The Student Room Group

SPS at Cambridge

Hi everyone,
I am currently in sixth year at a Scottish state school finalising my UCAS applications. Was looking to do PPE originally but came across the SPS course in the Cambridge prospectus. As Cambridge don't do PPE and I preferred the look of Cambridge to Oxford I have decided to apply for this course.

Two queries however:

1) Noticed on this site a lot of people saying that SPS was not as demanding as many of the other courses and was seen as a slightly dossie (is that a word?!) subject. Not looking for a doss subject so is SPS the wrong course for me?

2) I don't really have a preference for a college but hesitant to put in an open application as I don't want to end up in a girls only college. Any way of getting round this?

Many thanks for any thoughts as no-one from my school has been to Oxbridge so teachers etc. aren't that clued up!

Abi
Reply 1
AbigailDav
Hi everyone,
I am currently in sixth year at a Scottish state school finalising my UCAS applications. Was looking to do PPE originally but came across the SPS course in the Cambridge prospectus. As Cambridge don't do PPE and I preferred the look of Cambridge to Oxford I have decided to apply for this course.

Two queries however:

1) Noticed on this site a lot of people saying that SPS was not as demanding as many of the other courses and was seen as a slightly dossie (is that a word?!) subject. Not looking for a doss subject so is SPS the wrong course for me?

2) I don't really have a preference for a college but hesitant to put in an open application as I don't want to end up in a girls only college. Any way of getting round this?

Many thanks for any thoughts as no-one from my school has been to Oxbridge so teachers etc. aren't that clued up!

Abi


I'm not an SPS student but I am at Cambridge, now going into my second year. I don't see SPS as a doss at all, but you should realise that PPE at Oxford has a lot more prestige, being an older and (I believe) highly oversubscribed course. Having said that, I don't think PPE and SPS are meant to be equivalent courses, they're just similar. Also, in SPS you get to choose whether you want to specialise in Sociology or Politics in the second year, I think, but last year everyone chose politics and this caused large problems for the faculty. Apparently, the first years found that the politics lecturers were much more interesting than the sociology ones.
Reply 2
sbailey
I'm not an SPS student but I am at Cambridge, now going into my second year. I don't see SPS as a doss at all, but you should realise that PPE at Oxford has a lot more prestige, being an older and (I believe) highly oversubscribed course. Having said that, I don't think PPE and SPS are meant to be equivalent courses, they're just similar. Also, in SPS you get to choose whether you want to specialise in Sociology or Politics in the second year, I think, but last year everyone chose politics and this caused large problems for the faculty. Apparently, the first years found that the politics lecturers were much more interesting than the sociology ones.


I agree with the SPS/PPE comparison; since SPS is the only way to study Politics at undergrad level at Cambridge, it is often compared to PPE as its counterpart but I find the courses are so very different in their approaches that they are incomparable.

Anyway, AbigailDav the only way to avoid being placed in a single sex college is really to apply to a specific co-ed college. If you don't really mind where you stay but are determined to get into Cambridge generally, then there are some colleges where the applicant to place ratio is generally low for SPS. I've only got last year's Prospectus but examples are: Girton, Christ's, Churchill, Corpus Christi, Downing, Fitzwilliam.
satin
I agree with the SPS/PPE comparison; since SPS is the only way to study Politics at undergrad level at Cambridge, it is often compared to PPE as its counterpart but I find the courses are so very different in their approaches that they are incomparable.

Anyway, AbigailDav the only way to avoid being placed in a single sex college is really to apply to a specific co-ed college. If you don't really mind where you stay but are determined to get into Cambridge generally, then there are some colleges where the applicant to place ratio is generally low for SPS. I've only got last year's Prospectus but examples are: Girton, Christ's, Churchill, Corpus Christi, Downing, Fitzwilliam.

But a lot of the time thats only because there are so few places....
Reply 4
Fluffmonster
But a lot of the time thats only because there are so few places....


That doesn't make sense. :confused:
sbailey
That doesn't make sense. :confused:

well i assume that there are fewer applicants because most people assume that their chances are going to be smaller so they don't apply to the smaller colleges....if you get me...
Reply 6
Fluffmonster
well i assume that there are fewer applicants because most people assume that their chances are going to be smaller so they don't apply to the smaller colleges....if you get me...


