American applying for physcis

Hi I'm a US based applicant thinking about applying for physics next year. My stats are as follows, but I am mainly worried about the PAT and interviews. I'd love to go to oxford, and any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

SAT 1: 2280 (800 math/ 730 reading/ 750 writing) retaking soon, expecting 2350+
SAT 2s: 780 physics, 800 Math II, 800 Math I

Also I will be taking Physics B & C as well as Calc AB APs next year.

In addition I've been taking Mandarin for 10 years, I was wondering if I could continue that at oxford? Thanks!

Reply 1

sphericalbessel

Hi, I am American (Californian), about to start physics at Oxford this year. The system in the UK (and even Oxbridge vs. rest of the UK) is quite different, so you should do some general research on the internet. But here is what I have to say on the things you mentioned.

First: Money (you've probably already heard this, but this is important so I will say it). Including everything (tuition, college fee, living costs, plane tickets), the cost is going to be around $60,000 a year, basically the same cost of going to a private or out of state public in the US. But, you will not get ANY financial aid or scholarships, so unless you are rich enough to not qualify for much financial aid in the US, Oxford is not really an option. You can, however, take out loans and use any local scholarships you have. Another option is to switch to math, which will cost about $50,000 a year (not sure why there is a difference, all science courses cost more). You can also think about Cambridge's math tripos, which is quite focused on applied math, aka physics.

Tests: Oxford requires SAT 2100+ or ACT 32+, and 3 APs at 5 or 3 SAT subject at 700+. The APs/SAT subjects need to be related to the subject at Oxford you are applying for. So, you only need one more subject test (can you do chemistry?), or you can use APs. Tests are important for British applicants, but I am not sure how familiar the tutors are with foreign exams, maybe they will matter less. Certainly the regular SAT/ACT matters less than the subject exams. I had a 5 on CS, both Physics C, Calculus BC, and Chemistry, and while I am not sure how much it helped, it certainly did not hurt.

PAT: Look up past papers on the ox physics website. For me, it was quite easy as I had already taken AP Physics C and AP Calculus, and did physics olympiad the year before. However, you probably need to do some serious studying if you haven't taken AP level physics before. The PAT is extremely important as it is basically the sole criteria for selecting people to interview, and even after the interview it is used to evaluate candidates for places.

Interview: I did it over skype, and it worked fine. However, it is a good idea to visit universities before you choose one, and the interview is the best chance to experience Oxford. (The catch is that the visit won't be very useful if you don't actually get in, though of course you might just go for the sake of the visit.) They'll ask you a few trivial math questions like "do this integral", then a few more serious physics questions, both conceptual and computational.

I think an issue for you is your lack of knowledge and experience at this point, which may hurt you on the PAT and interviews. What physics and math courses have you taken so far? Only taking AP physics and Calculus your senior year is a bit late. If you are serious about Oxford, you need to spend a lot of time on self-study this summer. Ideally, you should have a solid knowledge of AP B (if not C) level physics, and AP AB level calculus by the time of the PAT.

Chinese: you only study one subject (physics in your case). There is an option to take a language at some point, but it is for beginners and only French, German, and Spanish are offered. But you can self-study in your free time and interact with the international students from China or students studying Chinese, or attend lectures (you won't get credit, but no one will stop you from attending random lectures.)