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If I do an EPQ on a non-academic subject, is it still respected by universities?

I was thinking about doing my EPQ on video games because that’s what I enjoy to do in my free time however I wasn’t sure if this would be respected? I heard that universities prefer you to choose an academic subject that, preferably, links to your choice of degree. Can anyone help?
Original post by clarecassar
I was thinking about doing my EPQ on video games because that’s what I enjoy to do in my free time however I wasn’t sure if this would be respected? I heard that universities prefer you to choose an academic subject that, preferably, links to your choice of degree. Can anyone help?


I think its wise to link it to your degree, but not mandatory.

Whatever the subject you need to make sure your EPQ follows the specification and marks scheme. As long as it does, then you are golden.
You might miss the chance to look more focused in your ps or at an interview, but the subject you choose is fine.

If you want to talk about MarioKart, Call of Duty, Red dead redemption, then you can do so, but do it in an academic way.
Confused what you mean by "non-academic subject". Surely if you write about video games, you'd be doing it in relation to an academic field eg. economics, sociology, psychology, computer science etc.
There's plenty of ways to link video games to various academic subject areas and contexts. I'm skeptical whether you could do an EPQ (at all, much less whether it would be considered positively by universities) where you were just playing games, but I imagine you could do an artefact based EPQ where you created some small game or part of a game, or a more academic analytical approach looking at e.g. the economics and business of video games and gaming, or perhaps in different design methodologies or something.
Original post by _gcx
Confused what you mean by "non-academic subject". Surely if you write about video games, you'd be doing it in relation to an academic field eg. economics, sociology, psychology, computer science etc.

I suppose so. I just mean instead of doing an EPQ on history or physics for example.
Original post by artful_lounger
There's plenty of ways to link video games to various academic subject areas and contexts. I'm skeptical whether you could do an EPQ (at all, much less whether it would be considered positively by universities) where you were just playing games, but I imagine you could do an artefact based EPQ where you created some small game or part of a game, or a more academic analytical approach looking at e.g. the economics and business of video games and gaming, or perhaps in different design methodologies or something.

I would probably write an essay on video games. I thought about maybe the gender stereotypes when playing video games but I’m unsure currently.
Original post by clarecassar
I suppose so. I just mean instead of doing an EPQ on history or physics for example.

There's a lot of stuff you can do within those two though. You could do an EPQ on the history of video games, or exploring physics engines in games. It just has to be analytical and evaluative. Your idea of gender stereotypes above would tie into my sociology suggestion.

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