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

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Original post by selina pope
Hey again!

Yea, unfortunately I have been rejected. :frown:

I wish you the best of luck though! Go rock that interview :biggrin:


Ugh, sorry, that's rubbish. I hope everything else goes well Uni wise - best of luck to you with them. And thank you so much - I shall try my best. I'm already nervous!
Original post by G333
People with interviews - when are you planning to get to the college?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App


I'm meant to report to the lodge by 8pm on Sunday so I'm thinking of going out for an early dinner with my parents and then heading up there around 6... Has anybody heard what they prefer - Should I be earlier - is 8pm really late? Or would they rather you be there at 8ish to avoid confusion?
Original post by hamsterdowns
Ugh, sorry, that's rubbish. I hope everything else goes well Uni wise - best of luck to you with them. And thank you so much - I shall try my best. I'm already nervous!


It's okay. :smile:. Thanks. I will try my best. You too. Tell me how it goes! x
http://www.ppe.ox.ac.uk/index.php/interviews This gives a brief overview. Interviews don't test for pre-existing knowledge, they test for aptitude for the subject, such as comphrension and the ability to form and develop and arguement, and follow through on points you make. They will probably give you questions that are unrelated to things you have studied at school, which help them see how you approach new and challenging problems.

Look around for past PPE interview questions (I think there is a list of past Oxbridge questions on this website, but they're easily found in the internet), which will give you a general idea of the question types and format. If they do test mathematical ability, it will be in relation to economics. For example, they might show you a graph or some data and ask you to interpret it.
thanks very much :smile:
Reply 6945
Avatar for my_name
my_name
My GCSE results were not the best: 2 A*s, 7 As, 4 Bs

And I have taken History, Government and Politics, English Lang & Lit Combined (AS only), Maths and Further maths and am expecting four As in my A-levels, with a B for English AS.

Do I have any hope of getting into PPE at Oxford? If yes, how can maximize my chances?

Will being part of my local youth council help in my personal statement?

Thank you.
Reply 6946
Avatar for Erika_B
Erika_B
1
Hi there. I just got rejected with 10a*s at igcse and 4as at AS and 4a* prediction at a2 for ppe at wadham college.

From this, i can tell you that grades don't mean everything. I had work experience in a very reputable London bank also.

Further reading is probably the most important aspect of your personal statement, but what you have read must be explained and applied to your application in a unique and thought provoking way. I believe this is where i went wrong.

So, i think as long as your AS results turnout as good as you say they will, there is no reason your grades will be holding you back.

Hope this helps!

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Reply 6947
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egrefen
Original post by Erika_B
Hi there. I just got rejected with 10a*s at igcse and 4as at AS and 4a* prediction at a2 for ppe at wadham college.

From this, i can tell you that grades don't mean everything. I had work experience in a very reputable London bank also.

Further reading is probably the most important aspect of your personal statement, but what you have read must be explained and applied to your application in a unique and thought provoking way. I believe this is where i went wrong.

So, i think as long as your AS results turnout as good as you say they will, there is no reason your grades will be holding you back.

Hope this helps!

Posted from TSR Mobile


Out of curiosity, how do you know your are rejected?
Reply 6948
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Erika_B
1
I did not get an interview

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I can tell you grades are important, and your lack of A*s probably puts you at a bit of a disadvantage, but you could definitely overcome it. Further maths is great for PPE and History is good.

Very important in getting an interview is the test (TSA) so make sure you're good at that. When people with great grades are rejected its probably because of the test, so the one thing that would make the biggest difference is to get really good at that.

Just got back from an interview and didn't have a single question on my personal statement. No one even mentioned it. based on my experience of the interview, I would say that neither your personal statement nor loads of practice interviews will help much.

So (1) do well on the test and (2) do well with the unseen stuff they give you / ask you about in the interview.
Your GCSE grades aren't very strong and most applicants will have better GCSE grades.
Also, 4A at A level isn't as good as it used to be and most people will be predicted atleast 1A*.
However, having said that if you do incredible in your TSA then there's a very good chance you'll get an interview.
doomed, you'll need to find a way to take the TSA, anyway im guessing you know that by now. I just wanted to see how it turned out for you, any luck? any interviews?
Hello,

Have you asked whoever is in charge of exams at your school about registering with Cambridge Assessment to become a test centre? If so and you're sure your school can't do it, you'll need to find your closest test centre and contact them about doing the TSA there on the day. This link seems like it could be quite useful:

http://www.admissionstests.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/adt/findcentre

Hope that's helped a bit. Good luck! =)
Can anyone let me know what the procedure is like for choosing the optional modules for 2nd year? (I'm currently a first year PPEist) How/when do you do it, how many are you allowed to pick, when do you start them? Thanks :smile:
Original post by emmaaa88
Can anyone let me know what the procedure is like for choosing the optional modules for 2nd year? (I'm currently a first year PPEist) How/when do you do it, how many are you allowed to pick, when do you start them? Thanks :smile:


Can only speak for my college - though I expect it's relatively similar across most.

We picked in the second half of the term before we wanted to take the module, if that makes sense. e.g. some time after 4th week of MT for HT modules.

You'll start the first papers in MT next year.

For the first choices, as far as I can remember we picked some time in the summer after prelims - but had chatted with tutors in Trinity.

The norm is to do 2 modules a term, starting with your choice from the 'core' options for each subject.

In total you will have 8 modules to do. Or 7 and a thesis, which is the less popular option.

Now the next bit depends on which subjects you are doing.

If you take Politics - you have to do 2 core modules (you pick from a list of 6 or so)

If you take Philosophy - you have to take 2 core modules, of which one must be Ethics

If you take Economics - you have to do 3 core modules, and there is no choice

If you are doing Tripartite, you have the option of only doing 2 Econ core options, but that prevents you from taking any Economics further option.

So by the end of that (excl tripartite) you will have either 4 or 5 of your 8 selected.

For the next 4 or 3, you pick from the further subjects (or another core paper if you wish).

Some will require a certain core paper in order to take the further paper, some will just say a certain core paper is 'useful'. Some options appear in more than one subject (e.g. Labour Economics in Pol and Econ).

I hope that makes some sense... It explains it pretty clearly in the PPE Handbook which is available on www.ppe.ox.ac.uk

It's worth having a look through the options to get an idea - there's some really interesting papers. Also glance through the past papers to get an idea of exam questions.

Now all the information is true for my year - but I'm a 3rd year and things may have changed since. Although I've not heard of any dramatic ones.

Please anyone else correct me!
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Poppyxx
x


Thank you so much for taking the time to give me such a comprehensive answer! Very kind of you :biggrin:
I want to ask how many toffs have you seen/know in your classes/groups/(etc.)
Original post by PureMathsigma
I want to ask how many toffs have you seen/know in your classes/groups/(etc.)


I'm a toff and proud. There's one for you.
Reply 6958
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Bax-man
2
Original post by PureMathsigma
I want to ask how many toffs have you seen/know in your classes/groups/(etc.)


What's your definition of toff?
Original post by Caecilius
I'm a toff and proud. There's one for you.

I wasn't hating I was just asking. There's nothing wrong with being rich. There's something wrong with being a bitch. Sadly, the two qualities are commonly found in the same people.


Original post by Bax-man
What's your definition of toff?

Akin to Dave, George, and good ol' Borris. Or just any run of the mill Public/Independent school boy.

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