Hi guys, I'm an 18 year old first year undergraduate student at Newcastle University.
So my degree is Media, Communication and Cultural Studies. I had previously taken Media Studies at A
level in college but I just want to clarify that it's not compulsory to come to university with a
media degree meet with a media A level; you'll be absolutely fine if you come and do a media degree
with no previous education in media, you'll be absolutely fine. So in regards to modules,
in first semester you have three modules that you take: two compulsory modules which are 'scholarly
practice' and 'introductions media studies' and then i picked um as my optional module
'introduction to professional communication'. And then second semester you have the same, three
modules: two compulsory modules and one optional. The two compulsory ones are 'introduction to
social and cultural studies' and 'introduction to multimedia technologies' and then the optional
module that I've picked is 'introduction to journalism practice.' My favourite module
in semester one was definitely 'introduction to professional communication' because that was a lot
more practical. It was still very essay-based but the content was a lot more PR-focused,
a lot more like social media and things like that which I found a lot more interesting but I can go
into detail on specific modules in other videos. In second semester so far, I'm only three weeks in
but I think 'multimedia technologies' is one of my favourite modules so far; that is very
hands-on working with cameras, microphones and learning about different backgrounds
of noise and things like that. But then we also have journalism which is about news.
This semester's a lot, second semester, is a lot more hands-on than first semester which I
like because not all essays. So all my, in fact I'll get onto that when I talk about coursework.
But yeah, so I like 'multimedia technologies' as a module because it's a lot more hands-on I'm not
just sitting in a classroom. Whereas, 'scholarly practice' was a lot more like that last semester
which I enjoyed but not for all my modules. So yeah coursework and it's 100% coursework
first year, second year and third year. Obviously, with third year being dissertation. In first year,
over the course of the semester I had six deadlines; three deadlines, one for each module
around November time - all essays. And then around December/January time another three
essays due. I knew the deadlines as soon as I started the semester so I could plan when
I wanted to start my research and things like that. And then this year, this semester sorry,
I have a bit more practical. So it's a bit more... I'm filming a lot more interviews taking place
in my multimedia technology and also my journalism modules but obviously my journalism module was
optional so you don't have to pick that one if you do want more essays/essay-based. So my social and
cultural module is essay-based and I think part of my journalism and multimedia module is essay but
as well practical. So in first year I'm doing six modules and for each one of their modules
we get a module handbook and in that handbook has deadlines. It has a syllabus written out
each week, any contact information you need; everything you need to know about that module
is in the module handbook and you get that one for any degree on any course at Newcastle University.
I find it very helpful because before having to email anyone or ask anyone, I go to that module
handbook and it has pretty much everything I need to know in there. Also to mention about
the optional modules - so obviously I picked 'introductions to professional communication'
and 'introduction to journalism practice' but you could also have chosen 'introduction to
popular music videos' or you could have picked 'journalism past present and future'
and so you're not restricted, this whole degree you're not restricted to anything. You basically
make it your own so that was another thing I was going to focus on why I picked this degree. So
I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do, I'm going to be honest I didn't have a clue what
I wanted to do at university, but I knew I wanted to go and I knew I wanted to do
something I was going to enjoy and like I said in college, I did do media studies and I enjoyed it
and when I was looking at the syllabus for this degree I realized that there were
a lot of optional modules and I wasn't restricted to certain ones that I might not
have found interesting. I also looked into doing a semester abroad which I can do on this degree
if that's something that you're interested in you can do a year abroad, a semester abroad,
a year in industry. But that's it for now because I feel like it's going to be a very long video.
But if you have any questions, or any videos that you want me to film or focus on,
any content or anything like that, then leave a comment. Thank you so much for watching