Oxford Physics and Philosophy Students and Applicants

Well, that's it: The matura doesn't let you take specific subjects: you just get a general instruction, that's why it's so recognized. Anyway it would be 5/6, 'cause 6 is the highest reachable mark.

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Thanks, enough admissions for now, I'll email them and they'll tell me -- no reason for posting here pointless if I only have to mail

So, is there anyone who actually does the PhysPhil course? What's your impression of it? Poppyxx, you said: "My friend is doing Physics and Philosophy and he loves it... " Is there a way to contact him?

I've only had one year's experience, it's alright, there's a lot of bull**** involved but then... you get to miss out labs, circuits, optics and other painful things. Overall I wouldn't say it's harder than straight physics, but straight physics is pretty ****ing hard itself, harder than the vasty majority of subjects

One thing I would say- almost ALL the philosophy you do is philosophy of science until later on in the degree, and even then there's quite a lot of it compulsory

So, you'd say: Oxford for continental philosophy = no no?

You are not permitted to omit certificated GCSE results from your UCAS application.

Hi, what are the options for philosophy like on the physics and philosophy course at Oxford? I know the emphasis is on metaphysics and the philosophy of science but I am also interested in ethics and political philosophy. Would the course allow for me to study those topics without hindering the amount of physics that I would study? Would I potentially be able to have enough physics knowledge to go on to a postgrad degree in physics and have enough philosophy knowledge to go on to research say ethics or political philosophy? (clearly I would have to choose between the two after the degree) or would that not be viable?

gosh, i'm amazed. and i thought we were in a fee country. in the section on interests do you think one day they'll force people to admit to having once had an interest in morris dancing!?

You're right that the emphasis is mostly on what you described, though there is still room for option later on in the degree. You don't get any choice in the first year, that involves quite heavy amounts of logic, then also introduction to philosophy which involves general philosophy (brief overview of topics in metaphysics and epistemology) and a study of the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence which is philosophy of physics.

In second year there are no philosophy exams, although you start studying for the ones in third year. It is compulsary to take a philosophy of science paper and intermediate philosophy of physics, so this makes things quite science-heavy. You also have a compulsary unit in which you must decide between a more text-based approach (history of philosophy from Descartes to Kant), or a more analytic approach (Knowledge and Reality). In your third year you can study a free option of anything you want (including ethics) but this is a choice between doing that and physics papers (I am waiting to eagerly to be able to be done with physics!).

Fourth year is where you get the real choice though, I think it's 3 papers, and you have complete free choice between physics and philosophy (meaning that you can drop one entirely), so there's your chance to specialise/do the topics you find interesting. You can easily go into postgrad for either subject, although I think if you want to be a physicist they would recommend you specialise in that in your fourth year, just so that you've covered a bit more.

I hope that's helpful!

You're entirely free to fail or pass any qualifications you enter. To say that, somehow, being forced to reveal your full academic record to an institution whose entry criteria are based on that record somehow makes you "unfree" is absurd on its face.

Would I potentially be able to have enough physics knowledge to go on to a postgrad degree in physics

i don't think so. surely the important thing is that you satisfy the criteria, that is if they ask for A and B, you deliver A and B.
what i object to is them wanting to bar you for having also done C. why should your failings be important. when the guy wins the olympic gold medal, the fact he might have done rubbish at the egg and spoon race when he was at primary school is of no importance.

Just a heads up for anyone interested:

I heard over breakfast today that the Physics & Philosophy course is NO LONGER accredited by the Institute of Physics.

( You can check the list of accredited courses here, at the bottom of the page:
http://www.iop.org/education/higher_education/accreditation/page_43310.html )

I'm not sure what the practical consequences of this is, but it's not insignificant. The Institute of Physics is *the* professional organisation for working Physicists.