uniselectImage
uniselectLogo

The shortcut to your shortlist

Make your university search faster and less stressful.
Get a personalised shortlist by selecting what matters to you.

GET STARTED
Choosing what to study

Six reasons to study History

History is an interesting and varied degree, but why should you study it and how can it help you with your future? Read through six of the best reasons to see if it's the right choice.

Student in library looking through bookshelf

1. Transferable skills

Studying History provides you with a broad skill set, which is ideal for keeping career options open. Analytical skills are invaluable in many jobs, and the ability to analyse and prioritise information is vital to decision making.

2. Relevant content

A History degree isn’t just based on the distant past. It also covers a huge amount of modern history in depth. The study of this subject is important in understanding current affairs as everything that happens today has been directly influenced by what happened in the past.

3. Investment in the future

If studied at an esteemed university, a degree in History can be an impressive and attractive feature on a CV. As seen on our History subject table, the graduate prospects scores for the top 10 UK universities for History are generally high.

4. Combined courses

Like many degrees, History can easily be combined with a number of other subjects. Course combinations with History include Mathematics, Music and Chinese. There's a great range of joint honours available.

5. Independence

A History degree typically offers fairly few contact hours; this enables you to lead your own historical research while still having support from a lecturer to help develop potential theories and ideas. Hard work is required, but this will help you build self-sufficiency, rigour and independence.

6. Cultural awareness

By looking at the history of different cultures, you gain a strong understanding of why certain people act the way they do. For instance, by looking at the history of the USA, we can see why race tensions continued past the abolition of slavery and remain today. In reading the history of India, we can see why the Caste system still continues in the subcontinent. This provides you with a broad cultural awareness, one that may deeply inform your future work.

Related articles

Man hands typing on a laptop keyboard on a desk

What are university rankings?

University rankings, or league tables, rank universities overall and by a number of...

28 Mar 2024
Edge Hill university campus

How to use the league tables

Use our university rankings to narrow down your choice of unis. Compare UK universities...

28 Mar 2024
Group Of Students Using Computers In university library

Why use our university league tables?

Our university league tables, or rankings, provide you with information about each UK...

28 Mar 2024

Is this page useful?

Yes No

Sorry about that...

HOW CAN WE IMPROVE IT?

SUBMIT

Thanks for your feedback!