I know this is a very important question for applicants. Unfortunately the short, unhelpful answer is “it depends”. I say something about this in the email you get from us when we receive your application. But let me try a longer answer…

My selection process operates under two important constraints. The first is that I have a limited number of places, and I can’t give out a set of offers that would lead to over-recruitment. So, things are competitive: it matters how many people are applying, and how strong their applications are. This year, by the way, our applications are up (and for P+E and GEUS, massively so).

The second constraint is that everyone who applies before the UCAS deadline must receive equal consideration: I have to treat all these applicants fairly. Now, please don’t get the sense that this feels like a constraint for me at all – I’m not itching to treat you unfairly, until some dastardly rule stops me. Fairness is my day job, and it should be the first rule of all social institutions. But it does mean I give out offers later than I might otherwise. Suppose I offer a place to a reasonably strong candidate – good predicted grades, decent personal statement – in late November. I am bound by fairness to be sure I can make the same offer to a candidate of equal merit who applies right on the UCAS deadline.

Combine these two constraints, and you can see why I can’t give everyone an offer straight away. I have to be cautious and be sure I only give out offers that I could give, fairly, to all applicants of equal merit. The closer you are to my likely cut-off point, and the stronger the competition, the longer you might have to wait (of course, it also matters when you apply, how long it takes me to get to your form, and how quickly we process the offer onto UCAS).

So, the final decisions for some will have to wait until after the UCAS deadline: it’s only then that I get an accurate picture of the whole field. The latest you’ll hear from us will be the start of February. Every decision I can fairly and safely make before then, I will.

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).