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PPE at Oxford


deissi

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Yes, it most certainly does! In America you have to do SATs/ACTs and AP (?) to get into college, but for the UK, all they want is the IB diploma. Basically they give you an offer saying you need to score XX (e.g. 39) points, and when you finish IB and get 39+ points, you are admitted.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hey,

I'm interested in doing either PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Oxford or IR (International Relations) at London School of Economics. Is anyone else here interested in them?

Does anyone know how many points I should approximately have to be accepted? The LSE website says min. 37 and 6-6-6 from HL, but according to our coordinator this is only for them to consider you, so in reality you need more points. Does anyone know how much more?

There are a lot of things you need to consider. I can speak from experience since I went for an interview at Oxford.

It depends on:

Whether you go to a public/private school

What percentage of your school's graduates go on to study higher education

How good your personal statement, referee statement, oxford paragraph and oxford referee statement are

Your parent's educational background and current income

The quality of the written work you submit (you will have to for philosophy)

Also you should know that obviously, the more points the better for Oxford. However, this can work against you when applying to other universities. I have heard (cannot verify its authenticity) very good schools LSE, Durham, etc. reject candidates that they think have a shot at getting into Oxford. This surely sucks, because if you apply to Oxbridge you have to apply at the same time as the med school students apply, so the other unis you apply to will KNOW that you applied to Oxbridge.

Basically, get high predicted grades for the initial stage of the application process and make sure your personal statement and referee statements are glowing. Make your submitted written work perfect and original. If you get invited for an interview, I can give you pointers - it's brutal.

Finally, be prepared for rejection :P . I was :P .

Edited by blindpet
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Thanks for the tips! One question:

Whether you go to a public/private school

What percentage of your school's graduates go on to study higher education

Your parent's educational background

How do these affect :P Especially the last one is just outrageous in my opinion!

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Thanks for the tips! One question:

How do these affect :P Especially the last one is just outrageous in my opinion!

Those 3 sound more like factors for US universities than UK universities.

Btw, I think York does, and is pretty popular for its PPE.

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Whether you go to a public/private school

What percentage of your school's graduates go on to study higher education

Your parent's educational background and *national income* (forgot that part ;P)

As I'm sure you know deissi, schools like oxford are often criticised for admitting too many candidates with private school backgrounds. In response to this, they have quotas for overseas students, mature students, poor students, underprivileged etc.

Basically if the last few generations of your family have had blue collar lifestyles and the school you go to is crappy (like mine) and few of the students ever go on to study at universities like oxford, you are put into a separate 'pile' to give you a realistic shot. The odds are still against you though as there are a lot of poor kids who work there asses off to fulfill the dream of going to Oxford. Unfortunately the well-off kids have a better shot simply because they outnumber the underprivileged applicants.

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Ok, so basically I'm getting minus points for being in a private school which is 99% publicly funded and it's free for students? :P

Well at least my parents dont have an extremely academic background, I guess that ups my chances then..

Again it depends more on their annual income. If you do get invited for an interview, I can help prep you for philosophy :P .

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As far as i know from what i was told by PPE candidates at oxford, most students 'drop' a subject during each year. So even if you take all three introductory subjects the first year, most drop one of them and focus on two in the subsequent year :D . Taking all 3 is just too demanding :D .

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Btw, does anyone know how hard it is to get into Economics and Management compared to PPE? And is Math HL a must for Econ&Mgmt. I read a prospectus that said A-level math is only recommended, but it didn't say anything about IB maths.

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Btw, does anyone know how hard it is to get into Economics and Management compared to PPE? And is Math HL a must for Econ&Mgmt. I read a prospectus that said A-level math is only recommended, but it didn't say anything about IB maths.

The 3-year admit rate for E&M was 12.2%, compared to 20.1% for PPE. So E&M is harder, statistically speaking.

It also does say on the entrance requirements chart that A-level Math is "strongly recommended". I am pretty sure that a full A2-level subject is equivalent to an IB HL subject, so Math HL, while not an absolute deal-breaker, is, as Oxford puts it, "strongly recommended", and if you don't have it you might be disadvantaged compared to applicants with HL Math or even Further Math.

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Oxford and Cambridge never admit to accepting a higher pecentage of private students, and since they get no more money no matter who they take, appart from international students, theoretically, no monetary issues including parents income/education, or what school your in should influence the chance of you geting in. However since genrally private education is often better than public education and they only take the top students they are bound to accept more private students. I wouldnt worry about what your parents do affecting he chance of you getting in, both my parents are GP's and I still feel I have a good chance of geting in if I do well in my mocks this year and get a good predicted grade.

It is vital however that you have a verry good personal statement, showing your devotion to the subject. You should show in the statement that the subject you want to take is the only thing in your life and that its what youve always dreme of doing.

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so bassicaly this is the couse to take if u wanna have career in politics. also does it mean that if i apply to oxford then i can't apply to camridge of LE and if i do i won't be accepted for the factr that i applied for oxford? how much is the tutuion?

Edited by missrunway
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so bassicaly this is the couse to take if u wanna have career in politics. also does it mean that if i apply to oxford then i can't apply to camridge of LE and if i do i won't be accepted for the factr that i applied for oxford? how much is the tutuion?

Thanks for your comment! To reply, first: No, you cannot apply to both Ox and Cambridge, its either or. Tuition is a bit over 3k£ a year. And no, I wouldn't say this is THE course for politics, there are many other courses which are also good for politics.

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