History

Subject Overview at Downing

Average places per year 6
Course duration 3 years (BA Hons)
Standard offer A-Level: A*AA
Course requirements Studied History at A-Level or equivalent
Admission overview 2 x 30 minute interviews on the same day
2 pieces of written work 
UCAS code V100
Campus code D

Why study History at Cambridge?

University-level History develops many skills, intellectual and practical, so History graduates remain highly employable. Informing them all, however, is the imaginative challenge at the heart of the discipline. Few historians study what they have experienced; they do not depend upon memory. What makes a good historian is the capacity to imagine, and convey in writing, experiences distant from one‘s own. If this is a challenge which attracts you, History may be your subject. The two hundred undergraduate historians arriving in Cambridge each year have access to a teaching community of over one hundred scholars. In addition to its traditional strengths in political and constitutional history, the Faculty has been a pioneering force in the development of economic, social, cultural, and intellectual history. In addition to the history of Britain and Europe, which may be studied from ancient times to the present, the Faculty has particular strengths in the history of America, Africa and Asia. It is the role of the Director of Studies to help you make the most of these options, and to arrange teaching for them. The most important type of teaching at Cambridge, alongside lectures in the Faculty building, remains the weekly solo supervision. All teaching for History follows the same course outline set by the Faculty. See the structure of the course here.

Why Study History at Downing?

Studying History at Downing Colleges makes you one of twenty or so History undergraduates in the College. Though an important subject group within the College, we are also compact enough in number to form a supportive community. Members of Downing‘s Fellowship teach aspects of medieval and modern history. Dr David Pratt, the Director of Studies in History, whose work concerns King Alfred the Great and the early history of the English coronation service, teaches early medieval British and European history as well as the History of Political Thought. Dr Natalia Mora-Sitja, University Lecturer in Modern Economic History, teaches Modern European History and has research interests in the relationship between economic growth and labour markets. This range of interests helps link the College with what is an unusually large, as well as dynamic, University History Faculty. In addition to lectures and supervisions, there are informal seminars within the College where students and Fellows meet to discuss general historical themes and problems. There is also the College’s History Society, the Maitland Society, which meets twice each term to hear speakers from within and outside Cambridge. These occasions, along with regular social gatherings throughout the year, make the study of History at Downing a collective as well as an individual process of discovery.

Who is History at Downing College looking for?

As a broadly-based humanities subject, History can be supported by wide range of subjects at A-level or equivalent. History applicants will normally have studied History at A-level, but beyond that there are no subject requirements. Another useful subject for the History degree is a foreign language. Downing College does not currently use an admissions test for History. Applicants receive two half-hour interviews on the same day, each with two interviewers. The interviews are an attempt to assess the nature, rather than limits, of your knowledge and interests. Both interviews are largely subject based, although more general questions may also be asked. In advance of interviews, we ask to see two examples of written work which you have produced during the course of your studies. Ideally these will be essays since study in History at Cambridge is largely essay-based. The submitted written work will provide some of the basis for discussion. In addition, prior to one of the interviews, you will be asked to read a short passage of historical writing which will provide some further basis for discussion. There is no need to bring material along to the interview.

Further advice about entry requirements and interviews for all subjects can be found in the Applying to Downing section of this site.

How can you find out more about subject?

Historical Association – the UK national charity for history

RHS | Royal Historical Society 

BBC - History: British History in-depth

Institute of Historical Research 

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