Merton Access DVD : History

Transcript (abridged)

(In case you have difficulty playing the video)

What was the application like?

Amy: I thought they asked for quite a lot, given you had to do the HAT test and then the interviews, but it actually was really worthwhile. By the time you got your placed offered to you, you really wanted to come. The HAT test was really interesting. For the written test it's different to the school exams where you're answering a specific question - they allow you more to go down your own path. And as for the interviews themselves - it was nice coming to Merton and seeing it so you got more of a sense of the place - obvious intimidating: the first one in particular when you're on your own but it's really friendly in general. Okay.

What is your average working week like?

Sam: 1 essay a week, which doesn't sound a lot but it actually is. You get a reading list of between 10 and 20 books. You just have to get a hold of what you can from libraries: history faculties, Merton's got a very good library as well. You basically get your essay done and you get a tutorial a week. At the moment I have class a fortnight as well and I have to prepare an essay for that class. Some terms you'll do more than one module a term, so you'd have 3 tutes a fortnight. As for lectures, it depends if they're useful. You can go to as many as you want. They're open to all the students in the university so if you feel interested in something you can go to the lecture, if you think it's gonna help you with your essays you can go, but you don't have to. Reading the books by the people who give the lectures seems to help.

What is the course like?

Sam: Merton has around 15 historians, but that includes joint-schools.

Amy: That's per year?

Sam: Yes. Amy and I are straight historians, so we just do history - modern history. That is to Oxford everything after the Roman Empire, so there's a pretty big range. You study, originally for your prelims in which you do 4 papers. If you're a straight historian, during your degree at some stage you have to a Medieval paper in either British or general history and you have to do an early modern paper and you can do that across any time. So there's a great deal of choice in what you can choose to study. For your prelims you'll do an optional subject. That can be anything - there's a long list of them available. They're very good at - if you want to do a subject in which we don't have a specialist at coolege, they'll send you to another college with the best person for the job. When you've done your prelims you go into your Final Honour School - you do a thesis, which you can do on anything - you research it yourself. Your tutor will know about the period and he'll advises you, but you do it yourself. There's a lot of flexibility on what you want to study. So whatever you're interested in, it's a good place to be.

Many thanks to Amy Jones and Sam Jones for this interview!

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