For the last two years, the politics and international relations track has given me the opportunity to study the politics of the modern world and a cross section of the centuries of philosophy that underpin it. This year, from a selection of every major region, I chose to focus on the Middle East, and the course has given a real insight into topics that seem to be more often discussed than understood, like the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War.
From supervisors through to my Director of Studies, I think the staff here have really found the balance between giving us time and pushing us to our potential, and going through the course with a tight knit group of Jesus Human, Social, and Political Sciences students has made it all the better.
Studying Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS) at Jesus is great, as the relatively large intake creates a really supportive group within College. The course itself is diverse, allowing you to study everything from power politics to the psychology of free will. Taking four subjects in part one means you gain experience of several different disciplines before deciding where to specialise.
Studying Education has enabled me to study a broad range of interests within the parameters of my degree. From black feminist theory, to discussing what exactly it means to be 'educated', I have been fortunate enough to explore these areas in depth. The Education Tripos enables students to combine varying interests and passions into a single, well structured, and hugely enjoyable University degree.
English at Cambridge encourages you to think differently right from the start, to experiment as much as you can, and find your own interests within the subject. Before I applied, I was anxious about the course being too rigid and ‘traditional’. But I’ve been able to write about things I’d never even considered before - food on stage, tennis in literature, a comparison between the TV show True Detective and Shakespeare. It helps being at a College like Jesus, where the arts play such a central role in College life...
My favourite thing about Jesus is its welcoming community, and the plethora of societies on offer for all abilities and interests. Despite never having picked up an oar in my life, I was welcomed right away into ÌÀÍ·ÌõÔ´´ Boat Club and I’ve found a new passion for rowing! My best Cambridge memory so far is taking part in the ‘Bumps’ rowing race in first year, which was an absolutely exhilarating experience. I chose Natural Sciences because I loved studying both Biology and Chemistry at A Level, and found myself...
I chose Linguistics at ÌÀÍ·ÌõÔ´´, having really enjoyed English Language at A-Level, because I wanted to study topics like child language acquisition and the history of the English language in greater depth. The Linguistics course more than lived up to my expectations; there are so many more areas to study than you realise when you first apply. I especially enjoyed conducting my own experiments in the phonetics lab – it was great to be able to learn practical, as well as theoretical, aspects of Linguistics. My final year dissertation...
