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Desperate help with applying to oxford courses

Hey everyone! I am a year 12 student who wants to apply to oxford. I am predicted A*s in all 3 of my subjects with an A* in my EPQ as well. However... My subjects are eng lit, psychology and business. I want to study the courses below:
1. Psychology+philosophy
2. PPE
3. History
4. History+ politics
The only thing is that the requirements are a bit iffy. For example, for the first course it says I needed an A in maths. Unfortunately, I got a 78 just 2 marks off an A. They used the language, "expected".
For PPE, there is an intense focus on the mathematical side for economics which I don't think really appeals to me.
3. My online school only offered History as a separate subject and the money was soo much like thousands of pounds so I didn't choose it, even though it's my favourite subject. Oxford said it is "highly recommended that you studied History at A levels. Same for politics and history.

Please I need all the advice and feedback that I can get! Appreciate you guys.
These are all pretty disparate courses. What is your actual intellectual interest that you want to pursue, irrespective of degree subject titles?

Reply 2

Psychology, politics. The humanities basically.

Reply 3

Original post
by Abithegoat
Psychology, politics. The humanities basically.

“"Psychology at Oxford is a scientific discipline, involving the rigorous formulation and testing of ideas. It works through experiments and systematic observation rather than introspection. Data science and coding play an important role in how we train students.”” from their page, hence why they have a grade A requirement/ expectation but obviously there is flexibility . I would advise you first to really think about what course you want to do at uni ,rather than being so focussed on Oxford.

Reply 4

Original post
by Anonymous
“"Psychology at Oxford is a scientific discipline, involving the rigorous formulation and testing of ideas. It works through experiments and systematic observation rather than introspection. Data science and coding play an important role in how we train students.”” from their page, hence why they have a grade A requirement/ expectation but obviously there is flexibility . I would advise you first to really think about what course you want to do at uni ,rather than being so focussed on Oxford.

I study psychology at A levels. I have other options other than Oxford which have no complications, which is why I am trying to find clarification here about the requirements.
Original post
by Abithegoat
Psychology, politics. The humanities basically.

As above, psychology at Oxford is absolutely not a humanities course. Psychology courses can vary between unis and at Oxford it's very heavy on the experimental side, neuroscientific/biological bases for psychological phenomena, and generally on being very much a science in general.

Also politics is a social science. While less quanitative than psychology by some margin, still involves some degree of quantification and statistic, and the methods of inquiry are definitely quite distinct to the modes used in the humanities.
Original post
by Abithegoat
I study psychology at A levels. I have other options other than Oxford which have no complications, which is why I am trying to find clarification here about the requirements.


Psychology at A-level doesn't necessarily reflect the nature of degree level psychology. In fact often it's rather different (quite a few years ago psychology courses actually sometimes preferred applicants not to take it because the A-level gave such an inaccurate perception of the nature of psychology as an academic discipline).

While as above psychology courses can vary all BPS accredited courses will contain a certain amount of scientific, experimental and statistical content in line with BPS requirements - however some emphasise those areas a lot more as noted (such as Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, KCL, and Edinburgh).

Realistically speaking I think if you don't enjoy maths and struggle with it, you should really not consider pursuing psychology or economics and also consider whether politics is the right fit. As for history, are you actually interested in history and the methods of history, evaluating primary sources etc...? I've not seen any real reference to this and so it feels a bit like a rabbit out of a hat here.

If you enjoy the methods and modes of studying and inquiry in the humanities, but are interested in social phenomena and human behaviour, perhaps explore anthropology as an option - that sounds like it might fit both your preferred ways of learning as well as explore aspects of those areas you seem to be interested in :smile: Since issues of e.g. cognition and behaviour, as well as social and cultural interactions and experiences (including within political and legal frames) all very much fall within anthropology's remit! However anthropology often focuses a bit more on qualitative rather than quanitative data (such as ethnography) which might fit your preferred approaches better :h:

Reply 6

Original post
by Abithegoat
I study psychology at A levels. I have other options other than Oxford which have no complications, which is why I am trying to find clarification here about the requirements.

Of course, but if you applying to Oxford, they want people who are passionate about their subject and show intellectual curiosity hence why I am recommending you decide what subject you really want to take as you have listed degrees that could be considered disparate and require different skill sets. You mention “online school and only being offered history as a “separate subject” ….are you not at school in the UK ? Do you not have a careers advisor or teacher to talk it through with? If you don’t have what is expected” , as long as you meet all essential requirements, they should still consider you but equally you will have to upsell yourself in other ways…plenty of excellent candidates get rejected solely because of the competition and you will be competing with candidates who meet all the expecteds and more.

