This subject guide tells you about my experiences reading History at Oxford, as well as personal statement tips and what you can expect from interviews.
What does a typical day reading History at Teddy Hall look like?
History is a fairly chill subject where you’re largely free to structure your day as you please. My days generally consist of reading, lectures and writing essays. Due to COVID, all of our lectures are online, however even during pre-COVID, Examination Schools (where history lectures are held) is across the road from Teddy, with most lectures starting no earlier than 12pm. In first year, you’ll have 1 or 2 lectures per week, which are used to assist your reading and I’d recommend going, since they give you a brief outline of your essay topics which can often be lacking from your reading lists.
Generally, I’ll follow this with a library session, where my days are mostly spend reading articles and books. (pictured is the inside of the Radcliffe Camera, a library in central oxford, it is dedicated to english and history books but anyone can go there to study!).
In first year, you’ll also have one to two tutorials a week, discussing your essays with your tutorial partner. Here, you’ll be expected to develop and challenge the ideas mentioned in your essay. They are certainly very difficult, especially when you’re debating historians who are on your reading list! They are also one of the most enjoyable parts of Oxford, in that you are constantly changing who you are as an historian!
You may also have group seminars to go alongside your tutorials, depending on your paper selection. I had seminars in Hillary term of first year, where we discussed primary sources and gobbets, which are small excerpts from a particular source. You are expected to make a comment on it, with regards to its historical implications. I was very intimidated by the prospect of gobbets initially, though all will become clear when your tutor explains!
In the evenings, we would typically spend time in college, having dinner or in the JCR. Owing to government restrictions this is obviously very limited, though college have done a really amazing job trying to keep as much open as possible, as well as keeping it COVID-safe.
Why do you like studying History at Teddy Hall?
History can be a really solitary subject because there is relatively little group work, and your tutorial partners tend to change every term. That being said, there is a really great community of historians at Teddy, and the Tutors at Teddy are really friendly! Prior to the lockdown, our tutors organised History formals, followed by a trip to the college bar. Our tutors have also organised trips to London as well as Dissertation Fairs, so we get to speak to historians from all years and disciplines!
Another unique thing about studying History at Teddy is the wide array of paper options available to you in your first year. The tutors allowed us to pick which papers we wanted, regardless of whether a tutor for that paper was available at Teddy, which allowed us to visit other colleges and pick subjects according to what we found genuinely interesting.
Aside from the academic aspect, the student community at Teddy Hall really does stand out, with so many events and activities you can get involved in. ( The picture to the right is from WOTH, or "Women Of The Hall" which is every Thursday on the fifth week of term, where the women have a themed night out - this one was bananas in pyjamas).
Personal Statement
I would suggest treating your personal statement as a sort of “intellectual menu”, where you outline your reasons for wanting to study history. By that I mean, mention the books you read, any ideas that really spoke to you. This doesn’t mean you need to read masses and masses before you apply, just that you need to be able to defend any ideas, as well as be open to flexibility if you are invited to interview. Further, it doesn’t have to be a book. In my personal statement I mentioned visits to museums and, as a material historian, I mentioned particular artefacts I found interesting.
Not all schools will have vast resources for history, so below are a number of books and lecture series that I would recommend:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk
This is an amazing resource that has a number of lectures covering a breadth subjects, from law to science and of course history. There are a huge range of historical ideas here, ranging from childhood to the ‘uses’ of God.
Carr, What is History?
This is a classic and one that every historian will be asked to read. Personally, I found it rather vague and dull, but it does present some insightful questions about how historians ‘do’ history, such as what sources you may look at and how these sources are shaped by historical stakeholders.
BBC In Our Time Podcast
I really have to credit these podcasts with how I managed to consume so much information in a short period of time. As I mentioned, you don’t have to read masses and masses, but the more well-informed about a subject you are, the more confidence you’ll have when it comes to interviews. This resource is so helpful because they take broad subject matter and experts in the field (past speakers include Matthew Restall, who you may find on your reading lists!), breaking it down into its main arguments in a way that is not too dissimilar from an Oxford tutorial.
