Hello, my name’s Tom and I’ve just finished my first year of Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
To be completely honest, I applied to Corpus on a bit of a whim (which you should absolutely not do) but its fortunately turned out brilliantly. The Corpus tagline of ‘small and friendly’ is completely true: it’s a college where you can know everyone in your year and spend lots of time around other years as well. I think the best thing about the Oxford and college experience is constantly being around people who love their subject just as much as you do, and this is something I’ve loved about Corpus.
If you’re reading this and thinking about applying for PPE, please go for it. Don’t not be put off about any supposed requirements you’ve read about it or the culture at Oxford. Getting into PPE does not require anything particularly specific (like the right sort of A-levels or unbelievably good grades); the most important thing is genuine passion for the subject – or at least part of the subject! I didn’t know anything about economics before I came, and it didn’t affect my chances of getting in or doing well in first year. If you’ve just discovered what PPE is and are wondering whether it’s really for you: it probably is. I didn’t know what it was until Year 12 when someone asked me if that was what I was applying for and after googling it realised it was the perfect degree for me.
Corpus is a lovely place to do PPE: the tutors are great, and the atmosphere is not as intense as what you might have heard. In your first year, you will get a broad overview each of the three subjects and then in a second year you can drop one (if you want to) and then have a very wide range of modules available to study. I personally love philosophy so am taking as many philosophy modules as I can along with some politics.
Outside of academics, I am an average but very keen sportsman. I am captaining the Corpus Men’s football team next year and (fingers crossed) the Uni cricket club 3rd XI. I am constantly involved with a lot of uni and college sport, and it’s been the best thing I’ve done at Oxford so far. I am very happy to talk about sport so please contact me if you have any questions about that (or anything else).
Resources
Resources categorised by subject and by Key Stage, as well as materials for applying to Oxford and finding out more about Corpus, can be found here.