Combined/dual degrees - supportive unis?

[PermantlyExhaustedPigeon1]

DD2 is currently in Year 12 and considering applying for a combined degree. DD1 has friends at her uni doing this and they say the support and communication between departments is poor. Do any of you have a YP successfully and happily studying for a combined degree and could share which uni? Bonus points if you can comment on Sheffield, Durham, Birmingham or Royal Holloway. Thank you!

I did a joint honours degree including one language. If teaching is a possible career choice two languages would be ideal. If your dd definitely doesn’t want to be a teacher then one language plus a different subject would work well. I am not up to date on which unis are the best for joint honours with languages so will leave others to advise on that.

I was the only student on my degree course from 2001-2005 and it closed soon after I joined. I was doing joint honours and education. It was very hard work. Essentially three degrees at the same time. Instead of one 8 hour lab practical a week, I had two. I had two or three times the lectures the other students had. Was good fun though.

@pineislandOnes that still have research led MFL departments and not just business style add on modules. There’s a shrinking list. I suspect it will shrink further.

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies, much appreciated.
@HighlandCowbag your positive insights into Sheffield are extremely helpful, as that is the one where my DD is particularly keen on the modules offered.
Open days next….

At Durham I know the music dept is on Palace Green but not sure if they teach from there. The vast majority of humanities / social science teaching is on Elvet Riverside which is massively close to palace green - just the other side of Kingsgate bridge (which is between Hatfield and Chads) next to the SU building.

Dd is doing sociology and has only been to the sociology dept (Old Elvet) a couple of times in year 2 (none in year 1) and has had no teaching at the science site (this is the bit by the Billy B and TLC).

All the humanities stuff is within 5 mins of the Bailey but more of a treck if one of the further hill colleges such as JoBo or South. Many live in viaduct in yr 2 and it’s around a 10 min walk from there depending on where you are (dd can get to Elvet Riverside in less then 10 mins if she walks fast). Durham has CHSS and Liberal Arts plus a variety of joint honours degrees so hopefully is well set up for it.

Sheffield Uni is lovely, I'm currently completing an MA then a PhD next year.

My dd is just finishing her 1st year as well, after a disastrous experience at Durham uni. She also rates it very highly and loves the social life. If you go for an open day check out West Street and Division Street for a look at the pubs and clubs if that's your DCs thing. Weston Park and Crookes Park are well loved by students, the Peak District is well served by trains and buses. The live music scene is also pretty good in Sheffield and I think music students get the opportunity to perform quite a lot.

It's also relatively cheap accommodation compared to some places. Durham. Was 10k a year for pretty shitty house shares. Dd is paying 6k a year for a shared flat right in the centre and it seems pretty decent. Encliffe and Ranmoor are the go to for Freshers. Then crookes and Ecclesfield road for 2nd year house shares etc, or city centre accommodation like dd.

@PermantlyExhaustedPigeon1If she did 2 MFLs at Sheffield, that’s 25% on each MFL. So half the study a joint honours (2) MFL degree would be. I’m not sure many options will be available if she does 2 MFLs because the core will be quite a chunk of the 25%. You should drill down on this and don’t forget optional modules can change. One MFL would give more choice I would think.

DD looked at Sheffield. At that time they had dropped Italian altogether from joint honours MFL degrees. Now Italian is listed - not that you would care about Italian but make sure the mfl list isn’t just available at a lower level as a bolt on. Make sure they are joint honours courses.

DD is doing French and IR at Abersytwyth.

I think she likes the contrast between the subjects - when I asked her which she preferred she said it was nice to have a change between the different modes of learning. Sometimes she's working through grammar exercises, other times researching political developments in Nigeria.

Do remember to look closely at the options for doing the Year Abroad and remember that will involve extra costs, especially if she doesn't fancy being a Language Assistant.