Subject Profile
History
1. Why did I choose my subject?
I took a bit of time to choose my subject, I’ve always been interested in quite a lot of things
but in the end History was just the thing I was most interested in. I used to read a lot of
history books on the bus to my sixth form college and I really enjoyed them. In the end I
think the best way to pick your subject is just pick something that you love to do.
2. What is the most challenging/ rewarding part of my subject?
In terms of the challenges of history, doing all the reading and writing for one or two essays
per week can be quite intense, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t rewarding too. There is no
better feeling than just burying yourself in a good library (and Oxford has several to choose
from) and trying to get to the bottom of an essay question. The relationship you get to have
with Tutors is another great part about History, in tutorials you really get a chance to discuss
anything you found hard or particularly interesting about the subject of your essay.
3. What advice do I wish I’d been given before I’d applied?
I think that the one thing I wish I’d been told is to try and relax for the application process.
This might sound odd but particularly in the interview, really throw yourself into it and try
and enjoy it, after all you’ll get to be talking to a leading historian about history. On top of
that, one piece of advice I was very glad I was given: It’s worth applying. You should never
be scared to apply, applying to oxford can seem a bit intimidating, but as a place to study it
is very welcoming and good fun. If you love your subject then it is definitely worth applying.
4. What’s the one thing that’s surprised me about my course?
This sounds cheesy but actually how much I enjoyed it. As part of the history undergraduate
course at Oxford, you will have to study over the course of your degree at least one paper
from the Medieval, Early Modern and Modern period. I had always been most interested in
modern before and so I was a bit worried the other papers wouldn’t be my cup of tea but
they were actually brilliant and my medieval paper was one of my favourite papers I have
done so far.
Target Schools
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Email: target@ousu.org
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