- UCAS course code
- T702
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
BA American Studies
Explore the history, politics, and popular culture of the United States in combination with a year abroad.
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Duration: 4 years
Year of entry: 2026
UCAS course code: T702 / Institution code: M20
- Key features:
Study abroad
- Typical A-level offer: AAB
- Typical contextual A-level offer: BBB
- UK refugee/care-experienced offer: BBC
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 35 points overall with 6,6,5 at HL
Overview
Course overview
- Immerse yourself in the interdisciplinary field of American studies, encompassing history, literature, popular culture, politics and cultural theory
- Engage deeply with theories and realities of a nation that continues to play a dominant role in global politics, culture, and economics
- Spend the entirety of your third year at one of more than twenty partner universities in the US or Canada
- Ranked 2nd in the UK for American Studies by the Complete University Guide 2025
Contact details
- School/Faculty
- School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
- Telephone
- +44 (0)161 509 2871
- ug-eac@manchester.ac.uk
- Website
- http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/american-studies/
- School/Faculty overview
-
See: About us
Related courses
- English Literature BA (3 years)
- History and American Studies BA (3 years)
- English Literature and American Studies BA (3 years)
- American Studies BA (3 years)
Courses in related subject areas
Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.
Entry requirements
A-level
AAB including one essay based subject.
Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken.
Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.
A-level contextual offer
BBB including one essay based subject.
Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken.
Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.
Contextual offers are available for applicants who:
- live in the UK and will be under the age of 21 on 1 September of the year they will start their course; and
- live in an area of disadvantage or with low progression into higher education; and
- have attended a UK school or college for their GCSEs or A-levels (or equivalent qualifications) that has performed below the national average over multiple years.
See our contextual admissions page for full details and to check your eligibility.
UK refugee/care-experienced offer
BBC including one essay based subject.
Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken. Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.
Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.
UK refugee/care-experienced offers are available for applicants who:
- have been looked after in care for more than three months; or
- have been granted refugee status by the UK government or have been issued a UK visa under one of the Ukrainian schemes (Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine Family Scheme or Ukraine Extension Scheme).
See our contextual admissions page for full details and to check your eligibility.
International Baccalaureate
35 points overall. 6,6,5 in Higher Level subjects
Applicants studying the International Baccalaureate Career Related Programme (IBCP) should contact the admissions team prior to applying so that their academic profile can be considered.
GCSE/IGCSE
Applicants must demonstrate a broad general education including acceptable levels of Literacy and Numeracy, equivalent to at least Grade 6 in English Language and Grade 4 in Mathematics. GCSE/IGCSE English Literature will not be accepted in lieu of GCSE/IGCSE English Language.
Please note that if you hold English as a second language IGCSE qualification, we may also require you to offer one of our acceptable equivalent English Language qualifications or achieve a higher grade in your IGCSE than the one stated above. Please contact the admissions team in your academic School/Department for clarification.
Other entry requirements
Other entry requirements exist for this course. You may view these by selecting from the list below.
Country-specific entry requirements
English language requirements
All applicants to the University (from the UK and Overseas) are required to show evidence of English Language proficiency. The minimum English Language requirement for this course is either:
GCSE/IGCSE English Language grade 6, or;
IELTS 7.0, or;
An acceptable equivalent qualification.
Please note that if you hold English as a second language IGCSE qualification, we may also require you to offer one of our acceptable equivalent English Language qualifications or achieve a higher grade in your IGCSE than the one stated above. Please contact the academic School for clarification.
If you need to improve your English language skills to meet the entry requirements for your academic course, the University Centre for Academic English (UCAE) summer pre-sessional courses can help. Check if your academic course offers the option of taking a pre-sessional course on the UCAE page .
The UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) requires that every student requiring a visa to study in the UK must show evidence of a minimum level of English Language (common European Framework (CEFR B2 level) to be granted a Student Route visa (previously known as a Tier 4 visa) to study at undergraduate or postgraduate level.
