Maria talks about her passion for literature, in particular Shakespeare, and her lifelong love of the performing arts. Through her module choices, and by getting involved in student societies, she’s enjoyed pursuing both.
Studying Shakespeare
I started my higher education journey with a musical theatre degree, but after that I was still itching to study literature in more depth.
The degree at Southampton stood out because of the variety of modules and the fact that there was an entire module on Shakespeare in the third year. I’ve now completed that module and I can’t praise it highly enough. The lectures and seminars were the highlights of my week last term.
Building confidence - getting involved
I’ve really enjoyed the flexibility of the assignments, and how they often push me to come up with ambitious ideas. We have the scope to write about things that really interest us, and my lecturers have all been great with helping me expand my own ideas rather than pushing me in a particular direction.
It means I’ve become more confident in my academic thinking, as well as improving my ability to articulate it.
As someone who has been doing theatre for most of my life, I love the societies the University has to offer. I joined the Theatre Group and Showstoppers (the musical theatre society), taking part both onstage and backstage. Playing roles in The Marriage of Figaro and The Hunchback of Notre Dame has been a highlight of my time here. I also directed Oklahoma!, which was an amazing experience.
As well as making new friends, being involved in productions has given me extra insights that I’ve been able to take into my literature studies, and vice versa.
A strong community
I’ve found a strong sense of community at the University, both through societies and on the course itself, which has been nice to be part of. Everyone is so lovely and the environment itself is conducive.
I have particularly enjoyed being primarily based on Avenue Campus. It’s a smaller campus which makes it feel homey.
I’m very much interested in staying in academia and hopefully becoming a professor. I’m looking at master’s programmes to apply for and after that I’d like to do a PhD.
My degree has been good preparation because the academic standards are so high. Also, having PhD students as tutors on some of our modules has been helpful, as I’ve been able to learn more about what it’s like to do a PhD and get their feedback on my work.
My advice to new students
Don’t be afraid to talk to your lecturers and seminar leads. In my experience, they are always up for a chat and are more than happy to explain things that you don’t understand, point you in the right direction, or even just talk about the literature that we all love!