History

Last updated: 9ย months, 2ย weeks ago


A flexible and fascinating course which allows for individual specialisation from your first year, based on specific areas of interest.

Course Resources

Here are some general resources related to History.

Overview

Overview ๐Ÿ”— This is the History section of the University undergraduate prospectus. The most important information about the course is here, including entry requirements, course structure, and prerequisites.

Faculty website ๐Ÿ”— This is the official Faculty webpage for prospective undergraduates, which links to various resources. The most important of them is the course overview ๐Ÿ”— ๐ŸŒŸ, which gives a general overview of what studying History at Cambridge is like.

Unofficial prospectus ๐Ÿ”— This is an unofficial prospectus put together by the Cambridge University Student Union; itโ€™s written based on studentsโ€™ perspectives and gives a better sense of what the day-to-day experience as a History student is like, compared to official materials.

More things to explore

Virtual Classroom ๐Ÿ”— If you want to improve your skills of analysis, working through the exercises on the Cambridge University virtual classroom is also a good idea. It includes exercises aimed at improving your ability to engage with and respond to primary and secondary sources. Definitely worth a look, especially as sources can come up in interviews, and are the basis for the pre-interview assessment. The Virtual Classroom also includes suggested general reading from the Faculty, and links to other useful resources.

History Faculty podcasts ๐Ÿ”— These Cambridge History Faculty Podcasts are a great opportunity to hear from some top academics, and explore history on the go.

Studying History at Trinity College, Cambridge ๐Ÿ”— ๐ŸŒŸ A great interview with Dr Richard Serjeantson, lecturer in History - useful whether you're considering applying to Trinity or not!

One element of the Cambridge History course focuses on historical argument and practice within historiography. In preparation for this, it might be useful to think about questions like:

  • Who gets to write history? (e.g. in the ancient, medieval world, early modern, and 20th โ€“ 21st century worlds - who was/is now writing histories? Think in terms of gender, race, social status and education, geographical location, etc.)
  • How has history been written in the past and how do historians write history today? (e.g. by artificially splitting the past up into ancient, medieval, modern etc.; cultural history โ€“ looking less at traditional sources than at sources like fashion or food; Marxist history and Whig history โ€“ think grand narratives!; social history, economic history, intellectual history, international and transnational history, political histories, histories for the public โ€“ think Mary Beard documentaries or even โ€˜Horrible Histories!โ€™ or historical fiction โ€“ how are the publicโ€™s ideas about the past formed and do historians have a responsibility towards the public?)
  • What do historians write about today? (e.g. gender, race, time, memory, power, religion, quantification, migration, revolutions, nations, states, the environment, oceans, the global, empires, different types of primary sources โ€“ artefacts, literary, art, music etc.)

Historical Argument and Practice reading list ๐Ÿ”—

Application Resources

Example interview video ๐Ÿ”— This mock interview includes students for Geography, Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS), Medicine and Natural Sciences (Physical); HSPS has some overlap with this History course

InsideUni History interview experiences ๐Ÿ”— ๐ŸŒŸ Current students talk about their interview experience, as well as sharing some tips. Weโ€™re biased, but we think theyโ€™re useful!