Student review [#89542] for History
at The University of Edinburgh

First of all Edinburgh as a city is fantastic, especially as a history student. There is so much to do and it feels so safe. Everything is walkable and there are so many great cafes, restaurants, parks and museums. Edinburgh is the perfect city for students.

However, I did feel let down by the university at times. For the first two years there were lots of compulsory modules that were extremely broad and therefore quite unexciting. In the final two (honours) years students are able to specialise more and choose from a range of modules. Unfortunately the allocation process means that for me and a lot of my course mates the courses we were actually given were the ones at the bottom of our preference list. I found I had to try very hard to change my courses at the beginning of each term to allow me to study something I was interested in.

The contact hours for history in the final two years also leave much to be desired. I had only 4 hours (2 classes) of teaching per week. In my fourth year these 2 classes were on the same day so I only had 1 day of uni per week. A high level of self-motivation was required and it was quite lonely. We had no lectures and learned mainly through our own reading. If you want guidance and hand holding throughout degree this course is not the one for you. There is a high level of freedom and I understand this will be a plus for some people.

I will say that the fault lies with the administrative team. The professors that I was taught by in third and fourth year were so kind and helpful. It is great to be taught by people who are truly experts in the topic. There are a high number of U.S history professors and so if you are interested in this area I would definitely recommend.