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10 ways you know you’re a final year arts student

19 Dec

Freshers’ week lasts forever…right?

I’ve made it halfway through my final year as a BA English and History student, and there’ve been many painful moments of realisation over the last few months. Despite my best attempts to keep the work-play mix in checks and balances, as I slump to the library for another daily grind I find myself lamenting the slow and painful death of my social life. Perhaps the saving grace stopping me from going completely mad is the fact that my course-mates seem to be going through the same thing. So here are ten symptoms well known to those battling through the final year of their arts degree:

You know exactly what you want to do after you graduate…just kidding
 You’re really glad you chose an arts degree, because they have the best possible reputation for post-graduate employment, and you don’t know which job offer to accept next September. See you in Costa Coffee, future baristas.

quickmeme.com

quickmeme.com

Your social life has become that of an ageing bohemian
 I never thought I’d go to a cheese and wine night until I was in my 30s, but arts students hold them regularly as a happy medium between a night on the town and a night on the sofa. Good food, great alcohol, even better company and none of the annoyances of jostling about in a sweaty nightclub with a bunch of strangers. It’s pretty em-mental. Sorry.

hdbitz.org

hdbitz.org

Someone just recalled the one library book you need over the Christmas holidays, and it caused you to have had an existential meltdown

But that’s the one book…what do they need it for…I can’t write my essay now…may as well not do it…why did I choose this degree…life is pointless.

butler.edu

butler.edu

You’ve finally given in to using a backpack daily

Remember that canvas tote bag that you used to use all the time? No, you probably don’t, because you ditched it in September when it became heavy enough to use as a hammer throw. Now you’ve succumbed to using your Roxy rucksack to carry your books to the library. Mum always did say something about comfort over style…

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You’ve been studying so hard you forget which words are real- and invent your own

Last week, at the end of an eight hour library stint, I used the word ‘premacy’ in my essay, to discover that it is not a word, other than being the name for a Mazda minivan. Primacy is a word, as is pre-eminence, but premacy is definitely not a real word.

The Mazda Premacy is delightful but not what I need right now

You’re buying lined paper at an abnormal speed

I swear I bought a new pukka pad last week and I’m already making notes on scrap paper. Where did it go?!

sanitaryum.com

sanitaryum.com

You worry about your argument in your daily life

Not arguments with real people, oh no. But the argument you’re meant to be having with all of the scholars you’re citing in your latest essay. Is my argument strong enough? Should I side with Winthrop or Koritansky? What is the meaning of all this?

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You get the best ideas when you aren’t studying and write them all in your phone
No matter how long you spend in the library, you’ll get the best ideas for your work when you spend some time away from it. Then a ray of brilliance shines down on your thought process, and you’re on the toilet, or out with friends. Who are you texting? Myself, actually…

text

Your sense of humour revolves around ironic socio-cultural references

This probably explains the cheese and wine nights. Where else will we fit in?

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gopixpic.com

You have dissertation complaint stand-offs with your course-mates

All discussions about final year projects have become a tirade of one-upmanship to vie for pity: I’ve only written 200 words. Yeah? I haven’t even decided on my title. Urgh.

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Despite starting to smell like a library, you wouldn’t have spent your degree any other way than exploring the wonderful, fascinating, inspiring and challenging world of the humanities. Let’s face it, maths was never an option.

lookhuman.com

lookhuman.com

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Top 10 ways that studying abroad transforms your resume

29 Jul

This blog has also been featured on Verge Magazine’s website and can be viewed here.

How to communicate your overseas experience to employers.

 

Moving my entire life to South Carolina last August, I knew that there was an unpredictable, unfamiliar and exciting journey ahead. Having returned home to Leeds, England, a year later, I’ve been able to see just how much that exposure to unfamiliarity has made me a stronger individual. But the challenges I’ve faced over the last year have also made me a more employable individual.

I’ve been applying for internships, work experience placements, jobs and volunteer roles and have realized just how much I’m relying on my year abroad as a tool for self-promotion.

Here are the top 10 ways that studying abroad—wherever you go and whatever you study—transforms your resume:

1. Study abroad fosters global thinking.

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Delivering a presentation about England to American students in Irmo Middle School

Studying abroad encourages students to see the advantage in global connections. You might be able to bring a global twist to a new work project, or utilize connections you made in the field. Or perhaps studying abroad simply made you more worldly and more aware. Whatever the case, studying abroad helps us to nourish an international insight into studying, into employment and into life itself. 

