Any Scottish Oxbridge applicants this year?

Just wondering if anyone else is hoping to apply to Oxbridge this year! How many AHs are you taking and what do you want to study? :biggrin:

I am considering applying for Law, not sure which college yet (Oxford) I have narrowed it down from 30 to... 25 :wink:

Reply 1

username660754

16

Best of luck man!

I'm going into 5th year now but considering applying next year.

We've been told by our main depute head that it's next to impossible for Scottish students to get to Oxbridge, we've only ever had one in our 30 year history. But I reckon it's good to challenge this view :smile:

Reply 2

Mechie

15

You just made me remember my Cambridge failings :emo:

But seriously, good luck :biggrin:

Reply 3

stephenmca

5

I think i will probably use one of my 5 choices for Oxbridge, simply because i can lol.
I should meet the requirements for my first choice (Glasgow) and use some for insurances, i figure its worth applying apart from anything else for the ego boost.
As for the AH situation, I'm doing AH maths at my school, but thats the only AH they are offering, which is total BS, nonetheless im looking into going to another school to do either 1 or 2 other AH's.
I like to set myself goals each year, and with an unconditional to my chosen uni all but secured i find i have little to work for this year, so perhaps naively I'll aim for oxbridge.

Reply 4

TheUnbeliever

16

Original post by S119234

We've been told by our main depute head that it's next to impossible for Scottish students to get to Oxbridge, we've only ever had one in our 30 year history. But I reckon it's good to challenge this view :smile:

You reckon correctly, since that's utter nonsense.

Reply 5

Delaney

16

What awesome logic. My school has had one Oxbridge student, therefore it must be next to impossible for all of Scotland...

Reply 6

username660754

16

Original post by Delaney

What awesome logic. My school has had one Oxbridge student, therefore it must be next to impossible for all of Scotland...

Indeed. Think it's also based on pass rejections though. Not just on the one student getting in. The one student who did get in got 98% in her Advanced Higher Physics exam. So she was pretty incredible.

Original post by TheUnbeliever

You reckon correctly, since that's utter nonsense.

As I thought so, We shall wait and see next year what happens! :smile:

Reply 7

dbou

9

Original post by S119234

Indeed. Think it's also based on pass rejections though. Not just on the one student getting in. The one student who did get in got 98% in her Advanced Higher Physics exam. So she was pretty incredible.

I've got an offer from Cambridge for maths this year, so its far from impossible! Its hard to say this modestly so I will just say that I got 99% in all my AH prelims, but I think percentages matter less in the humanities.

Original post by stephenmca

I think i will probably use one of my 5 choices for Oxbridge, simply because i can lol.
I should meet the requirements for my first choice (Glasgow) and use some for insurances, i figure its worth applying apart from anything else for the ego boost.
As for the AH situation, I'm doing AH maths at my school, but thats the only AH they are offering, which is total BS, nonetheless im looking into going to another school to do either 1 or 2 other AH's.
I like to set myself goals each year, and with an unconditional to my chosen uni all but secured i find i have little to work for this year, so perhaps naively I'll aim for oxbridge.

Thats the smart way to think about it, anyone good enough to get into Oxbridge WILL get into their first choice Scottish uni so its worth just applying to oxbridge to see what happens :smile:

I will warn you that for cambridge you need three relevant AH's, I think Oxford still only requires two but you are disadvantaging yourself severely.

Reply 8

24craigour

10

Original post by davidmarsh01

You just made me remember my Cambridge failings :emo:

But seriously, good luck :biggrin:

Same here. :s-smilie:

Good luck though. :biggrin:

Reply 9

PaulB

I'm considering applying to Cambridge, I'm doing AH Maths, Physics and Chemistry this year. The only thing is, I have no idea what college I'd apply for. Apparently it's best to try and go to open days and decide, but that isn't very easy when you live all the way up here!

Reply 10

Armaros

6

I've only been able to take two AHs this year, so Cambridge is ruled out for me — and although I'm very interested in biological science, I'm aiming primarily for pharmacy, so I don't think my personal statement will ultimately be specific enough to convince Oxford of my interest in biology. sO it looks like a no!

Reply 11

anyone_can_fly

11

Going to apply to Oxford for maths. I think there's quite a few of us on the Oxford applicants chat thread.

Reply 12

TheUnbeliever

16

Original post by PaulB

Apparently it's best to try and go to open days and decide, but that isn't very easy when you live all the way up here!

It's not impossible, though. Several colleges will provide you with accommodation for a night or two. I stayed in Trinity Hall when I visited a couple years ago.

Reply 13

anyone_can_fly

11

Original post by TheUnbeliever

It's not impossible, though. Several colleges will provide you with accommodation for a night or two. I stayed in Trinity Hall when I visited a couple years ago.

This. I'm going to the open days in a couple of weeks. The college I'm looking at in Oxford offers supper, bed and breakfast free :biggrin:

. For the Cambridge college you had to pay, but it was about £16 for bed and breakfast, and they sent me a nice postcard of the college.

Reply 14

nibbler12

1

My school has managed to send one person to cambridge each year for a few years now. That's out of a 200 person year. The problem is that people who might get a place often don't apply, so obviously you're going to get less offers...
The other attitude I've come across is that many teacher say that it's ridiculous, people with 5 As at Higher getting rejected, it's clearly a biased, prejudiced system. Nonsense, it's just a tough system where 5 As at higher are not that special.

If you think you can do it, go for it.

Reply 15

Albertine

OP

7

edit

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 16

Armaros

6

Original post by Albertine

Plus apparently you get NO financial support from SAAS?!

That can't be true. Surely your student loan, additional loan and Students Outside Scotland bursary would still be available? The SAAS website makes no note of this not being available at Oxford.

Reply 17

TheUnbeliever

16

Original post by Albertine

Argh! I like Durham as well, and they say either AAB at AH or AAAAB at higher.

I'd just tough it out, if I were you. It seems like it's risking limiting your choices to drop it, and life is full of hoops you have to jump through. In the big picture, 9 months of what I've heard is a fairly straightforward course isn't too bad. :smile:

Depends what you consider important, of course!

Plus apparently you get NO financial support from SAAS?!

You do.

Your tuition fee loan is paid for you, and you get your means-assessed loan for living expenses. I suspect the latter is slightly different than if you stayed in Scotland, but still. (I only go for the non-assessed portion, and there's around a £100 difference from what I'd have if I went to a Scottish university.)

Where did you hear this? SAAS have a little calculator on their site that will show you what you should be eligible for.

Reply 18

Albertine

OP

7

Original post by TheUnbeliever

I'd just tough it out, if I were you. It seems like it's risking limiting your choices to drop it, and life is full of hoops you have to jump through. In the big picture, 9 months of what I've heard is a fairly straightforward course isn't too bad. :smile:

Depends what you consider important, of course!

You do. :p:

Your tuition fee loan is paid for you, and you get your means-assessed loan for living expenses. I suspect the latter is slightly different than if you stayed in Scotland, but still. (I only go for the non-assessed portion, and there's around a £100 difference from what I'd have if I went to a Scottish university.)

Where did you hear this? SAAS have a little calculator on their site that will show you what you should be eligible for.

Original post by Armaros

That can't be true. Surely your student loan, additional loan and Students Outside Scotland bursary would still be available? The SAAS website makes no note of this not being available at Oxford.