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2017 Oxford Prospective Students
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Original post by mazzaion
I'm considering reapplying too! What course would you be doing, and which college had you applied to and would apply to this year around?
Best of luck if you choose to do a university course
I'm personally doing a one year course so I don't get out of academic teaching, hopefully it'll help along the way.
Best of luck if you choose to do a university course
I'm personally doing a one year course so I don't get out of academic teaching, hopefully it'll help along the way.I submitted an open application for biomedical science and don't have my mind made up as to which college I'll apply to if I do reapply. I should find out which college(s) got hold of my application though.
Original post by will_cash
Not sure whether anyone can help here but:
Having been to oxford last month, I fell in love with Merton College. However since then, everyone I have spoken to has been wary of me applying here, as it is apparently so competitive. Is Merton as competitive as people say? I know I shouldn't really take it into consideration, and just apply where I like the most. But I'd love to know if anyone had any information that could help me. The course I'm applying for is PPE.
Having been to oxford last month, I fell in love with Merton College. However since then, everyone I have spoken to has been wary of me applying here, as it is apparently so competitive. Is Merton as competitive as people say? I know I shouldn't really take it into consideration, and just apply where I like the most. But I'd love to know if anyone had any information that could help me. The course I'm applying for is PPE.
My sister did law at Merton! I asked her and she shrugged and said it really wasn't harder (she thinks) than what any of the other colleges would have been like, and that Merton is a very good choice of college.
Original post by player777
Has anybody started thinking about MAT yet ? I looked up the past papers and the computer science tasks seem pretty hard to me. Can anyone suggest books that would get me prepared for these types of tasks? I can't think of a way of solving them without using code.
I find the compsci questions much easier than the Q3/Q4 (maths applicant specific questions), to be honest there isn't much you can do to prepare for it because the MAT is afterall an aptitude test, so its testing your natural ability and especially with the compsci questions its testing how you react to a new concept. With the compsci questions I find it best to take my time and be as systematic as possible, some questions are similar to previous years, (like about people lieing etc) but some will introduce a new concept (and consequently will generally be less objectively difficult).
Did you do well in your GCSEs?
- 7As, 2Bs, 1C
Which A Levels are you doing?
English literature, history, economics, politics
Which course do you plan to apply for?
Law (jurisprudence)
Do any particular colleges interest you? Why?
Corpus Christi or Wadham because i will have a lot of free time to take part in rowing
What are your hobbies?
Reading and sports (athletics, rowing, swimming, taekwondo)
If you were given a place next year, what would you do for the rest of that day?
Probably be in shock
- 7As, 2Bs, 1C
Which A Levels are you doing?
English literature, history, economics, politics
Which course do you plan to apply for?
Law (jurisprudence)
Do any particular colleges interest you? Why?
Corpus Christi or Wadham because i will have a lot of free time to take part in rowing
What are your hobbies?
Reading and sports (athletics, rowing, swimming, taekwondo)
If you were given a place next year, what would you do for the rest of that day?
Probably be in shock
Original post by player777
Has anybody started thinking about MAT yet ? I looked up the past papers and the computer science tasks seem pretty hard to me. Can anyone suggest books that would get me prepared for these types of tasks? I can't think of a way of solving them without using code.
I can't worry about entrance exams until after ASs. We have all of summer to dedicate to our university applications.
Original post by player777
Has anybody started thinking about MAT yet ? I looked up the past papers and the computer science tasks seem pretty hard to me. Can anyone suggest books that would get me prepared for these types of tasks? I can't think of a way of solving them without using code.
I started preparing for it about a month ago, but I still find most of it fairly daunting. I don't live in the U.K. and our syllabus is completely different so I've been working through the Edexcel C1 and C2 books to at least get the syllabus covered. I'm not applying for CompSci so I don't have to worry about them, but they seem to be mostly logic so maybe a book on logical thinking would be helpful? What course are you applying for?
Could any of you direct me to websites with good resources for writing personal statements? My school don't really like people applying to the U.K. and the career's teacher told me that the way to write a Personal Statement is to "write a list in bullet points of things you have won. And make sure to mention volunteering, that's even more important." but I know that this isn't the case! Any articles, blog posts or even books ye would suggest? Thanks!
Original post by QueenOfCaffeine
Could any of you direct me to websites with good resources for writing personal statements? My school don't really like people applying to the U.K. and the career's teacher told me that the way to write a Personal Statement is to "write a list in bullet points of things you have won. And make sure to mention volunteering, that's even more important." but I know that this isn't the case! Any articles, blog posts or even books ye would suggest? Thanks!
Have you tried the resources on here? When I was applying I found the PS helpers more useful than my teachers!
