Successful PPE applicants

Well done! I got into balliol stressfully...I stupidly picked 3 heavy coursework subjects (English lot, history and biology) so my life is terrible at the moment! But, come exam season it'll pay off.

Interviews were mixed. The first one was absolutely terrible :' I left the room and banged my head against the wall! My interviewer made it his personal aim to get in every period of history that I've studied in the last 2 years and I ended up having to compare the importance of religion in the Wars of the Roses, the American Civil Rights Movement and the Hungarian uprising. My second one however was a beautiful experience. Tbh I think of given up by that point (rather than do any prep I watched the apprentice) so was just really relaxed and found that I really enjoyed it! Socially I met loads of great people and went to the pub a fair few times so from that aspect it was pretty good too

Why did you hate yours so much!!

Sorry Mr Anonymous I didn't mean to be so harsh.

Sorry I didn't realise my advice was that bad.

I think this exactly the kind of thing I'm warning you of. Saying there is 'no point' in applying without X amount of A*s is just bad advice. It's wrong, and is the kind of thing that I think is a reason for fewer non-public school students applying.

True about the A levels, though. You need AAA predictions, and it will be hard to get in if you miss your offer.

About the A levels. Make sure you know what specific units you will study. Probably everything is interesting up to a point, but, say, I would probably not have picked English Lit if I'd know I would be doing First World War poetry. Funnily enough, I wish I had chosen Maths. The rest are all good, Econ was the best decision I ever made, my history units are perfect, and politics fits in with it all really nicely. But, again, if I was studying Henry VIII or something instead of post-war England at History, it wouldn't all go so nicely together.

So check what you would be studying, and smash loads of past papers. Cause getting good UMS at AS definitely takes off the pressure at A2. Which in itself is kind of worrying, cause pressure is good! And just read around your subject. Have opinions, ideas on different things.

Yeah, got an offer for History and Politics, and GCSEs are 9 A* and an A.

92% of people who do PPE at oxford have Maths... 28% even have Further maths
If you want a chance you gotta do maths

Sorry Mr Anonymous I didn't mean to be so harsh.

I will definitely not be doing maths for A levels. Are these real statistics or an opinion. I have read an article where a lady has asked Oxford for A level statistics and Maths did come up as top for PPE applicants but after that followed History, Economics, English literature and Politics which are my chosen A levels so doesn't that give me an advantage ?


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9A* 1A !! That's extremely good. I'm predicted 8A* 1A. I know they say that GCSEs aren't really the decider for an offer but let's say I get no A stars and straight As. Would I have a big disadvantage. I know that medicine requires a lot of A stars but what would you say is a good number for PPE at Oxford ? Thanks.


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Yeah mate don't get me wrong....it's good that you're aiming to smash your GCSEs, and I'm sure you will. Just don't stress if you don't get straight A*s, and never lose site of other bits of the application, which will turn out to be more important.

What's your opinion on me not doing Maths for A levels ? It's not that I hate maths or that I'm not good at it ( predicted A star) but I just really want to do these subjects and don't really want to do A level maths.


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Well I think said that actually I regretted not taking maths instead of Lit actually.

It comes down to what you like, and there's no point doing maths if you're gonna hate it. Couple of things: I wish I'd done maths to break up the essay subjects. Its a different way of learning altogether, which I kind of like. Second, lots of unis insist on maths - PPE at LSE for example. So check out your other choices too. Also, apparently Econ gets really mathsy at uni, so if you're not a big fan of maths, maybe you wouldn't like your degree. And finally, if therefore you dropped Econ in second year at Ox, you're left with P and P. Do you like Philosophy? That's why history and politics is better

I can still change a subject. What would you recommend to drop in favour of maths?


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Hmmm. I'll have to think about it now. Do LSE require an A star in A level maths from everyone or only if you want to retain Econ and Politics.


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I don't understand. Are you joking ? I genuinely wanted to thank you for your advice.


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Sorry I took it the wrong way. I am genuinely embarrassed now please accept my apologies?

It's fine. I'm genuinely quite happy for you for getting into Oxford despite the problems that you had. 👏👏👏👏👏

Did you think that I was being sarcastic ?🤔🤔🤔


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Yes, sorry you have to understand I have MH issues and read into things and see stuff that isn't there. Sorry.