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

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read some classics on political science? Maybe Aristotle's Politics, or Plato's Republic, or JS Mill's On Liberty, or Hobbes Leviathan - I'm sure that any of those would give you plenty to talk about. Also An Introduction To Political Philosophy gives a really good overview of issues in political philosophy. Oxford is far more focused on reading and submitted work than they are on extra-curricular activities - so it's important to invest some time in your PS to talk about some really interesting texts that you've read.
Original post by RowanL
I'm not sure you've understood how the modules work, you can't take Politics, Economics and a single Philosophy Paper. In order to take a Philosophy paper (unless it is a joint schools paper like 'Theory of Politics') you have to take Philosophy and that means taking Ethics and one of the four semi-compulsory Philosophy papers. You may want to look at the regulations on weblearn - http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/examregs/11-30ar_S_R_H_S_OF_PHILOSOPHY_POLITICS_AND_ECONOMICS.shtml .



Actually you can - it's a bit odd, but I know people who have considered it.

From the regs:

C. Politics and Economics.
Candidates must take subjects 300, 301 and 302 and any two of 201, 202, 203, 214 and 220.
Their other three subjects may be chosen freely from those listed under Politics and under Economics except that (i) at least one must be a further subject in Politics (other than the thesis (or the supervised dissertation) if offered); (ii) one but only one may be a subject in Philosophy; (iii) certain combinations of subjects may not be offered (see List of Subjects below); (iv) not all Economics subjects may be available in any particular year (see below for details). There may also be restrictions on numbers permitted to offer some Economics subjects in any particular year.


OP I know people who have considered this, and then not actually done it in the end. Normally because they wanted to do a further subject in Pol/Econ instead.

Personally I wouldn't pick Ethics as my one option (but that's just because I disliked it intensely). But I don't think you'd be at too much a disadvantage. Ethics is a fairly autonomous paper I would say.

Who have you heard it might be a disadvantage from? Tutor? If not, perhaps talk to them when you're back up next term.

You don't need to make this decision now - I would get started on Pol and Econ and re-evaluate when you're making your paper choices in other terms. You may find there's more options you want to do in those, over and above Ethics. Or you may not!
Original post by magicmuggle
I got into all five of my choices (including Durham, who apparently like extra curriculars), with a personal statement that mentioned two extra curriculars, neither of which were that intensive or that related to PPE (i.e. saxophone playing and writing for a school newspaper). If you feel like you've got more you want to say then you could try and say it, but a more academically weighted personal statement will not necessarily hinder you.


I have a few but I don't have enough space to dwell on them (debating, student council (head girl and 2 other positions as a junior), and helping out a former foreign secretary) since I want to focus on my academics but somehow they just come out as being mentioned in passing and I dont know if that will go over well with the universities other than Oxford
Original post by fzehra1
I have a few but I don't have enough space to dwell on them (debating, student council (head girl and 2 other positions as a junior), and helping out a former foreign secretary) since I want to focus on my academics but somehow they just come out as being mentioned in passing and I dont know if that will go over well with the universities other than Oxford


If you're worried then ask your reference writer to include them in your reference. Even if this isn't possible though, it sounds like you'll be fine. You have a lot more than I did and I got in everywhere I tried :smile:.
Original post by poonani
hi - I'm applying for PPE, and i'm wondering whether it is highly recommended to name books that we like in the personal statement. I have a lot of other activities and stuff, and I'm wondering if I have to include books, because everyone seems to name globalization and its discontents and think, etc.


Hi, I'm in the same boat as you. But I know that its definitely a good idea to name the title, author and what the book made you think in your PS. Be warned that they may bring it up in the interview though ...
Original post by mnina19
read some classics on political science? Maybe Aristotle's Politics, or Plato's Republic, or JS Mill's On Liberty, or Hobbes Leviathan - I'm sure that any of those would give you plenty to talk about. Also An Introduction To Political Philosophy gives a really good overview of issues in political philosophy. Oxford is far more focused on reading and submitted work than they are on extra-curricular activities - so it's important to invest some time in your PS to talk about some really interesting texts that you've read.


I've read and am reading a few modern books on philosophy and Econ but do you think it's worth reading some classics as well? Surely they mention the same ideas.
Original post by Rick M
I've read and am reading a few modern books on philosophy and Econ but do you think it's worth reading some classics as well? Surely they mention the same ideas.


they do cover some of the same ideas, but considering that some of those classics are on the Politics syllabus at Oxford, it would look impressive if you'd read - and was able to talk about intelligently - books on their syllabus.(at our schools Oxford/Cambridge info evening one of the visiting tutors said he was generally more interested in personal statements where the students had clearly had the initiative to look up and read the books that they teach on the course. (but hey, every admissions tutor is different and it might not make a difference - none of this is iron-clad advice that gets you in. for what it's worth, On Liberty isn't a long or hard read at all though.)
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by mnina19
they do cover some of the same ideas, but considering that some of those classics are on the Politics syllabus at Oxford, it would look impressive if you'd read - and was able to talk about intelligently - books on their syllabus.(at our schools Oxford/Cambridge info evening one of the visiting tutors said he was generally more interested in personal statements where the students had clearly had the initiative to look up and read the books that they teach on the course. (but hey, every admissions tutor is different and it might not make a difference - none of this is iron-clad advice that gets you in. for what it's worth, On Liberty isn't a long or hard read at all though.)


