College II!

[ajaxfetish]

Inspired by Kaiser's recent topic, I think I'll post one of my own.

:book: :computer: :book2: :juggle2:
I'm currently a college junior, looking to graduate in about a year and a half and thinking about graduate school. I'd like to go into Medieval History and would like any recommendations for good schools with a strong medieval program. Also any general advice for getting ready for grad school would be great.

One other thing is, I'm thinking about the possibility of going to school in Britain, since it would be so much closer to the subject matter, along with being good for broadening my cultural horizons and also I expect they've got some very good programs. How hard would it be for an American to get into a British program, and what kind of financial aid would be available? What would be the best medieval programs on your side of the pond?

Thanks in advance for any advice and suggestions!!

Ajax

[Alexanderofmacedon]

I don't know, but I think Europe would be good for schooling medieval times.

EDIT: Happy birthday Ajax!

[Byzantine Mercenary]

i am no expert on universitys but your probably right britain would be a good place to study, it is expensive (more so for foreginers) i doubt you will get much subsidys, the best for medieval history is caimbridge (as far is i know) but competition is fierce depending on how popular the course is (were talking straight A's) and you usually need a qualification in a foreign language as well as science english and maths (at at least GCSE Level) im not sure how american qalifications transfer though

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I'm not sure it would actually be that expensive, relative to how much they pay for tuition in the States. International fees seem massive to us natives, but that's only because we benefit from subsidised costs.

[Red Peasant]

I'm not sure it would actually be that expensive, relative to how much they pay for tuition in the States. International fees seem massive to us natives, but that's only because we benefit from subsidised costs.

You don't have to go to Cambridge (or London). I know Americans doing Ancient History at Manchester and Liverpool, and there will be others at other good northern/provincial universities, which are much cheaper but which still run top-notch programmes. The same will go for Medieval History. As a native, I did Ancient History and Medieval History for Joint Honours at BA level and now I'm going to Oxford on the PhD (DPhil) programme.

In fact, for an undergraduate, I'd say that the good provincial universities offer better value-for-money, and certainly a better all-round student experience than the Oxbridge cities.

[Red Peasant]

Sorry, didn't mean to quote BKS.

[Kanamori]

Scholarships are usually available for international students, as far as I know. I think most of the information you're looking for can be particular to different schools. Studying in Britain isn't that expensive. Most likely, it would be more expensive to study in a private school, or an out of state schoo than to study in Britain. I've looked at it here, and to get residency takes quite a bit, unless you get hitched. The British women are better ,usually; not as loud and hardly ever fat, some look like men though.:juggle2: I would imagine the best graduate degrees in that area come from the 'old schools' like Oxford, Cambridge, and to a lesser degree Harvard and Yale. Those are just impressions though, I'm not really an expert. Good luck in the search.:2thumbsup:

[econ21]

I know nothing about medieval history departments in particular. But if you are interested in departments in British universities, you will find them rated in authoritative ways that are accessible over the net. Most importantly, departments are rated by the official national panels for research quality in a "Research Assessment Exercise". It's harder to measure teaching quality - there is a corresponding "Teaching Quality Audit", but I think the ratings (out of 24) are not very informative. You might get some insights about students perceptions of the teaching from the "National Student Survey" ratings. I don't have the links for these 3 things in quotation marks, but if do google searches around each of them (maybe add in "UK") and you should be able to eventually track down the full tables and data online.