A-Level Subject advice for doing PPE at Oxford

Hi,
I am interested in doing Philosophy,Politics and Economics at Oxford and I want to do the following A-Levels:

1)History
2)Religious Studies (Philosophy and Ethics)
3)Chemistry
4)Maths
5)French (-I am only doing this because I speak fluent French already so its an easy 5th A)

My worries are that although I enjoy chemistry it might not be relevant to the course. True? Would English Lit be better?

Also, I am not sure if RS is a respected subject...?

Reply 1

Medea91

A friend of mine that was studying French, Chemistry, English Language and Psychology got an interview with Oxford but didnt get a place mainly due to the fact that other students were taking subjects like:
History
French
Economics
Maths
Possibly English Literature

Reply 2

elieshout

As long as you do Maths and at least one essay-based subject, you're fine. So Maths, History and any other one would be okay. Although I'm not 100% how much they like Religious Studies in terms of how hard it is to get an A, but if you take two others that's not a problem at all; they want at least three 'hard' options. Don't worry about Chem not being relevant, it's a hard subject, so being able to do it just shows your intelligence. I'd advise you to do some reading about Politics and Economics for interviews, just to have some basic knowledge.

Reply 3

Kalliope

Would economics be good? But I reckon chemistry is ok otherwise cos its so respected!

Reply 4

Bezzler

That's probably fine - history and maths are the two important ones. Further maths would be useful, in that you might struggle without it (all the PPEists I know find the maths really difficult), but it's not completely necessary.

Reply 5

Lucible

Maths and History are the important ones. And I think Religious Studies is a 'hard' enough subject so wouldn't worry about that, the Philosophy involved is fairly challenging. Are you very good at Maths? Further Maths might be an option? Chemistry shouldn't be an issue if thats what you enjoy. English Literature MIGHT be preferable but I don't think it'll make a huge difference.
But whatever you do, make sure History and maths are taken.

Reply 6

DaveJ

Maths, Further Maths, History, Economics is what I would do for that. Maths and History because Oxford say they are useful, Further Maths because the course is rather mathematical and further maths is very desired for economics courses.

Reply 7

Fat-Love

change RE to english lit and possibly consider changing French to further maths or economics as you can boast about being fluent in French in your ps so therefore having a French A level won't seem as siginificant once they know that.

Reply 8

Ray_Han

I think that's a very good combination. You could swap chemistry for further maths or economics, but it's not necessary. Someone got in from my school without either of those two, he took the same combination as you but with eng lit instead of chem and no RS.

Reply 9

BJack

123chocolat123

My worries are that although I enjoy chemistry it might not be relevant to the course. True? Would English Lit be better?

Your proposed subjects are fine. I just wonder why you think English Lit would be more relevant than chemistry. :s-smilie: