Help - should I do PPE or Politics and Economics?

Hi, I'm a Scottish student. I have 9 A1s (A*s) at National 5 (GCSE) and 6 A1s at Higher (AS - A Level). I am currently sitting 3 Advanced Highers in Maths, History, and English, as well as a Higher in RMPS.

I am really torn about whether to PPE or Politics and Economics. I don't have a massive interest in Philosophy and it really feels like I am forcing it in my PS. However, if I don't do PPE, I can't apply to Oxford (though I am not sure if I really want to go there).

The issue with P + E is I have no academic background in either subject because my school has never offered either of them. I feel as though, applying to somewhere like LSE, I would be disadvantaged compared to someone doing 4 A - Levels in Maths, FM, Econ, History. I've asked many times but my school refuse to offer Economics, and FM is not a course in Scotland. Politics only exists as a Higher here, and even then I am still trying to persuade my school to allow me to study it by myself as there is no class for it.

Can anyone provide me with any advice?

Thank you.

Reply 1

firestudent

Original post by vinceamd

Hi, I'm a Scottish student. I have 9 A1s (A*s) at National 5 (GCSE) and 6 A1s at Higher (AS - A Level). I am currently sitting 3 Advanced Highers in Maths, History, and English, as well as a Higher in RMPS.
I am really torn about whether to PPE or Politics and Economics. I don't have a massive interest in Philosophy and it really feels like I am forcing it in my PS. However, if I don't do PPE, I can't apply to Oxford (though I am not sure if I really want to go there).
The issue with P + E is I have no academic background in either subject because my school has never offered either of them. I feel as though, applying to somewhere like LSE, I would be disadvantaged compared to someone doing 4 A - Levels in Maths, FM, Econ, History. I've asked many times but my school refuse to offer Economics, and FM is not a course in Scotland. Politics only exists as a Higher here, and even then I am still trying to persuade my school to allow me to study it by myself as there is no class for it.
Can anyone provide me with any advice?
Thank you.

Oxford don't really need you to include all three subjects, they know you may be applying to other courses and lots of people drop philosophy after first year anyway.
I have also heard of people getting in without any mention of philosophy (anecdotal)
Other factors are more important for the oxford application.this info is all available online

-You don't need prior academic experience in these subjects.
Suggested subject is history and recommended is maths, thats it for oxford

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 2

lildishh

Original post by vinceamd

Hi, I'm a Scottish student. I have 9 A1s (A*s) at National 5 (GCSE) and 6 A1s at Higher (AS - A Level). I am currently sitting 3 Advanced Highers in Maths, History, and English, as well as a Higher in RMPS.
I am really torn about whether to PPE or Politics and Economics. I don't have a massive interest in Philosophy and it really feels like I am forcing it in my PS. However, if I don't do PPE, I can't apply to Oxford (though I am not sure if I really want to go there).
The issue with P + E is I have no academic background in either subject because my school has never offered either of them. I feel as though, applying to somewhere like LSE, I would be disadvantaged compared to someone doing 4 A - Levels in Maths, FM, Econ, History. I've asked many times but my school refuse to offer Economics, and FM is not a course in Scotland. Politics only exists as a Higher here, and even then I am still trying to persuade my school to allow me to study it by myself as there is no class for it.
Can anyone provide me with any advice?
Thank you.

heyyy, also a scottish student sorta in the same position as you except not applying for oxford lols. i got the same grades as you and am studing the same advanced highers, any advice on how you made ur decsion and personal statement?

Reply 3

vinceamd

Original post by lildishh

Hey, I ended up going for PPE (but applying for pol/econ at Glasgow) and decided not to apply to Oxford actually. I think I’ll apply to Edinburgh, Glasgow (PE), LSE, KCL, and UCL (maybe Warwick instead of KCL).

Went for PPE because you can drop philosophy relatively easily at most universities, and because PE courses seem to require a stronger background in econ, which I don’t have as my school never offered it as a subject.

For the PS, tbh I’m still tweaking it but I tried to have 3 sections dedicated to each component of the degree and added my supercurricular stuff throughout. For philosophy, I very briefly touched on free will and brought it back to politics, where I spoke about Plato’s ideas on the best form of government.