2. Study abroad demonstrates versatility.

Studying abroad shows potential employers that you can deliver the same degree of high-quality attainment even when you’re at the edge of your comfort zone. Having adapted to the needs of an academic institution across the world, they can rest assured that you won’t be daunted by the demands of a new office either. 

Trying local shopping in Columbia's thrift stores

Trying local shopping in Columbia’s thrift stores


3. Study abroad makes you more open-minded.

Trying rock-climbing for the first time in Alabama

While studying abroad, many things happen that you never would have predicted at the start of the year, the start of the month or even at the start of each day. Exchange students foster the ability to approach change with an open-mind and learn how to stay calm when they can’t predict the outcome of a given situation. This will be particularly useful for employers who are looking for someone who can think on their feet. 

4. Study abroad demonstrates an ability to embrace differences.

As a freelance blogger and journalist, actively learning about other cultures has not only enriched my life perspective, it has also enriched my writing with a deeper consideration for counter-arguments. Living in another country for a year has helped me to think about how someone from a different culture may consider what I’m trying to say.

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My new friend Smokey in Memphis, TN

Whether you’d like to be a columnist for a national newspaper or the head of marketing at a high-flying firm, embracing social, cultural, ethnic, racial, religious and moral differences demonstrates a progressive, think-outside-the-box attitude to life. 

5. Study abroad builds confidence.

Katty Kay and Claire Shipman recently released their book, The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance and define confidence as “life’s enabler,” and “‘the ability to turn thought into action.” Confidence is also accumulative: the more you’re reinforced with positive results for taking risks, the more you’re likely to take more risks in the future.

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Backpacking in the chilly winds of Grayson Highlands, Virginia

With a study abroad year on your resume, employers will know that you have that “just do it” attitude to life that separates you from the “thinkers” and makes you a “doer.”  

6. Study abroad helps develop your organization skills.

There are many aspects of studying abroad that require you to be rigorously organized. Much of this begins the moment you tear open your acceptance letter: vaccinations, visa requirements, bank forms, accommodation, exam certificates and doctor’s forms constitute just a small selection of the paperwork that an exchange year thrusts upon it’s courageous participants. It also demands the ability to plan and be proactive.

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Just some of the papers I had to sort through before I departed

Going on a year abroad is the perfect platform to master organization and forward planning so that getting these basics in place for future jobs will be a breeze. 

7. Study abroad allows your communication skills to cross cultural barriers.

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Giving a presentation about my year at USC’s Discovery Day

Every study abroad experience is different from the next. Some people will study abroad in America for a year and vow to visit every state. Some will study abroad in Europe for a semester and vow to learn another language. However you measure success on a study abroad year, there’s no doubt that being able to create a life for yourself in another culture requires a certain clarity of communication, both verbally and interpersonally. 

8. Study abroad makes you more independent.

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Trekking through Yosemite National Park with a group of people I’d met a week ago

No matter how many times you Skype home, the bottom line is that you’re out there on your own. You have to create a life for yourself in another country, make friends, find your classes, open a bank account and familiarize yourself with another culture. This will prove indispensable to employers who are looking for self-motivated candidates who can flourish in new environments. 

9. Study abroad fosters a single-minded determination to succeed.

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South Carolina’s Best Student Columnist 2013

Although the essence of studying abroad is to broaden one’s horizons, something can be said for maintaining focus while so many distractions lie outside the window. I remember kicking myself when I missed out on weekend trips and nights out because I had so many writing deadlines. But I decided that becoming a columnist for South Carolina’s student newspaper was the better reason to be staying up late at night. 

However people choose get involved with campus life while on exchange, making an extra commitment can be the ultimate difference between a shortlisted resume and the one that secures the job.

10. Study abroad demonstrates an ability to overcome challenges.  

Martin Luther King once said that “the true measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” The capacity to see opportunity in difficulty is what separates the optimists from the pessimists.

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Making it halfway through the Grand Canyon trek (8 hours total)

I’ve heard all kinds of horror stories within the study abroad community—lost passports, stolen baggage, being stranded in an airport, running out of vital medication—but the capacity to overcome these challenges will determine the strength of the residue that is left behind when life’s luck and fortune have evaporated. 

 

On the importance of humour

10 Apr

This semester I’ve taken a senior seminar about suffrage and women’s rights, and have been fortunate enough to meet and interview incredibly influential feminists from the women’s movement in South Carolina. These women are from different creeds, different backgrounds and fought for various different rights within the feminist movement. But a resounding message that surfaced from these interviews touched upon a particular life lesson that I have found especially worthwhile.

