HisPol Oxbridge

Hi, was wondering if anyone else on here was thinking of applying HisPol at Cambridge or Oxford? What are you all doing to prepare and what super curriculars have you done/ plan to do?
Good luck!!

Reply 1

Labda18

7

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi, was wondering if anyone else on here was thinking of applying HisPol at Cambridge or Oxford? What are you all doing to prepare and what super curriculars have you done/ plan to do?
Good luck!!

Hey! I'm a current History student at Cambridge, so not entirely HisPol but the better half of it :wink:

(just kidding ofc, HisPol is an amazing degree from what I've heard!) If you have any questions related to the History side of the course, or about Cambridge in general, feel free to ask away! Good luck on your application!

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

OP

Hi thank you so much for answering my post and congratulations on getting into Cambridge! I have quite a few questions actually! If it’s ok for me to ask, what super curriculars did you do, as I feel mine are currently more politics weighted than history weighted so would love some more inspiration. Also for your submission of work as part of your application, what type of work did you send in? I heard somewhere it would be a good idea to submit a source question to showcase ability to interact with them but I’m not sure if that’s just rumours. Also (promise it’s my last question!) what kind of questions did they ask in your history interview? I know they sometimes get you to look at some type of source so I was wondering how you found that experience, along with the kind of broad questions they ask. Thank you so much for answering and sorry for all the questions!!!

Reply 3

Labda18

7

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi thank you so much for answering my post and congratulations on getting into Cambridge! I have quite a few questions actually! If it’s ok for me to ask, what super curriculars did you do, as I feel mine are currently more politics weighted than history weighted so would love some more inspiration. Also for your submission of work as part of your application, what type of work did you send in? I heard somewhere it would be a good idea to submit a source question to showcase ability to interact with them but I’m not sure if that’s just rumours. Also (promise it’s my last question!) what kind of questions did they ask in your history interview? I know they sometimes get you to look at some type of source so I was wondering how you found that experience, along with the kind of broad questions they ask. Thank you so much for answering and sorry for all the questions!!!

You're very welcome, I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my abilities!

In terms of supercurriculars, of course I did some extra reading (I mentioned three books in my personal statement). I was also lucky enough to be able to volunteer at a local history museum, which might have been something that made me stand out (since afaik none of my coursemates mentioned something like it in their personal statement). Of course it depends on what's available in your area but I'd definitely look into it; there are quite some volunteering/work experience opportunities at historical festivals, museums, etc... I personally didn't do a summer school or something like that but I'd reckon that could be useful as well, though most people who apply will probably have done something similar.

I submitted two essays that were part of my history coursework. One was about Mali and one was about the Cultural Revolution in China, if I remember correctly. They were just argumentative essays so not really a source analysis. I think it depends on your college, but my college (Homerton) said the following about written work: "We prefer not to receive source-based answers but if you are sending this type of work be sure also to send the sources on which the answers are based". If your college states that a source analysis might be useful, I'd definitely do that though! To be fair, my written work didn't come up during any of my interviews so I'm not sure how much it affected my application and if they liked it or not.

I had two interviews, one of which was based on a (written) source. I had 15 minutes to read through it and prepare, which I found was enough time to analyse it properly. In the first interview, we discussed the source and then they asked a few questions about my personal statement. The second interview was purely personal statement-based. However, this can differ greatly across colleges; you might only have one interview and get asked about your written work rather than your personal statement, and you might get a picture rather than a text as your source. If you get invited to interview, your college usually sends you more information about the format. All in all, my interviews were a very pleasant experience and I found them to be more like an academic discussion than an interrogation/oral examination. They're not really asking factual questions but rather want to see how you interpret certain things and what you're passionate about. Even if you don't get in, it's a great opportunity to discuss your subject(s) with leading academics, and you'll get much out of it in terms of experience.

I hope this answers your questions, and if anything's still unclear, feel free to let me know!

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

OP

Thank you so so so much for this advice, you’ve no idea how helpful that is!!

HisPol Oxbridge

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