Student review [#15873] for Liberal Arts
at Durham University - DUR

My experience at Durham has been a predominantly positive one. I would recommend the university to people who want to study at a collegiate university which ranks high but are not (yet) ready to live in a big city.

LIBERAL ARTS
Liberal Arts is an incredibly flexible degree, which allows you to combine various subjects from the Humanities, as well as from the Social and Natural Sciences. This means that you can design your own degree programme for yourself, picking and choosing subjects and modules that interest you. Throughout my degree, I studied English Literature, Philosophy, Anthropology, and Business.
An additional bonus to Liberal Arts is that the staff is kind and helpful, you can turn to them with any problems you might have. They helped me immensely with my studies, module choices, year abroad applications, amongst others.
A disadvantage of this course is that it lacks the kind of community that single honours programmes have.

LECTURES, SEMINARS, RESOURCES
Having experienced the teaching styles of various departments, I can tell you that the style, quality, and workload differ tremendously across departments. Overall, all the departments are helpful, but teachers in certain departments tend to be more available than others. The lecturers are generally knowledgeable and passionate about their subject. The lectures and seminars are mostly useful and of a high quality, but this also differs across departments. Students studying Humanities and/or Social Sciences normally don’t have many contact hours. The workload throughout the academic year is manageable, but during exam season it becomes quite heavy.
The library offers a wide variety of books, although depending on your modules it might not have everything on your reading list.

COLLEGE SYSTEM
Durham operates a collegiate system which assists students with the transition from living with your parents to living alone. If you have any mental health issues, difficulties with your studies, or any other problems, your college will help you solve them. Most colleges are catered, which means you won’t have to worry about cooking. Depending on your college you also have access to various facilities, like libraries, study rooms, gyms, common rooms, music rooms, etc. Furthermore, you can get involved in college sports and/or other college-level extracurriculars. You shouldn’t just think of your college as an accommodation which helps you with your problems. Colleges are communities with their own unique characteristics, and with fun events like college day, formals, and balls.
A disadvantage of the college system is that the facilities you have access to highly depends on your college and not all colleges have the same facilities.

EXTRACURRICULARS
Durham offers a wide variety of university-level extracurriculars. You can get involved with volunteering, sports teams, the film society, one of the many theatre or musical societies, amongst others. You will most certainly be able to find a society that offers something you are interested in. This will also give you the opportunity to make friends relatively easily and connect with people who have the same interests and passions as you.
University-level sport can be very costly, and not all university-level sports are on and are taught on the same level.

COMMUNITY
While you will most certainly find your people and community, Durham lacks diversity. Elitism is well and alive in Durham, as most students are posh, rich, and white. Internationals and/or minorities might feel excluded, discriminated against (by locals and students), and they might feel like they don’t belong to the elitist cliques students form. Nevertheless, in my experience, most students find their community and make plenty of friends.