Do I need an EPQ to apply to Oxford or Cambridge?

No. Cambridge says the EPQ will not normally be a requirement of offers, and Oxford's English faculty says it does not include the EPQ in conditional offers. Check the page for your own course, because requirements are set by subject.

Should my EPQ topic match my degree subject?

A close link gives you something relevant to discuss in your application and at interview, but the EPQ rules only ask for a topic your other qualifications do not cover. If the link is loose, explain what the project taught you about thinking in your subject.

Can I mention my EPQ in my UCAS personal statement?

Yes. The University of Manchester says students can refer to the Extended Project in their UCAS personal statements and at interview. Cambridge says reflection on what you did matters more than listing activities, so describe your reasoning, not just the title.

What if my school does not offer the EPQ?

Cambridge notes that not all students have equal access to the EPQ, and it is not normally an offer condition. You can show similar skills with your own reading, a written piece or a project, and describe what you learned from it.

EPQ Topic Ideas for Oxbridge Applications: How to Choose

An EPQ topic for Oxford or Cambridge is a choice about a question, not a subject list. This page is a spoke of our guide on how to do research in high school. It starts with what the two universities say about the EPQ, then gives a method for narrowing a topic and example questions by subject area.

What do Oxford and Cambridge say about the EPQ?

Cambridge encourages the EPQ but does not make it a condition. Its admissions page says “We encourage applicants to take an EPQ,” that it helps develop study and research skills useful in higher education, and that completing it “won’t normally be a requirement of offers.”^[1] The same page notes that not all students have equal access to the EPQ, and it sends applicants to their shortlisted College for specifics.^[1]

Oxford sets requirements by course, so the clearest statement here comes from one faculty. The English Faculty says the EPQ is “not a requirement for application” to its degree and that it does “not include the EPQ in our conditional offers.” It adds that an EPQ can be a good indicator of your ability to conduct research and write at length, and that final grades in your standardized qualifications are much more important.^[3]

	Cambridge	Oxford (English Faculty)
Encouraged?	Yes^[1]	Can show research and writing ability^[3]
Required?	Not normally an offer requirement^[1]	Not required to apply^[3]
In offers?	Not normally^[1]	Not included in conditional offers^[3]

Other Oxford courses may word this differently, so read the page for your course.

What does the EPQ ask of your topic?

The EPQ rules set only one hard limit on topic: it must not be covered by your other qualifications. AQA describes the EPQ as an A-level standard qualification in which students lead their own projects, plan and research a topic they have chosen, and produce a written report, plus an artefact or production for practical projects.^[4] It adds that the qualification is worth half an A-level, at 28 UCAS points for an A*, and recommends 30 guided learning hours for the taught skills element, about a quarter of the overall time.^[4]^[5]

AQA also says one mark scheme applies to any type of project.^[5] The grade does not depend on how impressive the subject sounds. It depends on how well you plan, research, develop and review the work. That is useful when you choose: a modest question you can answer well is a safer base than a grand one you cannot finish.

How do you choose a topic that fits an Oxbridge application?

Start from the course, then work toward a question you can argue. Cambridge asks applicants to show their own thoughts and opinions, critical thinking and analytical skills, and says your experience of academic activities and your reflections matter more than the number you list.^[2] It also says activities unrelated to your subject will not be taken into consideration.^[2] A topic near your course gives your reasoning somewhere to go.

Use this sequence:

List the parts of your intended course that you find most interesting, in your own words.
Find a debate inside one of them, where informed people disagree.
Turn the debate into a question that starts with “to what extent” or “why”, not “what is”.
Add a limit: a period, a place, a text, a data set or one case.
Check that sources exist. Look for at least a few books, papers or datasets you can open.
Make sure the topic is not already covered by an A level or other qualification you are taking.
Ask whether you could talk about it for ten minutes and answer a challenge to your argument.

For project design beyond the EPQ, see our guide to choosing a research project idea you can finish.

How do you narrow a broad EPQ topic into a question?

A broad topic becomes a question when you add an argument and a limit. The examples below are hypothetical, written to show the method, not recommended titles. Each one gives a reader something to disagree with, which is what makes a question workable.

Subject area	Too broad	Narrowed question
History	The causes of a war	To what extent did one economic policy, rather than diplomacy, shape the outbreak of a specific conflict?
English	A novelist’s themes	How does one author’s use of an unreliable narrator change how a reader judges a single character?
Economics	Inflation	Why did prices in one sector rise faster than in another during one episode, and what do public data show?
Biology (no lab)	Gene editing	What ethical arguments do published papers make for and against one specific use, and which rest on weaker evidence?
Philosophy	Free will	Does one argument against free will survive its strongest published objection?
Law	Privacy	How have courts in one country balanced privacy against public interest in one type of case?

For subject-specific ideas with named data sources, see our guides to history and humanities project ideas and economics project ideas. If you want a science question with no lab, see research without a lab.

How should you talk about your EPQ in an application?

Describe the question, your method and what changed in your thinking. The University of Manchester says students can refer to the Extended Project in their UCAS personal statements and at interview.^[6] Cambridge asks for your own thoughts and weighs your reflections over a long list of activities,^[2] so a short account of one argument you made, one source that changed your mind and one limit of your answer reads better than the title alone.

If your school does not offer the EPQ, nothing here depends on the qualification itself. A project you run yourself can follow the same steps. For wording research in the application itself, see our guide to describing research on the Common App, which covers a US application but uses the same principle: say what you did and what it showed.

What should you do next?

Write three possible questions using the sequence above, then test each one against your course page and the sources you can open. Pick the one you would most enjoy arguing about. If you want an outside view of how your overall profile reads, the free review on ivy-league.io is built for that.

What do we not know?

Admissions policies on the EPQ differ by university, course and College, and they change, so read the current page for each course you apply to. Oxford sets requirements by course, so the Oxford position above reflects one faculty and should not be assumed for other subjects. Neither university publishes how much weight a given EPQ topic carries in selection, and no source we know of shows that any topic improves an outcome. The example questions are illustrations of a method, not approved or recommended titles. Exam board rules, hours and points can be revised, so confirm them on the exam board’s page.