In this episode, Tian chats with first-year students Bella (Philosophy & Theology, St Chad’s) and Danish (Visual Arts, Collingwood) about what it’s like to study Arts and Humanities at Durham.
From their routes into Durham and first impressions of moving here, to the realities of contact hours, balancing academic challenges with social life, and learning to manage procrastination, they share an honest look at life as an Arts & Humanities student.
They also reflect on choosing colleges, building friendships, and the advice they’d give to anyone considering this path. Whether you’re applying to Durham, thinking about taking a gap year, or just curious about student life, this episode is full of insights, reassurance, and encouragement.
Timestamps
0:26 – Introduction from Bella & Danish (Durham stats)
0:48 – Routes into Durham
01:54 – Moving into Durham
03:24 – Expectations vs reality of the degree
05:50 – What’s the degree like?
07:58 – Most interesting & challenging parts
10:20 – Overcoming procrastination
12:14 – A typical day in Arts & Humanities
14:06 – Social life at Durham
16:15 – Choosing a college
17:58 – Final advice for prospective students
Intro
[Music]
Hi, I'm Tian and I'm with a Durham
student and today I'm joined by two of
my friends to talk about what it's like
to study the arts and humanities in
Durham. So firstly, can you guys just
give me your Durham stats which is your
college name and year and also a bonus
where is home for you?
Introduction from Bella & Danish (Durham stats)
So I'm Bella from St. Chards. Um, year
one
doing
philosophy and theology. Great. And then
where are you from, Bella? I'm from
Musth. Great. Then Denise.
Hi, I'm Denise. I study visual arts and
film first year as well from Calling
Wood and I'm from West Yorkshire.
Great. And then I guess the first
Routes into Durham
question that probably you guys are
wondering is um what was your route into
Durham? So um like what did you do
before Durham? How did you consider
coming to Durham um for university?
Well,
um I'm going to be honest. I was an
Oxford reject and when I applied there,
I was applying for fine arts, right?
Um my teacher in college always pushed
me towards art. It's something I've
always been interested in. It's not like
something I actually studied at like
college or high school, but visual arts
and film at Durham was a far more like
analytical approach. it um focus more on
essays. It focuses more like critically
analyzing rather than actually making
art. And I found that more appealing
than Oxford.
Um well, I did religious studies at
Alevel, which kind of encompasses
ethics, philosophy, and religion. Um and
it really inspired me. Um a bit like
Denish, originally I wanted to do fine
art at university because that was also
another passion I had. Um but I realized
I couldn't create art if I didn't do
philosophy and theology because that was
my main inspiration. Um, and throughout
this year, all of the course and like
Moving into Durham
content that I've learned has kind of
like made me understand that I made the
right choice picking this degree.
That's great. And then I know both of
you two are first years. So, how have
you found like moving to Durham from
home? So, and how did you find fresher
week as well? Um, I found it really kind
of difficult moving from home. I took a
year out before coming here just to like
save up and work beforehand. And I was
really nervous that I would struggle to
make friends if everyone else had come
straight from A levels because they
would be a year or two years younger
than me depending on where in the
country they were from. Um,
and
I think freshers week was particularly
daunting cuz I wasn't really somebody
who went out clubbing and I knew that
was a big part of the university
experience. But I don't know how it is
with all of the other colleges, but St.
cards was really kind of like good for
showing you other ways of spending your
time during freshers week other than
clubbing. Um I know on the first night
me and my friend Elizabeth, we didn't
want to go out, so we just like stayed
in and painted together which was a
really nice way to kind of like chat and
kind of get rid of all of the stress of
the day.
Um well, I found freshers week to be
very similar to you. Um very chilled
out. I didn't I'm not a clubbing person
either. I just prefer like just chilling
out with friends, having like a game of
cards or something. So, freshest week
was just it was very daunting because
like there's a lot of like assumptions
about calling wood and uh that I had
like this mindset that everyone around
Expectations vs reality of the degree
me would be smarter than me and uh that
wouldn't really fit in. But uh when I
truly like immersed myself into freshers
week, I found myself to like really
connect with people, very like-minded
people and I enjoyed it very much.
Great. And then just going back towards
your degree as well. Um what was some of
the expectations you had? So Denise, you
already made the point about like
feeling a bit of imposter syndrome
around everyone feeling smarter. Um how
have you found like your coursemates and
um how have you found Yeah. What was
your expectations before studying your
degree compared to reality after doing
it for a year?
Um well I found getting into my degree
um really like like very um
the assumption like making friends in my
degree is not since it's so small.
Visual arts and film is such a small
department right there's like 60 50 of
us and you can easily make friends like
you can in seminars it's very it's like
much smaller than like any other like
course the lectures are very like just
in normal classrooms it just feels like
very laidback. It's very um it's not
like too like it's not what I'm trying
to say is that it's not too like heavy,
you know what I mean? And it's just it's
very uh chilled out.
