Philosophy

• Why Study Philosophy at Christ's?

  

• Course content
• Teaching
• What do our students think?
• How to apply
  • Subjects: what do you need?
  • Written work
  • Interviews
  • Written Assessment
  • 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.

Teaching

You attend lectures plus some classes at the Faculty of Philosophy 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.

Written work

After we receive your application, we ask you to upload two essays that you feel accurately reflect your abilities and interests. This should be work written during the normal course of your studies and already marked by a teacher. We recommend you keep copies for your own reference, as we may discuss your work at interview.

We publish full guidelines on written work in the Current Applicants section on 20 September each year.

Interviews

If we invite you for interviews, these usually take place in early December. For the last three years interviews have been online and students have been interviewed either at home (in most cases) or at school (if easier). Those invited for interviews are normally interviewed for 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.

Written Assessment (College registered)

Assessment details are confirmed by July each year, but note that applicants for Philosophy who are selected for interview are normally asked to take the Philosophy Admissions Assessment at the end of November. We arrange your assessment automatically so you don’t need to register. You complete the assessment remotely and upload your work - you will not need to travel for it. Details of how the assessment will work are given to students selected for interview by email.

Information about the format and content of the Philosophy Admissions Assessment is available in the  Undergraduate Philosophy course information. See the entry requirements tab. There are sometimes changes to assessments from year to year - any changes are confirmed by the July before you apply.

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 IB with 7,7,6 in relevant Higher Level subjects

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

• Option Internationale du Baccalauréat: at least 17/20 overall, with 17 or 18 in relevant subjects
• European Baccalaureate: at least 85% overall, with 9/10 in relevant subjects

Read about offer levels in other exam systems and international entrance requirements.

If you will have finished school when you apply, please read about post-qualification applications.
 

Helpful resources

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
• Christ's College: A look at the Grounds and Facilities
• 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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