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

This thread it amazing!! Im only 15, but after meetings with careers officers etc, i am considering PPE as a university course. This thread has answered all questions that i had..thankyou!!

x

Exactly the same for me actually, thanks to anyone who has contributed.

Excellent Thread London Prophet Good Job Mate,

Had a question to ask you, reading the thread as you said 'PPE attracts the brightest pupils' and i'll explain the dilemma i'm facing with this;

- Basically i have just finished my A-levels and am predicted AAAaa (with the last AS 'a' in General Studies)

However i am doing a gap year with KPMG this year and an extra A-Level or so and will be applying with, AAAAA(A) (with the last 'A' in General Studies) - all of which i have completed at a Grammar School,

But the High School i went to was a bog standard state comprehensive and as a result my GCSE results suffered, i have 4A*'s, 3A's and 3B's (with my high school having a 49% pass rate for pupils gaining 5 GCSE's between A*-C)

I was wondering if you thought i had a reasonable chance of actually getting into PPE with this???

I know i can do well in my Interview (with preparation of course) and PS (as i do 2/3 subjects for A2 and so have a genuine interest in them to begin with), its only my GCSE scores which are making me worrying me badly,

Would Oxford place much emphasis on the fact that my high school was not to good which contributed to my performance???

Also from the people who study PPE with you or that you know of, do most have like all A's and A*'s etc??

Thanks for your help mate it will get me out of a big dilemma that i have at the moment

I'm sure I'm not the only one who hasn't got Economics as a subject at school.
Now do you guys think I should nevertheless prepare for Economics (I mean Macro- and Microeconomics) for the interview? I know the interview is in December (if I really get invited), however, I need to plan just now.
So do you think they consider that I just can't know really something about Macro-and Microeconomics? Or do they expect me to prepare for it?

Plenty of PPE applicants don't have economics at A level - it's not even on the "useful background" subject list. In fact, the tutors on the open day told me A level economics is sometimes taught so crudely that they prefer people not to have done it.

It's a good idea to have read an introductory economics book, a newspaper every day, and (if possible) The Economist, so that you are familiar with basic economic concepts. However, the tutors will be testing how you think rather than what you know.

I haven't done it for AS but I am picking it up for A2 in September, but that's more out of interest than specific preparation for PPE.

you've made me abit worried now by saying this as i have it as one of my A2 subjects lol, would that then be considered a bad thing (I.e. would say a another candidate is the same in all aspects to me but has not done economics a-level, would they prefer him over me)???

Nono I didn't mean it like that exactly - it's a good subject to do and I wish I had done it this year! I think what they meant is that they occasionally come across a student who they find has been taught "crudely".

To balance my earlier comments, a tutor at the Cheltenham Oxbridge day said "in my opinion, History, Maths and Economics would be the perfect A level combination" - so having done economics is hardly going to put tutors off.

I agree with kizer - you are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by having done it.