POLIS
• POLIS stands for Politics and International Studies
• The background image is the frontispiece (front
page) to an important political philosophy book –
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes. Cambridge has
some of the best teachers in world in the field of
Politics and International Studies and students
often learn by studying vital texts like this one
and discussing them with their teachers – more
about that soon!
POLIS presentation overview
• What is it like studying POLIS?
• Why choose Cambridge?
• Careers and postgraduate study
• The admissions process
• Questions
What is it like studying POLIS at
Cambridge?
Below is a photography of the Alison Richards Building which is where
the POLIS Faculty is based. It is part of the wider Faculty of Human,
Social, and Political Science (HSPS). To the right is Gonville and Caius
college library – every college has its own and they’re a great place to
get your work done.
Lectures are arranged by the university and held at the faculty while
supervisions (teaching in small groups) are organised by your college.
Your college is like you base within the wider University.
In your first year you can
spend up to 50% of your time
in POLIS (the rest in the wider
HSPS department) and then in
your second and third years
you can focus on POLIS
exclusively or choose options
outside of POLIS to study
alongside it.
How do you study?
• Students studying POLIS learn though lectures,
supervisions, writing essays and private reading. There are
reading lists distributed by the faculty to guide this
independent study.
• Normally, in POLIS, you will have somewhere between 8
and 12 hours of lectures a week and the rest of your
academic time will be spent reading and preparing essays
for supervisions, which you usually have around once a
week.
• At the end of the year, you have exams for each of your
papers – you normally take 3 or 4 papers – but your first
year grades don’t count towards your overall mark.
What kinds of things do you study?
POLIS is one of the most diverse courses around
and you can choose to focus on what interests
you most. There will be papers on political
philosophy, modern politics in different areas of
the world, ethics, international relations and
much more. There’s also the option of taking
some papers outside POLIS in related fields like
psychology and sociology.
Societies and clubs
• Cambridge has a huge number of societies
and clubs. There’s a mixture of just for fun,
competitive and academic societies.
• There are a lot of societies particularly
relevant to POLIS. Lots of colleges have their
own politics societies and there’s also the
university-wide Union Society which is a
debate, speaking and social club bringing in
experts and famous faces from a huge
number of fields.
Why study at Cambridge?
• The teaching – we get to learn
from incredible academics who
often they literally wrote the
book on what you study.
• The flexibility of the course is
unique at Cambridge.
• The department often organises extra talks
from visiting academics and leading
professionals in areas relevant to POLIS.
• All this is alongside the social side of
Cambridge and the city itself.
The social side of Uni
Cambridge might not have as big a
nightlife as London or other big cities
but it has more than you might think!
There are plenty of pubs, clubs, gigs,
college bops (themed parties
organised by the college students’
union) and more. There’s also lots of
cool things to do during the day,
including, of course, the famous
Cambridge pass-time of punting. Then
there’s the epic May week – a week of
parties and balls held every year in
June (somewhat confusingly!).
Careers and postgraduate study
POLIS students often go on to postgraduate study or
successful careers in a variety of fields including, for
example:
• Politics and governance, both locally, nationally
and internationally
• Law
• Management
• Marketing and advertising
• Finance
• Research
• Journalism
The POLIS department, your college and the
University’s careers service are great at helping you
discuss your options and support you in going on to
the next stage of your career or education.
Admissions
For courses in HSPS (including POLIS), you need to
complete:
• Your online UCAS application (providing your grades
and personal statement)
• The Cambridge Supplementary Questionnaire (which
asks for a breakdown of your grades and if there’s
anything not on your UCAS that you want to let them
know about)
• Interview (held by the college you apply to)
• Some colleges require a school/college essay as a
sample of your work and some ask you to do a form of
thinking skills test (like a psychometric test) while
you’re there for interview.
• Grades – A*AA – No particular subjects necessary.
Questions
How to find out more
• Ask questions today
• The Cambridge undergraduate prospectus – available online for free
or at your school
• www.applytocambridge.com – the student alternative prospectus
• http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/ - for all the admissions
information
• http://www.polis.cam.ac.uk/ - the POLIS faculty
•
Speak to the Admissions Office:
Email: admissions@cam.ac.uk
Tel: 01223 333 308
• E-mail the CUSU Access Officer: access@cusu.cam.ac.uk