In addition, our academic Schools/Departments may require applicants to demonstrate English proficiency above the B2 level. Further information about our English Language policy, including a list of some of the English Language qualifications we accept, can be found here .
English language test validity
Fees and funding
Fees
Fees for entry in 2026 have not yet been set. For entry in 2025 the tuition fees were £9,535 per annum for home students, and are expected to increase slightly for 2026 entry.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
- Find out more from student finance
- Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
- Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
- Many students work part-time or complete a student internship
Application and selection
How to apply
Home-schooled applicants
Non-standard educational routes
Mature students are some of our most well-equipped learners, bringing skills and attributes gained from work, family and other life experiences. Students come from a whole array of backgrounds, study every kind of course, undertake full-time and part-time learning and are motivated by career intentions as well as personal interest. There is no such thing as a typical mature student at Manchester.
The application process is the same as for other prospective undergraduates. If you require further clarification about the acceptability of the qualifications you hold please contact the academic School(s) you plan to apply to. Further information for mature students can be found here ( http://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/mature-students/ )
How your application is considered
Interview requirements
Returning to education
We welcome applications from mature candidates. Where appropriate, mature applicants are called for interview and/or invited to submit written work. Your qualifications to date will be considered, along with the length of time since you were last studying for a qualification - applicants need to have been in education within the last five years. If it is any longer than five years since you were last in education we may require you to take an Access Qualification and invite you along for interview.
If you are on an Access course, you will be considered individually and we will ask to see some of your recent written work.
If you have other qualifications (eg Vocational A levels, Open University) you will be considered on an individual basis and you are recommended to contact our Admissions Administrator.
Overseas (non-UK) applicants
Deferrals
All Deferred applications are assessed on the same basis as applications for the current year of entry.
We do ask applicants to let us know as early as possible if they are intending to defer. This helps us to adjust the number of offers we make, in order to achieve the required number of students in a given year.
Policy for applicants who resit their qualifications
Re-applications
Course details
Course description
"The opportunity to study abroad was really invaluable. For my job, I sometimes have to throw myself into situations that are unfamiliar to get the best out of a story, often in countries and places I've never been."
"This can be quite daunting, so without the experience of living and studying abroad in America, I think I would have found the nature of this job much more intimidating!"
Mariana Des Forges / Senior Producer of Dan Snow’s History Hit Podcast /@MLdesforges
Our four-year American Studies degree is very attractive to those wanting to combine a deep understanding of the US with a full year of immersive study in North America. The course enables students to think in interdisciplinary ways about America both at home and around the world, including its extensive ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ power influences. The course encourages you to integrate a variety of methods and approaches, allowing you to develop your critical and contextual thinking. As you progress, you have the choice to concentrate more on the history side of the course – with one of the largest groups of American historians in the UK, offering classes from the beginning of European colonization to the contemporary period – or concentrate more on American literary and cultural studies.
At Manchester, we train our students to be attentive to the counter currents of US history, society and literature, and our course places a particular emphasis on the themes of race, capitalism, sexuality, the cultures of labour, political protest, environmental crises and questions of governance. You will learn how to analyse a wide range of texts and materials, including historical documents, literary works, social media communication, films, manuscripts, political rhetoric, marketing campaigns and popular music. Having developed these interpretive skills, you learn in deep ways about theories of change (and continuity) in a nation that continues to play a very powerful role in international politics, culture, and economics.
From the second year onwards, you will have increasing choice from a range of research-led courses, gaining fluency in conceptual, empirical and contextual understandings of America. By the final year, you choose from a striking suite of imaginative, cutting-edge, interdisciplinary courses, while also completing a substantial piece of independent research.
Special features
You will study at a university in the US or Canada in Year 3.
A list of exchange partners, and further information on the scheme is available on the American Studies Study Abroad page, as well as via the University's Study Abroad scheme.
Teaching and learning
In Year 1 and 2, you will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, and small-group tutorials.
Lectures are used to sketch an outline of the major themes and questions, and often to examine the wider significance certain topics have had in society or among scholars.
Seminars usually involve groups of around 12 students, enabling you to discuss a particular text in detail, or to debate a specific subject or question.
