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

I only studied Pol before, and it was not really useful at all because the A Levels are so vague. I did Maths, Bio and Pol A Level and a Chem AS.

You won't be at a disadvantage in terms of getting in because a lot of places don't even offer Pol, Phil or Econ A Levels. Plus they aren't expecting you to know you want to do PPE when you are 15/16.

You also aren't at an advantage re: the work set (bar maybe the first week in econ?) because A Levels don't cover the information to the same depth. Lectures tend to cover the basics that you learn in A Level anyway.

Thank you I'm thinking of doing Maths, History, Spanish, Eng. Lit and Further Maths. My 6th form do offer Economics, so I've been wondering if I should do it. Thank you

Thank you I'm thinking of doing Maths, History, Spanish, Eng. Lit and Further Maths. My 6th form do offer Economics, so I've been wondering if I should do it. Thank you

Are you going to continue with all 5..? That's another piece of advice I would give any prospective applicant - don't bother doing more than 3 unless you are 1. supremely confident and 2. in love with whatever subject you are keeping. Tutors quite simply don't care, they want to know you, not how many A Levels you have done!

Do you really enjoy English Lit/ maths if you don't I'd do economics instead of Eng. Lit or FM purely because you're doing 5 and it's easier, also I think some universities prefer people to have done economics, e.g. At Bath (for straight economics, not sure about combined courses) I believe economics is a requirement

No, I'm not going to continue with all 5 - that would be mad! I'm definitely going to drop F.Maths after the first year, and maybe another one depending on how it goes What would you suggest? Thanks



I do really enjoy English Lit, and I am taking that as I want to keep my options open, and I'm not 100% sure I want to do PPE. Also, I'm allowed to do F.Maths as a 5th option, but not anything else, so I wouldn't be able to change that to Economics. Anyway, I'm not really interested in doing a straight Economics degree, I'm far more interested in the mix of PPE. But thanks

FM will be more useful to you doing Economics at Oxford than an economics A level would anyway.

Yeah, that's what I've been thinking, but loads of people are like you need to do one of the letters :/

Yeah, that's what I've been thinking, but loads of people are like you need to do one of the letters :/

Who are these 'loads of people'? You definitely 100% do not. For the most part, A Level Politics, Phil or Econ aren't very rigorous anyways.

I don't know really - just people I've spoken to, and lots of the opinions on here :/

Alright. Don't worry about it, honestly. They are looking for 1) a basic interest and 2) pure potential. It's not about having 'always wanted to study PPE since I could choose my A Levels' etc etc

If you (and others on here!) need any help with your applications whenever they come about, feel free to PM me!

I'm so dumb. I got 3 As but 1 B at AS level but the Bs in economics...and I want to apply for PPE. Lol I got really high UMS in Russian and History though, can that help me?

I'm so dumb. I got 3 As but 1 B at AS level but the Bs in economics...and I want to apply for PPE. Lol I got really high UMS in Russian and History though, can that help me?

Shouldn't be a problem. What are your A's in?

Maths, Russian, history

Definitely won't be a problem then. Your performance in Maths A level is more relevant than your performance in A level Economics.

But won't Oxford look at the economics grade badly regardless whether my maths was good.