Oxford Applicants for 2013 Entry

Oh yay!

That's a bummer :/ What course do you want to apply for? I'm guaranteed advanced maths and I'm 95% sure that adv physics will run, and if not I'll have to go to another school for it which will be a right pain, but I really want to do it. This is good as I want to pursue physics, but I have to make the choice between taking a higher Bio/Chem or adv RMPS, and I think I'll go for the latter. I'm lucky that I have this option though.

I'm sure the admissions people will take that in to account as a lot of Scottish applicants are probably in the same position, and I'm sure they will be quite comfortable in how out system works too!

H

I want to study English, but if I take AH English then the only other AH available is either maths or crashing AH RMPS which I think I'll do (I'm not a mathsy/physicsy person at all!) and pick up higher history, travelling to another school isn't an option for me All the best in your application

I've read a couple of books on modern Japan and I can do Kana, but little on Japanese history. My Kanji is incredibly meh...and for obvious reasons reading-wise, limited to Kanji about music and events. So in summer, I'm going to focus a lot on Kanji and learning about Japanese history Your Chinese is likely better by far than my Japanese. I'm best when I'm talking though, purely because I'm a massive chatterbox...

I'd guess at your Chinese ability being definitely relevant! I don't know much Chinese (heh, heh...I'm thinking of doing YASS Chinese though) but it is after all an Oriental Studies course, so your commitment and ability with an Oriental language is incredibly helpful! The Chinese Bridge competition (cries, I'm so jealous! )
would make a brilliant talking point about culture in the interview.

But the best people by far to ask are those in the 2012 stalking thread who have an offer for Oriental Studies. I messaged one of them already asking about the interview style

Are you definitely settled on Japanese, by the way?

I plan to apply for physics, so there is an admissions test, which I hope is an advantage to me. However, looking through past papers at least half of the paper is beyond Higher maths and I'll only have touched on a small part of Advanced maths and physics by november which could be a problem

See, St Andrews would be my primary course, but they're just so picky! And the course is also a year longer than at an English uni :/

What course are you doing if you don't mind me asking?

Firstly, yay another Scottish applicant!! I wouldnt think we'll be disadvantaged as we can only do 8 subjects and my results are also a mix of intermediates and standard grades, I would say if the highers go well then go for it, they'll know a bit about our system (at least I'd like to hope so!) and I would think they'll focus more on the highers anyway

My problem is my school can't offer me 3 advanced highers and they're struggling to offer me 2 and a higher which is the minimum conditional for Scottish applicants...

About the Chinese Bridge, have you actually heard of it? I wouldn't expect anyone outside Chinese learning circles to even be aware of stuff like that

I just had a look at the PAT syllabus. The topics that you won't have covered by the end of the first unit of AH maths are arithmetic and geometric progressions (Unit 3 of AH) and the circle theorems that are covered in GCSE but don't exist in Scotland, which you can learn about here. If you have a competent maths teacher I'd recommend that you get them to look over these bits with you.

I've got an offer for maths (though was rejected by St. Andrews).

Our "rival" school nearby is a participant. I am ALWAYS being asked if the language I speak is Chinese because of this and if so "why I didn't go to that school so I could take part". Then I say "Oh no, Japanese" and the reply is "Ah, but that's pretty much the same as Chinese, right?"

*gets mallet out*

Edit: Have you seen this on the B.A in Japanese section of the Oriental Institute?

Suggested Reading
It is always helpful to have done some preliminary reading of Western scholarly work on Japan before beginning the B.A. course, and the following book list suggests some introductory works

Jansen, M.B.: The Making of Modern Japan (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000)
Pyle, K.B.: The Making of Modern Japan (Heath, 2nd ed. 1996)
Reischauer, E.O.: Japan: the story of a nation (Knopf, 3rd ed., 1981)
Reischauer, E.O.: Japan: Tradition and Transformation (Allen & Unwin, Rev.ed., 1989)
Reischauer, E.O.: The Japanese Today: change and continuity (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1988)
Sansom, G.B.: Japan: a Short Cultural History (Century Hutchinson, 1931)
Shibatani, M.: The languages of Japan (Cambridge University Press, 1990)
Storry, G.R.: A History of Modern Japan (Penguin, 1960)
Totman, C.: Japan Before Perry: a Short History (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1981)

Did they participate last October? If so they must have been the visitors (the ones cheering us on ) and I've met them all

Yeah I've seen those recommendations and I'm gonna give them a try, but I meant anything you've read personally :P

And about that opening day, as much as I'd love to go I live up in Merseyside so I don't know if that's possible is it free? I'll have to look at train ticket prices but yeah I would LOVE to go

None on that list sadly ): And the books I've read have been more informal than informative (eg. what it's like living in Japan). So I'm sorry, I can't be of much help D:

For me going from Leeds-Oxford via Birmingham and back it's around £35 (but I do have a railcard). And it's an open day, so I guess it's free Looking at the booking form, you get lunch as well.

There's another Oriental Institute open day on the 28th of June as well

Are there any subjects you could self-teach, using scholar maybe?

Could you add me to the stalking page please ! Thanks

Applying for English
College: undecided
GCSEs(Scottish standard grades) 8 1s
AS Subjects: (Scottish Highers) English, maths, chemistry, physics, geography, German
AS Predictions: 6 As
A2 Predictions: N/A
Notes: Gold DofE, grade 6 piano

done

Yeah but I think I get there on the 26th and get back on the 27th which is a real pisstake I might go to that one in May just so I can check out the Oriental Institute if my wallet allows; it's like £60 for a return from Liverpool Lime Street.

Okay this is a question to everyone:

When I was in year 10 I did an AS in Business Studies as some like taster G+T thing but it was only an hour a week and I put no revision in so I got a B -- do I have to declare this and if so will the date taken be taken into account?

This also applies to a Citizenship half course they made us do the same year -- they didn't give us a lesson on it but it was the coursework that was the problem; we hadn't a clue what we were supposed to do and I got an E in it I got an A in the exam so that bumped it up to an overall grade C.

You do have to declare them. Technically speaking I think they expect the same level of attainment whatever time qualifications are taken. But given these are very much extra to your GCSEs and the A-levels you are doing now, and given the subjects, and the degree you want to study, I shouldn't think Oxford would give a stuff about them really.

Um, my school seemed to buck the trend on this rule, when I was applying for 2012 entry (long story, but applying for different course this year) I had a subject at a level that wasn't related to the course I wanted to study, and being that I had enough a level subjects anyway they decided to remove it.

You do have to declare them. Technically speaking I think they expect the same level of attainment whatever time qualifications are taken. But given these are very much extra to your GCSEs and the A-levels you are doing now, and given the subjects, and the degree you want to study, I shouldn't think Oxford would give a stuff about them really.

Eww that's annoying especially when there are extenuating circumstances. Ah well, I suppose there's no excuse really for getting a B in BUSINESS STUDIES