I do get you, but it involves a little too much second-guessing for my liking :tongue: There are large fluctuations in application rates at each college every year, precisely because people try to play the system. It's also hard to tell if a college has a high application rate because people see it as a safer option or because it is extremely popular, which is why it's best to just apply where you like and hope for the best.
sbailey
I do get you, but it involves a little too much second-guessing for my liking :tongue: There are large fluctuations in application rates at each college every year, precisely because people try to play the system. It's also hard to tell if a college has a high application rate because people see it as a safer option or because it is extremely popular, which is why it's best to just apply where you like and hope for the best.

Exactly. Go for one you really really like....one that you can talk about passionately in your interview. To be honest, that will give you the best chance.
:smile:
Reply 8
AbigailDav
Hi everyone,
I am currently in sixth year at a Scottish state school finalising my UCAS applications. Was looking to do PPE originally but came across the SPS course in the Cambridge prospectus. As Cambridge don't do PPE and I preferred the look of Cambridge to Oxford I have decided to apply for this course.

Two queries however:

1) Noticed on this site a lot of people saying that SPS was not as demanding as many of the other courses and was seen as a slightly dossie (is that a word?!) subject. Not looking for a doss subject so is SPS the wrong course for me?

2) I don't really have a preference for a college but hesitant to put in an open application as I don't want to end up in a girls only college. Any way of getting round this?

Many thanks for any thoughts as no-one from my school has been to Oxbridge so teachers etc. aren't that clued up!

Abi


Hey there :smile:
I'm also a sixth year applying for SPS! What subjects are you doing? :biggrin:
SPS doesn't sound a doss subject, it's just that your lectures are optional supposedly and you don't have labs and practicals and things. Some of the SPS students have said they don't have time to read the recommended books I think so it doesn't sound like the lazy ride it's made out to be. I'm sure you can work as much as you want.

Is there anything at all that you would like in a college? Big or small? Old or new? Central or further out? Prestigious or not?
I'm sure some of the people on here can suggest some if you have any ideas :smile:.
Reply 9
Acaila
Hey there :smile:
I'm also a sixth year applying for SPS! What subjects are you doing? :biggrin:
SPS doesn't sound a doss subject, it's just that your lectures are optional supposedly and you don't have labs and practicals and things. Some of the SPS students have said they don't have time to read the recommended books I think so it doesn't sound like the lazy ride it's made out to be. I'm sure you can work as much as you want.

Is there anything at all that you would like in a college? Big or small? Old or new? Central or further out? Prestigious or not?
I'm sure some of the people on here can suggest some if you have any ideas :smile:.


I'm doing Advanced Highers in Modern Studies and Chemistry and crashing Higher History and French.

Looking for a fairly central college, medium sized, prob prefer an older one but not too bothered. Just want somewhere friendly that is not stuck up!

Kinda worried bout that actually :redface: -is there really no Cambridge 'type' or is that jus what the prospectus has to say? What's the balance between state school pupils and private school?

Thanx for everyone's help and advice so far! :biggrin:

Abi
AbigailDav
I'm doing Advanced Highers in Modern Studies and Chemistry and crashing Higher History and French.


I'm not sure about Cambridge's exact policy on Adv Highers, but they will probably want you to be sitting three. The only way they would accept 2 AH + 2 Highers is if your school wouldn't let you do three, in which case that needs to go in your reference.

Good luck :smile:
Reply 11
AbigailDav
I'm doing Advanced Highers in Modern Studies and Chemistry and crashing Higher History and French.

Looking for a fairly central college, medium sized, prob prefer an older one but not too bothered. Just want somewhere friendly that is not stuck up!

Kinda worried bout that actually :redface: -is there really no Cambridge 'type' or is that jus what the prospectus has to say? What's the balance between state school pupils and private school?

Thanx for everyone's help and advice so far! :biggrin:

Abi


State/ private ratio depends where you go. If you want somewhere that has a high state school intake there is Kings, which is very central, old, with a political reputation. I'm not sure about the size of it though. Not one of the smaller ones, but not one of the two biggest.
Reply 12
SPS isn't a doss subject if you don't want it to be.

Paddy