Oxford Oriental Studies Students and Applicants

ain't this thread meant to be closed till the time period is over?

At least you picked a good college

Quite difficult... Especially the timing and 'likyd' or something. I'm glad that itvis just in the pilot stage so has no influence!

i figured lik meant 'liked', two vowels meaning present and one vowel meaning perfect tense. i thought -l on the end meant the subject was plural and -s meant the object was plural (-ls mean both were plural?).

apparently, though they say it has no material influence, ive been told that they certainly do take it into account, otherwise they wouldn't make applicants sit it every year (which makes sense) - i hope not, as i think it went badly! xD How did you do for timing?

Hey,

I am just starting as a first year doing Japanese at Oxford. I was really worried about this as well as I did not do a language at A-Level and I can say don't stress too much about it. I got in without an A-Level language and there are others (who I know) who got in without an A-Level language. As long as you have a GCSE and a passion for the language and the culture, you have a good chance.

As for preferential treatment, I don't think there is any I do know some people who did Japanese at A-Level and didn't receive an offer, as well as those who got an offer. You just have to prove to them you are committed and are passionate about it

Hi all,

I'm currently studying Japanese at AS (and plan to take it to A2 next year), and would like to apply to study Japanese at Oxford. Regarding personal statements, this is a bit of a silly question but... does it all have be 'intelligent' stuff, like literature and current affairs, or is it possible to talk about aspects of the Japanese culture such as the anime, technology and video game industry? Any ideas on what they prefer?

- Zoë

Fair point - it's evident that approaching it in an immature way would be stupid (don't worry, I'm not about to open with 'I love Naruto 0_0). It's just that Japan is known a lot for its modern culture, too, and I was wondering whether any of it would be relevant. Perhaps I'll stick with literature!

I'll admit I haven't read much proper literature yet, as it's all been books about Japan rather than by Japanese authors, but I'm hoping to tackle Ishiguro and Murakami over the summer, as well as a few lesser-known authors and perhaps some mythology... any authors you can recommend?

Thanks a lot, I'll be sure to look into these. Had a glance at some more Kawabata and The Sound of the Mountain and Thousand Cranes sound quite interesting - also The Dancing Girl of Izu. And Aozora Bunko sounds quite promising - I'll have a look and see how much of it I can understand, bearing in mind that I'm only at AS Level, so kanji may be a pain. ^^ But thanks so much again, this has really helped!

Thanks, I'll bear that in mind. ^^

As for what got me into Japanese, I suppose part of it is just luck that my school teaches it as a subject - French is compulsory, naturally, and the choice of second language was Spanish, Italian or Japanese. Chose Japanese because it was different and sounded more interesting, and took to the language from day one. Regarding the exam, I didn't find it too bad - perhaps not the easiest, but a lot nicer than the past papers. A fair exam, I just hope I get that A come August! What about you?

Hi everyone!!

No one has posted here in a while :P

How are you all doing in terms of the UCAS application?

My UCAS is sent, but its still with my school who haven't sent it off yet, which is very VERY annoying. Currently sorting out work to be submitted haha.
And you?