History and American Studies BA, 3-4 years
Start date:
Course information
Typical offer AAB-ABB
UK/EU fee £9,250
UCAS code VT17
International fee £17,450
Institute code L34
Taught by American Studies
Admissions enquiries
+44 (0)116 252 5281
ahladmissions@le.ac.uk
Course enquiries
+44 (0)116 252 2587
history.admissions@le.ac.uk
School of History, Politics and International Relations website
Since declaring freedom in 1776, the USA has gone on to become one of the most influential countries in the world. You’ll look at how this came to be by studying the ideas, people and events that shaped the nation.
Course description
Course description
Our History and American Studies BA brings together two popular and exciting subjects. Combine the excellence of our Centre for American Studies – one of the top 10 places in the UK to learn American Studies* - with the world-leading research of our History experts.
You will chart the history of America since its beginnings as an independent state all the way through to the modern day. Along the way, you will study the diverse people, ideas and events that have shaped the nation. Political, cultural and economic factors will all be discussed and you will learn how all of these contribute to the shaping of one of the most influential countries in the world.
You can pursue modules in American history, politics, and culture whilst also studying aspects of British, European and global history. This degree allows you to study American politics and culture in ways that will complement and extend your understanding of both American and world history.
You will also have the exciting option to immerse yourself in American culture by spending a year of accredited study at one of our partner institutions in the USA, including universities in New York, Florida, Texas, California and many other destinations across the country.
*The Guardian University Guide 2020
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
- A/AS-levels: AAB-ABB at A-Level. We prefer A-Level History, though this is not essential. Two AS-Levels considered in place of one A-Level. General Studies is accepted
- EPQ with A-levels: ABB-BBB at A-Level + EPQ at grade B. We prefer A-Level History, though this is not essential
- Access to HE Diploma: Pass relevant Diploma with 45 credits at level 3, 30 of which must be at distinction
- International Baccalaureate: Pass Diploma with 30 points including 6 in one Higher Level subject
- BTEC Nationals: Pass Diploma with D*DD
Other national and international qualifications considered. If you do not meet the entry requirements for this course, you can apply for the International Foundation Year – Society and Culture run by the Global Study Centre. The GSC provides academic support to help you progress to your chosen undergraduate degree at the University of Leicester.
Second year entry may be possible with suitable qualifications.
Selection Process
When considering your application, we will look for evidence that you will be able to fulfil the objectives of the course and achieve the standards required. We will take into account a range of factors including previous exam results.
Applicants are not normally interviewed. If you receive an offer you will be invited to visit the department.
English Language Requirements
IELTS 6.5 or equivalent. If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence of your English language ability. If you do not yet meet our requirements, our English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU) offers a range of courses to help you to improve your English to the necessary standard.
International Qualifications
Find your country in this list to check equivalent qualifications, scholarships and additional requirements.
Countries listFees and funding
Fees and funding
UK and EU Students
Starting in 2021
The University of Leicester has made the decision to keep fees for EU students at the same level as UK student fees for this year, despite this no longer being a UK Government requirement.
- £9,250 in your first year. Tuition fees are subject to government regulations and may change in future years
- Year Abroad: your fee will be £1,250 for that year
Find out more about scholarships and funding.
International Students
Starting in 2021
- £17,450 per year
- Year Abroad: £4,362.50, which is 25% of the full-time tuition fee
Find out more about scholarships and funding.
Careers and employability
Careers and employability
We offer several practical or placement modules so that you can gain hands-on experience in your chosen career path. For instance, our 'History in the Classroom' module includes practical teaching experience by incorporating a placement in a local school and our 'Heritage Field Project' will give you hands on experience working in the heritage industry, offering you invaluable experience for the future.
We routinely develop paid internship opportunities for our students to gain additional, relevant work experience during their degrees. Roles such as research assistance, conference organiser, and editorial assistant have been offered in recent years.
Graduate destinations
Graduates from our History degrees have gone on to work for a wide range of employers including:
- Department of Education
- Troubadour Publishing
- British Standards Institution
- Nissan
Alex transferred to the University of Leicester in his second year, impressed by the range of academic modules available which meant he could study the area that he was interested in.
Career Development Service
Get career-ready at Leicester with guidance from our award-winning Career Development Service. We're here to give you a lifetime offer of support, even after graduation. Our team of specialist careers advisers and mentors will help you every step of the way. From supporting you with CVs and interviews, to volunteering opportunities and placements, we're here to help you reach your professional goals.
Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goals
We are committed to providing skills and knowledge to help prepare you tackle global challenges. We have mapped our undergraduate degrees for learning which aligns to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This degree includes learning which relates to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
- Goal 10: Reduced inequalities
Course structure
Year 1
Year 1
The first year provides a strong foundation for your degree, with core modules on American history since independence, US political institutions, processes and ideas, and the emergence of the modern world order. You will also choose from options on European, British and global history to understand American developments in a broader historical context.
