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How to become a Humanities & Social Sciences

Broad degrees in languages, politics, history and sociology that open many doors.

What does a Humanities & Social Sciences actually do?

More about this career

Covers languages, politics, history, sociology, media and more – genuinely broad, and what it leads to depends almost entirely on your choice of majors, electives and what you do alongside the degree (internships, writing, research). It’s a common springboard into further postgraduate study (law, an Honours year) rather than one single defined career. If psychology or journalism is specifically what draws you, see those career pages instead – they have their own, more specific routes.

Where this degree can take you

  • Policy Researcher
  • NGO Programme Officer
  • Public Servant
  • Translator / Editor

This is our general description of the role and related jobs, not from an official source – it’s here to give you a fuller picture, not as a careers-counselling guarantee.

Not from an official source

Subjects that usually help

  • English (strong)
  • History, Geography or a language (helpful)

This is our general guidance about which school subjects suit this career. It is not an admission requirement and not from an official source – the real requirements are on the degrees below.

Not from an official source

Where to check this yourself

Degrees that lead here

8 degrees at 8 universities. More are added as we verify them.

Rhodes University

BA / BSS

Humanities · 3 years

Rhodes points 45 points

  • English: 60% if it is your Home Language, 65% if it is your First Additional Language
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)

Rhodes points of 34-44 are considered at the Dean’s discretion; 45 or more receives a provisional offer. We show 45 as the qualifying number so that "you qualify" means exactly that - but you are still worth an application from 34. Rhodes has no Engineering and no MBChB. The NBT is recommended, not required. Life Orientation is not scored, but you need at least 50% in it.

Source: View the official page (ru.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Stellenbosch University

Selection programme

BA Humanities

Arts & Social Sciences · 3 years

Stellenbosch aggregate 63 %

  • Home Language – Home Language at 50%.
  • First Additional Language – First Additional Language at 40%.

Every Stellenbosch programme is a selection programme. The figures shown are the published minimum requirements - the actual selection threshold is usually higher.

Source: View the official page (files.su.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Cape Town

Not fully verified

BA / BSocSc

Humanities · 3 years

No points cut-off published for this one – see the note below.

  • English: 50% if it is your Home Language, 60% if it is your First Additional Language
  • Life Orientation: 50%
  • NBT – An NBT Academic Literacy result of Lower Intermediate or Basic normally rules an applicant out.
  • Major-specific – An Economics major needs Maths 60%. A Psychology major needs Maths 50% or a Proficient NBT Quantitative Literacy result.

The subject requirements here are confirmed from the UCT 2027 prospectus, but the numeric FPS cut-off was in the section of the PDF our research pass could not read. We will not show a points number we have not seen on an official page.

Source: View the official page (uct.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Johannesburg

Partly verified

Bachelor of Arts

Humanities

UJ APS 27 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language

UJ does not state a duration on this page. This figure was read from the search-engine index of the official UJ programme page rather than from the full page, and UJ’s 2027 prospectus PDF could not be fetched. Confirm it on the UJ page before you rely on it.

Source: View the official page (uj.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of KwaZulu-Natal

From an older document

BA / BSocSc (General Studies)

Humanities · 3 years

UKZN APS 28 points out of 48

  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)
  • One listed subject – One subject from UKZN’s designated list at level 5.

The published APS range is 48-28. This comes from the Study@UKZN 2026 brochure, the most recent official source we could find. UKZN had not published a 2027 table when we checked, so treat these as 2026 figures pending a 2027 update. Applications go through the CAO.

Source: View the official page (studyatukzn.ukzn.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of Pretoria

University of South Africa

Partly verified

BA (choose two majors, e.g. Psychology & Economics)

Human Sciences

Unisa APS 20 points

  • English: 50%

Unisa’s BA (qualification code 99311) is published as roughly 200 separate major-pair combinations, all sharing this same APS and admission requirement - Psychology & Economics is shown here as one representative example; search Unisa’s qualification list for your own preferred major pair. NSC with Bachelor’s Degree endorsement required. Maximum 8 years to complete. Confirmed current for the 2027 intake: Unisa’s own pages state its 2027 application window as 17 August - 9 October 2026.

Source: View the official page (unisa.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of the Witwatersrand

From an older document

BA (General)

Humanities · 3 years

Wits APS 36 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language

This figure comes from the Wits schools-liaison Grade 12 guide, which is headed for 2026 entry. We have not yet found a 2027 course-finder page confirming it, so treat it as the most recent official figure rather than a confirmed 2027 one.

Source: View the official page (wits.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Are your marks enough?

Put your subjects in once and we’ll check them against every degree above – scored each university’s own way.

What do I qualify for?