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April Howie

History Major, Graduated 2010

I came to Lancaster to study Psychology, and was rather doubtful about being made to take a minor alongside my chosen degree. However, after a year studying History as my minor I liked it so much I decided to make it my major. It's always a hard decision deciding what to study at university, but the system at Lancaster helps you to gain some insight into several courses in your first year, so that you can be sure what you finally want to pursue, and perhaps even develop interests that you did not know you had.

I enjoyed all three years as part of the History Department. Throughout, I was able to choose what I studied, so I ended up doing several areas, from gender and war to the search for the underclass and the history of advertising and consumerism. The latter was my favourite course, where I got to explore the history of shopping and produce a sales pitch in a group on the history of a product (we chose lipstick) and we gained valuable skills along the way! The tutors' enthusiasm and expertise made each course exciting and I developed interests in topics which I had not previously considered, especially in pre-1900 history. In my final year I chose to write my dissertation on The Cambridge Evacuation Survey of World War II. Although it was daunting at first, as soon as my topic and chapters were decided upon it all fell into place, with meetings with my assigned dissertation tutor to offer advice along the way.

What I found great about the Lancaster History Department was the support and help of all the tutors. Through their encouragement and feedback I was able to achieve the degree I wanted and saw a big improvement over the three years. So although the emphasis on university study is often on how independent it is, the support offered by all of the tutors meant that I never had to struggle and I could always achieve what I wanted to. Their guidance allows you to increase your skills from A-level study greatly and makes the transition a lot easier.

Lancaster is a great place to study due to the college system which helps you meet lots of people, as well as getting to know people in your smaller seminar groups. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Lancaster and the History Department played a big part in this. Outside lectures and seminars, there are plenty of sports and other teams and societies to join. The campus offers a secure environment for those who are slightly wary of moving away from home and I settled into the routine of Lancaster very quickly and didn't want to leave!

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