Supercurriculars for Philosphy of Theology Degree

Hi, i currently do History, Philosophy and English literature at A-Level and i want to do Theology or Philosophy at Cambridge University, are there any good supercurricular recommendations you have for my personal statment?

Reply 1

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

20

https://www.ucas.com/applying/applying-university/writing-your-personal-statement/2026-personal-statement-guides

Reply 2

melancollege

Universities Forum Helper

19

Let your interests guide you, why do you want to study that degree?

Reply 3

thegeek888

18

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi, i currently do History, Philosophy and English literature at A-Level and i want to do Theology or Philosophy at Cambridge University, are there any good supercurricular recommendations you have for my personal statment?

Mention no more than 3 books in your UCAS Personal Statement.

Reply 4

melancollege

Universities Forum Helper

19

Original post

by thegeek888

Mention no more than 3 books in your UCAS Personal Statement.

Note that this commenter is not a student or a member of the admissions staff, nor do they have any particular expertise in Cambridge admissions. I have to point this out basically every time I see their posts on this forum as their 'information' is frequently incorrect.

Reply 5

thegeek888

18

Original post

by melancollege

Note that this commenter is not a student or a member of the admissions staff, nor do they have any particular expertise in Cambridge admissions. I have to point this out basically every time I see their posts on this forum as their 'information' is frequently incorrect.

How is this incorrect? I have read UCAS Personal Statements from other applicants sometimes and it is clear there should be no more than 3 books mentioned.

I never claimed to be associated with admissions or an academic but I have been a member of TSR for 23.5 years and seen almost every subject and top 20 university forum.

Reply 6

melancollege

Universities Forum Helper

19

Original post

by thegeek888

How is this incorrect? I have read UCAS Personal Statements from other applicants sometimes and it is clear there should be no more than 3 books mentioned.

I never claimed to be associated with admissions or an academic but I have been a member of TSR for 23.5 years and seen almost every subject and top 20 university forum.

You speak with authority that you don't have. Things have changed in the last 23.5 years, which I would know as that is essentially my entire life. I don't care to continue (arguably, repeat) this conversation.

Reply 7

thegeek888

18

Original post

by melancollege

You speak with authority that you don't have. Things have changed in the last 23.5 years, which I would know as that is essentially my entire life. I don't care to continue (arguably, repeat) this conversation.

How do I speak with authority? I speak from 'real' student interaction experiences from 2002 to 2025. Not just 23 years ago?! 😧

Reply 8

McGinger

20

super-curricular_suggestions.pdf - Cambridge
Suggested Subject Resources | University of Oxford - Oxford

Moocs - short free online Uni level courses :
Religious Literacy and Diversity Online Course - FutureLearn
Religious Studies: The Qur'an, Judaism and Christianity - FutureLearn
Zoroastrianism: History, Religion, and Belief - Online Course - FutureLearn
Ethics and Global Challenges Online Course - FutureLearn
Logic: The Language of Truth - Online Course - FutureLearn

Reply 9

Anonymous #2

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi, i currently do History, Philosophy and English literature at A-Level and i want to do Theology or Philosophy at Cambridge University, are there any good supercurricular recommendations you have for my personal statment?

Hi! Please read all this with a massive heap of salt because everyone's situation is different and I am literally just a random person on the internet who happens to have an offer for TRPR - I have no inside knowledge and am just telling you what helped me with my PS and interview. The best thing to do is to keep in close contact with your teachers and UCAS advisors and do what they say.

My number one piece of advice would be to go to the open day if possible and speak to people at the faculty of divinity at cambridge - they're all really lovely and honestly attending taster lectures and just chatting to faculty members is what inspired me the most to keep going!

Other than that, the framework that I followed when I was writing my personal statement was to tell a journey of my interest in the subject. If you don't know exactly where your interests lie yet, a good place to start would be reading widely around the topics you find interesting at school or by having a look at the reading list on the department's undergraduate website and pick a few that sound interesting.

One thing that really helped me find what I was interested in was watching videos and lectures on youtube - people like 'religion for breakfast' and 'lets talk religion' give really neat overviews of concepts in religion that might get you interested or motivated to pick up a book or research more in depth about it - look in the sources, see where each piece of material might take you next and follow your interest wherever it goes!

I think the most important thing is that you don't just read the material but really engage with it - don't just scan the information or write it down and keep it isolated in a corner in the back of your brain, but use it in your work at school and let your brain play around with the ideas that you're getting from the supercurriculars you're doing, whether that be through writing essays or just linking concepts that you've previously learned about from various places to whatever you're currently reading/studying (if that makes sense) - be creative! have fun!

When you kind of get into the flow of moving through topics and research I think a good structure for a personal statement is to take the reader through your journey with your interest in philosophy/TRPR - think about topics and concepts that have particularly fascinated you and why it interests you so much, why you think it's important to the field or the world at large or a particular group of people... It's difficult to give really specific advice because it really depends on the person and their situation, but I wish you the best of luck in your studies! Remember that the personal statement isn't about who's read the most books, but who has the most passion and a genuine drive to study the subject they are applying for :smile:

Reply 10

kingsleyartha

12

Original post

by thegeek888

Mention no more than 3 books in your UCAS Personal Statement.

you say this all the time its not true mate genuinely

Reply 11

kingsleyartha

12

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi, i currently do History, Philosophy and English literature at A-Level and i want to do Theology or Philosophy at Cambridge University, are there any good supercurricular recommendations you have for my personal statment?

find an area of philosophical debate that interests you.
Read a couple of different perspectives on that debate.
Evaluate which you think is better and write an essay on why- create some kind of essay writing journal to record this.
Change your opinion after reading something else around that topic different to your initial conclusion. do this as many times as necessary in your PS
This is an intellectual journey and Oxbridge love these in personal statements because it shows you are receptive to new ideas and are teachable.

Also, for general philosophy read Simon Blackburn's 'Think', and if you are any good, read Russell's 'Problems of philosophy'- this is quite good in terms of epistemology.
Do some basic reading on formal logic because it is useful for both Oxford and Cambridge philosophy

Supercurriculars for Philosphy of Theology Degree

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