Admissions - Subjects

SOCIAL & POLITICAL SCIENCES

ESSENTIAL SUBJECTS None   DESIRABLE SUBJECTS None

These notes describe the admissions procedure and the teaching of Social and Political Sciences at Queens', and should be read in conjunction with the relevant sections of the Cambridge University Undergraduate Prospectus. The Social and Political Sciences (SPS) Tripos provides the opportunity to study a wide variety of issues concerning modern societies from a number of different perspectives.  The issues range from the problems faced by people as they go about their daily lives to those faced by governments as they conduct the affairs of society as a whole. Amongst other things, recent Tripos papers have required students to examine changing patterns of family life in Britain, the effect of unemployment on the individual, the basis of racial prejudice, the role of Trade Unions and Management in modern industry, the activities of religious pressure groups in politics in the USA, the impact of globalisation on contemporary societies, and the social and economic impact of information technology on industrialised societies. The perspectives which students are offered are drawn from Politics, Sociology and Psychology. While most students specialise in one of these disciplines in their second and third years, they are encouraged to recognise that human societies are not structured in line with academic disciplines, and that an inter-disciplinary approach is essential for an adequate understanding of human social life.  Consequently, students who have read SPS in Cambridge develop a more sophisticated understanding of these issues than can be gained from a narrow degree which offers only one of these disciplines. The Staff and the Style of Education The SPS Tripos has close links to a number of neighbouring disciplines such as Anthropology, Economics, History and Philosophy. Apart from the University's reputation in these subjects, the Department includes many scholars of international renown, and has established a distinguished record of research and teaching. It is these staff members who provide the University lectures in SPS, while the Colleges provide personal supervision on an individual or small group basis.  Quite often this supervision will be with the lecturing staff, particularly if the Lecturer is in the same College as the student. The vast majority of students studying SPS find the lecture courses intrinsically interesting and intellectually challenging. The combination of lecture courses with personal supervision provides the best and most integrated system of university teaching available in the country.  Queens' Director of Studies in SPS is Dr Jacqueline Scott. Admissions Each College will vary in the way that it selects candidates.  Queens' has a policy of interviewing all candidates where possible.  Conditional offers would usually require three grade A's or equivalent.  To read for the SPS Tripos, it is not necessary to have taken Social Science or related subjects at A-level.  Undergraduates currently reading SPS have a wide variety of backgrounds ranging from Mathematics and Science to Modern Languages and English Literature.  Most combinations of school subjects are acceptable.  The major qualifications required are the ability to think analytically, and to know how to evaluate different kinds of evidence.  Careers A degree in Social and Political Sciences offers a rich and rewarding variety of career opportunities.  Such a degree on the whole provides a greater range of openings than qualifications in the arts or humanities, while not narrowing down the range of vocational choice, as degrees in the natural sciences may tend to do. Some SPS graduates proceed to academic careers in the subjects covered. Others work in industrial management, the Civil Service, market research, advertising, journalism, the media, social work or personnel administration. The Tripos also provides qualifications for a variety of challenging posts emerging for social scientists on the staff of central and local authorities and development corporations, both at home and abroad.   Numerous international organisations and research institutes also now seek qualified social science graduates.  Employers have ever-increasing EEC and international commitments; they are looking for graduates who have detailed knowledge of major contemporary issues, with reference to more than one country.  Such experience is provided by the Cambridge Tripos course. For further information on the courses available view the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences website on www.sps.cam.ac.uk   January 2004