What makes an SPS student!

Hello everyone!

My name is Jessica and I am currently a 1^st year student who is completing a degree in SPS (Social and Political Sciences). I will be using this blog post to emphasize what an amazing and diverse course it is.

I currently do one module in Sociology, one module in Social Policy and two modules in Politics. As you can see the options within SPS are really diverse!

Firstly, I should start off with the things I’ve wished I’ve known about the department. To start any staff member you will meet throughout your course is amazing, kind and helpful. Everyone in the department is always full of smiles and more than willingly to answer your questions (as seen with their fast email responses).

For many new students picking modules can be stressful, so let me give you some words of wisdom. Firstly, reading the module pages online can be helpful – they have great info like “what you will study” and “what your assessments will entail”, which is important and worth researching! This leads me on to another important piece of advice – don’t stress too much about the modules that you pick. For the first term I picked “political theory” as my module but after my second lecture of that module I emailed the SPS department and moved to “democratic politics”. People can make mistakes in regard to modules, but they can be amended if fixed soon.

Lastly, I want to talk about how the department has helped me and many other SPS students. To begin they have weekly seminars where 3^rd year students (or even our lecturers and professors) will help us with skills. This can include anything from essay writing, how to reference and even specific topics within a specific module. Another important and vital way that the department helps its students is with the use of speakers, who come in to give talks on various topics and allow us to expand our knowledge.

Currently in the first year of SPS, three out of the four modules are compulsory, so I had the choice to pick one of my modules. However, for the second year, only one of our four modules only one is compulsory, so I’m looking forward to greater flexibility!

Overall, I believe and know that SPS is an amazing department to be a part of. Not only is it welcoming and friendly, but it is also allowing me to gain such a wide span of knowledge, which will prepare me really well for the world of work.

That’s it from me! I hope to see some of you in the academic year for 2018/2019.