We asked one of our esteemed guests how she chose to deal with gritty disputes and confrontation. She responded forcefully, “Never, ever, forget to use humour. You have to try on different styles and see what works for you, but I chose to approach confrontation with humour. I’ve had men come up to me, yelling, and calling me a bitch. I used to respond with, ‘Well if life’s a bitch, so am I.’”

Call it wit, call it sass, call it a pinch of salt, call it banter, satire, or flair- whatever you call it, there’s no doubt that using humour in politics is an enormously beneficial skill. Winston Churchill, the stalwart bulldog of British politics once said, “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to Hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”

Responding to opposition through equally derogatory slights- even if they deserve it- will always blacken your own reputation before it exposes their ill repute. But responding to opposition with humour maintains a level of dignity, intellect and style that rises above cheap and petty insults.

After I met with the South Carolinian feminists, it occurred to me that the importance of humour is not simply confined to the world of politics. As a viewpoints columnist, I often have to write about potentially provocative topics without adding provocation or causing offense. Renaissance philosopher Desiderus Erasmus mused over this topic, “I long ago persuaded myself to keep my writings clean of personal invective and uncontaminated by insults. I wanted to mock, not to attack, to benefit, not to wound; to comment on men’s manners, not to denounce them.” Using humour in writing allows writers to get their point across in an entertaining, skillful and sharp way while keeping their reputation and grace in tact.

This valuable lesson also applies to the modern world of social media. Nowadays, when celebrities’ lives are thrust into the public eye, they come into contact with unscrupulous criticism on a daily basis. But the best comebacks are the ones that throw wit and banter in the face of ignorance and discrimination. Leading actress from the 2009 film ‘Precious’, Gabourey Sidibe, replied to criticism about her Golden Globes outfit by tweeting “To people making mean comments about my GG pics, I mos def cried about it on that private jet on my way to my dream job last night.” Humour breaks the tension, lightens the tone, and challenges ignorance to think outside the box.
President Pastides recently showed the USC community that he has a fun-loving sense of humour, when he endorsed the satirical front-page story about his sporting enthusiasm in the April Fools’ edition of The Daily Gamecock. Whether it’s politics, speech, writing, social media or simply daily life, a little humour goes a long way. The feminists of South Carolina reminded me that of everything we learn at university, not all of life’s most important lessons can be taught by the book.

Tags: , , conflict, confrontation, feminists, gabourey sidibe, golden globes, humour, outfit, politics, satire, seminar, , , tweet, winston churchill, wit,

Why reading English is not ‘easier’ than studying science

24 Oct

I read English and History at university. When people ask me what I want to do with my degree, they often phrase it within a closed question:

‘Oh, so you want to teach then?’

No, I really don’t. When I arrived in South Carolina I was stood outside my residence hall with a friend who studies Biochemistry. We came into conversation with a freshman who asked us what our respective degree titles were. He scoffed at me and responded:

‘Ha! So it’s kinda clear who’s the smarter out of the two of you then.’

I was infuriated. Some people promulgate the mistaken assumption that humanities subjects are capped below scientific studies in difficulty, intellect and skill. English and History may not be vocational and my career path may not be clearly marked out before me, brick by yellow brick. But amongst the myriad of skills I’ve gained from studying my degree, the best lesson I’ve learnt has been an endless, tough and winding road of discovery.

I’ve rowed between the sublime cliffs of the Lakes and felt the flakes of my innocence shed in the breeze. I’ve explored the rough woods of Coleridge’s mind and found Wordsworth at the other side, tracing his smooth, straight path. I entered the Mansion of Many Apartments and stepped inside Dickinson’s Brain. I’ve tiptoed around it and stopped in my tracks as she pulled out her gun. Startled, I ran out of her chamber and found Hazlitt, the embodiment of Mr. Spectator himself, sitting by the fire in the next room. He saw refuge and safety from the monstrous Public in the flames dancing before his eyes. I saw a white light seeping from a room upstairs. It was Wordsworth and Keats in the Chamber of Maiden-Thought, edging towards the dark passages lurking beyond the glow. I made my way up the crooked wooden stairs to see Spencer Brydon confronting his inner ghost. As he swooped to the ground in terror I swam in his subconscious to meet Louisa Musgrove fighting for life. I swam in the darkness and had nightmares of slavery. My tears rolled into the tide as I felt the wire of Dave’s Neckliss press into my skin. I was dragged by my collar onto the hull of a ship carved from Po’ Sandy’s tree. I watched as the Ancient Marinere shot the albatross and I witnessed his wild loss of sanity. Days later, once the journey had consumed my mind, the ship pulled in to shore. I felt the weight of that world pulling back at my soul from beneath the surface, as I put one foot back on dry land and heaved myself back to reality.

