[wilbsz]

yeah I heard the sources this year were about Icelandic history.

[dinkymints]

erm wasn't that the HAT last year? i wouldn't put it past them to use the same paper though, it's similar style questions!!

[wilbsz]

There was also apparently an essay where you had to write about a great man/woman. i met someone who wrote about Hitler.

[dinkymints]

Originally Posted by wilbsz

There was also apparently an essay where you had to write about a great man/woman. i met someone who wrote about Hitler.

i bet the teachers will have loved that actually, so long as they justified their choice! really wish i could remember what my essay was now! maybe something about wars never solving problems? hmm not sure...

[wilbsz]

btw Dinkymints how many of the sixth form entrants got into oxbridge. You see I'm trying to convince people that getting into Westminster in the 6th form is NOT a golden ticket to Oxbridge.

[dinkymints]

erm i don't know. i could go through the whole year and count but i can't be bothered right now. it's about half the year overall. although i do know one girl who came to westminster from abroad with the sole aim of getting into oxford. she didn't.

[rupertj]

Originally Posted by dinkymints

It's hard to explain but Westminster want people who can think for themselves, be open-minded and can work their way through whatever is thrown at them - spoonfed people will never make it through the exams and interviews coz you really can't prepare for them. So it doesn't matter if your record isn't stellar so long as you get a good reference from your school and have good GCSE predictions. And you have nothing to lose. What subjects, by the way?

I wanted to take Maths, Physics, Latin, Economics and History, but I read somewhere that I can only take four for AS levels, so I think I will drop History from my Westminster application.

[dinkymints]

Originally Posted by rupertj

I wanted to take Maths, Physics, Latin, Economics and History, but I read somewhere that I can only take four for AS levels, so I think I will drop History from my Westminster application.

you used to be able to take physics as a fifth out of timetable (i did) but i remember being told that was the last year. you can do five if you do double maths and sciences, or if you're doing electronics i think. but yes it's 4 otherwise. that's enough what with all the other opportunities you have there.

[saran35]

Are extra curricular activities important to westminster?

[*River]

Originally Posted by wilbsz

yeah I heard the sources this year were about Icelandic history.

That was the 2006 Oxford HAT test (for 2007 admissions though, you take it in November). Trust me, I had the pleasure of having to grapple with it.

[dinkymints]

Originally Posted by saran35

Are extra curricular activities important to westminster?

well they like to know you can get your work done and still manage your time enough to do other things, and that you're human not a work-machine... they don't expect you to be a semi-professional musician, a movie actor or an international athlete (although some are...). westminster has a lot to offer outside academics and they want people who will make the most of it, yes.

[wilbsz]

Well out of the 3 boys in our school that got in. I myself am grade 8 on the piano and the violin. Another is in the National youth theatre and the other is in the GB junior fencing team. THE boy who didn't get in was in the school rugby team BUT that team happens to be the laughing stock of the school having failed to win a single match. At the interview they were pretty impressed with my music acheivments. I'm not entirely sure about Westminster but St Pauls (whom I also got into) quote from their head of 6th form 'will not admit someone who only does work all the time.' So as they are both good schools Westminster could be the same.

NO matter what, good acheivements on the extra curricular side will boost your application especially as competition for places is grow every year. When Saran35 and RupertJ do the exam expect there to be over 400 applicants. In the general interview extra curricular activities are what they ask you mainly about.

[wilbsz]

Originally Posted by dinkymints

erm i don't know. i could go through the whole year and count but i can't be bothered right now. it's about half the year overall. although i do know one girl who came to westminster from abroad with the sole aim of getting into oxford. she didn't.

I do realise how s*** it would be though to be one of the few people at Westminster who get rejected from Oxbridge.

[dinkymints]

Originally Posted by wilbsz

Well out of the 3 boys in our school that got in. I myself am grade 8 on the piano and the violin. Another is in the National youth theatre and the other is in the GB junior fencing team. THE boy who didn't get in was in the school rugby team BUT that team happens to be the laughing stock of the school having failed to win a single match. At the interview they were pretty impressed with my music acheivments. I'm not entirely sure about Westminster but St Pauls (whom I also got into) quote from their head of 6th form 'will not admit someone who only does work all the time.' So as they are both good schools Westminster could be the same.

NO matter what, good acheivements on the extra curricular side will boost your application especially as competition for places is grow every year. When Saran35 and RupertJ do the exam expect there to be over 400 applicants. In the general interview extra curricular activities are what they ask you mainly about.

you have to write a mini-PS thing that they mainly use for your interview, yes. but tbh grade 8 on 2 instruments is not unusual at westminster and it's strong for fencing so again that's not unusual; again, about 5 or 6 people get into NYT every year from westmin. i really really doubt it was that guy's extracurric that stopped him getting in, it's not like everyone in the sixth and remove at westmin does a million things and some people come in and try new things (fencing, shooting, rowing, volunteering, debating etc).

[wilbsz]

Well general interview they ask you about your extra curriculars, its just to ensure they are not admitting a complete weirdo. What I find really sad was at interview day therer were loads of chinese boys whose parents even prepared them for what to say in the general interview. They were speaking in chinese but as I'm chinese I understood what they were saying and by the sounds of it were making up on what they did in their spare time. I mean people like Mr Hargreaves and other senior members of staffhave probably been teaching for years, They can tell whose normal and who's pretending. In the waiting room I saw row upon row of Asians reading copies of the Financial Times or the economist ( which actually has nothing to do with economics) and taking notes to prepare for their economics interview I mean this isn't an Oxbridge economics interview. .

[dinkymints]

the westminster economics dept gives out free copies of The Economist...

[wilbsz]

Well it provides good background on what you study in economics its about 80% politics based. No matter what I just don't understand why the parents take it so seriously. It's only school (with whom you'll only be with for 2 years) for goodness sake. Your future career will not be ruined if you don't get in.

[dinkymints]

i'm surprised there were that many asians - do you mean british asians or overseas students? either way there were only around 5-7 who got in in my year, but i have no idea how many applied...

[wilbsz]

I mean British Indians/pakistanis aswell British orientals like me. THere were at least 120-130 asians . For the chemistry exam my friend was the only white person. at the interviews half the people were asian. Around 20 Asians were admitted including myself. \maybe it was inot in your time but in the past 2 years Westminster has become really popular with chinese and korean people. On the induction day I saw lots of Asian girls in the year above.

[dinkymints]

woah okay things seem to have changed HUGELY in the past few years, and i only left in 2006 so took my entrance exams in Nov 2003... just had a quick look at the pink list and i can only count about 25 people with asian extraction in my year, and most of them were boys who'd been there from 13. but hang on, i just had a glance at the current remove and there seem to be more but not THAT many more. 120-130 at interview? that's like half of all applicants nearly?!