Ben Taylor’s Experience

History graduate Ben Taylor shares his experience and advice.

I have loved history since I was a child, so I enjoyed studying it at Colonel Frank Seely Academy – especially at Sixth Form where I was taught about the Tudors and the Russian Revolution. Once I had decided to go to university, it was an easy decision to carry on with history and I chose Nottingham Trent as their course looked interesting and was local. Studying subjects varying from the Crusades, to the Aztecs, to Victorian England, I enjoyed my course a lot, and was pleased to finish with a First and the university’s subject prize for history. I am now at the University of Leeds starting an MA in Military History, aiming to eventually become a historian and write my own books.

My general advice for students would be to work steadily and consistently. I did not follow this advice particularly well at school, but I have not once allowed myself to fall behind on work at university. Once you have organised yourself, made a plan and committed to working hard, everything else falls into place.

My advice for students who love history and are still at school or Sixth Form would be to embrace any coursework (my Sixth Form coursework was on the Roman Empire). The skills you develop through this – finding evidence, analysing it and crafting it into a piece of writing – are the key skills of a historian. Research essays are 90% of a history degree – so if you enjoy your coursework, you will probably enjoy a history degree.  

Ben Taylor