Regretting not applying for Cambridge HSPS

4

I'm a Year 13 student who has offers to study Politics and International Relations at York and Exeter (they're my top choices). I was interested in applying for Oxbridge for most of Year 12, after being encouraged by a teacher to apply for English. However, I kept changing my mind about what course I wanted to do and only settled on Politics and IR around last summer/September, so I didn't have a huge amount of subject knowledge/extracurriculars. I decided not to apply for History and Politics at Oxbridge, and brushed off HSPS at Cambridge because I understood it to be a liberal arts type course/for people who didn't know exactly what they wanted to do. Now I'm looking at the HSPS course I realise that it would have allowed me to study Politics and IR. I don't want to take a gap year and reapply because I know I'll be bored out of my mind for a year, and my sixth form is closing. I'm also trying to convince myself that the university style at Exeter/York is better for me (placement year and varied assessment styles). I still have some regret. Can anyone please provide some comfort/advice? Do I just need to get a grip lol? Thank you for reading my ramble if you got this far xx

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

Hi! I completely understand why you feel frustrated about this. Many people end up second-guessing themselves after they've made their choice, or even after they've already completed their degree. This is completely normal. However, as you said, there's really not much you can do about it right now since taking a gap year probably isn't worth it. In addition, HSPS is really competitive and even if you're an excellent student with top grades, there's no guarantee you'd get in after a gap year; it truly depends on the "competition", so to say. I'm not an expert on the HSPS course but as far as I know, you'd eventually be able to go the Politics and IR route, but you'd first have to take a range of other papers in anthropology et cetera which might not be for you. Since it seems like you're truly passionate about Politics and IR specifically, the Exeter/York courses are probably a better fit, and they both seem like wonderful unis! If you're really set on going to Cambridge, you could always apply for a Master's degree in the future. I believe they have a Master's course in Politics and International Studies which seems right up your alley.

Reply 2

grace2222

OP

4

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi! I completely understand why you feel frustrated about this. Many people end up second-guessing themselves after they've made their choice, or even after they've already completed their degree. This is completely normal. However, as you said, there's really not much you can do about it right now since taking a gap year probably isn't worth it. In addition, HSPS is really competitive and even if you're an excellent student with top grades, there's no guarantee you'd get in after a gap year; it truly depends on the "competition", so to say. I'm not an expert on the HSPS course but as far as I know, you'd eventually be able to go the Politics and IR route, but you'd first have to take a range of other papers in anthropology et cetera which might not be for you. Since it seems like you're truly passionate about Politics and IR specifically, the Exeter/York courses are probably a better fit, and they both seem like wonderful unis! If you're really set on going to Cambridge, you could always apply for a Master's degree in the future. I believe they have a Master's course in Politics and International Studies which seems right up your alley.

Hi, thank you so much for your response. I was doing some more thinking after my above mental breakdown, and realised a gap year may actually be good for me. I know that the first year is very broad, but I do enjoy studying social sciences in general so I don't think it would be the end of the world. I'm still going to keep my current application for 2025 entry going, just in case my grades aren't good enough to apply to Cambridge anyway. But thank you very much for your measured response, a perfect antidote to this stressful time with school 😌

Reply 3

University of York

Official Rep

13

Hello @grace2222

It sounds like you might have a plan in your mind now, however if you did want to find out a little more about the course or student life at York should you decide to join us, you could get in touch with some of our students for their experiences, or have a read of some student blogs https://www.york.ac.uk/study/chat/ & https://blogs.york.ac.uk/student-voices/

You may have already been to visit campus, but if not, there's our upcoming Open Days at the end of June which will give you a chance to tour the facilities and accommodation.

Good luck with your future studies, wherever you decide to go.

R

Regretting not applying for Cambridge HSPS

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