The Student Room Group

Switching course from Computer Science to PPE

Hi all,

I'm in quite a pickle.

I will be sitting Further Maths and Computer Science in a few weeks (I sat Maths last year and got an A*) and I'm hoping to walk out with an additional two A*s.
I had originally applied for Computer Science (and Philosophy for some) at Oxford, UCL, Imperial, Exeter, and Bath. In the second half of Year 12, the feeling of wishing to study something involving Politics and Economics began to dawn on me (for I had always had a great interest in History and Politics, but over time I was drawn into the STEM subjects and I've ended up where I am, and Economics had intrigued me as being the STEM subject to maintain a balance in my degree life whilst also being quite mathematical). The day after submitting UCAS, I emailed my Oxbridge coordinator to explain the situation and how I had felt. I decided to switch Bath for Kings, Exeter for Royal Holloway, and Imperial for Data Science. All of those would still be for Computer Science (with the exception of LSE, which was for Data Science) but my hope was that universities would let me switch to PPE once I had received an offer.

Fast forward to present day and I have offers from UCL (Philosophy and Computer Science), Kings (Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy), and Royal Holloway (Computer Science) (unfortunately I didn't get the Oxford offer after the interview stage - I'm surprised I even got an interview considering I found the MAT practically impossible - and LSE felt my personal statement wasn't particularly competitive, which is fine since it was CS/Phil focussed - although Data Science is just a branch of CS, but anyway). Only Royal Holloway have approved a course transfer to PPE, but I'm not particularly wanting to go there.

My plan recently has been looking towards a gap year and reapplying, which is an idea I've grown to be quite fond of, despite previously rejecting any possibility of a gap year. I've already started looking at the TSA and I'm in high 50s right now (nowhere near competitive right now, but I'm feeling decently optimistic that I could improve, as oppose to the MAT...).

I would like to ask, what would the practical implications be of reapplying in October. Is it even plausible that I'd get an offer? My subjects aren't conventional for PPE, but most only require Maths whilst recommending the other subjects. I've been looking towards taking part in an essay competition in late July and seeing how I can apply my skills in Maths and Computer Science for some Politics/Economics supercurriculars. I've partaken in MUN, read books on Ethics and Logic when preparing for this application cycle, as well as a book on A.I., which looks into morality, ethics, and legality. My idea was to keep the personal statement close to home and theme it around A.I. in-light of PPE.

In terms of my future, I intend to study a Law conversion course and hopefully make my way into politics.

So, please, what are your thoughts? All criticism and advice is welcome - please be honest
(edited 4 weeks ago)

Reply 1

Original post by curiousacademic4
Hi all,
I'm in quite a pickle.
I will be sitting Further Maths and Computer Science in a few weeks (I sat Maths last year and got an A*) and I'm hoping to walk out with an additional two A*s.
I had originally applied for Computer Science (and Philosophy for some) at Oxford, UCL, Imperial, Exeter, and Bath. In the second half of Year 12, the feeling of wishing to study something involving Politics and Economics began to dawn on me (for I had always had a great interest in History and Politics, but over time I was drawn into the STEM subjects and I've ended up where I am, and Economics had intrigued me as being the STEM subject to maintain a balance in my degree life whilst also being quite mathematical). The day after submitting UCAS, I emailed my Oxbridge coordinator to explain the situation and how I had felt. I decided to switch Bath for Kings, Exeter for Royal Holloway, and Imperial for Data Science. All of those would still be for Computer Science (with the exception of LSE, which was for Data Science) but my hope was that universities would let me switch to PPE once I had received an offer.
Fast forward to present day and I have offers from UCL (Philosophy and Computer Science), Kings (Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy), and Royal Holloway (Computer Science) (unfortunately I didn't get the Oxford offer after the interview stage - I'm surprised I even got an interview considering I found the MAT practically impossible - and LSE felt my personal statement wasn't particularly competitive, which is fine since it was CS/Phil focussed - although Data Science is just a branch of CS, but anyway). Only Royal Holloway have approved a course transfer to PPE, but I'm not particularly wanting to go there.
My plan recently has been looking towards a gap year and reapplying, which is an idea I've grown to be quite fond of, despite previously rejecting any possibility of a gap year. I've already started looking at the TSA and I'm in high 50s right now (nowhere near competitive right now, but I'm feeling decently optimistic that I could improve, as oppose to the MAT...).
I would like to ask, what would the practical implications be of reapplying in October. Is it even plausible that I'd get an offer? My subjects aren't conventional for PPE, but most only require Maths whilst recommending the other subjects. I've been looking towards taking part in an essay competition in late July and seeing how I can apply my skills in Maths and Computer Science for some Politics/Economics supercurriculars. I've partaken in MUN, read books on Ethics and Logic when preparing for this application cycle, as well as a book on A.I., which looks into morality, ethics, and legality. My idea was to keep the personal statement close to home and theme it around A.I. in-light of PPE.
In terms of my future, I intend to study a Law conversion course and hopefully make my way into politics.
So, please, what are your thoughts? All criticism and advice is welcome - please be honest
Hi there! As someone who applied to PPE in Oxford, did the TSA, and had interviews, I might be able to offer some advice. In terms of your subjects, it doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you can demonstrate the skills needed for the TSA and interviews. I personally scored mid-70s in the TSA, and if memory serves, I had a score of around high 60s while practising this time last year. So, I think you should be realistic about your chances of getting 70s by the time you take the TSA (it took me quite a while to jump from high 60s to 70s). After all, I believe that those who had interviews had an average score of about 72.

In terms of your use of AI, it might be useful for the philosophy part of the course, but I think you should focus on the other two disciplines as well. I’m also curious, how are you planning to use maths and computer science in politics?

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