Hi, I’m Martha, a first year LANS student. For me, choosing to study LANS was a no-brainer: it gave me huge flexibility and allowed me to develop all my passions and interests without sacrificing quality learning and materials. Personally, I have always been both very academic and creative and feeling like I had to sacrifice one of these for university always felt unfair and too hard a decision, but LANS gives me the opportunity to take top-quality courses in both fields. The opportunity to study multiple disciplines also has employment benefits: the developing issues in modern society very rarely contain just one factor, and LANS teaches students to tackle a problem from multiple angles to get the best result, a skill hugely valued by employers. I am currently majoring in psychology and neuroscience, with minors in drama and theatre studies and political debate. I hope to use this to specialise in the growing field of political psychology as I progress through university.
The opportunity to do a year abroad in 3rd year is another amazing element of the course: to take your skills and apply them in a different cultures, or work with world-class experts to develop these skills, while gaining invaluable life experiences is not something you find in an every day degree. I am hoping to go to Japan or the States in my third year, but with Universities in every continent, it is almost impossible to whittle down!
Another fabulous LANS feature is the ‘Culture Programme’: almost every week the LANS team put together a (mostly) free activity for students to participate in. This has been great to try out new activities and explore places I would have previously been unaware of. For example, I have participated in Clay Bust sculpting classes and attended a ballet and an opera with this programme. It is also an amazing opportunity to make friends and socialise with like-minded people on the course.
Though LANS is a competitive course, the inclusion of an essay in the application process really helped me put my mind at ease. As someone who sometimes buckles under exam stress, it was reassuring knowing the admissions team had seen a piece of work on a subject I was passionate about and had time to construct. My top tip for anyone thinking about a LANS degree is to just go for it: this is the only degree I have came across that values both the quality of students welfare and development as much as their grades. Best of luck to all of those that apply!