Core modules
- Freedom Written in Blood: United States History, 1776-1877
- Introduction to American Government and Politics
- The Shock of the Modern
- US History since 1877
Option modules
Choose two option modules from:
- Global History: Connections and Cultures in a Changing World, 1750 to the present
- Great Britain: The State We're In
- Europe 1861-1991: Emancipation and Subjugation
Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.
Year 2
Year 2
The core modules will delve deeper into understanding the diverse people, communities and wider world relationships that have shaped America’s development, and will enhance your critical thinking, independent research, and intellectual creativity - skills you’ll put into practice in further optional modules.
Core modules
- Americas Plural: Latin America and the United States
- Perceiving the Past
- Ethnicity and Diversity in American Life, from Emancipation to the Present
- Becoming the Historical Researcher
Option modules
Choose one option module from:
- Religious History
- All Bourgeois Now? Class in History
- Histories of Violence
- Blood, Position and Power: The Nobility of Later Medieval England, 1066-1485
- Madness, Monarchy and Politics in Georgian Britain
- Modern Ireland, 1939-1975
- Slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction in the United States
- Enter the Dragon: Modern Chinese History, 1839-1989
- Living with Dictatorship: European Societies, 1918-1941
Then choose one option module from:
- Domestic Revolutions: Women, Men, and the Family in American History
- From Beer to Fraternity: Alcohol, Society, and Culture in North America
- A World Connected: Welfare, Economy and Government since 1945
- Foreign Policy Analysis
Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.
Year Abroad (optional)
Year Abroad (optional)
If you want to, you can spend your third year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions (eligibility is dependent on your academic performance in Years 1 and 2). Alternatively, you can opt to continue studying at the University and complete your degree in three years.
Studying abroad is not just for people who are interested in travelling and meeting new people. It is about acquiring life skills that are becoming increasingly significant for a wide range of jobs in our modern globalised society. Whether you go on to work in the private sector, the state sector, a non-governmental organisation or become self-employed you will find the experience invaluable. Find out more from our Study Abroad Unit.
Please note that a year spent abroad still incurs a tuition fee, but this is much lower than for a normal year at Leicester. See our Fees and Funding section for details. You will be expected to produce a photographic essay of your time abroad.
The School of History, Politics and International Relations has links with several European universities, administered through the Erasmus+ scheme. If you are eligible for a loan from Student Finance you can apply for a travel grant from them. Languages courses, at both beginners and advanced level, are available through the University’s Languages at Leicester scheme.
- For the latest information on the future of the Erasmus+ scheme at UK universities please see our Brexit microsite
We have links with the following universities:
- Universitat de València, Spain
- Université de Strasbourg, France
- Università degli Studi di Pisa, Italy
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
- Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Universiteit Ghent, Belgium
- Charles University Prague, Czech Republic
We also have links with some universities outside Europe. If you are receiving financial assistance from Student Finance your support will continue and you may also be eligible to apply for additional travel grants or scholarships. We have links with the following universities:
Alabama
- University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Arizona
- Arizona State University, Tempe
California
Colorado
- Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Florida
- University of Florida, Gainesville
- University of Miami, Florida
- Stetson University, Deland
Georgia
- University of Georgia, Athens
Illinois
- Illinois State University, Normal
- North Central College, Naperville
Kentucky
- Bellarmine University, Louisville
Louisiana
- Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Maine
- University of Southern Maine, Portland
Mississippi
- University of Mississippi, Oxford
Nebraska
- Hastings College, Nebraska
New York
North Carolina
- University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Ohio
- Kent State University, Ohio
Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
- University of Tulsa
Oregon
- Willamette University, Oregon
Texas
Utah
- Utah State University, Logan
Virginia
- George Mason University, Fairfax
- James Madison University, Harrisonburg
- Old Dominion University, Norfolk
We have two partners in Canada:
- University of Calgary, Alberta
- University of Windsor, Ontario
We also have partners in Australia:
- Flinders University, Adelaide
- Deakin University, Melbourne
- La Trobe University, Melbourne
We have partners in Japan and South Korea:
- Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan
- Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan
- Seoul National University, South Korea
- Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.
Final Year (History dissertation)
Final Year (History dissertation)
The final year is shaped entirely by your preferred areas of interest and specialisation. You will research and write an original dissertation – an independent research project of your own design – with the support of an expert supervisor. You will also choose from a wide range of optional modules that reflect the cutting-edge research expertise of your tutors.
