Oxbridge help...(PLEASE!!)

Hi

I was wondering if anyone could give me a bit of advice here... I'm currently 16 years old (I don't need to be told that I don't need to be concerned with uni until next year, I like to plan ahead). I go to a northern grammar school and I'm about to finish my GCSEs with all predicted A's and A*'s with the exception of a B in Chemistry and an A/B in Maths.

Recently I've started to look into attending university at either Oxford or Cambridge. I like the PPE course at Oxford and the Human, Social, and Political Sciences course at Cambridge (albeit there are other courses for me to look into). I am doing English Lit, French, History and RE AS Levels, however I'm not sure which subject I will drop as I move into A2.

Thus far I'd say I have good grades and I work at quite a famous tea room which I hope will look good on my application. Would anyone be able to give me any advice about:

- their experience at Oxbridge
- any information they think I should know
- grades I should aim for
- which university, in their opinion, is better

Thanks!

Reply 1

The_Lonely_Goatherd

- I'd recommend Oxford to anyone intelligent enough/capable of applying. It was an incredible experience! :smile:

- For Oxford you'd having to sit the TSA. So you might wanna look into that :yes:

- Reach for the stars but AAA-A*AA (depending on which uni you apply to) as a minimum!
- I'd say you should look at how the courses differ and which course content/course structure/exam structure you think would suit you better :smile:

Good luck with your decision making! :h:

Reply 2

laaurenthompson

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

- I'd recommend Oxford to anyone intelligent enough/capable of applying. It was an incredible experience! :smile:

- For Oxford you'd having to sit the TSA. So you might wanna look into that :yes:

Good luck with your decision making! :h:

I didn't even think of applying until my Ethics teacher told me he went to both Oxford AND Cambridge - it inspired me to do some research. I'm more inclined towards Cambridge currently because of the economics component of PPE (maths has never been my strong point :s-smilie:

)

Thank you :colondollar:

Reply 3

x__justmyluck

They will not care where you work. Pick based on the course, the courses are the main difference between Oxford and Cambridge.

Reply 4

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Original post by laaurenthompson

)

Thank you :colondollar:

Cool well def do go on an open day and check out Cambridge and see whether you like the place. You can drop economics after the first year at Oxford but if you don't like maths, it might be easier to avoid it altogether :biggrin:

Reply 5

nexttime

Original post by laaurenthompson

)

Thank you :colondollar:

There is a decent amount of maths in economics, and also logic components of philosophy are fairly mathematical. History and maths are the only subjects described as 'useful' on the website, though they then go on to say how useful maths is and how you should consider doing the AS: http://www.ppe.ox.ac.uk/index.php/applying-for-ppe

Even in politics, sociology etc, you'll still have to handle statistics, but that's less than the calculus you'll need for economics. If maths is a concern, then that might be worth considering.