This page is part of the Christ's applicants from Scotland section.
We welcome applications from students in the Scottish SQA qualification system who would like to apply for Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS) at Christ's. We define our offers individually, but for students in the scottish system, the typical offer for HSPS is A1, A2, A2 in three Advanced Highers.
Advice for choosing Advanced Higher subjects
You don't need to take any specific subjects to study HSPS, though it can help if your subjects relate to the course you hope to specialise in. For example, if you're interested in Social Anthropology, take History or Sociology. That said, most subjects are relevant and we welcome a mix of science and arts subjects.
Otherwise, our general advice for choosing subjects is that you have the choice (and we realise you don't always!). History, English, languages and Mathematics are all very useful Advanced Higher courses to consider. Although none of these are a requirement for HSPS applications, choosing at least one of these would be a very safe option, with the extra benefit of helping you to to keep your options open, as they provide an excellent foundation for a range of Arts, Social Science and Humanities courses if you later change your mind about applying for HSPS!
Other good choices include an additional language, Classical Studies, Computing Science, Economics, Geography, Mathematics of Mechanics, Modern Studies, Music, Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies, a science subject (Biology, Chemistry or Physics), Sociology or Statistics.
We recommend attending our regular webinar on choosing subjects if you can, and of course, please feel free to send us an email if you have questions about your choices.
- What if my Advanced Higher options are limited?
- What about the subjects not mentioned above?
- What about National 5's and Highers?
Next steps
Please read our HSPS page thoroughly, including detailed profiles by some of our students, information about what the application process involves and resources for developing your interest and relevant skills.
As well as the HSPS subject meetings on Zoom in the Christ's Online Open Days (October of S5, February of S5, or September of S6), events with HSPS content include the University open day online or in person in July of S5, and look out for any HSPS masterclasses as well.
Please don't worry if your school is not able to provide support for your application to Cambridge, as we provide support directly via our ongoing support emails and events in the lead up to application, our UK application support pages and our current applicants section.