Reply 7

Original post
by artful_lounger
As above, psychology at Oxford is absolutely not a humanities course. Psychology courses can vary between unis and at Oxford it's very heavy on the experimental side, neuroscientific/biological bases for psychological phenomena, and generally on being very much a science in general.
Also politics is a social science. While less quanitative than psychology by some margin, still involves some degree of quantification and statistic, and the methods of inquiry are definitely quite distinct to the modes used in the humanities.
Psychology at A-level doesn't necessarily reflect the nature of degree level psychology. In fact often it's rather different (quite a few years ago psychology courses actually sometimes preferred applicants not to take it because the A-level gave such an inaccurate perception of the nature of psychology as an academic discipline).
While as above psychology courses can vary all BPS accredited courses will contain a certain amount of scientific, experimental and statistical content in line with BPS requirements - however some emphasise those areas a lot more as noted (such as Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, KCL, and Edinburgh).
Realistically speaking I think if you don't enjoy maths and struggle with it, you should really not consider pursuing psychology or economics and also consider whether politics is the right fit. As for history, are you actually interested in history and the methods of history, evaluating primary sources etc...? I've not seen any real reference to this and so it feels a bit like a rabbit out of a hat here.
If you enjoy the methods and modes of studying and inquiry in the humanities, but are interested in social phenomena and human behaviour, perhaps explore anthropology as an option - that sounds like it might fit both your preferred ways of learning as well as explore aspects of those areas you seem to be interested in :smile: Since issues of e.g. cognition and behaviour, as well as social and cultural interactions and experiences (including within political and legal frames) all very much fall within anthropology's remit! However anthropology often focuses a bit more on qualitative rather than quanitative data (such as ethnography) which might fit your preferred approaches better :h:

No it doesn't. But thank you for the advice. I love history and I wanted to study it at A levels but my school didn't offer it. As for psychology, it is a really good fit for me, I have reached out to some people who did Psychology at red brick universities like Oxford and they said that although there is emphasis placed on quantitative and experimental research, it is still regarded as a humanities subject and therefore the course does cover disorders such as schizophrenia etc. Also the course is paired with philosophy so obviously it would be more qualitative than quantitative. I am not dismissing that psychology is a science, if that was the case then we wouldn't be doing statistical tests such as Spearhman's Rho or solving standard deviation etc, so I know that.

Reply 8

Original post
by Anonymous
Of course, but if you applying to Oxford, they want people who are passionate about their subject and show intellectual curiosity hence why I am recommending you decide what subject you really want to take as you have listed degrees that could be considered disparate and require different skill sets. You mention “online school and only being offered history as a “separate subject” ….are you not at school in the UK ? Do you not have a careers advisor or teacher to talk it through with? If you don’t have what is expected” , as long as you meet all essential requirements, they should still consider you but equally you will have to upsell yourself in other ways…plenty of excellent candidates get rejected solely because of the competition and you will be competing with candidates who meet all the expecteds and more.

I have all of that and more. The school that I go to is called Highgrove Online school which is based in the UK and they have ties to prestigious universities such as Oxford. I do have a coach who actually said that my degrees were very much similar, so to agree to disagree I guess. I am passionate about all the subjects I listed otherwise I wouldn't be considering them. But I am also someone who wouldn't just fixate on one course without taking other courses into consideration I think that is unrealistic as people often have various interests in what they wish to pursuit at university.

Reply 9

theres probably very little point asking for advise on here if you already know all the answers!
Original post
by Abithegoat
No it doesn't. But thank you for the advice. I love history and I wanted to study it at A levels but my school didn't offer it. As for psychology, it is a really good fit for me, I have reached out to some people who did Psychology at red brick universities like Oxford and they said that although there is emphasis placed on quantitative and experimental research, it is still regarded as a humanities subject and therefore the course does cover disorders such as schizophrenia etc. Also the course is paired with philosophy so obviously it would be more qualitative than quantitative. I am not dismissing that psychology is a science, if that was the case then we wouldn't be doing statistical tests such as Spearhman's Rho or solving standard deviation etc, so I know that.

The psychology portion of PPL is exactly the same as that for EP. Most students applying to EP have a background on STEM fields. Psychology is not considered a humanities courses at any university I am aware of. It's normally considered a social science and indeed at some universities it is much more closely aligned with the experimental/natural sciences than at others.

As the previous poster has said you seem to have already dawn your own conclusions and are looking for validation of those rather than input otherwise so I'm not sure if I can offer any helpful input at this stage. Best of luck with your applications :smile:

Reply 11

Original post
by Anonymous
theres probably very little point asking for advise on here if you already know all the answers!


I never said I knew the answers. That's why I am on here in the first place 😭. My responses are quite blunt but it is just because I am not a wishy washy type of person. I do appreciate the advice, I was simply answering your original question about whether I have a coach etc.
With regards to the terms "expected" and "highly recommended" I would recommend asking Oxford admissions directly about these.

Working in admissions myself, I can say that this could stretch from "well it would be nice to have, but it's not going to affect your application" to "we'd only consider you without in very exceptional circumstances".

Basically anyone outside of Oxford admissions would just be guessing.

Reply 13

Original post
by Admit-One
With regards to the terms "expected" and "highly recommended" I would recommend asking Oxford admissions directly about these.
Working in admissions myself, I can say that this could stretch from "well it would be nice to have, but it's not going to affect your application" to "we'd only consider you without in very exceptional circumstances".
Basically anyone outside of Oxford admissions would just be guessing.


Thank you

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