Should I take four A-levels to get into Oxbridge?

Do you think taking four A-levels will be more beneficial than three and an EPQ, or will it be too much work?

I want to take English Lit, Spanish, and Geography for A-level and either an EPQ or Economics as a fourth. My school doesn't offer AS levels so I would have to do Economics for the full two years, which is obviously a lot of work. Economics is a subject that really interests me, and although I don't want to study it at university (I want to do something related to politics) I think the knowledge would be really useful, and it isn't really covered by my other A-Levels. I'm predicted all 8-9s at GCSE, and a 9 in all the subjects I'm taking (other than Economics since I didn't take it at GCSE) and I am aiming to get into Oxbridge. I also have quite a few extra curriculars, I play two instruments, I am on a debating team and in a choir and orchestra. Do you think taking four A-levels will be more beneficial than three and an EPQ, or will it be too much work?

Oxbridge don't care at all about your extracurriculars however the debating stuff might be useful for politics. I'm unsure what you want to apply to so I can't comment on whether or not 4 will be useful or not. Without A-level maths you can't really do PPE at Oxford though.

This isn't quite right. Oxford and Cambridge do care about extra-curriculars when they're clearly relevant to the course you want to study. As you say yourself, debating is an extra curricular which could be relevant.

Oxbridge doesn't care about extra-curriculars where they're done a mechanistic, treadmill approach purely to gain more perceived extra 'points' - think DofE, digging wells in Africa etc etc. Above all, you need to demonstrate deep and wide interest in your subject - that can be done by typical extra-curriculars, or by other pursuits.

yeah I'm pretty sure we refer to those as supercurriculars now. At least that's what Oxbridge does.

Supercurriculars = extra study beyond the A level syllabus - see https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/super-curricular_suggestions.pdf

Extracurriculars = hobbies. Not worth including in an Oxbridge PS - they want academic above all else.

No UK University wants more than 3 A levels - and you wont get an extra credit for taking more than 3.
Four A levels is hard work and it isnt worth the risk of messing up the grades in your other subjects - AAA will always look better than ABBB.

An EP is worth doing. It gives you an obvious topic to discuss in your PS, gives you experience of doing independent work, and will help your self-confidence.

Just thought I'd mention that I added a little bit at the end of my personal statement about the music I've been involved in (instruments, choirs+orchestras etc) despite being a Modern Languages applicant and I still got an offer - in fact, I was asked in one of my interviews to explain, in French, why I had chosen to play the viola instead of the violin! My reasoning was that I wanted to demonstrate that I would be an active member of the musical life of the college; maybe this was a mistake on my part but my interviewers definitely didn't seem to mind.

Thanks for that, I guess I should still mention the music that I've been involved in but put more emphasis on any other extra-curriculars that directly relate to my degree