English, History and PE A levels, potentially for Oxbridge

[Drangea]

DS is considering the above combination. Aiming to read English or History. Teachers are recommending he applies to Oxbridge. High achieving kid at a super selective boys grammar that send lots to Oxbridge to give context.
We have not discussed with teachers yet, wanted to get a feel first.
Thanks in advance
(also posted in further education, but was advised to move to here)

I shouldn’t have used the word wanted, and should’ve said more impressed by realistically. I followed my first post up with another.

obviously OP’s son has a right to apply but I would suggest 1. Asking him if Oxbridge is what he really wants, especially as he chose a PE a level. Not many Oxbridge students would pick that.

and B. If it is, support him applying by all means but make sure he has other uni’s to fall back on.

No state school I know teaches 5 A levels and all the kids I know that have got in to Oxbridge over the last 10 years have been from state school, and got in on 3, or 4 if they were doing Maths and Further Maths.

Oxbridge is highly academic, PE is not. This choice will likely rule him out from Oxbridge before he starts.

If he wants to be a coach or PE trainer, or anything PE/sport related, he might be worth picking a uni that offers undergraduate sports science. neither Oxford or Cambridge do.

You can definitely take more than 3 a levels at many state schools.

This is categorically incorrect. Most Oxbridge students do not have 5-6 A Levels.

Most, if not all, have 3 or 4 with the fourth predominantly being further maths.

Most students at Oxford and Cambridge do not have 5 or 6 A Levels. There will be the odd person with 5 A Levela but the majority will have 3.

oxbridge won’t look favourably on PE as it’s not relevant to most of the courses run there. So it’s son’s choice whether he wants to drop PE for something else or take a fourth subject.

I would be interested to know what the son thinks in all this and whether he really wants to go to a uni that don’t offer sport courses. I’m not saying it’s self sabotage but maybe he would rather go somewhere that plays to his strengths and offers sport related courses. Hence picking that over a more academic subject.

if he is hellbent on Oxbridge he may have to think of dropping PE for something different

my experience which seems to be true today is that the less academic/art subjects eg Art/DT/PE etc are normally taken as a 4th if the student wishes to pursue a more academic degree based on the other subjects. I did 3 academic but loved art so I did 4 as I knew that potentially the art would not be counted for some degree courses. I know people who wanted to go down an art route eg fashion design and so doing art as one of 3 wasn’t a problem.
if Your child was looking to do sports science somewhere then PE as a third no problem but I think if he’s looking for oxbridge I’d definitely do it as a 4th simply because he enjoys it.

Tell me you know fuck all about Oxbridge admissions without telling me….

No - most kids do not have 5 or 6 A levels. You haven’t even bothered to look at their own, publicly available, data on this.

And no one will be gate keeping applications and not passing them on. He applies. The admissions tutors receive and assess. End of.

If he has a good reason for taking PE, and aiming for Sports Law is quite sound, and probably slightly different in a good way, it should be fine.

Oxbridge don't ask for 4 + a levels but in many subjects nearly everyone who gets in has this.

This is not true. Correlation does not equal causation. Schools often push their cleverest children to do more A-Levels than they need to, and then these kids get into Oxbridge, but it isn't because of their extra A-Levels.

I've been doing Oxford admissions interviews for years. You should have three "helpful" A-Levels. If you have a fourth and you're applying for English and the fourth is, say, Chemistry, you can get a D in it for all we care, and you'd have been better off not wasting your time on it. I also seem to spend my life going round schools telling them to stop terrorising their kids by making them do 5 A-Levels but nobody listens.

OP, I would say your son should do something additional to the PE A-Level -- no harm in him doing it as a fourth A-Level if he'll enjoy it and it won't detract from his other subjects.

@OneGiddyRubyViewer why oh why are you persisting in spouting so much rubbish?
Most have 3 A levels - STEM bods often do 4 with FM as the 4th.

It's really unhelpful & easily dismissed - I'm sure you're aware there are many teachers, lecturers, admission staff here to refute this kind of rubbish - indeed some of them even work at Oxford/Cambridge!

Bowing out now, too hot for this.

OP best of luck to you DC.

X post! @girljulian 😁

PE would not be an a level they’d likely accept a student on, like it or not it’s the truth. OP’s son should pick a fourth or drop it if he wants a chance at Oxbridge. 👍

You're ignoring the fact you told OP most Oxbridge students have 5-6 A Levels. Stop doubling down on things you clearly don't know about.

Given that according to Ofqual, who I imagine do know what they are talking about, a grand total of 185 pupils sat 5 or more A levels in England and Wales in 2024 it seems somewhat unlikely that "most" students anywhere have 5 or 6.

Riiight - so totally ignore the fact you said they will be wanting 5 A levels?

I think OP has been given good advice here, by an admissions tutor no less. I'm sure its become obvious to the OP you haven't a clue.

Every year I see these kind of " if you haven't got straight 9's, a noble peace prize & a comendation from the Pope - don't even bother!"

Why the fuck oh why do people do it when parents come here in good faith seeking advice?

Its rotten. If YOU don't KNOW say nothing rather than insist on blathering the utmost crap.

Based on Oxbridge students I’ve worked with

if he wants to read English id recommend dropping PE for a language (eg French or german)

if he would rather do history, he would only need history as an essential a level, however it’s best to choose other a levels that demonstrate critical thinking. English works, for his third I’d recommend RS, economics or philosophy.

As opposed to PE

Oxbridge is so competitive though for English and history that he needs backup choices.

🍪

This is the correct advice. I would also suggests he emails the admissions teams. It would probably be fine.

There are other reasons why it probably isn’t the best A level choice though.

It has no direct relevance and very few transferable skills needed for his degree choices. Languages would be a better choice (if he is a good enough linguist to get the grades). Look at the syllabi for his courses, there will probably be a language element. Another essay based A level is a good option. They would be more useful. Although, as long as he chooses subjects that meet the requirements, it is more important that he chooses subjects where he can easily get the grades.

There is nothing on the PE syllabus that would be helpful if he chooses to pursue a career in sports law.

Any subject that requires talent and has slightly more subjective assessment (eg art, music, PE) is a bit riskier if you need an A*. There is more scope for things to go wrong by bad luck. A close friend of DS ended up with a sports injury requiring surgery mid PE A level.

PE is a v good A level and Oxbridge quite happily take students for medicine with it so sure it would be fine for other subjects too. Lots of science, psychology in it. People think it’s an easy option - it’s not.

My son is at a SS grammar and looking at oxbridge for history for September 2026. He is doing 3 A levels in history, English literature and economics. His school (who get many Oxbridge offers each year) do not recommend 4 A levels for humanities and don’t even offer EPQ. The school’s attitude is to achieve the best grades possible in three well regarded A levels and boost the super curricular.

STEM is different and FM as a fourth may be required for some courses.