Reading English is not merely a subject confined to study hours. It requires total dedication to digest texts both at the time of reading and beyond. There are no right or wrong answers, making the process of becoming a ‘better’ English student infinite. Improving my writing style and interpretation of texts demands brutal honesty, self-awareness and a never-ending process of revision and refinement. The Earl of Shaftesbury once said that in order to sharpen the mind, we must be open to the possibility that our ideas can be improved, and be willing to come into “amicable collision” with concepts alien to our own. This notion is applicable to studying English because with every new novel, poem and play that an English student encounters, their perspective upon the topic- and potentially, upon life itself- changes. This is why English is no easier than the likes of Bioscience, because not only does it demand a unique combination of intellect and skill, but a whole lot of emotional investment, too.

Tags: Ancient Marinere, Chesnutt, Coleridge, Dickinson, difficulty, Earl of Shaftesbury, , Hazlitt, literature, read, skill, tribute, Wordsworth

Pizza, cake and a film…at my professor’s house

10 Oct

One of the things that is particularly different between the British and American university experience is the relationship between students and professors. Back home in Leeds we’re encouraged to call our tutors by their first names, yet our rapport with them remains distant and professional. In South Carolina, students call their professors by their formal titles, yet housesit for them, become friends with them, and go to their houses for pizza, cake and a film.

I opened my syllabus for my History of American Women module at the start of the semester to see an asterisk under the tasks due this week: *‘REQUIRED MOVIE: ‘Iron Jawed Angels’ to be viewed out of class. We will try to arrange a group showing or you can watch it on your own.’ I had assumed that this would be a gathering in the library’s viewing rooms, or a case of renting the DVD for a quiet night in. Little did I anticipate that this meeting would take place in my professor’s sitting room last night at 6.30pm.

In Leeds, it’s novelty enough when students catch tutors located out in the real world, outside of the student bubble. To quote Janis Ian from Mean Girls, seeing professors outside of school is considered unnatural, ‘like seeing a dog walking on its hind legs’. It’s even stranger to stumble across (or search for, admit it) professors’ facebook and twitter profiles, because we just can’t seem to separate their academic roles from their entire identity. What’s more, the professor whose house I visited last night is the most esteemed academic I’ve ever had the privilege of learning from, making the invite seem even more prestigious- and yet, it was so peculiarly natural and unassuming.

We pulled up to a beautiful large house a short drive away from campus, and were welcomed by the professor herself as if we were regular visitors. While we waited for her husband to come back with the pizzas, we stood around her kitchen island discussing all sorts of things as if we were at a dinner party; the NHS, alcohol laws, life in Leeds and the importance of studying abroad. Forty minutes later we’d devoured the delicious pizza and taken our seats in the lounge next door, in front of a mounted wide-screen television. The film, ‘Iron Jawed Angels’ is about the journey of Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Carrie Chapman Catt (Angelica Houston) as they led the fight for female enfranchisement in the USA. It was so incredibly captivating and moving that all ten us of sat in complete silence for its entire duration.

 

As the credits rolled up the screen and I wondered why on Earth I’d never seen this film before, my professor scrutinised the credits with intent:
‘Oh never mind, I can’t find it,’ she said to herself.

My friend turned to me and whispered,

‘I wonder how historically accurate it all is’

‘I think that’s the sort of thing Marjorie will know,’ I suggested.

My friend turned around and asked Marjorie this very question. Then came the jaw-dropping reply,

‘Well I was trying to look for the name of the Historical Consultant for the film in the credits just now, but I couldn’t see it. It’s in there somewhere, it’s my name.’
Marjorie told us the story of being approached by the film producers, and the dazzling treatment she received in the process. HBO flew her to Washington and back in a day, complete with limousine transfers to and from the airports. She was also treated to a spread of whatever food she desired (it was Indian, a fine choice) After Marjorie reviewed the first copy of the script she was invited to a follow-up meeting to view the first production of the film. She exclaimed,

‘…and it was so funny, because after all that celebrity treatment they gave me, they hadn’t changed a darned thing!’

