Hoping for some help from the UK

[Tim Regan]

Hi Jennifer,

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter jennl602 wrote:
> I <...> am interested in 
> going to school in the UK.  
> I am interested in humanities and social studies mostly -- 
> English, history, or political science.

A couple of points:
1) We call it university not school. If you say school to an English 
person they'll assume you are talking about High School (or 
Elementary / Middle).
2) English degrees are more subject focused and less pick-and-mix 
than US ones. This comes in part from our earlier specialization 
(though it's broader in Scotland and the rest of Europe). At 18 or 
so we take `A' levels, and they tend to be pretty focused, e.g. I 
did two math, physics, and chemistry, so I'd effectively stopped all 
humanities subjects at age 16. The net effect of this is that you 
want to factor subject into your choice of subject early on. Some 
universities are great at particular subjects. For Example Warwick 
has a fantastic Math department.

I also find that if someone recommends an institution that they did 
not attend, that says way more about the academic reputation than a 
recommendation of your own university. No-one seems to volunteer the 
information that they went somewhere intellectually awful. But for 
night-life and other social factors, you cannot beat personal 
recommendation.

Also, it's a trite thing to say but do try to attend the university 
with the best reputation you can (e.g. Oxford and Cambridge first, 
then the red brick universities or the best at your subject choice 
second) as that will always look impressive on your resume. I didn't 
take that advice - I choose the university closest to my girlfriend. 
We're married now with two kids so that works too :-)

York (where I read maths) has a good English department and is on 
the outskirts of really really beautiful city. I know we hate her, 
but A.S. Byatt's quartet is in part about the founding of York 
University (or at least I'm guessing that's what she's referring 
to). "The Virgin in the Garden" and "Still Life" are the first two. 
They are fantastic.

Cheers,

Dumbledad.