Niki Lomax
BA (Hons) Politics & History
Analyst, New Zealand Treasury
Initially, my plan was to do an education degree but I decided to take some politics and history papers in first year to make up the points. I enjoyed them so much that by the second semester, I had changed my plan entirely and ended up doing a combined Honours degree in politics and history. I did international politics, lots of New Zealand politics and political communication, Scottish history, Australian history, New Zealand history - the range was great and I enjoyed every paper.
The staff in both the Politics and History departments were fantastic and there were lots of opportunities to get involved in extra things. I was fortunate to get an opportunity to intern at the Otago Settlers Museum through an arrangement with the History Department and in my final year, I helped one of my politics lecturers organise a series of interviews with New Zealand politicians.
I also did an exchange to the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Both the politics and history departments were very supportive and encouraging and it was easy to cross credit everything once I was home.
I loved studying arts and it was an excellent foundation for the 'real world'. It helps you develop effective communication and analytical skills which are immensely useful in any workplace. The third year research methodology papers were definitely the most useful courses I took. I've used and built on those skills a lot since university, both in my first job at a small research institute, and now at the Treasury. Turns out you don't have to have an economics or accounting degree to work in public finance - broader analytical skills are far more valuable than any subject specific knowledge.