Further, each podcast is accompanied by a reading list. If you find something especially interesting in that podcast, I’d suggest starting there for a more in-depth look.
Submitted work
As part of the applications process, you will be asked to submit an essay that you have completed as part of your studies, and not one that is written specifically for the purposes of applying to Oxford. Whilst this may seem intimidating, the tutors aren’t looking for under-graduate level essays! The essay is typically used as a starting point for your interviews. For example, I had submitted an essay on Elizabeth I’s political strategy, and my tutors asked me to outline what I meant when I mentioned how far an idea can be considered “feminist”. Whilst the essay was the basis for this question, they were not judging the arguments I put forward in that essay, rather they were more interested in how I thought and approached historical problems. Further, if you disagree with the ideas in your submitted work or think there are things that could be changed, this can actually be useful. It shows intellectual flexibility and the ability to challenge your own ideas, and don’t be afraid to mention these things if it comes up during interview.
History Application Test- The HAT
This is a one-hour test asking you to write one essay on the things you can glean from a source. This could be anything, from explicit ideas mentioned in the passage, to ideas you can infer from the historical characters, for example if they are a woman what does that tell you about society at the time? Likewise, if the source is written by someone with low status or low wealth. Admittedly, I found the test really difficult but one thing to note is the applications process is holistic; just because one aspect hasn’t displayed your strengths as much as you’d hoped, does not mean your chances are gone.
Work experience
For history, securing work experience in an archive or museum can be quite difficult, and even more so now during the pandemic. Tutors are aware of this, so won’t penalise your application for not having been able to secure work experience. That being said, if you can get work experience, I would suggest your local museum (or even going to an exhibition there), library or archive and even a history magazine. Again, these are all things that may prove very difficult so I wouldn’t stress too much about not having work experience.
Interviews
If you are invited to interview, firstly well done! The applications process is incredibly difficult so making it this far is amazing! The previous year’s interviews were all online, but hopefully by December, interviews will be able to go ahead in person. If you’re invited to interview, whether that’s by the college you applied to or pooling pre-interview, you’ll typically be expected to stay for a handful of days. During this time, you’ll be staying in college and your food will be provided, as will the accommodation, free of charge. If getting here may be difficult, don’t be afraid to email the college before hand, because there are bursaries that may be able to assist in purchasing train tickets.
For history, you will have around two interviews at one college, depending on whether you are also applying for joint honours. This may be followed by interviews at another college if you are pooled. Try not to read into this too much- nobody knows who is pooled and who isn’t, so being pooled doesn’t mean you’ve done badly, it may even mean you’ve done really well!
As mentioned, these interviews may focus on your personal statement, submitted work or I’ve even heard your HAT essay, though this is rare, and it certainly didn’t happen to me or any of the historians I know. They may also give you some reading material with pictures, diagrams, artwork before the interview. I had an hour to look through a handful of pictures just before my second interview. Rather than trying to pre-empt the questions they may ask you; I would use this time to highlight anything that you find interesting. After all, the interview is not about testing what you do or don’t know, they are more a discussion about history.
In that respect, I would suggest thinking out loud. Cliché as this sounds, it can be difficult to do, so it's worth practicing even if it's just to yourself. Secondly, if you are unfamiliar with an idea, ask the tutors for further clarification. Again, the tutors aren’t looking for fully-polished Oxford students, and actually even now as a second-year, I ask my tutors for definitions all the time.
Finally, whilst interviews are undoubtedly terrifying, they can also be enjoyable. You are discussing ideas with some of the preeminent historians in their field, and whilst I was certainly very intimidated by this, it is also an opportunity to talk about a subject you know and love.
We hope this subject guide was helpful, and we wish you the best of luck with your application!
Check out this Youtube video below from one of our historians!