This week’s episode focuses on Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). Our guests are Barn and Lily, both first year PPE students at Worcester College, Oxford. Here’s a quick summary of what we discussed!
Firstly, discussion focused on our guests’ rationale for choosing PPE – with both guests, alongside host Tim, emphasising the flexibility and breadth of content that the degree offers.
Barn
We then moved on to talking about what the course is like – with PPE focusing on the ‘big questions’ of society. Our guests noted that, despite all three subjects being interconnected, they are taught as three separate subjects in the first year.
Discussion then shifted to the tutorial system. Our guests emphasised the importance of tutorials in enabling personal understanding, rendering them positive and productive environments for learning. We then talked about workload management, contact hours, and adjusting to peers – tune in to hear what our guests had to say!
Next, we talked about the structure of the course, with PPE providing both ‘bipartite’ and ‘tripartite’ routes from second year. Our guests reflected, however, on the usefulness of all three subjects being compulsory in the first year – providing a strong grounding of knowledge across all disciplines.
Lily
Our guests were then asked about their favourite aspects of the course so far – make sure to watch to find out! After this, both went on to address stereotypes about both Politics and Philosophy – countering these as misconceptions.
Finally, our guests gave a range of useful tips and insights into the admissions process for PPE – emphasising the importance of preparation for the TSA (the admissions test). Listen in to hear what else they had to say!
Producers Notes
This episode was different for me as, unlike all other episodes, I was doing the course we discussed, just like my guests. I really enjoyed being able to contribute more of my own ideas to the discussion!
I had a really good time recording this episode and laughed a lot. That being said, there are still lots of useful insights for teachers and students alike to learn from. The episode is definitely worth a listen/watch for anyone thinking of applying to PPE or similar!
See you next week, all the best, Tim