English
English at Churchill is a thriving and sociable literary community, to which we aim to admit able and enthusiastic undergraduates each year. Much of the teaching and supervision is provided by the College’s Fellows. Other teaching is exchanged with Fellows of other colleges, or given by advanced doctoral students, so that your individual interests can be developed through working with subject specialists. Your Director of Studies would discuss with you the overall shape of your deepening intellectual and literary commitments.
“I have only been at university for one term, but I am already loving studying English. My supervisors and Director of Studies at Churchill have been so supportive and welcoming, and have sparked some fascinating conversations about literature already. Churchill College is a great place to study because of its friendly, unpretentious and relatively relaxed environment – and in many ways it is lovely to be located a little bit further out from the busyness of the centre of town, whilst still being only a short bike ride away from my lectures.”
– Annabel, first-year student
“I applied directly to Churchill and I think that one of the great strengths about studying English here is that Churchill is a STEM College: it encourages you to make friends outside of the subject, both from within and without the Humanities! Some of your best ideas come out of contrasts with what you become used to, and English studies as a whole is moving into an exciting new phase of interdisciplinary practice; Churchill really fosters that kind of cross-fertilisation and I’m very thankful for it.”
– Jack, third-year student
Entry Requirements
Churchill College’s standard A Level offer in English is A*A*A. For IB, our standard offer is 43 points overall with 777 at Higher Level.
To apply to this course, you need either:
- A Level/IB Higher Level (or an equivalent qualification) in English Literature; or
- A level (or the equivalent) in English Literature and Language
For more information on this course, see the University course page: English, BA (Hons) | Undergraduate Study
If you are taking other qualifications, please see the following University webpage for equivalent entry requirements: Check which qualifications we accept | Undergraduate Study
Admissions Assessment
All candidates who apply to the English course are required to take an admissions assessment if they are invited to interview.
You can find more information about this assessment on the University webpage: College admission assessments | Undergraduate Study
Written Work
You will need to submit 2 pieces of written work. both from English, one preferably on Shakespeare. Ideally, each piece should be 1500 to 2000 words in length.
For more information on written work, see the University webpage: Written work and portfolios | Undergraduate Study
In preparation for interview
You will be asked to provide a single sheet with a list of your literary reading from outside school/college over the last year to discuss at interview. You may also include works of literary criticism, literary history, and literary theory.
Director of Studies
Dr Andrew Taylor
Careers
Recent Churchill graduates have pursued careers in (amongst others) comedy script-writing and performance, law, teaching, social policy, international journalism, accountancy, the Civil Service, BBC radio, with others continuing to postgraduate studies in English, but also Psychology and Theology. In short, the highly developed powers of critical analysis, persuasive argument and stylish exposition acquired through studying English at Cambridge will provide an excellent basis for your next steps.
Studying English at Churchill College
English is one of the most popular degree subjects in the UK. Students find studying it enormously interesting and intellectually rewarding, and the skills it helps to foster are greatly sought after by top employers in many fields. Cambridge has one of the world’s great English faculties, and we care very much about attracting the best and brightest students from any background and from anywhere in the world.
The Cambridge English course is unique for combining full historical coverage with the chance to specialise and develop your own interests. In the first two years of your degree, you cover the full historical sweep of literature written in the English language from the medieval period to the present day. In your third year you have the freedom to pursue the interests you have developed, by choosing from a range of specialist topics and undertaking independent, guided research on topics of your own devising. The course embraces all literature written in the English language, which means that you can study American and postcolonial literatures alongside British literatures throughout; there are also options to specialise in either or both of these areas in your third year, and to study literature in other languages. The course also embraces all genres and periods, including writing by, for example, philosophers and essayists, as well as the more traditional genres of poetry, prose, and drama.
The course is divided into two parts. The first part gives you a strong foundational knowledge of literature across the centuries. The second allows you to explore your own interests in more depth. Manifold approaches flourish here – for example, in poetic and aesthetic theory, in postcolonial writing in English, in Renaissance texts as ‘material’ objects, in film and its links to literature – and we do not encourage any single method. Instead, we hope to instil in you the confidence to undertake self-directed study and develop unique and original approaches of your own. You will be encouraged to define your own questions, and to go about answering them using the analytical and intellectual resources you have developed.
Full course details are provided on the Department’s Prospective Undergraduates webpage and the University’s Undergraduate Study webpage.
You may also be interested in:
