So you've decided to apply to study history at university. This guide is intended to help you through the process so that your application is as good as it can be. It is not intended to replace the help and advice you can get from the people who know you best as a historian – your teachers.

This guide is written by Tony McConnell, Deputy Head of Merchant Taylors' Prep and a former Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator and Leading Teacher of the Most Able and Head of Year in the Sixth Form at Mill Hill County High School. He regularly helped more than 200 students apply to university, with a heavy emphasis on the Russell Group and similar universities at home and abroad. A large part of this involved preparing students for competitive application processes and interviews, and training other staff in how to do this.