Entry requirements
A level
Standard offer: ABB Contextual offer: BBC Please visit: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/entry-requirements-qualifications/contextual-offers/ for more information about contextual offers.
Access to HE Diploma
Access to HE Diploma in Humanities, Humanities and Social Sciences, or Literary Studies. The 45 graded Level 3 credits must include at least 30 credits at Distinction and 15 at Merit or above. Additional written work may be required; please contact the Enquiries team for details. Mature students are welcome to contact [email protected] to check the suitability of their Access course.
Requirements for principal subjects are as for A-level, where D1/ D2 is A*, D3 is A, M1/ M2 is B, M3 is C.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
GCSE profiles: Standard numeracy requirement (4 or C in GCSE Mathematics or equivalent) and Standard literacy requirement (4 or C in GCSE English or equivalent) For more information: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/entry-requirements-qualifications/gcse/
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Standard offer: 32 points overall with 16 at Higher Level. Contextual offer: 29 points overall with 14 at Higher Level. Please visit: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/entry-requirements-qualifications/contextual-offers/ for more information about contextual offers.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
DDM in a relevant subject
Scottish Advanced Higher
Advanced Higher: AB
Scottish Higher
Standard Higher: AABBB
Requirements are as for A-levels where you can substitute a non-subject specific grade for the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate at that grade.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
Social policy provides an exciting opportunity to critically analyse contemporary social issues related to human wellbeing, inequality, disadvantage and crime. This course takes an international and comparative perspective in many units, ensuring social policy is considered in its global context.
First taught in 1974, our BSc Social Policy course is one of the longest-running social policy degrees in the country.
Social Policy at Bristol is rated second for the subject in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2020.
The first year introduces key concepts and ideologies and familiarises you with theoretical, comparative and historical analyses. It also develops your research skills as a social scientist.
Years two and three allow you to explore your interests in greater depth through a range of optional units which focus on contemporary real world political and social issues. Students may also choose a work placement option in the second year.
The final-year dissertation is an opportunity to choose a topic for in-depth investigation and independent work.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
University of Bristol
School for Policy Studies
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Social policy
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Sociology, social policy and anthropology
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
Just over 1,600 students graduated in social policy in 2015, which makes it one of the smaller social studies subjects. This is a popular subject at Masters level — 750 Masters in social policy were awarded last year - and so a lot of the more sought-after jobs in management and research tend to go to social policy graduates with postgraduate degrees. For those who leave university after their first degree, then jobs in social care (especially community and youth work) and education, the police, marketing and human resources and recruitment are popular — along with local government, although there are fewer of those jobs around than in the past. This degree is a bit less reliant on London for jobs than other similar subjects, so if you'd like to work outside the capital, it might be worth considering - although the jobs still tend to be in big cities.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Sociology, social policy and anthropology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£21k
£25k
£32k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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