a level choices?

I am going to take physics, chemistry, maths and f maths- originally was going to do german too but decided to do it at home instead. Should I do EPQ to be more competitive? I am aiming for oxbridge/ russell group unis, and since I go to a quite good school are my choices going to make me less competitive? the course I am interested in rn is materials science/possibly engineering or natural sciences.
thanks!

Hullo,
Generally EPQs won't make you that much more competitive, unless of course most people in your school do them along with 4 A-levels. It would add quite a lot of workload to you though, at least in year 12, which might be hard to balance: getting A*A*AA would be looked upon much more favourably than getting AAAA but with an A* in EPQ, for example.

On the other hand, it can make for a good talking point in Personal Statements (or whatever replaces it), as you can research deeply into a subject to show your passion in it (and it shows your essay-skills which is useful, especially when you do all STEM subjects). If you have a lot of super curriculars anyway though you might struggle to fit it in.

In the end, it's a toss up - depends on how well you think you're going to do, and also whether you're sure about your subjects (e.g. an EPQ designed for Natural Sciences will not be worth it if you change your mind and want to do a degree in Animal Sciences). Only you can answer those questions, but hopefully this helps! Best of luck whatever you do .

4 A-level plus EPQ would be too much. You are better off focusing on your A-levels, and any spare time you have doing additional supercurriculars for your PS, and preparing for entrance exams, interviews etc. I would normally advice doing an EPQ instead of a 4th A-level, but the exception is where the 4th is FM.

I only did 3 A levels and an EPQ and go to Oxford. Oxford would rather see 3 As/A*s than (e.g.) A*ABB, but if you think you can get top grades in all subjects it will give you an edge over other candidates.

That's amazing, if you don't mind, which course do you do? I also want to go to Oxford, and want to maximise my chances of getting into top unis)

Thank you very much! I was considering writing a short essay instead in the summer of year 12/possibly this summer which I could include and would probably take up less time. Do you think that's a good idea instead of EPQ?

I do law with French law. I started off doing four a levels but decided to drop one (chemistry) when I decided what degree I wanted to do and just focus on getting the best grades I could in the other three

No problem, that sounds like a great idea! I'm sure unis would look favourably on that, so that's definitely a nice, easy replacement for an EPQ that could be good to mention in a Personal statement/similar