Yeah. And how about you, Bella?
Um because my degree is like joint
honors, you're between two departments,
it can sometimes be a bit difficult to
make solid friends because obviously you
have like a whole kind of like
department over there and then another
half of your modules is with different
people sometimes. Um, and I found it
really hard at first to kind of get to
know people well because you know they
would have like all six modules together
and I would only have maybe like one or
two. Um, but eventually like I've made
really really good friends in the
department like some people who I would
call like my closest friends here. Um,
and they also took years out which was
kind of a bonding experience. Um, so let
alone did I learn like you don't have to
be anxious like talking to new people in
the course because they're all in the
same kind of like level as you are. it
it seems really daunting at first that
you might not be as clever as them if
they're talking and seem to know a lot
as well. Um, but gradually you realize
that like you're all kind of like at a
fresh start here and no one really knows
more than you.
Um, and the other thing was obviously
that like I was nervous after coming in
from a year out especially cuz I thought
like oh my god I've forgotten everything
but there's so many other people who are
in the same situation. Um, and I even
have like a mature student he's in his
What’s the degree like?
like late 40s late 50s. Um, so that also
kind of like reminds you that everyone
here deserves to be here regardless of
what your path into uni has been.
That's so good. Um, and then both of you
two are doing like either joints or like
quite a broad degree. I mean, Denise,
could you like explain to me more more
um what's your degree like? And Bella,
could you explain like what is a joint
honors and how have you found Yeah.
doing both? What's the difference
between philosophy and theology?
Uh well v uh visual arts and film is
basically like two spectrums right? It's
um you could do film studies that's one
major part of it. Um and you also have
visual arts which is literally anything.
It could be history of art. It can be
visual media. It could be photography.
It can be anything that is visual. It
could be you can analyze anything in
essays. It could be um a front cover of
a book. Anything that you can critically
analyze.
Um that that pretty much defines it. But
I prefer the film start film part
because I just I just love film making,
you know.
Um, just to go into like the joint
honors kind of thing. Before I came to
uni, I thought maybe it didn't have to
be 50/50 split. I thought it could be
like 70 30 or like 25 like 75 or
whatever. Um, if you do come and do a
joint honors of like anything, even if
it's like the MLAC courses like Spanish
and French, it has to be a 50/50 split.
So you in at first year at least you'll
take like three modules from the one
half of the department and then like
three modules from the other. Um and
sometimes it can be a bit like confusing
when you're applying for the modules. Um
so you have to really know your faculty
handbook if you're doing a joint honors
because that will kind of lay out
everything that you need to know. Um I
really recommend like kind of like
looking ahead and like getting to know
your course modules. Um
in terms of like the difference between
philosophy and theology, philosophy is
at least here it focus on like the
analytic philosophy. Um so it's very
logical. It's very engaged. Um whereas
theology is the complete opposite. Um
Most interesting & challenging parts
they try and be a lot less analytic and
logical. It's very much focused on kind
of like faith but not always in the
Christian sense. um faith in just like
understanding the fact there's a lot we
can't understand which can sometimes be
a bit of a conflict with philosophy but
I really like kind of engaging with both
sides of that like school of thought.
Great. And then yeah um reflecting back
on your first year like studying um your
degree um what have you found most
interesting in and most challenging?
Um well for me the most interesting part
of my degree was um
probably one of my optional modules it
was uh Middle Eastern cultures and it
very much related to my main degree and
the most the most important thing about
it was um the looking at Islamic art and
looking at Middle Eastern like art and
just seeing like how diverse that region
is and like
um it also introduced like the idea of
um like postcolonial like framework
works and stuff like that and I just
found it very very engaging, very
intimate as well and it's just very
powerful.
Um, so when I first like started the
course I assumed my favorite module
would be ethics and values because when
I was in A level that was the like the
paper that I loved the most and that I
did the best on and I was like oh I have
to do ethics because even my teacher was
like oh this is for you this is this is
like completely suited to your way of
thinking. Um but then like now that I'm
here after completing the first year um
I would say history of Christianity was
my favorite module um which seems to be
a bit of surprise to me because that was
an exam that was 100% of the course um
and it was very stressful. Um but it was
it was so fulfilling knowing that you'd
learned all of that history and been
able to engage with it. Um and it's
really easy to see like how much you've
progressed intellectually from the start
of the the course. Um, I mean, in the
first term when he was like kind of like
giving you all of this new information
and I'd never studied Christianity
before, it wasn't the paper that we did
at Alevel. Um, I was like, "Oh my god,
I'm never going to be able to learn all
of this. This is like 3,000 years of
very rich history." Um, especially with
a lot of crossover to Islam. Um, and
then by the end of the the course when I
Overcoming procrastination
was writing the exam, I was like, "Oh,
no. I I know this. I know this. I've
worked really hard." Um, so I think
that's why it's my favorite because you
know that you've worked hard and you
know that it's paying off.
