Humanities, most academics teach, and teach well.

I'd like to get a sense of the course content, academic environment and general social life and community feel.

Can't comment on student social life but your DC can dive into each department website ( get past the UCAS publicity guff - we academics don’t write that!) and have a look at information provided for current students. You can get a feel for what’s compulsory and what’s the range of optional modules. How they’re taught and examined. And so on.

Surfing the student union website will give a sense of the social life.

Yes live at home unless they get into Oxbridge. Simply due to money issues and family budget.

History Dept at UCL is in turmoil with a lot of modules being pulled and staff under threat of redundancy: cheesegratermagazine.org/2024/04/08/the-bleak-reality-of-ucl-history-departments-redundancy-crisis/

@drang246 that's something I wanted to know about thanks. Thank you as well @YellowAsteroid for your information regarding KCL

Redundancies are never good, but the situation at UCL seems quite specific. The History department recruited a number of additional teaching staff on fixed-term contracts as they had a massive overshoot in student numbers a few years ago (due to grade inflation when teachers were awarding grades during Covid). Student numbers have now fallen back to normal levels. Yes, there may have been more option modules available a couple of years ago, but students would be competing with a much larger number of students to get a place on those modules, so less likely that they would even get on them.

UCL have still been recruiting academic staff in the History department, but on teaching and research contracts, not fixed-term teaching contracts (it currently has a disproportionate number of staff on teaching-only contracts, compared to other departments of that calibre). I don't think the situation is indicative in the slightest of a department in decline. It will still be a large department with wide coverage. It's sad for the people whose contracts are coming to an end, but fixed term posts ending (initiating a redundancy process if the post is for two years or more) are an unpleasant reality for academic staff across the sector and isn't unique to UCL. Your child would be taught by (several) staff in that position wherever they ended up. If this is an issue for you, you should be asking at open days how many staff are on fixed-term or hourly-paid contacts. In most humanities departments, there will be a fair few.

I don't work at UCL, but am in a related field and the department is very highly regarded with some brilliant academics. I've also been a Head of Department so know that redundancy is a routine process in the sector because of the prevalence of fixed-term contracts. There is definitely an increase in redundancy schemes at the moment, due to the financial crisis in the sector; but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

DC should read course details. The first choice is probably be between LSE and UCL/KCL. The LSE course will have overlap with other social sciences and some interesting outside options, if the DC finds the links between history and economics, IR, economics sociology etc attractive. The others, as other posters have pointed out, offer a wider range of history options.

In terms of campus, LSE is fairly compact with the student centre right in the middle. There are lots of active societies, and the students in the smaller departments often bond well. (Economics, accounting etc have huge first year lectures so it can be that much harder to get to know others on your course till the second year.) Yes the University does have a large number of international students, but for many, including Londoners brought up in a multi cultural environment, that is a positive.

Be warned the course is competitive. I certainly know one A* type DC who was offered a place at Oxford (and went on to get a first) but was rejected by LSE. He, rightly or wrongly, put it down to his relatively weak maths. I am not sure where maths comes into history but if LSE can insert an equation into anything, they probably will.

As PP say, applicants for History need to look at course details very closely indeed to ensure that they are likely to be offered the modules that interest them. This isn't an easy exercise for many sixth formers who often don't yet have very strong opinions about what they wish to study in depth. London is a great place to study History - there is lots of it there. Any interest in History of Art? Because the Courtauld is an amazing place to study and, unlike many Humanities departments, undergoing a lot of investment and expansion.

I can only speak for myself in early noughties so it might have changed a bit. I did History and Politics at Goldsmiths. I won't talk about subjects as not relevant now but as for social life, was a lot of fun, very cultural south east London vibes. Very left wing socialist though.

My DN is reading History at SOAS - having a great time with great tutor contact - clearly the focus in on Asian and African history. Loving the Bloomsbury student life.