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PPE or pure Economics?

Guys, this is my first post on The Student Room so bear with me here if I make mistakes or ask some stupid questions.

I'm trying to decide which course to take whether its the former or latter. In terms of pure interest, I think I'd rather go with PPE because I like that you'll learn more diversely instead of specializing solely on Economics.

However, I'm still not entirely convinced. Specifically, because I'm not that sure about whether I would like to do Politics or not. Can you guys help list the pros and cons for each course, on things like work load, difficulty to get in good unis, future job opportunities, and stuff like that.
Are you looking to do bachelor of science or bachelor of arts?

In terms of difficulties to get in, Pure economics in harder to get into since people usually prefer specialising in one subject area unless they feel like they also are interested in two different areas. E.g. politics and economics. Career wise, Economics itself will give you a broad career range to go into. Infact, by doing politics alongside it, that makes you more of a 'specialist' in a specific area of economics. But both courses are very vast. Do you enjoy politics? The degree itself will most likely focus on economic aspects of politics so it should be relevant. One degree is more mathematical and theoretical (the pure economics) and PPE is very essay based. Then again, it depends on individual courses. This is just a generalised answer.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Laughable Chimp
Guys, this is my first post on The Student Room so bear with me here if I make mistakes or ask some stupid questions.

I'm trying to decide which course to take whether its the former or latter. In terms of pure interest, I think I'd rather go with PPE because I like that you'll learn more diversely instead of specializing solely on Economics.

However, I'm still not entirely convinced. Specifically, because I'm not that sure about whether I would like to do Politics or not. Can you guys help list the pros and cons for each course, on things like work load, difficulty to get in good unis, future job opportunities, and stuff like that.


What A Levels do you do, OP?
Reply 3
PPE
Original post by Rex Onocrotalus
What A Levels do you do, OP?


I do Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Economics
Original post by Laughable Chimp
I do Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Economics


You've got good A Levels for Economics then, providing you do well in them. I can't give lists for pros and cons for both, but with PPE you'd have to do a lot of extra reading/curricular activities to show how your interests are more plentiful than just Economics. I'm pretty sure Oxford let you drop one of the PPE's after the first year or something? So you can just carry through with Philosophy and Economics if you don't like Politics, etc.
Original post by Rex Onocrotalus
You've got good A Levels for Economics then, providing you do well in them. I can't give lists for pros and cons for both, but with PPE you'd have to do a lot of extra reading/curricular activities to show how your interests are more plentiful than just Economics. I'm pretty sure Oxford let you drop one of the PPE's after the first year or something? So you can just carry through with Philosophy and Economics if you don't like Politics, etc.


But then, there's the question of whether I'd like to take Philosophy and Economics through PPE, or just directly take Philosophy and Economics which I've checked is offered in LSE at least. And from what I've heard, Philosophy and Economics is not a very popular course for some reason so I don't know whether it would be better to take PPE and then specialize in Philosophy and Economics after.
Original post by butfirst_coffee
Are you looking to do bachelor of science or bachelor of arts?

In terms of difficulties to get in, Pure economics in harder to get into since people usually prefer specialising in one subject area unless they feel like they also are interested in two different areas. E.g. politics and economics. Career wise, Economics itself will give you a broad career range to go into. Infact, by doing politics alongside it, that makes you more of a 'specialist' in a specific area of economics. But both courses are very vast. Do you enjoy politics? The degree itself will most likely focus on economic aspects of politics so it should be relevant. One degree is more mathematical and theoretical (the pure economics) and PPE is very essay based. Then again, it depends on individual courses. This is just a generalised answer.


That's actually an interesting question in of itself. So a bachelor of science is more specialized while a bachelor of arts is more diverse right? Then, since if I were to take PPE because its more diverse then pure Economics, would it be good for me to diversify even more with a bachelor of arts?
Original post by Laughable Chimp
But then, there's the question of whether I'd like to take Philosophy and Economics through PPE, or just directly take Philosophy and Economics which I've checked is offered in LSE at least. And from what I've heard, Philosophy and Economics is not a very popular course for some reason so I don't know whether it would be better to take PPE and then specialize in Philosophy and Economics after.


Yeah, taking the PPE route might be good because then you can see if you actually like Politics or not. If you do, you can end up with a full PPE degree. As long as you write your PS so that it can be applied to Philosophy and Economics courses and PPE courses, you could have it so that some of your choices are PPE and some are Philosophy and Economics.
Reply 9
Considering your A-levels I'm not sure you could get in for PPE, they'll love you on the economics side and kind of on the philosophy side but you have no humanities/essay based subjects. It's also quite demanding, remember that politics and philosophy will have the same amount of demand as economics. Unless you love 2 of those fields and are at least curious about one then id say go for it!

Personally i like politics and economics and I'm curious about philosophy. If you're passion is just with economics, i think you need to look at the course properly. You'll find it extremely tough if you don't enjoy it
Original post by zayn008
Considering your A-levels I'm not sure you could get in for PPE, they'll love you on the economics side and kind of on the philosophy side but you have no humanities/essay based subjects. It's also quite demanding, remember that politics and philosophy will have the same amount of demand as economics. Unless you love 2 of those fields and are at least curious about one then id say go for it!

Personally i like politics and economics and I'm curious about philosophy. If you're passion is just with economics, i think you need to look at the course properly. You'll find it extremely tough if you don't enjoy it


Wait, Economics isn't an essay subject?
Reply 11
Original post by Laughable Chimp
Wait, Economics isn't an essay subject?


Oh sorry, my bad I missed that part. Although even with economics I guess the old spec wasn't so much but the new spec definitely does emphasise on an essay structure by most exam boards so yeah... just not sure if the ratio of essay based:sciences will be appreciated by the philosophy/politics departments but I don't think it'll be a big issue with wider reading, a good PS and good grades Ofc. But those a levels will definitely impress any economics department.

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