Philosophy

• Why Study Philosophy at Christ's?
• Course content
• Teaching
• What do our students think?
• How to apply
  • Subjects: what do you need?
  • Interviews
  • Offers
• Helpful resources
• Open Days and Online Events
• Want to know more?

Why study Philosophy at Christ's?

Philosophy is a rewarding subject to study and Christ’s is an academically strong place to study it. That strength comes from our staff, who encourage your real interest in the subject rather than pressuring you to perform. You set your own priorities, we provide a friendly and stimulating intellectual environment in which to pursue them.

The way we teach Philosophy here at Christ’s and Cambridge has earned this degree a valuable reputation among employers. By learning to apply rigour to unclear or messy topics, you develop a desirable set of intellectual skills which successfully transfer to careers in areas such as law (via a conversion course), civil service, business, journalism and politics.

Course content

The Philosophy course (or ‘tripos’) is a three-year degree. Please visit the University website for full details of the Philosophy course content and structure, including the course film. You will also find information on the Faculty of Philosophy degree page . If you have further questions about course content, please contact phil-admin@lists.cam.ac.uk

Teaching

You attend lectures plus some classes at the Faculty of Philosophy (a 17 minute walk / 5 minute cycle from Christ's) and have weekly ‘supervisions’ here in College. These small-group (or one-to-one) tutorial sessions are arranged by your Director of Studies and give you the advantage of personally-tailored guidance and tuition from an experienced supervisor.

Christ’s Director of Studies for Philosophy is Professor Gábor Betegh who is a specialist in ancient philosophy.

What do our students think?

Read about the experiences of Nina and Imogen, who both wrote about their first year studying Philosophy at Christ's in their Student Profiles.

If you’d like to hear from other Christ's students, please watch the Christ's student Q&A film, and visit our Student Profiles page.

How to apply

Visit How to Apply for full details and a timeline of the application process. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and school types, all over the world. If you're applying from outside the UK, please read our international students section.

Subjects: what do you need?

We don’t expect you to take any subjects in particular. However, when choosing your post-16 subjects, it can be helpful to take one or more essay-based subjects, and a mixture of arts and Maths/Science subjects. Mathematics provides useful preparation for Philosophy. Other suggestions include

• Religious Studies
• Philosophy
• English (language or literature)
• History
• Languages (ancient or modern) 

We encourage students to attend one of our regular Subject Matters webinars for help with choosing Post-16 subjects for competitive university applications. This webinar is pitched for students aged 14-16 though it is also possible to attend when you have started sixth form. 

Interviews

If we select you for interviews, these usually take place in early December. At Christ's we do all of our interviews online. You can have your interviews either at home (most applicants do this) or at school (if easier). The interviews last 35-50 minutes in total. At Christ’s, we usually split the time into two interviews with academics in Philosophy.

Further, more general information about interviews (including two useful films) is available in the Cambridge interviews section, and it's worth also having a look at supervisions (short film here), as interviews are similar to what you do every week as a Cambridge student.

Offers

At Christ's we don’t have fixed quotas for places, so the number of students we admit in any year depends on the strengths of the applicants, regardless of their background. In Philosophy we aim to admit at least two students annually. In recent years our acceptance ratio has been between 2:1 and 3:1.

We define the terms of each offer individually, but the typical conditional offer for Philosophy is:

• A*AA at A-level
• 42 points overall in the International Baccalaureate with 7,7,6 in Higher Level subjects
• A1, A2, A2 in three relevant Scottish Advanced Highers

You need to be academically ambitious: the majority of Christ's students arrive with higher grades than are required.

If you’re taking another qualification, we expect you to be working at or close to the top of the mark range i.e.

• Baccalauréat français international (BFI): 17 (mention très bien) out of 20 overall, with a minimum of 17 in individual subjects
• European Baccalaureate: at least 85% overall, with 9/10 in relevant subjects

You can look up other qualifications in the offer levels for other exam systems and international entry requirements, and if you are applying from outside the UK please read the Christ's international students section for further information and check the country pages.

If you will have finished school when you apply, please also read about post-qualification applications, taking a gap year, and, if relevant, mature students or applying from a university.

Helpful resources

Would you like to receive these resources in an email? Please complete this brief form.

Open days and online events

Our open days and events page advertises regular online opportunities as well as events you can attend in Cambridge. If you can, sign up for a College Open Day (our October, February and September events normally include a meeting with a subject specialist). Between February and August we run regular webinars:

• Subject Matters: The importance of post-16 subject choices (this one is also run Sept - Nov)
• Cambridge for Beginners
• Personal Statements and preparing for an application

Further subject-specific opportunities you might wish to consider include Subject Masterclasses organised by Cambridge Admissions Office, and subject-specific talks in the July Cambridge Open Days. If you are a UK student from a background where there is little tradition of entry to Higher Education, you can apply to attend a Sutton Trust Summer School in Philosophy or to shadow a current undergraduate studying Philosophy via the Cambridge SU Shadowing Scheme (do be aware that there's a high proportion of applicants to places for both of these last two opportunities so please don't be discouraged if you don't get a place).

Want to know more?

For more detail of what the course involves, take a look at Undergraduate Philosophy admissions on the University website, and read the Faculty of Philosophy information for prospective students too.

If you have any other queries, please send them to admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk and we’ll help however we can.
 

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