English studies, University of Manchester

Terrible course and lecturers

Great course on the whole, most lecturers are enthusiastic. Some texts more interesting than others as expected but a lot of support is provided

Very disappointing. Lecturers are extremely miserable people who talk in monotone. The books and poetry you cover are terrible, awful teaching from a tutor who couldn't even speak English

there are only 9 hours a week as you need to do a lot of independent study which is great because you get a lot of time off however at £3000 a year... you also have to buy your own books like with most course which is annoying but manageable. it's really nice to be able to write poetry and short stories as opposed to analytical essays however it is difficult to be objective with yourself when writing something that could be personal. ultimately when it comes to marking it's based on whether your techniques/content of your writing 'works', if it's effective. my favourite part of the creative writing part of the course is getting to read my course mates' stories and poems. for the literature part of the course there's a lot of reading obviously which is difficult if you're reading something you don't like, but there's a lot of freedom for what you write on (e.g. I hated 'Heart of Darkness' so I wrote on Oscar Wilde's tale instead)

Lovely degree program in a well supported environment, and a good combination of departments through both English Literature and French.