I never had a favourite subject at school and when it came to deciding on my post sixth form future I knew that I liked the idea of university, but I couldn’t choose between my two, seemingly very different, favourite A Levels: Biology and Drama. To help me decide I went to week long tasters for biosciences at different universities and found that I became bored and missed the variety and different approaches to tasks that I got from my other academic interests. I then contemplated auditioning for drama school whilst also searching for any double major courses including Biology or Drama that sparked my interest (a double major course in both of these subjects unsurprisingly didn’t turn up many fruitful options). I did, however end up on the University of Birmingham website looking at the option to study biosciences alongside a language and whilst navigating the website discovered Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences almost by accident. I instantly knew that LANS was the course for me and it was the only course on my UCAS application!
This year I double majored in bioscience and drama and theatre as planned, although, I also studied sociology and Spanish, as well as the LANS core modules, in which I got to apply my knowledge and skills from one discipline to another in a group environment. It has been amazing being able to choose the modules that interest me most. For example, my favourite area of bioscience is plant and environmental sciences, so I chose bioscience modules on this theme. Simultaneously this meant that I could avoid bioscience modules which would involve coming into contact with any bloody dissections as this is definitely my least favourite area! Next year I will be majoring in ‘sustainability’ one the relatively new ‘bespoke’ LANS pathways, which will allow me to exit with a sustainability major by studying modules from around the university which link to this theme. For example, I will continue to study environmental science but will begin to focus my drama module choices on theatre for political change and the links between protest and performance, whilst also studying politics and sociology to better understand how they intersect with sustainability.
My eagerness to join the Sustainability pathway was heightened when in my second semester I was offered the opportunity of LANS Sustainability Ambassador, in which I actively work on making LANS more sustainable. As part of this job I also visited the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research Free-Air Carbon Enrichment experiment, which is an oak woodland which is being exposed to elevated CO2 concentrations to deduce possible effects of climate change on the woodland. This was incredibly interesting and a refreshing day away from campus and into the countryside. In fact, being the Sustainability Ambassador has been very stimulating overall, as it has allowed me to have a side project which I am extremely passionate about that takes my mind off my degree work, as LANS can be an academic juggling act at times.
To be better at this academic juggling act:
- Work on time management and organisational skills - Ask your lecturers if certain tasks or readings are necessary for LANS students as some may be better suited for single honours subject students who are studying other modules.
- Get involved in the Cultural Programme events and the community to meet other like-minded LANS students. My favourite cultural programme trip this year was seeing The Curious Incident at the theatre.
- Join societies! A lot of them. It is a great way to meet people outside of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences.