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TSR Wiki > University > Choosing a Subject > University Courses > Politics Degree

Introduction

Broadly 'political' degrees can take many forms. Politics departments offer programmes in single honours politics or political science, often along with other related degrees such as international relations, war studies and government. It is also possible at many Universities to combine the study of politics with other social science and humanities courses as a Joint Honours degree (such as sociology, history, economics, philosophy and law). Within a single degree programme, it is often possible to pick and choose individual modules from within these broad fields.

What these various courses share is a preoccupation with how politics, and the distribution of power, operates within society. Have you ever wondered why particular political parties never win an election? Why countries go to war? Why the European Union is so unpopular in Britain? Why citizens agree to have a government limiting their freedom? How to measure ideas such as electoral disengagement, patriarchy or class? If so, politics could just be the degree for you (check out this Guardian page for a longer summary of broadly what degree entails).

The difference between the various programmes can be a bit difficult to sum up briefly, as they tend to differ very markedly between universities (which is why you should always check the various course descriptions before you pick your UCAS five - they're usually available on the departmental websites, although you may have to do a bit of digging). This can really pay off if you have a particular interest - some degrees may offer you much more opportunity to study the Middle East, or voting behaviour, or comparative politics, than others.

If you're at the early stages of investigating a politics degree, I would strongly advise you to download and read this publication - it's written by the Political Studies Association and will give you an overview of what types of topics will be covered.

FAQ - What is a politics degree? Will I like it?

What’s ‘political science’?

This is perhaps axiomatic, but degrees named 'politics' and 'political science' are essentially the same thing. Political science simply helps to distinguish what your mum and dad think of as 'politics' ('Gordon Brown's stealing my pension!') from the academic discipline you study. Of course, there is a bit more to it than this - 'political science' as a term originated in the US, and as a discipline tends to designate a behaviouralist, quantitative approach to political analysis. However, don't worry about it when it comes to picking a degree, as the degree title (be it government, politics, or political science) is unlikely to be a decisive reflection of the course content.

What is an IR degree, as opposed to a politics degree'?

Broadly, at the risk of stating the painfully obvious, IR tends to deal with interstate relations and how these are structured and mediated; whereas political science degrees are more concerned with the political behaviour and systems within the state. The dividing line between individual modules are very rarely this precise, and indeed you can happily combine the two. As a general rule however, a degree programme in IR will be more internationalist and historical, whereas a degree programme in politics will have a greater compulsory element of applied political analysis. This is not always standard, with many parts of IR (and IPE) closely resembling economics in its use of applied modelling and game theory (largely influenced by the quantitative-focussed US political science schools). For more information on the two disciplines, the wikipedia pages are here (IR) and here (political science).

What’s the difference between the BA and BSc?

It tends to be pretty irrelevant whether the degree is a BA, BSc or BSocSci: whilst there are (often substantial) differences between the way politics is taught at different universities, the nature of the course is rarely predictably related to the type of degree awarded. Oxford, for example, is generally regarded to have high levels of theoretical study and history all the way through their degree programmes, to Essex which is known for a highly quantitative course. As a social science, politics hovers between the arts and sciences and no-one can quite agree where to put it, and universities tend to decide completely arbitrarily whether theirs is a BA or BSc! This also relates to the degree title: just try not to read too much into it, and check the modules offered.

Do I need to have taken politics A-level?

In a word – no! The degree tends to be very different from the A-level, to the extent that the A-level confers very little benefit. Although some of the concepts studied are similar (the A-level will introduce you to ideas about British government and theories such as liberalism) these tend to be discussed in much more depth at the degree level, and the theoretical perspectives used will likely seem just as alien to those with the A-level, as those without! Most find they adapt and learn very quickly, and any leg-up experienced by those with prior experience of the subject disappears by the end of the first year. Many A-level programmes can give you interesting perspectives as a politics fresher - sciences, humanities, arts and social sciences can all be incorporated in some way.

Is a politics degree for me?

Have you read the introduction? Did the questions posed excite you, or bore you? If they made your brain begin to tick and whirr, you’ll probably enjoy the sorts of questions posed during a politics degree. It can be hard work and intellectually difficult, but if you go in with a fascination about how society, governance and states ‘work’, you’re unlikely to find it boring or impossible.

If you have any questions not answered here, check out the politics and IR sub-forum, where you can ask as many questions as you like!

Admissions

General points

Politics is an increasingly competitive course. It is not uncommon now to find 20+ applicants per place at the most competitive universities (such as Bristol) and the typical offers are rising year-on-year. This is primarily a reflection of a boom in popularity for the course in recent years, and as a result applicants need to be realistic about their application. With five choices on your UCAS form, it's always worth having a punt on the odd very popular course, but it is not uncommon for politics applicants to end up with only one or two offers from their application batch. As a result, it pays dividends to research the standard entry requirements for programme at different universities - there is little point wasting a space on your application by naming a university whose minimum requirements you don't match.

Universities offering politics as single or joint honours include:

Aberdeen, Aberystwyth, Aston, Bangor, Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, UWE Bristol, Brunel, Buckingham, Cambridge, Canterbury Christ Church, Cardiff, UWIC, Central Lancashire, City, Coventry, De Montfort, Dundee, Durham, East Anglia, East Lancashire Institute of Higher Education at Blackburn College, East London, Edinburgh, Essex, Exeter, Glamorgan, Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian, Goldsmiths College, Greenwich, Huddersfield, Hull, Keele, Kent, Kingston, Lancaster, Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Liverpool Hope, Liverpool John Moores, London Metropolitan, London School of Economics and Political Science, London South Bank, Loughborough, Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan, Middlesex, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Newport, Northampton, Northumbria, Nottingham, Nottingham Trent, Oxford, Oxford Brookes, Paisley, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Queen Mary, Queen's Belfast, Reading, Richmond, Robert Gordon, Royal Holloway, Salford, School of Oriental and African Studies, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, Southampton, St Andrews, Stirling, Strathclyde, Sunderland, Surrey, Sussex, Swansea, Ulster, University College London, Warwick, Westminster, Wolverhampton, Winchester, Worcester, York.

Academic Requirements

All grades are for Politics L200 unless otherwise stated. N.B. that universities may have particular subject requirements, and may have other politics degree courses with higher / lower entry requirements than stated here. Entry requirements may change, but all grades listed here are correct as of 15th November 2009. If you spot a grade that has changed, or a university that we've missed out, then please add it in.

Grades

A*AA (380 points)

• Cambridge (Politics, Psychology and Sociology)
• UCL (European Social & Politics Studies) (A*AAe)

AAA/AABb (360 points)

• Bath
• Bristol
• Durham
• Exeter
• LSE (Government)
• Newcastle
• Nottingham (MSci International Relations and Global Issues)
• Oxford (Philosophy, Politics & Economics)
• SOAS
• Queen Mary
• Warwick (AABb)

AAB (340 points)

• Bath
• Bristol
• Cardiff
• Essex
• Exeter
• Glasgow
• Hull (British Politics & Legislative Studies)
• Leeds
• Manchester
• Newcastle
• Nottingham (Politics)
• Sheffield
• Southampton
• Sussex
• UCL (Politics & Eastern European Studies)
• York

ABB (320 points)

• Aston (Politics with International Relations)
• Birmingham
• East Anglia
• Exeter
• Goldsmiths College
• Hull (except British Politics & Legislative Studies, which is 340 points)
• Kent
• Kingston
• Lancaster
• Leicster
• Liverpool
• Loughborough
• Newcastle
• Reading (Politics & International Relations)
• Royal Holloway
• Southampton (ABBb)
• Strathclyde
• Sussex
• UCL (Politics & Eastern European Studies)

BBB (300 points)

• Aberdeen (2nd year - Politics with International Relations)
• Aston (Politics with International Relations)
• Brunel
• City (International Politics)
• East Anglia
• Edinburgh
• Essex
• Kingston
• Loughborough
• Middlesex (International Political Studies)
• Newcastle
• Plymouth (Politics with International Relations)
• Portsmouth
• Queen's University Belfast
• Reading (Politics & International Relations)
• Surrey
• UWE, Bristol

BBC (280 points)

• Aberystwyth
• Bradford
• Brighton (Politics & Sociology)
• Coventry
• Glamorgan, Cardiff and Pontypridd (Humanities)
• Huddersfield
• Keele
• Kingston
• Middlesex (International Political Studies)
• Nottingham Trent
• Oxford Brookes
• Plymouth (Politics with International Relations)
• Portsmouth
• Swansea
• UWE, Bristol
• Winchester (Politics & Global Studies)

BCC (260 points)

• Bangor (Political and Social Sciences)
• Chester
• Coventry
• De Montfort
• Glamorgan, Cardiff and Pontypridd (Humanities)
• Huddersfield
• Keele
• Kingston
• Liverpool Hope
• Middlesex (International Political Studies)
• Northumbria~~
• Plymouth (Politics with International Relations)
• Portsmouth
• Richmond, the American International University in London
• Swansea
• UWE, Bristol
• Westminster
• Winchester (Politics & Global Studies)
• Worcester (Politics: People & Power and Sociology)

CCC (240 points)

• Aberdeen (Politics & International Relations)
• Bangor (Political and Social Sciences)
• Dundee
• Chester
• Glamorgan, Cardiff and Pontypridd (Humanities)
• Kingston
• London Metropolitan
• Middlesex (International Political Studies)
• Northampton
• Plymouth (Politics with International Relations)
• Portsmouth
• Salford
• Stirling
• Swansea
• Ulster
• UWE, Bristol
• UWIC (Modern History & Politics)
• Winchester (Politics & Global Studies)
• Worcester (Politics: People & Power and Sociology)

CCD (220 points)

• Bangor (Political and Social Sciences)
• Chester
• Kingston
• Liverpool John Moores
• Manchester Metropolitan
• Middlesex (International Political Studies)
• Northampton
• Sunderland (Politics with History)
• Teesside (Sociology & Politics)
• UCLan
• Wolverhampton (History & Politics)
• Worcester (Politics: People & Power and Sociology)

CDD (200 points)

• Canterbury Christ Church (Politics & Governance and History)
• East London (International Politics)
• Lincoln
• Manchester Metropolitan
• Middlesex (International Political Studies)
• Sheffield Hallam
• Teesside (Sociology & Politics)
• Wolverhampton (History & Politics)

DEE (160 points)

• Greenwich
• London South Bank (International Politics)
• UHI Millennium Institute (History & Politics)
• Wolverhampton (History & Politics)

140 points

• West Scotland (CD)

UCAS Form & Personal Statement

Read sample personal statements written by people applying for politics related courses.

Course Structure

This tends to differ dramatically from university to university and it is strongly advisable for any potential applicants to find out as much as they can about the full degree programme as they possibly can. Information about modules, course content, and contact hours is usually available from departmental websites, if not, contact the university in question. However, some general observations:

• Most courses now operate according to a credit structure, whereby you gain 120 credits per year (Oxford and Cambridge being obvious exceptions where the denominations are papers instead);

• Universities tend to schedule either four 30-credit (eg. Warwick, LSE), five 25-credit (Bath) or six 20-credit (eg. Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol, York) modules per year;

• In your first year, most modules will be prescribed, but you are usually permitted to take more optional modules as your degree progresses;

• Final years will usually be offered a dissertation on either an optional or compulsory basis, which accounts for 1-2 modules and is around 10-15,000 words at most universities.

Modules

Typical first/second year modules generally comprise some combination of the following:

• Political theory/philosophy, covering an overview of political thought throughout history (Arsitotle, Hobbes, Locke, Bentham, Machievelli right through to Hume, Rawls, Nozick and their ilk);

• Political analysis, covering the main 'ism' theories: Marxism, elitism, pluralism, feminism &c, and the main bones contention in the social sciences, such as ontology and epistemology, structure and agency, material and ideational &c;

• IPE/Globalisation, covering global politics, finance, and economics;

• IR, covering the main theories of state interaction (realism, liberalism, the neo-neo debate) and their application;

• British Politics, which is fairly self-explanatory;

• Methods, covering quantitative and qualitative research techniques;

• Area studies: Europe, East Asia, America &c;

• Comparative politics, covering the main methods of cross-analysing states.

Life as a Politics Student

• IlexAquifolium
• Current postgraduate

Now that the majority of universities have switched to a credit structure, most politics degrees are structured as a combination of 120 credits per year, which translates as 4-6 modules. In your first year they will usually be predominantly pre-selected to ensure that students get a thorough grounding in the nuts and bolts of academic politics and get an introduction to the various sub-fields. It is a law of nature that you will find at least one of these core modules insufferably boring, but there is usually more choice in the second year.

I found (and having had a quick google for other universities, it seems this is quite common) that most modules were organised as one, one-hour lecture per week, with an additional one-hour seminar/tutorial to discuss the week's work. This means that your average politics timetable is likely to be in the region of about 12 hours per week (and it's not unusual to find that you only have contact hours 3-4 days per week). Before you rejoice, though, at your wondrously light timetable take note: your relatively abundant free time is not intended to be used for watching Neighbours and playing online poker. If you don't enjoy spending quite a lot of time with nothing but journal articles and a packet of biscuits for company, you might want to think about whether this is the degree for you. You will generally be expected to do a lot of reading around your subject in preparation for seminars (although whether you do it or not is another matter, of course), and this is in addition to the work you will need to do to prepare your assessed work.

Which leads me neatly in to the essays. The workload here will vary quite dramatically (at Oxford I believe you'll normally have two summative essays per week, some universities will give you very few but they'll all be formative), but I found I was being asked to submit around 15-18,000 per term in assessed coursework papers which seems pretty standard. You'll need to be reading for, and writing, these essays throughout the term to keep up. Hence, although you scoff now at the medics with their 30-hour timetables, you will probably spend quite a few Friday nights slaving over textbooks trying to stay abreast of your reading. This is particularly the case in your final year when the number of contact hours generally declines and you will be expected to complete a lot of independent research, in addition to applying for jobs/postgraduate places.

Overall, though, providing you have good time management skills and a genuine interest in the subject, it is completely manageable.

• Socrates
• Current postgraduate

My timetable across the three years has been fairly constant; between eight and ten hours a week of contact time (lectures and tutorials), usually having a day off with no lectures or tutorials at all. I spent most of my time in the JCR, idly socialising with people, or going to the one of many quirky and random events held at SOAS (which take place on a daily basis). With essay deadlines nearing, a rush to the library to get hold of the key texts would mean that an all nighter would ensue; the essay is handed in the next morning. Generally, I didn't bother with the tutorial reading unless it was a topic that really interested me - the beauty of politics is that you can bullshit your way through tutorials as long as you have a basic grounding. Final year did become more serious and more reading took place than the previous two years combined; such is life. In short, if you're organised, do your reading, hand in your essays on time and revise properly for your exams, you'll breeze through your three years.

Graduate Destinations and Career Prospects

Politics is a sought-after degree amongst employers. The core (subject-specific) and transferable skills (the current buzzword in graduate employment) a politics degree teaches are useful in a variety of careers. Politics teaches you not just about how governments work, but to be highly analytical, to write fluently, present confidently and argue effectively, all useful skills. This prospects.ac.uk page gives an indication of the employment rates of politics graduates. Only 6.7% of graduates were unemployed after their degree, with the remaining 93.3% in employment or further study.

Although graduates end up in all sorts of roles, from investment bankers to accountants, popular career paths include:

Jobs directly related to your degree

• Public affairs consultant (lobbyist) - uses their understanding of the political system to provide political and public policy advice to their clients.
• Politician's assistant - provides their elected Members with the administrative, secretarial, research, constituency, parliamentary and publicity support they require to carry out their role.
• Government research officer - provides research required to help inform the policy decisions of ministers.
• Social researcher - designs, formulates, carries out and manages social research projects, either personally or via agencies.
• Civil Service Fast Streamer - fast track training programme to work with and for government; roles include policy adviser, project leader, consultant and researcher.

Jobs where your degree would be useful

• Charity fundraiser - employed to achieve an annually agreed money-raising target through actively marketed and promoted activities, campaigns or events.
• Education administrator - organises and oversees administrative activities and systems that support and facilitate the smooth running of an education institution.
• Local government administrator - deals with the administrative needs of different departments, assists in the development of policies and procedures, and helps coordinate their implementation. There are many areas of specialism including: finance; personnel; education; social work; and IT.
• Event organiser - identifies potential business, researches markets and plans and runs all aspects of events on behalf of a client or their own organisation.
• Market researcher (qualitative/quantitative) - collects data from a variety of sources and uses it to enable informed decision-making in many sectors.
• Volunteer work organiser - coordinates the work of volunteers and develops new voluntary opportunities either within their own organisation or on behalf of other organisations such as hospitals.

(Prospects 2007)

Further study is also a popular option. Postgraduate study (Masters and Doctoral degrees) within politics or related social sciences are obviously popular, although many politics graduates choose to pursue a career in teaching or law, through the PGCE and GDL qualifications.

See Also

• Politics and International Relations Course Forum - discuss politics courses at uni in here.
• Politics Study Help - ask questions about your homework, coursework and your revision.
• University Politics Revision Notes - read and share revision notes on politics topics.
• Useful Social Science Websites