To benefit from lectures and seminars you will spend a good amount of time preparing through reading, taking notes, and drafting and writing essays.
On some units, students are also taught in regular tutorials, which are small tutor-led sessions, and are used to discuss a draft of an essay, or provide feedback on work already submitted.
Several final-year course units are also taught through a weekly workshop model, in which students work collaboratively with each other on a research project, assignment, or presentation.
Your degree is completed by your final-year dissertation, which is undertaken under the supervision of a specialist, and will allow you to carry out independent research and produce an extended piece of writing.
Coursework and assessment
Our assessment methods for this course are designed to improve your ability to work and think independently, to express your ideas with clarity, and to allow you to produce imaginative and incisive interpretations of the subject.
We are keen for our students to learn to write for different audiences. To do this you will produce varied written work, including essays, journals, gobbet responses and your final-year dissertation.
Most units are assessed through a combination of an essays and final examinations. American Studies modules also allow you to undertake more creative forms of assessment, such as producing visual essays, films, historical map-making and short radio-style oral essays. All modules encourage you to work collaboratively with other students.
Course content for year 1
Course units for year 1
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMER10002 | 20 | Mandatory | |
| AMER10021 | 20 | Mandatory | |
| AMER10211 | 20 | Mandatory | |
| AMER10312 | 20 | Mandatory | |
| AMER10501 | 20 | Mandatory |
Course content for year 2
In Year 2, you will be able to choose units in the fields of American literature, film studies and history. This year expands further into interdisciplinary ways of working.
Course units for year 2
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMER20331 | 20 | Mandatory | |
| AMER20072 | 20 | Optional | |
| AMER20481 | 20 | Optional | |
| AMER21001 | 20 | Optional | |
| AMER22662 | 20 | Optional |
Course content for year 3
You will study at a university in the US or Canada in Year 3.
Course content for year 4
Course units for year 4
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMER30002 | 20 | Mandatory | |
| AMER30162 | 20 | Optional | |
| AMER30382 | 20 | Optional | |
| AMER30571 | 20 | Optional | |
| AMER30811 | 20 | Optional | |
| AMER33131 | 20 | Optional |
What our students say
The highlight of my course so far has been my year abroad at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
This truly was one of the best experiences of my life and I am so grateful American Studies provided me with the opportunity to study, work and travel in America.
Ava Griffiths / Fourth-year Student, American Studies
Facilities
The University of Manchester has one of the strongest collections of archival, printed, and digitised materials relating to the Americas anywhere in the UK. Some of these materials, such as those relating to the transatlantic abolitionist movement, civil rights and race relations and 19th century American popular culture are housed at the University's John Rylands Library, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Centre, and the University Special Collections Library.
The University Library, which has benefited from Manchester's long history of scholarship in this field, has one of the largest collections of electronic databases relating to the US, providing access to important newspapers, literary works and movements, entertainment and popular culture journals, as well as unique materials relating to US politics, civil rights and black power groups, and the cultural industries.
Further details on these resources can be found on the subject's Facilities page.
Disability support
Careers
Career opportunities
A degree in American Studies from the University of Manchester provides you with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to embark on a successful, and rewarding career in the global workplace of the twenty-first century.
Over the past decade and far beyond our graduates have entered any number of fields, including the professions of teaching, law, accountancy, journalism, publishing, and even surveying. Many now occupy commanding roles in the 'creative industries', both in the UK and elsewhere.
On the Careers and employability page you can read more about how we are preparing students for the workplaces of tomorrow, and the role that a degree in American Studies has played in recent years in shaping the professional lives of many of our graduates.
Regulated by the Office for Students
The University of Manchester is regulated by the Office for Students (OfS). The OfS aims to help students succeed in Higher Education by ensuring they receive excellent information and guidance, get high quality education that prepares them for the future and by protecting their interests. More information can be found at the OfS website.
You can find regulations and policies relating to student life at The University of Manchester, including our Degree Regulations and Complaints Procedure, on our regulations website.