That's so good. And then yeah, I guess
um on the negative side um what have you
found perhaps a bit more challenging or
um about studying maybe in university in
general or um for your degree
specifically as well?
Um, I guess it's just more of a personal
thing like trying to like really um stop
procrastinating, you know, because that
that's just a really like it's a
nightmare. But for me, uh, the ways I'd
handle it is just trying to work like a
really tight schedule like 9 till 5
either getting my lectures done, getting
the seminars done, or doing some reading
for seminars or like etc. you know, um
just to like really not force myself but
like really like nudge myself into like
getting like uh into the routine of
stuff.
Yeah. I mean that's always a a real
struggle like procrastination and also
you've got to kind of come up with your
own schedule here whereas I find when
you're at a level when you're in school
in general you kind of like feel like
there's always a presence on your back
to like keep working. Um whereas here
nobody's going to push you to do the
work. You have to do it yourself. You
have to push yourself. Um, but I think
the the hardest thing I found was
kind of the the jump from the essays.
Um, because writing essays at a level,
especially in religious studies, rather
than philosophy A level, was very
different to how they want you to write
here. Um, and also there's a very big
difference between writing a theology
essay and a philosophy essay. They
sometimes want very different things,
especially in the history of
Christianity because they're more source
questions. Um but it's kind of something
you learn gradually that different
lecturers will probably want different
things to somebody else in the
university or even in the department
A typical day in Arts & Humanities
itself. Um that's just a skill that you
learn gradually. It's nothing to be
scared of when you first arrive.
So good. And then moving on to the next
question which is about um I guess yeah
your contact hours like how much do you
get? Um, and about, you know, you said a
lot of independence, like reading. Um, I
think for both of your degrees is quite
a lot of reading. How do you navigate
around that? And yeah, what would also
your typical day look like um on a usual
week? I know we just finished exam
seasons, so it's probably not the
typical day of a uni life, but back in
like Miklmiss and Epiphany, what would
your week or day look like studying your
degree? Um, well, my usual day would
like we don't really have that many 9
a.m. for
u visual arts and film, but I would try
to get up really early and get some
reading done for either seminars just to
like just to like get an idea of what to
like expect, what questions that might
arise, what we're going to discuss. Um,
really try to like also do some some of
my own extracurricular stuff as well. I
like to fit that in like other readings
and stuff like that. Um because social
life is also really important as well.
Um but like also usually the typical day
is just lectures, seminars, um going on
to reading for me and I spend a lot of
time to Billy B. That's a great
resource.
Like either if I'm not in a lecture,
you'll probably find me in Billy B.
Yeah. Um I think contact hours I feel
like maximum for arts and humanities
tends to be about 10 to 12 hours a week.
Um, sometimes it can be more say if
you've had something rescheduled. Um, or
if you do like maybe a 2-hour lecture.
Um, but yeah, it's it's really not that
much when you think about in comparison
to like the STEM subjects which
sometimes even have like 24 hours a
week. Um, but what I found really
helpful was a lot of my friends do
Social life at Durham
chemistry and their days start at
a.m. every day. So even though I didn't
have many a.m., I would get up and
eat breakfast with them at 8 every day
and then I would read beforehand. um get
prepared for the lectures, get prepared
for the tutorials. Um I'd always try and
do the work before the day, at least 2
days before, because it can really add
up if you if you get behind. Um and then
yeah, Chad's obviously a catered
college. Um that's really helpful. Um
because you don't have to spend the time
cooking. Um, and the Billy Bees also
like it is a really good resource, but
if like the college kind of has a
library of its own, I found that really
helpful. So, Chad's has like eight kind
of library spaces. Um, and I usually
just worked in there. Um, so yeah, it
was mainly working in the Fenton Library
right in the attic at the top of uh
Chad's College and then being like, "Oh
my god, there's a world outside." Um,
but yeah, it's still really fun. Um
Denanish you briefly mentioned about the
social life. Um so yeah what do you two
do outside your degree like um are you
part of any societies and yeah how have
you found them and um is it too late to
like get into one if you didn't sign up
on fresher week. So yeah
it's never too late to join. You could
always join. Um usually I go for stuff
that is completely different from my
degree. I want to engage myself in
different like ideas, you know. So, I'm
part of like um well, I'll just get I'm
part of DU student film making, which is
great. I'm part of um debating um what
else? Um some rowing stuff as well for
like college calling wood. Um and the
social life in there is it's just so
easy to make friends. Always so
accessible and they're always like on
there and I like just to like a lot of
them are free so you can just just turn
up and it's just great. It's a great way
to meet people.
