Got a uni question? Find your answer now on The Student Room.

University of Sheffield

UCAS Code: LL34 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Entry requirements

A level

A,B,B

Access to HE Diploma

D:30,M:15,P:0

Award of Access to HE Diploma in a relevant subject, with 45 credits at Level 3, including 30 at Distinction and 15 at Merit

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

33

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H2,H2,H2,H2,H3,H3

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DD

in a relevant subject + B at A Level

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DDD

in a relevant subject

Scottish Higher

A,A,A,B,B

Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (last awarded Summer 2024)

B

+ AB at A Level

UCAS Tariff

128-153

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2025

Subjects

Social policy

Sociology

**If you have an interest in debates surrounding social justice, fairness and equality, or just want the opportunity to learn more about areas of health, welfare, income, labour and migration, then the Sociology with Social Policy BA could be for you.**

**Use sociological theories to examine social inequalities, and challenge issues and prevailing governmental ideas.**

Sociology with social policy at Sheffield is the study of bringing about change in society, particularly through policy making. This practical, applied dimension of the degree is what makes it different from pure sociology.

This cutting-edge discipline combines research techniques and information retrieval, along with presentation and analytical skills – encouraging you to develop a deeper understanding of contemporary societal issues such as inequality, health, welfare, income, labour and migration.

In your final year, you’ll complete your own research project on one of these issues – demonstrating how to use theoretical frameworks and methodological tools to investigate the biggest challenges of our time.

**Why study this course?**
- **Learn from people making real change** - academics use their current research to inform new and upcoming policy. For example, world expert on ageing, Dr Liam Foster's research has been referenced by political parties and international bodies. And Dr Ysabel Gerrard's research into how young people use and experience social media has been involved in a ground-breaking new policy change for Instagram.

- **Variety, choice and flexibility** - ‘sociological studies’ encompasses sociologists, social policy analysts, social workers and digital society experts under one roof. This means your optional modules will stretch your mind and your abilities, and bring you into contact with students from a range of other courses such as digital media and society, journalism and education, to name a few.

- **Greater employability** - a dedicated module in third year – 'Value of Sociology' – helps students understand the transferable skills gained from the degree, which can be applied in a range of careers.

- **You are the focus** - student reps, student voice week and our ambassadors all shape how our department runs. The Sociology Society, or SocSoc, is a group of students that organise a variety of social events including an annual ball, plus volunteering initiatives, and socials across the year, as well as dedicated learning support for students in the department.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

England
£9,535
per year
International
£23,810
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,535
per year
Scotland
£9,535
per year
Wales
£9,535
per year

The Uni

Course location:

University of Sheffield

Department:

Sociological Studies

Read full university profile

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.

81%
Social policy
71%
Sociology

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

87%
Staff make the subject interesting
91%
Staff are good at explaining things
94%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
80%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

82%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
86%
Course specific equipment and facilities
73%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

87%
UK students
13%
International students
24%
Male students
76%
Female students
92%
2:1 or above
5%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
B
B

Sociology

Teaching and learning

84%
Staff make the subject interesting
85%
Staff are good at explaining things
90%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
73%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

84%
Library resources
91%
IT resources
87%
Course specific equipment and facilities
65%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

73%
UK students
27%
International students
24%
Male students
76%
Female students
87%
2:1 or above
8%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
B
B

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.

Social policy

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.

£17,264
med
Average annual salary
95%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

16%
Legal associate professionals
11%
Welfare and housing associate professionals
9%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

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.

Sociology

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.

£16,654
low
Average annual salary
97%
med
Employed or in further education
50%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

18%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
9%
Welfare and housing associate professionals
8%
Public services and other associate professionals

We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Social policy

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£23k

£23k

£29k

£29k

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.

Sociology

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£23k

£23k

£29k

£29k

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.

Explore these similar courses...

Higher entry requirements
place
Durham University | Durham
Sociology
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2025
UCAS Points: 136-160
Nearby University
place
University of Leeds | Leeds
Social Science
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time 2025
UCAS Points: -
Same University
place
University of Sheffield | Sheffield
Sociology
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2025
UCAS Points: 128-153

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here