HSPS at Cambridge: What are the chances of making it?

LONG POST WARNING!!!

Dear all who are doing / have done this course:
I am a sixth form student in Year 12, who wants to apply for Human, Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge. However, I have serious lingering doubts as to whether I could feasibly be eligible, although I am very aware that applying to Cambridge is a gamble for every single applicant, no matter their background, no matter their studies. It's worth admitting my main focus is the Politics so I would focus on that if I took the course.
A huge problem is that I'm not studying English Language/Literature or History, which 84% of successful applicants took. Typical applicants may have alternatively taken a language such as French (which I'm doing at A level). However all remaining applicants took Maths (which I'm doing at A level) or a "good choice subject". These subjects include Politics (doing at AS level) and a science such as Physics (A level). That being said this is data from 2017-19 so it may have changed since then.
To further help, I'm doing an EPQ which I know does not lower grade requirements but can help when choosing who gets an offer. As an AS and EPQ are both equivalent to half an A level I am doing the equivalent of 4 A levels. Might be worth mentioning my Politics AS tutor is also my EPQ supervisor and he's the head of the History Department, might that be any use in respect to History?
My sixth form does not offer Psychology, Philosophy (closest is Religious Studies) or Sociology at all, nor Politics as a full A level only AS, but maybe that could help as I might be expected to do one of those had I gone to a sixth form which could. Notably I'm the only student in the whole year doing the Politics AS so it's not something I can discuss or ask for help with any other students.
As it stands (very beginning of June) I'm told it is quite possible to raise UCAS grades between now and the deadline near the end of this calendar year. I'm currently looking at A* in French, A in Physics, B in Maths, so if I raise an A to A* and a B to A I should be able to secure A*A*A, as 71% of successful applicants achieved. For Politics and EPQ no predicted grades given yet. I'm told most of my work on EPQ and AS will be in summer holidays so I guess I can get predictions afterwards. As you may notice Maths is my worst, which is why I'm not interested in PPE at Oxford.
So to summarise 3 A levels, plus 1 AS, plus 1 EPQ, totalling the equivalent of 4.
Of course most applicants aren't successful for every single course at Cambridge, but HSPS is very competitive and I'm afraid it might not be worth trying, due to 5 applications max, if I'm not up to the job. On the other hand my sixth form does have great success rates, with Oxbridge offers in 2021 being over a quarter of students in that particular year (if my calculations are correct). If you are doing HSPS at Cambridge please give feedback and advice on my situation!
Thanks for taking the time to read this very long post.

HSPS is not easy to get admission to Cambridge University but perhaps you should consider PPE at Oxford? Because you could choose to do Politics only after the first year exams at Oxford University.

The Maths in Oxford's PPE degree is not much more difficult than A-Level Maths. Also you might enjoy Politics more at Oxford.

Here are the latest Statistics for HSPS: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics

Please forgive me for making what might be a baseless assumption, but is it correct to guess you are studying / have studied at Oxford? If so, is there perhaps a chance that the slightest bias might be present in your answer? In all seriousness, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought PPE at Oxford actually has a lower acceptance rate than HSPS at Cambridge (at about 1/9 as opposed to over 1/7). And I'm told PPE has a strong emphasis on maths / economics which isn't my real focus. In particular the philosophy aspect isn't as appealing. Yes, I could focus on politics after one year, but I am informed it's actually not as easy to get into PPE than HSPS. What's more HSPS fits more with my general university plan.

Please forgive me for making what might be a baseless assumption, but is it correct to guess you are studying / have studied at Oxford? If so, is there perhaps a chance that the slightest bias might be present in your answer? I

The person giving you "advice" hasn't even taken their A levels yet However you will note that they are very active in this forum (and other university forums) "helping" uni applicants, undergraduates and even postgraduates on a variety of topics. You can draw whatever conclusions you wish from that

I have taken them more than a decade ago, but now I am free from difficulties and will achieve high grades in all subjects.

According to this thread https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7352114#post98426447 you're in Year 12 and not taken A levels yet!

So have you taken them or not? You seem to be dishing out advice on every university subject / course under the sun, despite not having studied any of them beyond A level!

I have taken A-Levels in my teens but now in my twenties I am regarded as a mature student. Also, I have read almost every A-Level textbook at Waterstones in Gower Street and Jermyn Street in Piccadilly Circus. lol Because I could not believe the range of subjects offered at those two locations here in LONDON!!!

But now I am focused on my strengths in Maths and Languages.

