Politics, Psychology and Sociology
The courseCambridge accepts about 120 undergraduates a year to read Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS), distributed across various colleges. In the first year of the course (Part I), students study four subjects: politics, sociology, social and developmental psychology, and for the fourth subject students must choose one from the following list:
Preliminary information about each of these papers is available on the Faculty website at: http://www.sps.cam.ac.uk/current/undergraduate/paperdescriptions.html In the second and third years (Part II), students choose to concentrate on one or two of politics, sociology, and social and developmental psychology. Students who wish to continue with social anthropology may transfer to Part II in that subject. In the third year, all students have a wide range of papers from which to choose, and these raise some of the most important questions about the ways that human beings live together. In this year, all students who choose psychology will write an individual dissertation, and students in the other subjects have the option of doing so. Students in PPS have a wide range of interests and can end up studying very different aspects of the human world. Some come because they know that they want to concentrate in a particular subject in Part II. Others come because they want to try a range of subjects before choosing to specialise. Both kinds of interests are catered for in the Tripos. The teaching is structured around lectures and supervisions. Supervisions give students the opportunity to explore questions together and to get detailed feedback from supervisors about their ideas and written work. Further details about PPS at Cambridge are available from the Cambridge University Guide to Course, or on the Faculty website at www.sps.cam.ac.uk
Studying PPS at ClareClare has a strong reputation for PPS. Over the past five years, the college has produced some of the best results of any college in the subject. Several of our students have also won highly competitive scholarships for postgraduate study, in 2004 one of our second-year students won the prize for the best essay in Politics. In 2005 one of our final-year students won the Gladstone prize for the best dissertation in PPS, Economics and History, and in 2007 another was the PPS nomination for the prize. Clare students have tended to specialise in Politics, the specialty of the Director of Studies, but we welcome students with all interests, and our students in all subjects have excelled. In recent years Clare PPS students have written dissertations and long essays on the future of US-China relations, the career expectations of Cambridge students, job insecurity in Poland, Russia's relationship with the International Monetary Fund, human rights and citizenship, the politics of Venezuela, the decision of the Truman administration to drop atomic bombs on Japan, violence and revolutions, the future of sub-saharan Africa, the politics of Afghanistan, the politics of ancient Athenian democracy, and the Vietnam war. The eight weeks of each Full Term revolve very much around supervisions and essay writing. A typical two-weekly workload in the first year for an PPS student would be some 16 hours of lectures and three essays of around 2,000 words. In the second and third years, students write fewer supervision essays, but also prepare longer essays and projects as course work. Students are expected to work hard, but the college also works hard to support them as they do so. We appreciate that our students come to university with diverse expectations and experiences, and with differing educational needs. We try hard to help all students make the best of themselves. We are particularly keen to help students with their writing skills in Part I. Over the past few years, a significant number of candidates who have applied to Clare and been pooled have been chosen by other colleges.
Admissions requirements Offers are based on A-2 level (or equivalent) examination results. A typical offer to read PPS is AAA. Candidates are not expected to have any particular subjects at A-2 level, and no previous study of social science is necessary . Indeed, experience suggests that subjects like English, Maths, Economics, and History can be just as good preparation as Politics, Sociology or Psychology. Unless candidates are applying through the Access scheme, we would normally expect candidates who are admitted to have at least an A in GSCE Maths and English.
Interviews Applicants are usually interviewed in the second or third week of December, and will usually have two interviews. Both of these will be subject-based but one interview will also have a more general component. Candidates also take a test and are invited to submit one piece of school-work. Fellows in Politics, Psychology and Sociology Dr Robert Blackburn, Emeritus Reader in Sociology. His research focuses on social inequality, including stratification by gender and ethnicity, and the sociology of work. |
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