New undergrad courses - particularly at Oxford/Cambridge

[Chilldonaldchill]

My dc2 is starting to think about uni applications for next year. They are likely to go for some sort of politics or international relations degree (very early days of thinking about it). They were looking at O and C and neither of those offers straight politics or IR as an undergraduate course (both offer history and politics; Oxford offers Politics and Management I think; both offer PPE I think). Before anyone says anything, I totally understand that Oxbridge is not the be all and end all (and in fact I think dc2 is not suited to those universities and we will have that conversation soon - but dc1 has just gone to Cambridge and dc2 is therefore currently invested in that university as their only current experience).
But my question is, given the increasing popularity of these degree courses, are other universities (such as O or C) likely to start offering them?
More broadly, how do

Sorry!
More broadly, how do universities decide to start offering new degree courses and how would students know that, for example, University A is going to start offering IR next year?
Hope that makes sense!

By checking the undergraduate prospectus or the university websites. They are huge and valuable sources of information about all the courses on offer for the forthcoming year.

The university websites are the way to go. Just seen the LSE is offering a new course next year: Politics and Data Science.

Cambridge doesn't offer PPE, the nearest equivalent course would be HSPS. It also offers Economics and Management or straight Economics.

In what way is DC2 not suited do you think?

Oxford offers Hist/ Pol, PPE and Economics and Management.

There are masses of great courses around the country but I'm just wondering why you feel DC2 has to be guided in a different direction.

Interested as my DC are all very different characters in all sorts of ways including approach to work but it never occurred to me to have any conversation with any of them of the do you think you're suited variety. I assumed that the entry process would work that out. None had a negative experience there even the ones I was a bit surprised got offers.

In other words, I'd be very careful about pre-empting. If you have real concerns then maybe that's a conversation for after an offer is in the bag?

Is your schedule doing a level maths? Without it, many of those courses aren’t open to them.

Your “dc” not your schedule

The online prospectuses or uni websites will show what courses they’re offering next year.

In terms of your original question, Oxford and Cambridge don’t tend to be swayed by newer/popular courses, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up for this year. For example they both have very literature-based foreign language courses, while many other universities have moved from that towards a more applied approach.

Some students will love all the traditions of Oxbridge and thrive on their courses, others would prefer it elsewhere. I agree with others that this is more for your DC to decide than for you to bring up, though.

@cloudtree

Is your schedule doing a level maths? Without it, many of those courses aren’t open to them.

No they are only looking at courses that don't require maths. There are a reassuringly large number.

The Oxford courses other than Hist/Pol would be challenging without Maths A level.

That's the fact of it, leaving aside formal requirements.

@goodbyestranger

In other words, I'd be very careful about pre-empting. If you have real concerns then maybe that's a conversation for after an offer is in the bag?

I suppose I have three concerns. One is that they are not as focused on academic stuff. So dc1 has already had to do an essay, despite the fact that term started 3 days ago, and has had to do 25+ hours reading for that (as well as clubbing all hours etc). Dc2 is less of a reader and, whilst very bright, is just a bit less focused on work I think. Also they are very very involved in a sport that currently requires traveling hundreds of miles for training every few weeks. They aren't going to want to give that up and I think other unis will be more understanding. (Could be wrong). Thirdly (and this is probably the big one and - I accept - probably my issue more than theirs) they always feel in the shadow of older sibling (unfairly but they do). If they decide to apply I will be absolutely supportive but at the same time I think if they don't get an offer they will feel as though they haven't matched up. I would rather they didn't put themselves in that position and be disappointed or have another "dc1 did better than me" moment. That's probably not a reasonable position for me to take but it's how I feel at the moment. Luckily I think we will get to do open days this year so hopefully there will be a range of options that dc2 is happy with. And if one of them is O or C we will deal with it...

None of these things are reasons to tell dc2 not to try, if that’s what they want to do. Yes, there will be essays every week but in a way that’s easier than having no essays for ages then a huge important one. The essays you read out in a tutorial are just a jumping off point for discussion- they don’t count towards your results.

Plenty of people at Oxbridge have major sporting commitments.

Whether dc2 will get in or not, who knows? I’m v much of the opinion that you regret the things you don’t do. In your shoes I’d be encouraging them to consider all the options but not steering them away from Oxbridge particularly.

Yep you're probably right.

The second point is probably the most intractable Chilldonaldchill. Is travelling hundreds of miles every few weeks essential? If so - tricky.

From the perspective of a mother of eight equally bright but very different DC - honestly, try not to think about the dynamics too much.

Brian do you think plenty of undergrads travel hundreds of miles every couple of weeks? I'm not so sure.