Oxford Geography without A level?

Hi All,

After reflecting on the wider reading I did for PPE, I noticed that the majority of the concepts that truely interested me were actually geographical as opposed to things that may be discussed in the PPE Course

For example, things like urbanization, transport networks, culture groups, etc. I do not study A Level in Geography, I have an 8 in GCSE, as well as 10 9-8 grades.

How feasible is an application to study geography at Oxford without the GCSE? I know the website says recommended, and so the majority of candidates will have studied it, but does anyone have any advice?

hey, so i’m applying to study geography too!

basically 95% of applicants have studied geography at a-level.
it is not necessary to study it, but when it gets to interview i think it would really show if you didn’t have geographical knowledge. i think you can gain some knowledge to an extent of the subject by extra reading but studying the subject every day is a different kettle of fish and you gain so much more knowledge from that.
usually you’d need a good reason why you didn’t pick it at a-level. also your interests seem very focused on human geography, but at oxford it’s very much a 50/50 split at interview and 1st year between physical and human geography so your interests need to be broad enough to cover this.

gcses are good, but if you got an interview based off them you need to really show your knowledge. maybe something like international relations.

personally i’d say it’s only worth applying if you definitely have an interest in all aspects of the subject- plus geography is so broad they could literally ask you anything about physical processes in deserts, the water and carbon cycle, rivers, glaciers literally any physical process that you would not have probably known unless you do the a level - even tho interview questions are more discussing it’s important to have the key knowledge to show your thinking