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Oxford PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) Students and Applicants

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MANU90
Ahh right, sack that of then. I also thought i'd blown it in my physics interview with Ward and Challinor! (still remember their names??) but chemistry with the jones' must have saved it.


I do indeed! Yeah mine was pretty much the same, I had done no preperation for a chemsitry interview but that one was infinitely better than the physics one which I had had loads of practice interviews for. I forgot what an assymptote was:rolleyes:
Kneechuh
I guess they're banking on people forgetting :ninja:

Thing is, I don't know when to cancel. Do I cancel after I've received by 6th issue, or sometime before?

Yeah, I think they're definitely banking on people forgetting.

I think you'd go in some weeks before and set a date in the future for when you want the transfers to stop...?
MANU90
Anybody know if you ever find out your TSA score, would be good to find out.


You don't per se, but I doubt they'd refuse to look it up for you if you had a burning desire to find out!
Graphix
Noooo!

I hope you haven't subscribed yet!

Do the student off - they write it small at the top of the screen so you can miss it! You ppay only £89 for the year so £1.70 per issue!!


I couldn't find my card.

I'm 16, so I can't do the student offer right?
dorian gray
I couldn't find my card.

I'm 16, so I can't do the student offer right?

I'm not technically a student, but all it asked for was what university you were at, and what course you were studying. I'm guessing it just does this for demographic purposes. I said I was studying at "The University of Life", doing the course: "History of Mangoes"
dorian gray
I couldn't find my card.

I'm 16, so I can't do the student offer right?

No, I still think you can.

I'm not sure about which from Kneechuh filled in but for mine I only had to say which school I was at...
just say a university near where u live and say ppe, they arent gna check
tom gavin
just say a university near where u live and say ppe, they arent gna check

They'd better not.. :shifty:
haha how could they? call up every student subscribers university? i think they have better things to worry about like gettin a 100 page issue out every week 8)
Gaia90
Are the "bio options" really hard and very essay - based, as they say?


Hmm... physiology is the hardest conceptually, cells has the most to memorise and in E&B I found it hard to say exactly what I meant (so sometimes answers seem a bit vague). Basically they all stretch you in different ways but are all manageable.

E&B is 75% essay-based (25% from practicals throughout the year). Physiology is 40% essays and cells is approx 40% also.

It is considered normal for a supervisor to give 1 essay a fortnight (but some do not). Usually you get a week to do supervision essays and they are approx 4 pages double-spacing. This year I got one essay a fortnight for both physiology and E&B. My cells supervisor didn't specifically set any essays so I could just give him one whenever I wanted, which was quite good because I could do essays for him in my spare time (which meant I only handed in 1 a term lol).

Essays are good though because you only need to write things you understand and can put in quirky things which interest you....whenever some of my phys-natsci friends were staying up till crazy hours doing chemistry and maths problem sheets I did feel a little bit lucky :-D
Brasenose would fit the bill (and I wasn't from there)
Reply 4351
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Gaia90
grovichik


Thanks for the info, now I really cannot wait :biggrin:

See you next year then :smile:
London Prophet
Brasenose would fit the bill (and I wasn't from there)


Thanks. :smile: By the way, are PPEists still asked for written work?
Reply 4353
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shmoses
I'm a little biased, but I'd say St. John's pretty much fits the description. It's about a 3 minute walk from the Bod (not quite Hertford or Brasenose which are literally next door but still close enough that most of my peers regularly use it). The bar's pretty decent and our new JCR is due to be completed in 2011, so in theory a year after you start if you get a place. Currently though the social facilities are still excellent, with games machines, pool tables, TVs etc in abundance. All first years have access to reasonable kitchen facilities, shared between about 8 students, and the hall is a cheap alternative for three meals a day on a pay as you go basis if you can't be bothered to cook (as an added bonus we are the closest college to Sainsbury's for food-buying purposes, as it's directly opposite :biggrin:).

The choir is by audition unfortunately, but our drama society takes all abilities and is generously funded so productions are regular (at least one a term). There are plenty of opportunities for sports, too. It's one of the biggest colleges which means there's a social circle to suit everyone, but still small enough that there's a really good sense of community. In addition this means that we're able to field sports teams at all tiers of ability (5 men's rowing teams, for example!) so whatever your ability you should be able to participate. There's a chapel on site with Evensong twice a week (Wednesday and Sunday), and a Sunday morning service, although the Sunday evensong tends to be the most popular.

Finally John's is very high-performing academically, but I don't find there's an enormous amount of pressure on students to forego socialising and society involvement for work. As long as you're happy to put the work in, the college won't demand extreme amounts of commitment from anyone, and there's so much going on that there's ample opportunity to achieve a good work/life balance.

Most of the things you're looking for I think can be found at most colleges. I haven't met a single person who is unhappy with the college they've ended up at, even those who were pooled to a different college than they applied to. What I would recommend is to narrow it down to up to about 5 colleges, and then visit them, because nothing can give you a feel for what a college is like better than actually having a look round and talking to students.

Phew!

Hope this helps. As for PPE, two essays is the standard, plus an entrance exam. You can find out more about the application on the website I believe.
Reply 4354
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shmoses
Hi Benjamin,

The great thing about PPE is that there are no necessary A Levels. The standard (and almost universal) offer for any degree at Oxford is 3 A grades, and as long as you have those it doesn't matter what they're in (apart from General Studies and Critical Thinking, of course). Any other qualifications will not have any bearing on whether you will be offered a place or not. What will matter is the grades you achieve at AS Level (4 As at AS level is a good benchmark to aim for, but 3 would be fine as well), and the reference from whichever teacher is responsible for your application form. Any other internal exams or previous results are very unlikely to affect your chances.

Where Maths is described as "useful", it is because there are some maths skills at A Level (mainly calculus and the use of indices) which will be needed for the economics part of the course. Anyone who doesn't have those skills i.e. didn't do Maths A Level will be required to attend maths lectures to teach them the skills in order to be on a level footing with those who do. What is helpful though is that anyone who DOES have Maths A Level, but is perhaps not very confident in their Maths ability or could do with a little extra help is welcome to attend the lectures too. In this way your performance in Maths is not a major deciding factor when it comes to offers being made, because you can catch up once you get there. As long as your friend is performing well enough in other subjects to make the grades Oxford would want, his maths specifically should only be a minor factor, and, again, probably won't have that much of an effect on his application.

Hope this helps!
TsarinaMeg
Thanks. :smile: By the way, are PPEists still asked for written work?

No, not any more...
OK I kind of did nothing during this year (Yr 12) so I anticipate a B in Chem but an A in all my other subjects (see sig. for details). Should I abandon hopes of applying to Bio NatSci?

I'm thinking that I may apply to Cambridge for CompSci w/ NatSci instead cos the B in Chem won't be so bad in comparison.
Reply 4357
Avatar for MC REN
MC REN
14
Apparently you can't do Compsci and Cells (timetabling restrictions) so that mightn't work, Chemistry is pretty important for Biology you'll want to be at least predicted an A
MC REN
Apparently you can't do Compsci and Cells (timetabling restrictions) so that mightn't work, Chemistry is pretty important for Biology you'll want to be at least predicted an A

Yeah I'm aware of that clash. I guess I'll just have to wait till 20/08 and adjust my course choices if needed..
i don't do maths does anyone know any colleges that are less mathsy? or place less importance on having maths?

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