Other fantastic stories we heard included the time she was invited to view a copy of the 19th amendment of the United States, which granted the vote to women in 1920. Only the twist in this tale was that when she got there, she peered over the glass to exclaim, ‘This isn’t it!’ to the bewilderment of all around her, and was whisked down corridors straight to the exhibition’s curator to enlighten the situation with her incredible wealth of knowledge.

We sat in Marjorie’s living room for over an hour, talking, speculating, debating and laughing. One of my favourite things she said was purely a side note:

‘The pizza is fantastic isn’t it? My husband and I always say that no matter how much we travel and see the world, there’s nothing better than ordering a Pizza Man, opening a beer and sitting down to watch the news together.”

As we stood up to make our way out, Marjorie reclaimed our attention as she scrolled through news updates on her phone.

‘Is that what I thought it was?’ She asked urgently.

‘Obama has just made Janet Yellen the first ever woman to be head of the Federal Reserve!’

Not only had I been sitting in my tutor’s house, admiring her endless, powerful wisdom and watching my now favourite film about the progression of women, but I was lucky enough to share the very moment that the history of American women took another step.

Tags: Alice Paul, Angelica Houston, cake, Carrie Chapman Catt, experience, Film, Hilary Swank, Iron Jawed Angels, knowledge, National Woman's Party, pizza, professor, study abroad, suffrage, ,

Educational Differences Across the Atlantic: A Tale of Two Polarities

20 Sep

            ‘It’ll be much easier than what you’re used to’, they said. ‘But you’ll constantly have homework, and you’ll be graded on attendance and class participation.’

            These are the words of wisdom I received from the University of Leeds study abroad office before I departed for my year studying abroad in South Carolina.

            Since being here for six weeks, I’ve found most of the advice has been accurate. Studying at USC is a different story altogether, embracing a paternalistic style of education that is typical of American university life as a whole.

            Having studied at USC for some time now, it has become apparent that, in comparison to the way things are done back at home, the American education system assumes that students lack initiative. It assumes that we won’t contribute in class, (if we even turn up) that we can’t fathom borrowing books from the library, and that we can’t revise rough drafts by ourselves. So ‘lively, informed and consistent’ class participation is included as part of our overall grade, as is attendance. We have to buy or rent all of our books from the university’s bookstore, a total of which I’ve had to spend over $250 on. We are given staggered deadlines for essays, in which the ‘rough draft’ is due, and two weeks later, the final draft is due. In between these dates we have to co-edit drafts with two of our classmates. Along with the infamous US drinking laws, what seems inevitable here is that turning 18 and going to university in the USA doesn’t necessarily mean you become an adult. You may be of adult age, but moving out and going to university is as if you’re an ornament wrapped in bubble wrap, being transferred from one cardboard box to another. Rather than lowering the barriers to independence, the US education system keeps them firmly in place at university. From the perspective of a British exchange student, I can say with confidence that going to university in the US feels more like going back to school.

            Thinking back to when I started university in the UK, I remember feeling as though I’d been plunged in at the deep end. No longer did we have ‘classes’ like the US, but teaching is divided into huge lectures and small seminars which creates a zoom-in effect, looking at the broader picture then cultivating responses to it. If we fail to attend lectures and seminars we receive intimidating emails from department staff, but other than that, if you choose to stay in bed and be hungover all day, that’s your funeral. Final exams and coursework can count for up to 100% of our module marks, rather than small pieces of homework set throughout the semester. Only one or two set texts are mandatory, as all others can be found and rented in the libraries. The UK trusts that students have initiative and drive. The US assumes this drive for us.

           One of the differences I’ve found the most surprising is the USC English department’s guidelines for writing a thesis. At Leeds, our thesis is the same as our title at the top of the page. For example, a poetry essay at Leeds might be titled: ‘Examine the ways in which Edgar Allan Poe draws upon themes of mental and physical confinement.’ At USC however, our title must resemble a dramatic and innovative newspaper headline, like ‘Polarities Enchained’, or ‘Locked In The Brain’. The first paragraph is then a statement of intent, with the thesis statement acting as the last sentence. It took a good ten minutes after class for me to clarify that this really was what my tutor was after. It turns out that writing essays in the US allows for much more creativity and personal touches than in the UK.
            There are a number of other perks to this puzzling chasm between the UK and the US. In the US, students are allowed to create their own timetables: I made sure all my classes were on Mondays to Thursdays so I’d have long weekends available to travel (and blog, of course).  Getting free reign over assignment titles is also pretty cool, as it means we can write about what we’re passionate about rather than slogging out an essay under the guise of a pre-assigned thesis.