I have helped a lot of my cousins, brothers, nieces and nephews, neighbours and friends with their exams, which includes almost every subject at GCSE and A-Level and whilst gathering the past papers, I have looked at the mark schemes and even read some of the examiners reports, as they asked for my help.

So given your undoubted wide-ranging expertise in all these subjects, why are you now taking A levels again?

Do you even read? I already said I had problems beyond my control. So now I can take them again and succeed.

Actually, after the first year, you can choose one of 3 "single tracks" or one of 5 "joint tracks". One of the 3 single tracks is Politics and International Relations, which is what I would definitely choose after Year 1.
However I simply don't know what college to choose. The websites for each college tell me absolutely nothing as they all say they are great, fancy and full of intelligent people. Really I need to find out which one would be best for HSPS, as it is offered at every single college. Would you have any suggestions?

Ok, so you're basically trolling in this forum (and others in the Universities section), dishing out "advice" to uni applicants, undergraduates, postgraduates and others on courses you've never studied, institutions you've never attended, and subjects you are yet to complete at A level? That's all I wanted to establish

Davros, if this is true could you (if possible) please give any advice on colleges to apply to for HSPS at Cambridge? I need to decide and not forget about it, and the colleges' information about themselves isn't useful at all as they all say they're great! Thanks for your help

Davros, if this is true could you (if possible) please give any advice on colleges to apply to for HSPS at Cambridge? I need to decide and not forget about it, and the colleges' information about themselves isn't useful at all as they all say they're great! Thanks for your help

LONG POST WARNING!!!

Dear all who are doing / have done this course:
I am a sixth form student in Year 12, who wants to apply for Human, Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge. However, I have serious lingering doubts as to whether I could feasibly be eligible, although I am very aware that applying to Cambridge is a gamble for every single applicant, no matter their background, no matter their studies. It's worth admitting my main focus is the Politics so I would focus on that if I took the course.
A huge problem is that I'm not studying English Language/Literature or History, which 84% of successful applicants took. Typical applicants may have alternatively taken a language such as French (which I'm doing at A level). However all remaining applicants took Maths (which I'm doing at A level) or a "good choice subject". These subjects include Politics (doing at AS level) and a science such as Physics (A level). That being said this is data from 2017-19 so it may have changed since then.
To further help, I'm doing an EPQ which I know does not lower grade requirements but can help when choosing who gets an offer. As an AS and EPQ are both equivalent to half an A level I am doing the equivalent of 4 A levels. Might be worth mentioning my Politics AS tutor is also my EPQ supervisor and he's the head of the History Department, might that be any use in respect to History?
My sixth form does not offer Psychology, Philosophy (closest is Religious Studies) or Sociology at all, nor Politics as a full A level only AS, but maybe that could help as I might be expected to do one of those had I gone to a sixth form which could. Notably I'm the only student in the whole year doing the Politics AS so it's not something I can discuss or ask for help with any other students.
As it stands (very beginning of June) I'm told it is quite possible to raise UCAS grades between now and the deadline near the end of this calendar year. I'm currently looking at A* in French, A in Physics, B in Maths, so if I raise an A to A* and a B to A I should be able to secure A*A*A, as 71% of successful applicants achieved. For Politics and EPQ no predicted grades given yet. I'm told most of my work on EPQ and AS will be in summer holidays so I guess I can get predictions afterwards. As you may notice Maths is my worst, which is why I'm not interested in PPE at Oxford.
So to summarise 3 A levels, plus 1 AS, plus 1 EPQ, totalling the equivalent of 4.
Of course most applicants aren't successful for every single course at Cambridge, but HSPS is very competitive and I'm afraid it might not be worth trying, due to 5 applications max, if I'm not up to the job. On the other hand my sixth form does have great success rates, with Oxbridge offers in 2021 being over a quarter of students in that particular year (if my calculations are correct). If you are doing HSPS at Cambridge please give feedback and advice on my situation!
Thanks for taking the time to read this very long post.

No knowledge of HSPS but can help with one thing.

Go with what the website says about subjects.
When I applied to Cambridge, there was a form I filled out which asked if there was any subject I wanted to take but couldn’t (eg because my school didn’t offer it). You could talk about Politics here. It seems that you have a lot of drive, especially being the only one in your class.

I’m confused about this EPQ supervisor thing. Is your EPQ on a historical subject? The content and the skills learnt are the important bits.

I don’t think you should worry about your school’s success rates. A quarter is still decent and of course will fluctuate depending on the students themselves.