Oxford is mandatory.
Nat Epic is mandatory. [I think...? in normal OCC pangea games you can avoid this if Cuirs and Cavs will win the day]
Everything else is debateable, I think.
HE is nice for pre-steampower army buildup, but the timing is a bit questionable, unless you get an early level 4 warrior from barb fights - otherwise hard to transition from the first war granting the experience into this before steam power is ready. Might push you to make the first GG for a super medic, which is a bit questionable IMO - first 1 or 2 GGs into the city is helpful if you manage without super medic.
IW is pretty solid - after steampower and before nat park, this grants the HE bonus to army and everything else. After nat park, at least loses the health downsides. If you have a well-timed GE IW gets quite good, otherwise the time lost to build is a bit painful. IW also grants the engi slots which really help production also, if you lack angkor wat.
Don't get both IW and HE, IMO. I did that in one run but quickly had no need for HE (I am playing on BUG not BAT, so no gold gained from excess production overflow - if I had that, then I guess HE becomes a late game money machine). But you probably want one of them.
Globe I have been avoiding due to the long-term access to happiness through religions and vassals. This locks me out of drafting potential, and limits ability to whip in the mid game, but otherwise not much of a cost at all.
Nat Park is okay, especially if you manage to keep 4 forests for preserves (another 4 happiness making GT even meh-er). This hurts a bit unless you get RP quickly for lumbermills, and you can work specialists until then. My most recent game I was at about 7 unealthiness, so I gained equivalent to 3.5 theoretical specialists + 2 from forest preserves, meaning about 30 base scientist beakers, or about 100 science.
Counterpoint to nat park is that environmentalism is an option for just 1 further tech, and that means you can get some of those benefits without using a national wonder slot.
West point is nice; hard to get early due to hammer cost but if IW is in place already, not too bad (except it comes at such a critical time, with MT, so will always cost 5+cuirs). Extra 4 xp helps get you eventually to 2 critical spots: March, and Commando. Not sure if the payoff is truly worth it, but Im always a sucker for it.
Amusing choice: red cross; granting the early healing level 1 gets you to March faster (but eventually you'll want those combat promotions anyway, most likely), and also the coveted super-duper medic: A muskateer with GG, healing level 3, woodsman 3, and +1 movement. For this to work youd need medicine before rifling, so not really practical to use red cross for it. If yoh have WP, you can get close to woodsman 3 regardless, but the 3 total movement requires patience picking off 99% battles thereafter.