Core module
Option modules
Choose one Special Subject module from:
- The British Antislavery Movement, 1787-1833
- The Holocaust: Genocide in Europe
- After Hitler: Society, Culture and The Politics of The Nazi Past in The Two Germanies, 1945-1990
- The Age of Bede and Alcuin: Anglo-Saxon Northumbria and Mercia in the 7th and 8th Centuries
- Beauty, Sex & Science: Whose Body is it Anyway c.1550-2015?
- How Soon is Now? A Social History of Urban England, 1945-1985
- The Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Church, State and Belief in Soviet Russia, 1941-1991
Then choose one option module from:
- The USA and the Vietnam War
- Crime and Punishment in African American History
- The American Presidency
Finally choose one option module from:
- Women in American Society from the Civil War to First World War
- American Political Development
- Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, c1350-1650
Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.
Final Year (American Studies dissertation)
Final Year (American Studies dissertation)
The final year is shaped entirely by your preferred areas of interest and specialisation. You will research and write an original dissertation – an independent research project of your own design – with the support of an expert supervisor. You will also choose from a wide range of optional modules that reflect the cutting-edge research expertise of your tutors.
Core module
Option modules
Choose one Special Subject module from:
- The British Antislavery Movement, 1787-1833
- The Holocaust: Genocide in Europe
- After Hitler: Society, Culture and The Politics of The Nazi Past in The Two Germanies, 1945-1990
- The Age of Bede and Alcuin: Anglo-Saxon Northumbria and Mercia in the 7th and 8th Centuries
- Beauty, Sex & Science: Whose Body is it Anyway c.1550-2015?
- How Soon is Now? A Social History of Urban England, 1945-1985
- The Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Church, State and Belief in Soviet Russia, 1941-1991
Then choose one option module from:
- The USA and the Vietnam War
- Crime and Punishment in African American History
- The American Presidency
- Fourteenth Century Crisis in England? Politics and Society 1297-1413
- When Two Dragons Fight: China and Japan at War in the Twentieth Century
- Disasporas and Migrations in the Modern World
- Gender, Crime and Deviance in Eighteenth Century Britain
Finally choose one option module from:
- Women in American Society from the Civil War to First World War
- American Political Development
- Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, c1350-1650
- The Imperial Economy: Britain and the Wider World, 1815-1914
- The Medieval Natural World
- From Empire to Nation: Modern South Asia, c. 1857-1947
- Clothing and Fashion in Historical Perspective. Case Studies of Modern European History in Transnational Context
- What Difference Did the War Make? British Society and the Great War, 1900-1939
Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.
Why Leicester?
Job prospects are excellent: 96% of our history students are employed (or studying for a Masters degree) six months after graduating. (DLHE)
We have well-respected research centres covering Medieval History, Urban History, English Local History and Genocide and Holocaust Studies.
Our public lectures and conferences attract fascinating speakers: not just academics from both sides of the Atlantic, but also diplomats and film-makers.
The David Wilson Library contains fascinating 'special collection' archives of old books and manuscripts, offering a direct connection with the past.
Reading list
See the types of texts you might read, over the summer, to get a feel for the course and arrive prepared and ready to go.
View reading lists for:
Teaching and learning
You will be taught by a variety of methods, ranging from large lectures to seminars to individual tutorials. Lectures are used to provide historical narrative and to raise key questions and areas of debate. Seminars are where you share your opinion about those debates and put forward your interpretation of the topic.
Assessment is through exams and coursework (both long and short essays), source analyses, group projects and presentations. Approximately three quarters of your final degree mark will be based on your coursework; one quarter on your exams.
You will have regular meetings with your personal tutor to discuss progress in your studies. Your personal tutor will also provide a sympathetic ear for all matters of personal concern, whether they be academic, financial, housing, career or social issues.
Independent learning
When not attending lectures, seminars or other timetabled sessions you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. Typically, this will involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for exams. To help with your independent learning, you can access the Library and our social study spaces in halls of residence.
Your contact hours will depend on the option modules you select. You can see details of the contact hours on individual module pages.
Academic support
Our Student Learning Development Team provides help in the following areas:
- study and exam skills
- academic writing
- presentations
- dissertations
- numerical data skills
- referencing sources
Our AccessAbility Centre offers support and practical help for students with dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties, including physical, mental health or mobility difficulties, deafness, or visual impairment.
Teaching staff
You will be taught by an experienced teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. PhD research students who have undertaken teacher training may also contribute to the teaching of seminars under the supervision of the module leader. Our teaching is informed by the research we do. You can learn more about our staff by visiting our staff profiles.
Apply now
Course | Qualification | Duration | UCAS Code | Availability |
---|---|---|---|---|
Course History and American Studies | Qualification BA | Duration 3 years full-time | UCAS Code VT17 | Availability Apply Now |
Course History and American Studies with Year Abroad | Qualification BA | Duration 4 years full-time | UCAS Code VT17 | Availability Apply Now |