Calc BC grades for Oxford PPE

Student Lounge International Students
1

I’m an HS junior from the USA interested in applying to either Oxford PPE or Modern Languages next year. I still haven’t completely decided.

My main concern for Oxford PPE is that I got low Bs in Calc BC my sophomore year. I’ve seen conflicting things about how Oxford looks at grades: 1) they don’t consider it at all or 2) they only consider grades relevant to the course you’re applying for. I have 5s on the BC exam (5 on the AP subscore as well), World, Biology, Human Geo, French, Chemistry, and I will be taking USH, Lang, Psych, Stats, and Physics C.

Two questions:

  1. I know UCAS asks you to list the courses you’re taking, so will Oxford consider my grades in Calc BC?
  2. If Oxford does consider grades, is it likely to get an interview despite my Bs in BC if I score well on the TSA?

Thanks for all your help.

2

Another thing I remembered but don’t know if is relevant: I took a Philosophy course at a community college before my sophomore year and got a B. Will Oxford see this grade if it’s not on my HS transcript?

3

They really won’t care about your classroom grades- just test scores.

But: if you aren’t sure between PPE & Modern Languages- which have no overlap at all at Oxford- you might want to rethink Oxford, your subject or both.

4

Grades per se are not that important compared to your test scores - but will those poorer grades feed into your teacher rec?