HSPS (Human, Social and Political Sciences) is a course unique to Cambridge, combining the disciplines of Politics and International Relations, Social Anthropology and Sociology. Students may specialise in one of these after the first year, or can continue with a combination. The final award after three years is a Bachelor of Arts (BA).
There are no required A-Level subjects, although obviously the content of Politics or Sociology would be helpful. Colleges generally require an A* in an essay-based subject. In practice, most successful applicants have studied English, History or a language.
Most applicants (around 80% across all subjects) are invited to interview at Cambridge. The interviewing college will ask you to send two pieces of written work in advance. It should have been completed and marked in the course of your normal schooling, and will most likely be an essay. Try to choose subject matter in a similar area to one of the HSPS components. Interviews will most likely be online, but a few colleges still hold them in person. Invitations are sent in November for interview in early to mid-December. one or two of between 35-50 minutes, but potentially 3 or 4. Four colleges (Hughes Hall, King鈥檚, Newnham and Peterhouse) also for HSPS, which will be peculiar to that college itself and may take place while you are on a video call. See the for example information.
Cambridge operate a formal which and makes offers to strong but otherwise unsuccessful candidates 鈥� although some of them will be invited back for a further interview in January before that happens. This is a significant part of the Cambridge admissions process since across all courses around a fifth of offer holders receive their offer this way. If Cambridge make you an offer, it will be conditional upon achieving at least A*AA at A-Level (or equivalent). Colleges have the option to set the tariff higher, though. Most achieved at least A*A*A in reality. Success rates for HSPS in recent years have been 14%, 12% and 13%.
What are the HSPS acceptance rates?
It is a competitive course. Over the last 5 years it has averaged 5 applications per place in each admissions intake.
HSPS Personal Statement
There is a tricky balance to be made in your personal statement, since a good application for HSPS will include sociological and anthropological interest. Emphasise how this is potentially relevant for Politics so that it still makes sense for your other four courses. One way around this is to focus your Personal Statement answers on Politics, and the include more Sociology and Social Anthropology content in the 鈥楳y Cambridge Application鈥� form that is requested by the university within 48 hours of your UCAS application. It contains an optional additional personal statement to highlight what interested you in HSPS specifically.
How should I prepare for my HSPS application?
In all the components of the admissions process for HSPS, Cambridge admissions tutors are looking for evidence of academic ability and potential, reasoning capacity, commitment, enthusiasm, and curiosity about human social and political life.
Magdalene College 鈥渆xtra-curricular activities that show a strong interest in the social sciences can be influential in decisions over admissions.鈥� This means that time will be well spent on the recommended activities below.
HSPS Super Curricular Activities
Reading beyond your subjects at school, including a variety of news and opinion, and thinking critically about what you read, will help inform both the written and interview aspects of your application. Cambridge offers a preparatory with non-fiction and even fiction suggestions in each of the HSPS subject areas, from Margaret Atwood鈥檚 The Handmaid鈥檚 Tale (politics and international relations) to Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett鈥檚 The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone (sociology). Admissions tutors encourage prospective applicants to pick what interests them, and follow that, rather than trying to read everything on the list. Whatever you read, HSPS interviews a relatively high number of applicants and so you should be prepared to talk about what you have read and work through related ideas orally.
Podcasts to encourage curiosity about human behaviour and social patterns
- : BBC Radio 4 programme interviewing sociologists about their research findings.
- : John Green (novelist and Crash Course presenter) reviews various human effects on culture and the world.
- Brief interviews with leading researchers 鈥榦n how our social world is created, and how social science can help us understand people and how they behave鈥�.
- : Sociology for everyone, produced by The Sociological Review.
- : Discussions about the subject and its relevance to today. Made by Deakin University and the American Anthropological Association.
- 45-minute episodes, each covering a key political thinker and their main idea. Now archived but still available for listening.
- . This is a slower, more cerebral approach to topical discussion with enough time to understand the interviewee on their own terms.
- : Independent think tank The Institute for Government leads wonkish conversation on current themes in government.
- Defence think tank The Royal United Services Institute presents expert analysis of world affairs.
- : This public institution gives thoroughly informative talks on a broad range of Politics, Sociology and Anthropology topics and more.
Books to spark analytical interest and global awareness
- by John Monaghan and Peter Just (2000): A good starting point for what is probably your least understood of the three HSPS fields.
- by Jonathan Haidt (2012): Proposes to help you understand the values that motivate different political ideologies. It presents the psychological Moral Foundations Theory, which tries to account for differences in western opinion by mapping them to underlying principles of care, fairness, loyalty, liberty, authority and sanctity.
- by TM Scanlon (2018): Evaluation of six arguments for equality, and three arguments against it. Examines all the main political concepts of equality. A balanced, reasoned treatment of a potentially emotive topic.
- by C. Wright Mills (1959): A classic criticism of sociology that fails to connect the social, personal and human dimensions of our lives. Full of case studies.
- by Michele Dillon: Covering theorists, key concepts and their applicability now.
- by Yuval Noah Harari: Broad-brush story of human civilisational development.
- by Jared Diamond (1997): An influential account of the rise of societies based on geographical and environmental factors. Also its follow-up, .
- by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett (2009): Presenting a link between social equality and political outcomes, arguing that 鈥榤ore equal societies almost always do better鈥�.
- by Clifford Geertz (1973): This is an ambitious read, but on the list because it is a famously definitional classic of anthropology. Dip into it if you can.
- by Adam Rutherford (2016): What our genes tell us about history and human behaviour, and what they don鈥檛.
- by Kate Fox (2004): Close observation of national culture using the tools of anthropology and sociology for the general reader. Quirky and humorous. A great read with high ratings.
Online courses to develop interdisciplinary understanding
Essay competitions
- (British Sociological Association): Choice of 2,000 word essay, 10-minute podcast or video in response to a single question. November deadline.
- (Goldsmiths, University of London): 1,000 word essay for a single question on identity and culture. April deadline.
- (John Locke Institute): Essays of up to 2,000 words from a choice of three questions in the Politics subcategory.
- (Trinity College, Cambridge): 3,000 word essay from a choice of 10 questions. August deadline.
- (London School of Economics): 1,000 word essay for a single question on a topic of government.
Tutors for HSPS
Please do get in touch with 爱液视频 Tutors if you are looking for a tutor to support your HSPS application process. We have a number of Oxbridge admissions tutors with expertise in preparing for HSPS admissions.