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Joel Morley

History Major, Graduated 2007

I was attracted to studying at Lancaster for a number of reasons, some academic and some less so. It was a fairly long way from home; enough that I could be secure in the knowledge that parents wouldn't be dropping in unannounced. The campus provides enough facilities that you don't need to leave, and when you want to venture into town it's quick and easy because of good bus links. The town centre is small enough that you quickly feel at home. The college system is another huge advantage at Lancaster, making Freshers' Week very good fun and putting you in touch with lots of people.

As for the academic side of things, the structure of the course was a big draw for me. The option of taking three different subjects in the first year allowed me to develop an interest in Art History, and experiment with Psychology. Even in my second year I was able to maintain broad interests, taking three courses from History and one from Art History. By the third year the Special Subject gave me the opportunity to focus more specifically on things that had interested me, and the dissertation allowed me to pursue my own research interests freely.

The History Department itself I couldn't say enough good things about. The staff have a very wide variety of interests and therefore Lancaster can offer a wide variety of courses. For me this meant that I could find modern courses which I wanted and could try courses with an earlier focus. The courses I chose were all fantastic, especially The First World War, The Fatal Attraction of National Socialism, and Men, Women and Warfare. The Department is very friendly and welcoming. Throughout my courses tutors were happy to give support when I asked for it, and were massively helpful when I began applications for Masters study in my third year, despite the fact that initially I was looking elsewhere!

Producing my dissertation confirmed to me that I wished to continue to explore by academic interests by doing a Masters. I looked very closely at different options before I decided to come back to Lancaster, and returned to find that many others from my year also didn't want to leave yet, so Lancaster's History Department must be doing something right!

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