          I’m warming to the differences in educational styles pretty well so far. After all, being open to change is part of the study abroad experience. But I think I’ll always prefer the way things are done at home. The content and assessment styles may be harder, but at least when you succeed in the UK you know it’s the result of your own hard work and initiative, rather than the work of paternalistic discipline. 

Tags: education, , , paternalism, , thesis, ,

What Does it Take to Study a Joint Honours Degree?

22 Aug

This article has also been published on the Guardian’s ‘Blogging Students’ website at: http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2013/sep/02/joint-honours-degrees-double-the-trouble

You’re a hard worker. You’re conscientious, engaged and smart. You never skipped classes at school. You got the results you needed for university. You had the best three years of your life and graduated with a 2:1. But nowadays, climbing the education ladder is just not enough. With competition for graduate jobs fierce as ever, students are looking for more ways to stand out from the crowd and enhance their CVs before they don the mortarboard.

Applying for joint honours English and History on my UCAS form in 2010 I had this in mind. But along the way I’ve found studying joint honours has been anything but simple. Employability is one thing, but the decision to study joint honours should not be taken solely in consideration of your CV. A JH student needs to match their openness to interdisciplinary study with double the passion, patience and perseverance required to study a single honours degree.

One of the first hurdles a JH student has to overcome is getting to grips with logistics. Working with two academic departments can result in clashing deadlines, twice the staff and double the feedback sessions. Rafe Hallett, Director of Induction in History at the University of Leeds, commented: “The first six months of study can be more of a struggle, as the JH student adapts to the demands of two communities and two discourses of knowledge. They can sometimes feel stuck in limbo between two ‘homes’ and feel envious of the apparent simplicity of SH students’ timetables, contexts and communities.” Hayley Reid, a Classics and English student from the University of Leeds found dividing her time and attention between two schools was more trouble than it’s worth: “It was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made at university. I’ve chosen to focus more on the English side of things, but my parent school is Classics. I feel like I’m floating in some sort of subject limbo where I’m neither an English student or a Classics student.”

At a deeper level, JH students must also deal with two ways of thinking and two methods of learning. For me, the stark differences between English and History are manifested within the teaching style and characters found in each department. The English department at Leeds is situated on a row of small terraced houses. Walking into my seminars, I take a seat in a circle of chairs. Eight of us sit with our notepads on our laps and engage in free-flowing, spontaneous discourse about the set reading. My tutor will jump out of his armchair to search for his old, tattered version of Shakespeare’s Richard III to draw comparisons and encourage inter-textual thought. He once performed a whole scene from Etherege’s ‘The Man of Mode’, holding the book in his hand, jumping from side to side while acting out two parts. Conversely, I’ll head to my history seminars to engage in intense, regulated debate in a bare classroom- no bookcases, no armchairs and no digressions. Debates between historians can become incredibly heated, as not only are we trained to cultivate judgments of the past, but we learn how to assert them in a concise, convincing and intellectual manner.

Although studying a JH degree can seem like extra hassle, taking on two subjects at university level does work for some. Phillippa Watts from the University of Leeds, a French and History graduate with first class honours, enthused: “Studying a language was particularly useful as it meant I had access to more journals and sources compared to single honours students. I got to study two subjects that I’m passionate about, and have written a really interesting dissertation that bridges the gapbetween the two.” Andrea Major, a History tutor from the University of Leeds suggested that a JH degree does offer students this greater degree of continuity: “I have had JH students in History and English Literature who have tended towards ‘wider world’ modules in History who have paired that with post-colonial literature modules on the English side. They compliment each other extremely well, and as a result these students have found that work on one side of their degree has benefitted work on the other.”

Since employers consistently emphasise the need for graduates to be flexible, adaptable and creative in professional contexts, JH students are in a strong position in relation to employability. The ability to oscillate between two subjects is beneficial to a multiplicity of job applications, and in return for twice the hard work, JH students are rewarded with twice the number of career options available in comparison to single honours students.

The primary reason anyone should opt for a joint honours degree is because they have genuine passion for two subjects, and are open to seeing how they fit together. After all, a single honours student wouldn’t choose a degree they’re only 50% passionate about, so by the same token, students shouldn’t opt for JH just to add another string to their bow. Studying JH is not just an academic choice, it’s a way of life that defines your experience of university.

Tags: , Employability, , , joint honours, Passion, ,

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