History

University Websites: http://www.hist.cam.ac.uk

http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/history/index.html

Director of Studies: Dr Stephen Thompson

Other Fellows in History:
Professor David Reynolds
Professor Jim Secord
Dr Susan Bayly
Dr Duncan Bell
Dr Jonathan Fitzgibbons
Dr Joel Isaac
Dr Hannah Willey

Number of students admitted each year: 8-10

A Day in the Life of a Christ's First Year Historian (opens in new window)

A Day in the Life of a Christ's Second Year Historian (opens in new window)

Introduction

Christ’s College enjoys an established and distinguished reputation for History: Quentin Skinner, Simon Schama, Niall Ferguson, Sir David Cannadine, Linda Colley, Geoffrey Parker, Sir John Plumb and Roy Porter have all, at one stage, been either students or fellows of the college.

Current Christ’s College History fellows have, collectively, a broad range of historical interests and include: Prof. David Reynolds (Twentieth-century Britain and America); Prof. Jim Secord (social history of science since 1750); Dr Susan Bayly (Extra-European and World History; Colonialism and Empire; India and Southeast Asia); Dr Duncan Bell (Nineteenth-century Political Thought and Imperial History); Dr Jonathan Fitzgibbons (Early modern British political and intellectual history); Dr Joel Isaac (American History, Intellectual History and the History of Political Thought); Dr Stephen Thompson (British Political, Economic and Social History, 1700-1900); and Dr Hannah Willey (Religion and society in archaic and classical Greece).

Christ’s is one of Cambridge’s leading ‘History’ colleges, owing to the size and strength of its community of historians. There are around thirty undergraduates studying History in the college at any one time. There are also a substantial number of History postgraduates pursuing either Master’s or doctoral degrees. The college boasts a particularly active student-run History Society - the Seeley Society - which provides an opportunity for all members of the Christ’s historical community to socialise at talks, debates and the annual History dinner.

The University Course

The Faculty of History at Cambridge has, for over a century, been one of the most outstanding departments of history in the world.  It is also one of the largest: in addition to 600 or so undergraduates, the Faculty is home to over 150 academics, 100 Master’s students and 350 doctoral candidates.  As well as securing a 98% student satisfaction rating in the most recent National Student Survey, the Faculty is highly ranked for both the employability of its graduates and the quality of its research.  In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise 65 per cent of the Faculty’s submissions were judged ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.  Undergraduates benefit enormously from studying in this vibrant and dynamic environment: from your very first week in Cambridge you will be taught by some of the world’s leading historians.

The course – or ‘Tripos’ as it is referred to locally – is divided into two parts. It consists of a two-year Part I in which candidates take six papers, of which one is an extended essay (of up to 5,000 words), followed by a one-year Part II in which candidates take five papers. There is also the opportunity to substitute one of these Part II papers for a 15,000 word dissertation on a topic entirely of your choosing, and Christ’s actively encourages its students to take up this intellectually rewarding opportunity to put your historical training into practice. There exists enormous scope for studying a wide range of subjects, from the ancient world to modern Britain, including the histories of Africa, America, Asia and Europe.

History at Christ’s

Every student at Cambridge must be a member of one or other of the 29 Colleges for undergraduates of the University. The course content, lectures and examinations are the responsibility of the University Faculty, and are the same for every student reading History at Cambridge regardless of their College.

Colleges are responsible for the selection and admission of undergraduates, the provision of accommodation, social facilities and ongoing personal and academic support. Every College has at least one Director of Studies in History, part of whose job is to advise students in their choice of options and to arrange supervisions on their behalf.

Supervisions are tutorial teaching sessions in small groups – usually pairs, but sometimes one-on-one – and are one of the major advantages of a Cambridge education, providing individually tailored tuition and support. First-year historians study one outline paper per term (there are 23 to choose from) for which they write eight weekly essays of 2,500 to 3,000 words.  Each week students meet with their supervisor for an hour or so to discuss their written work in detail.  In addition to reading, planning and writing an essay, students attend around six hours of lectures in the Faculty every week and participate in college-based classes on historical argument and practice (HAP). The Faculty of History, besides offering a wide range of lectures, provides some teaching in the form of centralised classes. The extended essay in Part I (‘Themes and Sources’) and the Special and Specified Subjects in Part II are organised in this way and provide you with the opportunity to meet students from other colleges.

Christ’s has generous educational and travel funds, to which students can apply for support for independent study. This has enabled students to pursue research for a wide range of Part II dissertations, recent examples of which include studies of ‘Catholic Existentialism and the Reception of Heidegger in France and Belgium, 1945-1960’; ‘The British years of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun: French art and emigration in London in the age of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars’; ‘Britain and Japanese Surrendered Personnel in Southern Indo China, 1945-6’; and ‘The Carter administration, human rights and the problem of Cambodia, 1977-81’. Students have received financial support for research trips to the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta, the New York Public Library as well as other European and British archives and libraries.

Career Prospects

As well as providing students with a broad and detailed understanding of the past, a History degree from Cambridge also equips graduates with a number of key transferrable skills.  In particular, leading graduate employers value Cambridge historians’ capacity to:

• research, organise and synthesise complex material quickly

• think critically about existing analyses

• communicate clearly, both orally and in writing

• meet challenging deadlines week in, week out

Recent Christ’s graduates have entered a wide range of professions, including law, public policy (civil service), banking, management consultancy, media, higher education, teaching, administration and public relations.

Applying to Christ's

We welcome applications from all kinds of academic background and school type.  Students will generally have studied History as one of their post-16 subjects but there is no ‘ideal’ combination of subjects.  Successful applicants take all sorts of subjects from Mathematics and sciences, to arts and social sciences. All of these teach skills that can be useful to the undergraduate historian. 

Applicants are usually interviewed in December, ahead of which you will be asked to send two essays for discussion.  These do not need to be written specifically for the interview, but can be any piece of relevant school work; we request that one essay is written under timed or exam conditions (c. 45 minutes - 1 hour), while the other should not exceed 2,500 words. Normally applicants will have two subject interviews with different History fellows.  One will include a discussion of your written work and the other will be based around a text (or texts) that you will have had a chance to study beforehand on the day of your interview.

We want to admit students who enjoy reading, writing and thinking about the past in all its forms; who are willing and able to undertake independent study; who would enjoy working alone and with their peers; and who relish the opportunity to engage in discussion and debate.  In recent years, the ratio of applicants to accepted offers in History at Christ’s has been roughly 3 to 1.  

For those selected for a conditional offer, the precise target conditions are assessed individually. The standard offer is A*AA at A-level or the equivalent for other examination systems: this standard may be varied occasionally to meet individual circumstances, in particular for CSAS applicants.  A strong performance at GCSE and predictions of top grades at A level (or equivalent) are basic requirements. Our aim is to admit the best students regardless of their background.

Further Information

If you are able to come to a College Open Day, we will be glad to tell you more about the College and the course in person. If you are not able to come, we will be happy to answer any queries you may have that are not covered by the normal literature. Please address any such enquiries to the Admissions Tutor, Christ’s College, Cambridge, CB2 3BU, or by e-mail to admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk.