Questions about a Bachelor of PPE

Hi, I will be a prospective PPE undergrad this year, and I hope my answers help. Though I'll be doing it at Oxford, I'll tailor my answers so it gears towards a PPE degree at other UK unis (e.g. York, Durham...)


1. What are some high paying jobs (earning six figures, millions, etc) that can be done by a Bachelor of PPE graduate?

Finance sector related jobs, esp Investment Banking.


2. What should I be good at if I want to succeed in a Bachelor of PPE?

A good grounding in Maths should help, alongside a good grasp of fundamental economic principles. Wider philosophical reading and familiarity with common topics such as epistemology, ethics, metaphysics would be good.

3. What type of people are best suited for the Bachelor of PPE?

The above, plus an interest and aptitude in the 3 branches

4. The Bachelor of PPE seems to have everything I love in it but I'm also interested in a Bachelor of Economics. If I had to choose one or the other, which should I choose and why?

Hahah though it would be cool, I can't read your mind- this is something you have to discover for yourself.

xx

xx

Tony Abbott, your prime minister, did PPE.

In business circles though, is there anyone who did PPE who is earning millions of dollars/pounds now? If there is anyone, how did the skills they learnt in PPE help them?

Yes, of course there are. There are also people earning ludicrous amounts of money who did law, computer science, chemistry, history, English... People earning $$$ generally aren't doing so because they did a degree that taught them a secret handshake; they're highly motivated and willing to work a lot to achieve things. Maybe PPE attracts a lot of that sort of person – it certainly seems to at Oxford.

Hi there,

I'm currently at uni in Aus. Firstly, Tony Abbott did PPE at Oxford.

Secondly, it's a bit different studying PPE in the UK as it is here- as you said, PPE is not very well-known. I didn't even know it was offered here. My uni (unimelb) offers it as an undergraduate subject. Were you thinking of doing it at ANU?

You could probably find a high-paying job eventually from doing PPE but I think you'd be far more likely to do so if it was from, say, Oxford and you were going to live in the UK. If you're interested in a six-figure income I think you'd be better off doing a bachelor of Finance/Economics/Commerce and doing P+P as your breadth subjects out of interest. This is definitely possible at unimelb. You could also do a BA Economics major and do even more breadth subjects and then do postgraduate studies in Finance or Commerce.

My dad works a lot in recruitment and we were talking about me potentially doing Finance. He's of the view that Economics here is seen as less practical than it might be in the UK and so you'd be better off doing Finance or Commerce as it'll give you a better rounded perspective on Finance and better vocational training for a job in these fields which is what employers are typically interested in (as opposed to UK education which seems to be much more focused on academia than vocational preparation/prospects).

Does that help at all?

Hi,

Yes I was thinking about doing PPE at ANU, La Trobe also offers PPE. My plan was to do a Bachelor of PPE and then an Honours in Economics. What do you think about that idea?

the Bachelor of PPE is mostly unknown in Australia since only 2 universities offer the course. I decided to ask my questions here instead since I know many people on TSR are familiar with the Bachelor of PPE!

I'm also interested in a Bachelor of Economics.

I very much doubt they are as there is no such degree in the UK as far as I am aware. If you want to study PPE in Britain it will be called a BA. Is it likely you can't find many such courses in Australia because they are generally called BAs there too?

The same comment applies. There is no such degree. In the UK it would be a BA or BSc in economics.

They would surely know what OP means: BA PPE or a BA Economics.

And, no, they're right; PPE as a degree is very rare in Australia. There probably are only two universities that offer it. I know only one of the main universities in my state offers it.