History and Politics at Cambridge

Choose this course if you want a degree where historical argument and political analysis are tested together, rather than studied as two unrelated halves. Cambridge’s structure makes that integration visible from Part IA: students combine a History Outline paper with The Modern State and its Alternatives, International Conflict, Order and Justice, and Evidence and Argument.

The ranking comparison should be read with its caveat first. The table uses Guardian and Complete University Guide 2026 UK History subject tables, while the Times/Sunday Times column uses the overall 2026 Good University Guide institutional rank rather than a direct History and Politics subject table.

In Year 2, the degree adds International Organisation or Comparative Politics, History of Political Thought, a History Topic paper and a long essay of up to 5,000 words. By Year 3, students choose advanced option papers, take Theory and Practice in History and Politics, and may replace one paper with a 10,000-word dissertation.

The assessing College arranges the assessment after shortlisting, and no advance registration is required.

The College admission assessment is listed for Hughes Hall and St Edmund’s. Format details for History and Politics are provided by the relevant College rather than by a central external test provider.

Assessment performance is considered alongside all other elements, rather than as a standalone pass-or-fail hurdle. Cambridge’s 2024 admissions statistics PDF lists 260 applications, 71 offers and 57 acceptances for History & Politics.

For international students, the assessment gives the College one more way to compare strong applicants across different schools and qualification systems. Preparation should focus on reading, argument, and writing under time pressure rather than on memorising a formula.

A strong History and Politics personal statement should not read like a list of books. Choose 2 or 3 problems you have genuinely thought about, then show how your view changed as you encountered evidence, disagreement or a better argument.

For this course, the strongest examples often sit at the join between the two disciplines. A paragraph on revolution, nationalism, political legitimacy, empire, war, state formation or democracy should show both historical specificity and political judgement.

Avoid writing that you have “always loved history” or that politics is “important today”. It is better to take one precise claim, explain why it matters, then show what you read, what you questioned and where your thinking ended up.

Because the course requires 2 pieces of written work, your personal statement should not overclaim expertise in areas you would struggle to discuss under questioning. Be ready to talk about every named book, event, thinker and case study.

History and Politics applicants need to submit 2 pieces of written work. The College tells applicants what to submit and by when, and the deadline is College-specific.

Choose pieces you can explain, defend and improve, rather than simply choosing the pieces with the highest marks.

29 colleges offer this subject. 10.2% of applicants submit an open application. 20.6% of places come through the pool.

College choice affects where an applicant is interviewed, who reads the application first, accommodation and community style, and College-specific details such as written-work deadlines or possible College assessment.

The Winter Pool allows strong applicants to be reconsidered by other Colleges after the initial College assessment stage. In the 2024 Cambridge admissions-process table across all Cambridge subjects, open applications were 10.2% of total applications and winter-pooled applications were 20.6% of total applications.

It is worth choosing a College for fit, subject availability, location, accommodation preferences and confidence discussing written work with that College’s historians and politics specialists. An open application is a valid option for applicants without a strong College preference.

Cambridge states that applications are assessed holistically using academic record, school or college reference, personal statement, written work, admissions assessment where required, contextual data, extenuating circumstances and interview. Contextual data gives a fuller picture of circumstances, but it does not automatically produce a lower offer, an interview or an offer.

Individual contextual factors can include care experience, estrangement, refugee or humanitarian-protection status, free-school-meal eligibility and extenuating circumstances declared through UCAS or My Cambridge Application. Cambridge also uses school or college data, including past GCSE/A Level performance and whether fewer than five students from the school have received Oxford or Cambridge offers in the past five years.

Contextual flags may lead to particular care in assessment, Winter Pool consideration, summer pooling and August Reconsideration Pool processes. Record disruption clearly and calmly, with evidence where available, rather than trying to dramatise it.