(soft instrumental music)
- I chose the History course at Cambridge
because I love people and gossip.
So history to me feels like
gossip through the ages.
And getting the chance to study that
at an academic level has been
really, really exciting.
- The Cambridge course is really broad,
both in terms of chronology and geography,
so I thought it would give me
the opportunity just to do lots of different
types of history.
- The undergraduate experience in Cambridge
is so special because you get taught
in almost every possible way there is to be taught.
It's a combination of lectures,
of seminars, of discussion classes,
and what is distinctive about
the Cambridge system: supervisions.
- Every week during term when you're studying
one of our big papers,
we will discuss in incredible detail
the particular theme that you're studying
in that given week.
- It's just a really stimulating way
to engage with the material that you're learning
and also really useful in terms of
improving your skills and becoming a better writer.
- Sitting with a world expert in that subject
may be really terrifying,
as it was for me when I was looking at Cambridge to apply,
but actually it's been one of the best parts of the course.
(relaxed guitar music)
- The resources available for the course here are excellent.
Not least, the University Library,
which is one of the legal depository libraries,
so it has every book you could
possibly want to look at.
- And there's also college libraries
and faculty libraries,
so in terms of places to get books
and places to work, it's amazing.
- Those resources are extraordinary,
but the human resources,
it's incredible to think that we have historians here
who study virtually every corner of the world
and virtually every period of human history.
- My favourite experience on the course so far
has been doing my dissertation.
I've been doing mine on British refugee camps
for Ugandan Asians in the 1970s.
It's been so, so fun to read and write about real history.
- My favourite experience of history
hasn't been one event.
It was actually the experience of
meeting one particular supervisor
for one of my papers.
That was really fulfilling and
challenged me in lots of ways.
His advice has been very useful.
- I think that Cambridge can seem really scary
and far away.
None of my family went to Cambridge.
I didn't really know anyone
who went to Cambridge directly,
but it's definitely worth applying.
It's definitely worth trying for.
- My advice to someone starting
their studies here at Cambridge
is to say that amongst all the
stresses and pressures of term time,
not to lose sight of what brought you here
and what you really love about the subject.
- If I were looking for a history student,
I'd want someone who's curious.
- Somebody bold and imaginative,
and somebody with attention to detail.
That if they come together,
that makes a great historian.
- Three key skills that I have learnt
while studying history here
that I think will be useful in the future:
firstly, critical thinking,
writing skills, and also learning to be
an efficient and intelligent reader.
- A lot of the skills that you learn doing
a degree like this are really transferrable,
and they're definitely useful after you leave
as well as when you're actually here.
- History is a wonderful thing to have,
and it's seen by employers as a massive asset.
- So after I graduate,
I've been offered a job in accountancy.
- I think for a career, I'd like to be a historian,
so I'm planning to do a Master's Degree
after I finish my undergraduate.
- Our graduates do all kinds of things when they graduate.
Many of them go into the Civil Service
or into government.
They go into the law, they go into business,
they go into the charitable sector.
- History at Cambridge is defined by
the diversity of approaches and kinds of people
and subject matter you do here.
- It's definitely quite inspiring
to be surrounded by other people
who are really driven in their subject.
It's really incredible to be part of this community,
and to be considered a Cambridge student is,
I feel really lucky to do so.