SUBJECTS / HSPS
Human, Social, and Political Sciences. A course for students curious about power, culture and the ways people live together.
Explore the comparison
YOUR QUALIFICATION ROUTE
Choose the qualification you will present. Grades, subject requirements and College conditions belong together.
School location does not determine your qualification. National and mixed qualifications need their own course-specific check.
2027 ENTRY · CHECKED 23 OCTOBER 2026776 at Higher Level
No universally required school subject. Essay-based preparation is valuable; individual Colleges may set subject conditions.
Two pieces of written work. Some Colleges also set an assessment.
Cambridge’s official guidance766 at Higher Level
The total includes core points. No compulsory school subject; Mathematics is recommended and History is useful.
TARA: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Writing Task.
Oxford’s official guidanceHughes Hall, King’s and Newnham appear on the current assessment list. Other College instructions can differ, including essay-subject conditions and written-work format.
College & University guidance ↗BEGIN WITH THE EDUCATION
HSPS brings together politics and international relations, sociology and social anthropology. Its breadth matters even if you already know which discipline interests you most.
Examine political ideas, institutions, government and relations between states.
Investigate social institutions, inequality and change. Compare explanations against evidence.
Look closely at culture and everyday life. Learn how people understand their own social worlds.
You cannot ordinarily apply to both Oxford and Cambridge in the same admissions year.
UCAS guidance ↗THE COURSES, SIDE BY SIDE
Both offer close academic discussion and demanding independent work. The combination of subjects is the decisive difference.
Politics and international relations, sociology and social anthropology. Explore how people organise, govern and understand social life.
Human, Social, and Political Sciences · BA · 3 years
Politics, societies and lived experience.
International students normally also pay an annual College fee. Living costs are additional. Home fee guidance ↗
Philosophical arguments, political institutions and economic explanation. Study all three before deciding where to specialise.
Philosophy, Politics and Economics · BA · 3 years
Ideas, institutions and economic choices.
Living costs are additional. Fees may increase in later years.
WHICH WOULD SUIT YOU?
you want to understand political and social life, and are curious about sociology and anthropology as well as politics and international relations.
you enjoy examining what ought to happen, how power works and what economic reasoning can explain. You want philosophy and economics alongside politics.
Yes, but the broad first year still matters. Later study can follow a single discipline or an available joint track. Investigate sociology and social anthropology before choosing HSPS solely for its politics options.
Explore the official track options ↗Published 2027–28 living costs are £1,475–£2,175 a month: £13,275–£19,575 for nine months. With overseas tuition, the illustrative annual total is £59,485–£65,785.
Oxford living costs ↗Estimated living costs are £11,970 for nine months in 2027–28. Using Christ’s £13,000 College fee as one example, tuition, College fee and that living budget total £55,768. Other Colleges set their own fees.
Christ’s fee and living-cost example ↗These are one-year illustrations, excluding travel, immigration charges and personal variations. Allow more if staying through vacations. Later-year costs are not confirmed degree totals.
Checked 23 October 2026 for 2027 entry. Course options and College conditions can change; use the official guidance for your application year.
WRITTEN WORK & ASSESSMENT
Two pieces of written work. Choose work that shows how you analyse, use evidence and build an argument. Follow your College’s instructions for the format and submission.
No common pre-registration admissions test. Hughes Hall, King’s and Newnham are on Cambridge’s current HSPS College-assessment list. The College supplies the arrangements; you do not register separately.
An academic conversation follows. Be ready to discuss what you have read and written, and to reason through an unfamiliar question. Interview format varies by College.
Hughes Hall, King’s and Newnham appear on the current assessment list. Other College instructions can differ, including essay-subject conditions and written-work format.
Check the requirements ↗2027 entry reference: the ordinary UCAS deadline was 15 October 2026. These dates have passed. Current applicants should follow their College’s written-work and interview instructions.
ADMISSIONS IN CONTEXT
Look at the course, cycle and applicant group behind a figure. An offer rate describes a group; it does not predict your application.
Cambridge admissions cycle · 2025 · all domiciles
236 offers · 173 acceptances.
Calculated offer-to-application ratio: 19.2%.
Departmental report · 2025–26
681 shortlisted · 261 offers.
Calculated offer-to-application ratio: 13.8%.
Reports use the periods and snapshots shown. Offers and acceptances are different stages. These ratios are calculated from published counts and are not an individual forecast.
Where evidence is required, Oxford lists IELTS Academic 7.5 overall with at least 7.0 in each component. Cambridge normally asks for 7.5 overall, usually with 7.0 in each element. Accepted alternatives, waivers and the offer’s actual conditions need separate checks.
Home or overseas fee status depends on the relevant nationality, immigration and residence circumstances. A school’s location or curriculum does not decide it.
These are 2027-entry reference requirements. The ordinary application deadline has passed. Check the next cycle before building your plan; deferred-entry rules do not automatically establish a new cycle’s requirements.
PREPARATION
Read with a question in mind. Work through a problem. Be ready to explain what changed your understanding.
Follow an issue through political, sociological and anthropological accounts. Notice where their explanations differ.
Submit your own school work in the form your College requests. Revisit the argument, evidence and limitations.
Practise explaining an unfamiliar claim, asking useful questions and revising an answer when the evidence changes.
AN INDIVIDUAL PATH
We can help you examine academic fit, understand your qualification route and prepare to think independently.
Discuss your application ↗
Read the group carefully.
combined.
The verified course figures below combine applicant groups. They do not establish an international-only offer rate.
Use the All applicants view for the course totals; check overseas fees, qualifications and College requirements separately.
Official admissions statistics ↗Non-EU international · 2025–26 report
702 applicants · 193 shortlisted · 76 offers. EU applicants are reported separately. This is not an all-international or overseas fee-status rate.
Dated departmental report ↗Nationality, domicile, school location and fee status are different measures. The Oxford and Cambridge figures do not isolate matching populations.