Ok, thank you. I might read On Liberty or Utilitarianism then.
Original post by magicmuggle
If you're worried then ask your reference writer to include them in your reference. Even if this isn't possible though, it sounds like you'll be fine. You have a lot more than I did and I got in everywhere I tried :smile:.

Where did you apply? Haha that's reassuring but the competition everywhere is intense and I dont have strong O Level grades to back me up there
Hi everyone, I'll be applying for PPE this autumn but I'm really stuck for college choice. My favourites at the moment are Balliol (but those applicant numbers don't look reassuring), Brasenose and New. What would you say are the best colleges for PPE?
I think I'm applying to Balliol too, simply because Balliol offers scholarships for international students(minor ones)and no other college does. Oh well, we'll see on Tuesday whether my AS levels are upto the mark or not.
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Original post by TheLoschadka
Hi everyone, I'll be applying for PPE this autumn but I'm really stuck for college choice. My favourites at the moment are Balliol (but those applicant numbers don't look reassuring), Brasenose and New. What would you say are the best colleges for PPE?


I strongly recommend Brasenose!

(I'm possibly biased.)
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To elaborate on that somewhat unhelpful post - I don't believe that there's a single 'best at PPE' college. There will be excellent tutors at all colleges. I think it's perhaps more useful to ask, "Out of the colleges which offer PPE, which is the most [insert metric(s) of choice here: friendly, conveniently located, pretty etc.]?"

I can personally vouch that Brasenose is very friendly, conveniently located, and pretty. However, you should definitely go on college tours for ones you're considering and judge for yourself.
Original post by TheLoschadka
Hi everyone, I'll be applying for PPE this autumn but I'm really stuck for college choice. My favourites at the moment are Balliol (but those applicant numbers don't look reassuring), Brasenose and New. What would you say are the best colleges for PPE?


I'm obviously gonna be biased and say St Annes, considering that's where my offer is.

The only thing you can do is tour the colleges to make up your own mind.
Original post by TheLoschadka
Hi everyone, I'll be applying for PPE this autumn but I'm really stuck for college choice. My favourites at the moment are Balliol (but those applicant numbers don't look reassuring), Brasenose and New. What would you say are the best colleges for PPE?


Don't be deceived by application numbers - it's really hard to draw any reliable conclusion about your odds from them. I suspect that Balliol attracts a lot of applicants because it is 'famous' for PPE, having originated there, has the most PPE students, is very central, and first in the alphabet for all Oxford colleges.The people applying aren't necessarily harder to compete against - the numbers are probably just inflated by some or all of the aforementioned factors.
Original post by TheLoschadka
Hi everyone, I'll be applying for PPE this autumn but I'm really stuck for college choice. My favourites at the moment are Balliol (but those applicant numbers don't look reassuring), Brasenose and New. What would you say are the best colleges for PPE?


TBH there's no single 'best' one. Look at the list.
http://www.ppe.ox.ac.uk/index.php/colleges

Then look at each college and do as much research as you can. (TSR has loads of articles and threads describing them - plus there's buckets of blogs and other stuff on the web generally.)

Think about where you would most like to spend your Oxford years and then go for it. Try to ignore supposed threats like difficulty of getting in. :smile:
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Original post by R.P.Everything.
Don't be deceived by application numbers - it's really hard to draw any reliable conclusion about your odds from them.

Original post by Fullofsurprises
Try to ignore supposed threats like difficulty of getting in. :smile:


+1 to these - although Brasenose is pretty oversubscribed, more applicants will end up getting an offer compared to an undersubscribed college, since we place a fair few applicants at other colleges (via pooling).

I don't think those sorts of statistics are released (regrettably), but essentially the colleges which are most applied to don't necessarily have the least favourable 'number of applicants given an offer from Oxford / number of applicants' ratio.
Does anyone have any advice on the personal statement? Essentially, incorporating philosophy-is it okay if my only reference to it comes in the form of political philosophy? I'm applying for politics and economics elsewhere.

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Original post by sellerofdreams
Does anyone have any advice on the personal statement? Essentially, incorporating philosophy-is it okay if my only reference to it comes in the form of political philosophy? I'm applying for politics and economics elsewhere.

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I got into all five of my PPE choices, including Oxford, only mentioning political philosophy. It's absolutely fine. Also, unis do realise that you won't necessarily like all three subjects equally/ might not be applying for just PPE, so will give you a bit of leeway. Good luck!
Original post by sellerofdreams
Does anyone have any advice on the personal statement? Essentially, incorporating philosophy-is it okay if my only reference to it comes in the form of political philosophy? I'm applying for politics and economics elsewhere.

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It's an excellent idea, especially political philosophy is heavily related to ethics, with there being plenty of stuff (e.g. utilitarianism vs the social contract) available as content.

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