In Politics here, we do accept General Studies: you can use it to fulfil whatever offer we give you (apart from a few very rare instances). Now, I know that not everywhere does this, so here’s a quick explanation of why we do:

First, my predecessor in this role (who ran a far better blog than I’m going to 🙂 ) ran the numbers: applicants who come here with general studies tend to do well, or especially well, on our degree programmes – interestingly, there’s a stronger correlation than for students who have done Politics at A-level.

Second, there are some plausible reasons for this. General studies tests relevant skills – your ability to write well, think critically, and analyse a question or problem. Plus, at least if general studies is similar to when I did it back in 1992(!), it also tests relevant knowledge: notably, background knowledge of world geography, history and current affairs will come in handy on our politics programmes.

Third, these are skills and knowledge that not every applicant gets a chance to demonstrate elsewhere. We know that not every school or college offers Politics, and that not everyone who chooses politics at University chooses it – or other humanities and social sciences – at A level (and so we don’t require it).