Which colleges are strong in PPE?

Hey, I'm a prospective student(for 2007 entry) wanting to study PPE in Oxford.

So yeah, i want to study PPE and I was wondering which colleges in Oxford are strong/ renown for PPE. I've heard that Bailiol was good one, but what about Magdalen or Merton??

Also is there any prefered A level subjects? I'm in lower Sixth now and is studying;
Maths, English, History, French, Chemistry n Critical Thinking. And at the moment I'm expected As in all of them ( at the moment!~~ dat is). I know that you need reeli good grades to get into Oxford so I'm kind of worried.
And do they expect a lot of extra curriculum activities? I'm doing some volunteer works at the mo but thats about it.

I've so far only took part in one debate, but I've heard that taking part in debate is v.important for students studying PPE, is it??
Lastly (sorry for asking loadz..-.-) can you give any advice on how i can prepare for interview and the exam?? recommendation for books or.. activities....i dunno... :confused:

Any comments will be good-- and thanks! :smile:

Reply 1

Knogle

16

Balliol, St. Johns, and Merton are three colleges that come to mind.

A page on the Oxford website details both preferred, required, and recommended subjects for individual courses.

You're right that generally, lots of debaters study PPE. : )

You don't need "really" good grades to get in.. well that's relative. 3As is enough, and you don't need any AEA grades.

Reply 2

Yttrium

1

Magdalen also has a v. good reputation for PPE and is one of the most popular choices amongst applicants...

Reply 3

folksie

5

The answer to this is quite complicated, depending on how you approach it.

Firstly, since PPE is a tripartite course, the tutors between each subject, even within the same college, can obviously vary. For example, Pembroke (the college I applied to) has a broad and high-quality set of Economics tutors which is also reflected in its generous Econ&Management intake and rep. So if you were a PPE'ist who favoured economics that may be one worth investigating. I'm sure there are equivalent colleges for Politics/Philosophy too, but I don't personally have great knowledge on this.

Secondly, I think there is a rather separate thing of a college's general academic ethos and work ethic. Some colleges are particularly renowned for pushing their students hard, for example Merton. Others meanwhile, are relatively far more relaxed in what they expect of students. It tends to be, of course, that the colleges that are more of a 'grinder' workwise produce more firsts. Depending on what type of a studier you are, you may find yourself happier at one type of college or the other. I point this out because if there is a college getting more firsts than any other in a certain subject that needn't neccessarily mean the tutors there are exceptional, but may simply mean its students are of a more hardcore-studying type.

Hopefully you will have a chance to visit Oxford before you apply, as simple first-hand exposure and your 'feel' for a college is I think a hugely important aspect of choice.

Reply 4

flying_pigs

6

Well as far as extra-curriculum activities go, I'd just do extra reading around Philosophy, Politics and Economics. They expect you to read at least a little. You did similar subjects I am doing (i.e not politics, philosopy and economics) and I started to read up on some of the more interesting (well in my opinion anyway) aspects of the subhects. So if you start reading books, pick things that interest you whether thats like philosophy of knowedge or political philosopy, globalisation, politics in a particular country as there's no point reading stuff you find boring because if you talk about it in an interview you won't feel as comfortable about it.

I only did a bit of debating, and not very formally, only debates in history and tutor stuff.. but arguing things over with your friends/teachers (as long as its an informed argument) might be a good idea. And I didn't do much extra-curriculum stuff. Start reading newspapers though and keep up on current affairs, thats important and as you do history maybe think about how history can relate to modern day events, same goes with history and any political theory stuff you read.

Reply 5

folksie

5

flying_pigs

I only did a bit of debating, and not very formally, only debates in history and tutor stuff.. but arguing things over with your friends/teachers (as long as its an informed argument) might be a good idea.

I definately support this. If you can manage to become comfortable with sustained discussion on academic subjects it will hugely improve your performance at interview. Imo, though, there is no quick route to this, or any way to 'teach' it to yourself. Instead it's just a matter of having fairly regular sessions where you are 'talking through' a subject. It also tends to help a little to have access to someone who knows a little more than you, but is nevertheless receptive to what you have to say and ask. If the person talking with you is *really* good, they will lead you into subjects on which they have good knowledge but leave it to you to voice your own theories about it.

A concrete example of this is if you're discussing philosophy with a friend who's familiar with basic theories on induction and human knowledge, you could talk through questions like "If I hold this pen in the air and let go, how do I know it will fall to the ground". This is an elementary philosophical problem, but talking it through without prior study allows you to test your ability to think logically/rationally/creatively. Meanwhile your friend is there to respond to your ideas, present fresh problems, and help you out if you get into an dead-end.

I mention this because its invaluable to raising the very skills that 95% of PPE interviews will likely be assessing. If you are comfortable with this sort of thing, you are far more likely to show the tutors your potential.

Reply 6

samlangfield

3

It annoys me that prospectives are forever focussed on the cliquey colleges - Magdalen, Merton, Balliol. It may be inevitable, but it does suggest a bit of narrow mindedness.

And why is Chung asking what the preferred A level subjects are, when she has already chosen them?

Extra curricular is nearly irrelevant, and debating is useful, not "very important". As flying pigs said, the best thing to do is read...

