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

Finally, I've entered a few essay competitions - one of which I've done very well in. I haven't received the results for the others and I'm wondering whether I should bother including them if I don't get a commendation (or something like that) - will it still show an extracurricular interest?

Thanks in advance for any answers or information whatsoever - it's much appreciated

Hello,

A few questions:

I was just wondering if any particular colleges are known for not placing a great weight on your TSA score. I've been getting some rather random scores (35 and 46) and it seems that my performance is a little fluky. So naturally I'd rather apply to a college which ascribes greater importance to your interview, grades and PS.

Also, should I include my UMS scores (98% average)? Or is that not something Oxford is interested in?

Finally, I've entered a few essay competitions - one of which I've done very well in. I haven't received the results for the others and I'm wondering whether I should bother including them if I don't get a commendation (or something like that) - will it still show an extracurricular interest?

Thanks in advance for any answers or information whatsoever - it's much appreciated

Presumably to write the essays for these competitions you had to research some topic or other? Talk about what you read, what you found interesting, what conclusions you came to. If you do that it's fairly irrelevant whether the essay ended up getting commended or whatever or not; you can leave it for your school to mention that you won the competition in their reference.

The econ tutor I spoke to from Merton said that the TSA is only used for interview deselection, so as long as you think you can get an average score (about 67 it seems from previous years) you wouldnt need to woryy about your TSA score too much.

I think it depends in the college whether they care for UMS, I doubt it'll make or break an application otherwise they'd ask for it then again I doubt it'll do any harm

I think dbmag answered this as I would

Need some advice!
I did Maths, History, Economics and Politics for AS and got AAAA.
Should I drop one? I don't want to do four incase it's too much and I hear lots of differing opinions on whether 4 has much benefit.

If I did drop one it would be history or politics. What do you think?

Does there need to be any major updates for this thread?

4 has pretty much no benefit as far as I know, they'd rather you spend your time that you'd be spending doing a 4th subject stretching yourself with some reading.

If you're going to drop one of those 2 I'd probably recommend dropping History as it's a more traditional subject, but if you enjoy politics more, go for that, don't think it will make a massive difference as long as you do well in the TSA/interview

Hi, I've just got better than expected AS results and seriously thinking of applying to Oxford. Does anyone know roughly what TSA score is needed and whether they look at your exam mark or just grade. Also any advice for applying to Oxford PPE??


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Helloooo,
Need some more advice. I don't do any philosophy and I'm only familiar with some of the basic theories through reading. I thought It'd be a good idea if I really learned something by a philosopher in depth so I can write about it in my PS and talk about it in my interview. I'm thinking political philosophy so it relates to politics too.

Any recommendations of philosophers? I've been told John Stuart Mill may be a good place to start?

Sorry this is really vague, I'm a bit unprepared and this has all came round way too quick!

Helloooo,
Need some more advice. I don't do any philosophy and I'm only familiar with some of the basic theories through reading. I thought It'd be a good idea if I really learned something by a philosopher in depth so I can write about it in my PS and talk about it in my interview. I'm thinking political philosophy so it relates to politics too.

Any recommendations of philosophers? I've been told John Stuart Mill may be a good place to start?

Sorry this is really vague, I'm a bit unprepared and this has all came round way too quick!

I wrote about stuff from Petit and Goodin's collection of essays of contemporary political philosophy. I found it a good place to start because it has essays and other philosophers' responses to them.

John Stuart Mill says generally sensible things, On Liberty isn't too difficult a read, though you might want to look at a reader along with it so you get more out of it. The key when talking about something you've studied is to look at it critically, not just to trot out the tired old 'I read X and found it very interesting'.

Helloooo,
Need some more advice. I don't do any philosophy and I'm only familiar with some of the basic theories through reading. I thought It'd be a good idea if I really learned something by a philosopher in depth so I can write about it in my PS and talk about it in my interview. I'm thinking political philosophy so it relates to politics too.

Any recommendations of philosophers? I've been told John Stuart Mill may be a good place to start?

Sorry this is really vague, I'm a bit unprepared and this has all came round way too quick!

I wouldn't be too bothered about the crossing over to politics bit, if a philosopher asks about it in interview, it most likely not be linked to politics, as political philosophy is taught by politics tutors generally.

Mill would be a good place to start, but I'd say look at Utilitarianism rather than On Liberty. It's much more interesting imo, and it's contents focus much more strictly on philosophy as taught by the Oxford Phil dept. than On Liberty does.

Okay, thanks a lot for the help!
So If I did learn a lot about Mill and Utilitarianism how do I go about writing about it in my PS? So as someone said above I assume it isn't enough to say I just found it interesting blah blah. Do I put my opinions and even be critical?

Yeah, definitely put your opinions. One of the texts I read for my PS was The Communist Manifesto, and I put something short in about how I felt such thinking was outdated in the modern world. I was never asked about it in interview, but if I was, I had some ideas about the increase in working and living standards of the poor due to trade unions and the intervention of government that wasn't as present when Marx was writing, as well as stuff on innovation which has made is easier to lead a "comfortable life" on less means leading to less working class dissatisfaction etc that I could have expanded on. Obviously there wasn't room for all of that in my PS so I just put the bit about it being outdated etc, but I had further ideas to expand on should the need have arisen.

Basically, read it critically, formulate some opinions and figure out a way to reduce them down into a sentence or so that shows you've engaged in some way with the text you've read, and gives you room for elaboration should the need come up.