Yeah, exactly what Dish said. It's never
too late to join a society. Like I
didn't join any societies during first
term. Um and then even like in second
term I was so busy sometimes with
summitives that I was like I don't
really have like any time to do it. Um
but then this term I've really engaged
Choosing a college
with the AI safety society. Um and I'm
now doing their like social media
management side. um trying to build up
the society and like show people that
it's really important to be aware and
like educated on AI. Um and even though
it sounds like quite technical um it's
really nice kind of getting to engage
with people outside of your department.
Um especially since in a university
setting there's a lot of conflict
between like STEM and humanities
subjects sometimes like you're really
pitted against each other. So I really
recommend kind of like branching out and
making interdicciplinary friends. Um I'm
now friends with a lot of computer
science students um ranging up to like
PhD level. Um and it's really eye
opening getting to hear them talk about
their experiences and what they've
learned. Um so I think that's the that's
the benefit of like the social side of
university. Um outside of kind of like
clubbing and partying which is which is
very fun. Um but yeah, I I really like
kind of encourage people to join
societies and don't feel worried that
like oh I didn't join like in the first
term and will I have any friends cuz you
can make them later.
Yeah. Uh that's so good. We only have
two more questions left and I guess yeah
the first question is um how did you
like choose your um college as well? So
I know you're in Chad's Collingwood
quite different vibes. Did you go on
vise or was there other factors that
came into consideration for your
college?
Um well I'm a very sporty person so
calling wood has a
you live up to the stereotypes. Yes,
living up to the stereotypes, but um
calling has a lot of great for sports
facil sports facilities and um it's just
a great college overall just outside of
that if you're not into sports, it's
just the community is great. They're
great. There's lots of people in
Collingwood, it's like probably one of
the biggest colleges and so you'll fe
Final advice for prospective students
you'll meet anyone like any people from
different subjects, different like
backgrounds and it's just such a diverse
college and I love it. I love it to
death.
Yeah. So I rank Chards as first. I'm
pretty sure if you want Chads, you have
to rank it first. Um, and it's amazing.
It's such a good environment. I remember
it was kind of one of the only like the
three colleges I saw on the open day or
something. So, we just didn't really
have time to go everywhere. Um, and I
remember people saying like, "Oh, it's
got like eight library spaces, so it's a
bit of a nerdy college." And I was like,
"Oh, I'm a bit of a nerd, so maybe this
is for me." Um, but to be fair, like the
second college I put was Jon Snow, which
is a big difference. That's a that's a
self-catered college. But I think it
kind of shows that like regardless of
where you get in, regardless of like
what college you've ranked first, if you
maybe don't make it and you make it into
a different college, every single one of
them is good. Every single one of them
has good vibes, good people. Um I have a
lot of friends who are in different
colleges and they're lovely. So it can
sometimes feel a bit disheartening if
you don't get into your first college
and obviously I was very lucky to get
into Chards cuz it's a bit competitive.
Um but if you don't, don't worry. Don't
panic. You will have a good time and you
will make so many good friends.
Definitely. And then finally the last
question is what would be your final
words of wisdom or advice for your like
younger self? So imagine you like before
you came to Durham, what was the sort of
advice you feel like you really needed
before coming here and yeah just anyone
right now considering like doing their A
levels right now or finished and
deciding between universities like yeah
what would you recommend? I'd say don't
hesitate whenever there's an opportunity
that comes up to you that you might be
interested in that you might think that
you'd fit in. Well, take it. Don't
delay. Always just take whatever
opportunity you can. Do whatever you
want. Immerse yourself. That's what I'd
say.
Yeah, I agree with that. I also think
just like don't doubt yourself. Like so
many people will doubt you and so many
people will try and tear you down
throughout life. Um you got to be your
biggest supporter and A levels can be so
hard and then university is is even
harder sometimes. Um, and you just have
to keep believing in yourself. You can
do it. You can do anything you set your
mind to. Uh, I definitely needed to be
told that back in A levels. Um, and I
know so many other people, especially
waiting for your results to come out,
can be so stressful and you just have
all of this doubt, but it all works out
in the end.
Yes. And clearly you two are a testament
to that. So yeah, they've shown you like
you can make it to the other side. And
we really hope that you consider Durham
or end up wherever you end up that
you'll thrive there as well. So yeah, we
really hope you found this helpful for
studying in arts and humanities and
anything about questions more you can
find on Unibody. There's usually
students that can answer about your
course or check out their courses as
well because it's sounds like really
cool courses. So I'll catch you guys
next time. I
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