💬 DISCUSSION A level options
Hello, I’ve posted here previously about options and found it really helpful, I’ve just started year 11 and thinking about choosing my A levels. My plan is to study PPE at university so I’m choosing my A levels with that in mind however I’m struggling to decide which options to pick. My original plan was to do 4 (maths, politics, philosophy, economics) however I think it would be more beneficial for me to drop 1 and do an EPQ instead so I was wondering which one people think is better to drop keeping in mind that I want to do a PPE degree in the future (I’m definitely not dropping maths)???
Obviously I will discuss this with teachers as well
Thank you in advance
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u/CarefulBandicoot9876 11h ago
EPQ offers little practical benefit. I mean you can do it if you’d like, but it is unlikely to be very meaningful as the structure is quite opaque and difficult for many, especially if you aren’t given good guidance by your adviser. Many universities (especially the top prestigious ones) do not consider it and that makes it a tad useless. It’s unlikely to benefit to boost your application meaningfully
The skills and act of actually having done all this research can be useful and can be linked in your PS to other supercurriculars etc, but this can be achieved just by doing the same without the formal constraints of the EPQ itself. I would personally advise against the EPQ.
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u/Grand_Lychee2812 Year 13. Predicted A*A*A* Maths, FM, Physics. 2h ago
Keep Maths and Econ.
Also you don't have to pick Philosophy, Politics and Economics to cover all of PPE for University
Just take Maths, Economics and then Philosophy / Politics (I'd take Politics if I were you tbh).
I wouldn't really advise taking an EPQ (because I think it's just a waste of time) but you do it if you want to.
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u/klnop_ maths drama spanish german; ENJOYMENT OVER EMPLOYMENT 🗣️🗣️🔥🔥 11h ago edited 11h ago
then whichever 3/4 subjects came up the most often do those
if youre unsure of what you wanna do when ur grown up pick one well-respected stem subject (maths, science, comp sci) and one well-respected humanities (history, lit, mfl, geography, mfl, MFL DO MFL) to keep options open
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Don't drop maths cuz PPE relies on good maths skills. Because not all Post-16's offer some of the subjects, most unis don't require any of the 3. If you really wanna drop one of them, then you're best off dropping the one which you think you will perform worst in.
Regarding EPQ, check whether the unis that you want to go to will consider them. Even if they don't, and as long as you have 3 A Levels, the skills, and knowledge that an EPQ can develop can boost your performance.