University Website: www.hsps.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/

Director of Studies: Dr Duncan Bell

Other Fellows: Dr Geoffrey Ingham

Number of students admitted each year: 2 - 3

Introduction

Students who study the Politics, Sociology and/or International Relations subjects within the HSPS Tripos engage with some of the most important and complex problems facing humanity. Questions of war and peace, global poverty, crime, the family, the origins of human societies, empire and imperialism, sexuality, the media, and democracy, to name only a few, all fall within the scope of the degree. Moreover, the Tripos offers the opportunity to study such issues from the perspective of different academic disciplines.

Graduates of the HSPS Tripos will go on to a very wide range of careers, and our former students now work in the media, academia, charities, business, government, and international organizations, among other things.

Details of the course can be found on the Faculty website:

http://www.hsps.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate//

HSPS 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 HSPS at Cambridge regardless of their College.

Colleges are responsible for the selection and admission of undergraduates, the provision of social facilities and accommodation, and ongoing personal and academic support. Every College has at least one Director of Studies in HSPS, part of whose job is to advise students in their choice of options and to arrange supervisions for them. Supervisions are tutorial teaching sessions in small groups, and are one of the major advantages of a Cambridge education, providing individually tailored help and tuition. They offer a more directed and relevant approach to a students own work than is possible at most other universities, where similar material can only be covered in classes involving much larger numbers of students. Each College makes its own arrangements for supervisions.

College Facilities

Christ’s is distinctive amongst the Cambridge Colleges. It offers strong tutorial support to its students as they pursue their academic work, and is able to offer accommodation for three years to all of its undergraduates. The College also provides a modern library, a theatre, sporting facilities, playing fields, social activities and clubs and societies open to all. More information can be found here. 

How to Apply

In addition to nominating Cambridge as one of your selected universities on the UCAS application form, it is also desirable to choose a College of preference (the alternative is to submit an Open Application and allow a College preference to be chosen for you by computer). This can appear to add to the complexity of applying to Cambridge, but in reality the option of stating your particular College preference increases the control you have over your own application. Many criteria can be used for choosing a College of preference, including such factors as location, architecture and accommodation, and academic, musical or sporting reputation. If you are able to visit Cambridge (preferably on a College Open Day) you may get a better idea of the location, atmosphere and facilities of various Colleges. 

Christ’s College does not have fixed quotas of places for different subjects and the exact numbers admitted in any one year will depend upon the strengths of the fields of applicants in various subjects.

We are keen to encourage students from all kinds of academic background to apply. Applicants are usually interviewed in December, ahead of which you will be asked to send some pieces of your current work as a basis for discussion. Normally applicants will have two short interviews with academics (including the College Director of Studies) who work in HSPS. You may be asked to read a short passage immediately before one of your interviews and the subsequent interview will focus on discussing this text.  

We are looking for applicants who enjoy reading, writing and thinking about important social and political issues; who are willing and able to undertake independent study; who would enjoy working alone and with their peers; who relish the opportunity to engage in discussion and debate. 

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 the equivalents) are basic requirements.

A final point worth making is that we only make offers to candidates that we believe they have a realistic chance of achieving. Our aim is to admit the best students regardless of their background. 

Application information and further details can be found here.

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.