For exam, see oxon website.

Reply 7

confuddled101

A family friend who is a fellow of All Souls (Economics) recommended Christ Church, Worcester and Exeter for their particularly strong Economics tutors.. Not sure if this is the part of the course that you would want to focus on though.

Reply 8

kizer

15

I've just got in for St Johns PPE. Maths and history put you in a VERY strong position - if your school does further maths it may even be an idea doing that as well (6 extra modules) because they really like the mathematical background. Of the people I know who got in, 3 do further maths, and the other 2 are debaters...

As for what college is the best, Balliol does have the PPE reputation, but it really doesn't make much difference from what I have seen - far more important to like the college you apply to and want to live there for 3+ years! Also worth remembering that the popular colleges get more good candidates, and despite the pooling thing it does significantly lower your chances of getting in - two of the people I know doing PPE 2006 were Balliol, and both are very very strong indeed.

Reply 9

sebbie

15

You are doing Maths and History and they are the only subjects Oxford even mention as being helpful (meaning that 'A background in these subjects at either full A-level or AS-level (or equivalent) may be useful for some elements of the course')

--------------

i agree with above poster further maths will always help you....

Reply 10

confuddled101

sebbie

i agree with above poster further maths will always help you....

How maths based is PPE? Would stats be a better module to take/do they prefer it or is it simply good enough to have Maths A level?

Reply 11

kizer

15

confuddled101

How maths based is PPE? Would stats be a better module to take/do they prefer it or is it simply good enough to have Maths A level?

Well most (95%) of the work is essay based - however philosophy is logic, economics is largely modelling and, along with politics, will include statistics. Given the choice, statistics would be a good module to choose, however Oxford, unlike Cambridge, do not ask for individual module marks, so I think that choice is extremely unimportant when it comes to applying.. probably better to do the one you like more and will therefore probably get better marks in!

Reply 12

cupcake88

OP

Thanks alot for all of your advice!!! cheers

Reply 13

dieeiervonsatan

2

Chung

Hey, I'm a prospective student(for 2007 entry) wanting to study PPE in Oxford.

So yeah, i want to study PPE and I was wondering which colleges in Oxford are strong/ renown for PPE. I've heard that Bailiol was good one, but what about Magdalen or Merton??

Also is there any prefered A level subjects? I'm in lower Sixth now and is studying;
Maths, English, History, French, Chemistry n Critical Thinking. And at the moment I'm expected As in all of them ( at the moment!~~ dat is). I know that you need reeli good grades to get into Oxford so I'm kind of worried.
And do they expect a lot of extra curriculum activities? I'm doing some volunteer works at the mo but thats about it.

I've so far only took part in one debate, but I've heard that taking part in debate is v.important for students studying PPE, is it??
Lastly (sorry for asking loadz..-.-) can you give any advice on how i can prepare for interview and the exam?? recommendation for books or.. activities....i dunno... :confused:

Any comments will be good-- and thanks! :smile:

Noone's going to agree with me here but I personally would avoid over subscribed colleges like Magdalen, Merton, St Johns etc. At the end of the day it doesnt matter what college you go to, in terms of education and tuition you will be getting pretty much the same quality whichever you choose.

Reply 14

CamSPSer

dieeiervonsatan

Noone's going to agree with me here but I personally would avoid over subscribed colleges like Magdalen, Merton, St Johns etc. At the end of the day it doesnt matter what college you go to, in terms of education and tuition you will be getting pretty much the same quality whichever you choose.

If you apply to an oversubscribed college though they can often find you a place at another college if you are good enough. Playing the numbers game isn't really worth it to be honest. Apply where you want to go

Reply 15

Jammertal

3

dieeiervonsatan

Noone's going to agree with me here but I personally would avoid over subscribed colleges like Magdalen, Merton, St Johns etc. At the end of the day it doesnt matter what college you go to, in terms of education and tuition you will be getting pretty much the same quality whichever you choose.

I'm not sure, but I hadn't the impression that Merton had so many applicants this year for PPE. I met one girl at interview who was allocated at Merton for PPE. However, that doesn't say too much about the chances to get in, taken that different colleges don't only receive different numbers of applications, but also different qualities of applicants presumably.

Reply 16

kizer

15

St Johns had comparatively few people at interviews for PPE this year, 22 compared to 40+ at other colleges. AND some of them were allocated with open offers! However the few people may be because the organ scholarship had been awarded to a PPE person who had already gotten in, and 2 places had gone to defferred people from last year.. for 7 places overall. I suppose 20 people for 4 places is quite hard actually!

Reply 17

Jammertal

3

It is. At Merton were only ~21 (+ overseas) IIRC for 8-10 places. Don't know how many people applied from overseas or got rejected without interviews.

Reply 18

RxB

1

samlangfield

It annoys me that prospectives are forever focussed on the cliquey colleges - Magdalen, Merton, Balliol. It may be inevitable, but it does suggest a bit of narrow mindedness.

you'll have the last laugh when you get some of the best tutors in the university and those people who applied to balliol for the prestige get fobbed off to postgrads

Reply 19

samlangfield

3

Jolly good.

Which colleges are strong in PPE?

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