Can you get into Oxbridge with only 3 AS and 3 A2, but with the required grades?

I'm currently doing Maths, Further Maths, Economics and French for my AS and I'm 95% sure that I'm going to drop French next year. French A-LEVEL occupies most of my time and I don't have time to really go in depth for the subjects I'm interested which are the other 3 that I'm studying. Would my chances in getting into Oxbridge decrease if I drop to 3 AS?

I'm currently doing Maths, Further Maths, Economics and French for my AS and I'm 95% sure that I'm going to drop French next year. French A-LEVEL occupies most of my time and I don't have time to really go in depth for the subjects I'm interested which are the other 3 that I'm studying. Would my chances in getting into Oxbridge decrease if I drop to 3 AS?

To answer the question in the title, yes. To answer whether only doing 3 AS levels will harm your chances, the answer is possibly. Ultimately, quality is more important than quality - it definitely is possible to get in with just 3 AS levels, and exam results aren't the only thing factored into the decision, there are many other components of the admissions process. But obviously, someone doing excellently across 4 or 5 A2s will look more impressive than someone performing just as well across 3. So it's definitely still possible for you to get in, but obviously it's not an ideal situation. My biggest concern here is the simple fact that the reason why universities as competitive as Oxbridge like to see people doing more A Levels is because it indicates you'll be more likely to cope with their extremely high workload. If you're struggling with 4 AS levels, one could question whether that's possibly an indication that the workload at one of these institutions might be too much for you.

I understand your point, but I also read on the Cambridge's website that people doing more than 3 A-Levels are not more advantaged than people doing just 3 A-Levels. They said they are more interested for their applicants to go deep into their subjects and go beyond the curriculum rather than just do more A-Levels. In contrary to what you stated earlier I do not struggle with my 4 AS currently, but French A-Level prevents me from studying my other 3 A-Levels in depth. I would be able to do all 4, but a fear that I have is ending up not achieving the A's for the A-Levels that I want to study for year 13 because I got "greedy" if I may. Do you believe 1 extra A-Level is worth the risk? (Not a rhetorical question)

You will need 4 AS and 3 A levels, although many people do more than 3


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No, I don't think it's worth the risk, but I'm also not entirely convinced that dropping a fourth AS will help you go deeper into your subject. I'd accept that argument for someone deciding not to do 5 AS Levels which genuinely is a very big workload, but not really for someone deciding not to do 4 AS Levels. As I said, I don't think it'll have a big influence on your application but I'm still not convinced by what you're saying.

As one exception to that though, I don't think that they consider Maths + Further Maths + something else to be enough, because there is so much overlap between Maths and Further.

I am already fluent in 2 languages and my French is not too bad so I already have an advantage regarding knowledge of foreign languages.
Back to the point you were making, I can see why you may think 1 AS can't not prevent me from studying in depth for my other subjects, but studying a foreign language for AS is very time consuming. I get more homework for French than any of my other A-Levels added together. I feel like the workload is somewhat excessive for just 1 subject. I know that it's good in a way because it prepares me for the big amount of work I'll have to do for A2 and University, but as I said in my previous reply I fear not achieving them 3 A's.

What subject are you applying for?