History has always been a passion of mine, but what made me choose Loughborough was the International Relations, Politics and History open day. I will never forget Dr Rakesh Ankit’s speech to parents who may have been worried about the career prospects of a History degree.
He described History as an “oyster degree”, because its skills translate to every possible path. He pointed to the discipline of independent research, the clarity of thought you develop through group discussion, and the respect you learn for how people from different backgrounds interpret the same events.
That speech stayed with me, and he was right. Those skills are now the foundation of my career in law.
My favourite thing about the course was its flexibility. In most of my modules I could choose from a range of topics within the module specification. That meant I could focus on the areas that interested me most rather than being bound by a rigid syllabus. It made me more engaged and gave me real ownership over my learning.
The piece of work that had the most impact on my learning was, hands down, my dissertation. I tailored it to my passions and my Welsh heritage, researching the role of Welsh women in the suffrage movement, a country so often overlooked in British history, and how cultural identity shaped their activism. I took my research from the desk into the archives myself, and a segment was featured on the IRPH Students as Researchers blog. My dissertation supervisor Dr Peter Yeandle’s support and belief in my abilities helped me prove how capable I am.
Above all, my degree taught me self-discipline. History has fewer contact hours and less structure than many other courses, so most of the work depends on you. It’s on you to do your readings (and there are a lot of them), and the depth of effort and research you put in is entirely your responsibility, but you will reap the rewards. I had to learn to set my own deadlines, manage my workload and motivate myself, habits that have been invaluable since graduating.
After graduating from Loughborough in 2025, I completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Law with Distinction to start my journey towards becoming a solicitor, and I am now studying for my Master’s in Legal Practice. The self-discipline instilled in me throughout my degree and the confidence in my abilities that I gained from my dissertation have set me up to succeed.
History taught me to work independently, manage long-term projects and build arguments from evidence. Professionally, those skills gave me a strong foundation for a career in law, where analysing sources and presenting the persuasive case are central. The flexibility of the course also gave me the confidence to pursue my own interests. All of those factors lead to my decision to back myself and pursue one of the most rigorous career paths in the UK.
Just as Dr Ankit promised at my open day, History proved to be an oyster degree, giving me the skills for a career in law and the self-belief to pursue it.
The community at Loughborough is unlike anything I have seen elsewhere. I made friends for life there, some of whom I saw just last week. That culture extends to the teaching staff too. I have returned to campus several times since graduating, and it never fails to amaze me that lecturers who see hundreds of faces a day still recognise me and stop to chat.
The Loughborough experience is so unique that it's known as the 'Loughborough bubble', and leaving it was genuinely hard. The memories I have, from an evening in The Paget Arms, to playing football and barbecuing on the Paddock, will remain some of the best moments of my life.
If you’re thinking of studying at Loughborough, my advice is: do it! Make the most of every moment, because it goes by faster than you think, and I’d give anything to do it all again.