Original post by QueenOfCaffeine
Could any of you direct me to websites with good resources for writing personal statements? My school don't really like people applying to the U.K. and the career's teacher told me that the way to write a Personal Statement is to "write a list in bullet points of things you have won. And make sure to mention volunteering, that's even more important." but I know that this isn't the case! Any articles, blog posts or even books ye would suggest? Thanks!
I have a word doc of personal statement tips I picked up when I was applying (not necessarily Oxbridge specific but they do apply)
- The general advice is your personal statement should be around 80% academic (relating to the subject you're applying for)
- Personal statements are more important for some subjects than others - e.g. physics they're a very small part of the application, I'd imagine for english etc they're much more important!
- Listing things is 100% a bad idea! Instead when talking about things you've done you should explain how they're relevant and/or what skills you gain from it (this is a big thing, you should try and make everything as relevant as possible). Your experiences themselves are not important, what you took away from them is.
- Be concise, you're working with a limited number of characters/lines!
- Be honest
- Specifically don't lie about wider reading, it's the sort of thing they like to bring up at interviews!
- DON'T talk about how wonderful your grades are and how good you are in class - these are covered in the rest of the application/the reference
- Get another human to check your spelling and grammar, they can pick up things a computer's spell checker can't
- Avoid statements like "I'm looking forwards to having an experience to remember for the rest of my life" (you don't generally forget three years of your adult life) and "looking forwards to independence" (is rarely optional for people going to uni) and "my family...) (this is about you). They might be able to make suggestions as well...
- ... but don't let them rewrite it! This is your personal statement about you
- Don't repeat information - it suggests you're running out of thing to say and fills up valuable space
- Avoid cliches
- Avoid passive or neutral terms to describe yourself e.g. "I'm quite good". Be positive and show off that you do have these skills.
- Research the course you're going to study so you know what you're going to do and why you want to do it (e.g what sort of modules you are taught)
- Talk about things you've done outside of your A levels/equivalent standard course requirements
- For most people, remember that this personal statement is aimed at five universities not just Oxbridge! Accidentally mentioning any one by name or location will get you a big negative mark from the others
- Avoid jokes, you don't know if the person reading it will share your sense of humour
- make connections between your interests and your chosen course
- draft and redraft and redraft until you're happy with it!
- UCAS have plagiarism detection software that all PSs are ran through, so obviously make it your own work.
When you're actually writing, a good way to start off is make a list of points to include so you've got something to work with! The structure we were given:
Paragraph 1 – Intro
Personal trigger for interest in subject (not just “I’ve always been good at it/liked it”) – how your subject relates to society/current affairs if applicable and relevant. Which aspects of the courses you’re looking forward to – prove you know what you’re getting into.
Paragraph 2
What you have done to develop interest – trips, books, wider reading (in & out of school). Link to subject – work experience, relevant volunteering. Part time job – relevant skills gained, not just facts. Career aspirations - if you have one, put it in – it’s not set in stone because you wrote it in a personal statement.
Paragraph 3
Non-academic achievements, e.g Duke of Edinburgh - skills gained – relevance! Doing a gap year? If so, why – benefits?
Paragraph 4 - Summary
Short – just a few lines. Final impression. Recap – this should answer “why do you want to go to university and study your course” and “why do you deserve to be offered a place”. Relevant to course – make reference to course choice/area, not generic. Career aspirations are positive to mention at this point. Can keep it vague-ish for multiple courses, but course area should be clear.
... This is a lot more stuff than I realised I had so hopefully it helps!
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by such_a_lady
Have you tried the resources on here? When I was applying I found the PS helpers more useful than my teachers!
Thanks for that. I'll definitely try using them.
Original post by Lau14
I have a word doc of personal statement tips I picked up when I was applying (not necessarily Oxbridge specific but they do apply)
- The general advice is your personal statement should be around 80% academic (relating to the subject you're applying for)
- Personal statements are more important for some subjects than others - e.g. physics they're a very small part of the application, I'd imagine for english etc they're much more important!
- Listing things is 100% a bad idea! Instead when talking about things you've done you should explain how they're relevant and/or what skills you gain from it (this is a big thing, you should try and make everything as relevant as possible). Your experiences themselves are not important, what you took away from them is.
- Be concise, you're working with a limited number of characters/lines!
- Be honest
- Specifically don't lie about wider reading, it's the sort of thing they like to bring up at interviews!
- DON'T talk about how wonderful your grades are and how good you are in class - these are covered in the rest of the application/the reference
- Get another human to check your spelling and grammar, they can pick up things a computer's spell checker can't
- Avoid statements like "I'm looking forwards to having an experience to remember for the rest of my life" (you don't generally forget three years of your adult life) and "looking forwards to independence" (is rarely optional for people going to uni) and "my family...) (this is about you). They might be able to make suggestions as well...
- ... but don't let them rewrite it! This is your personal statement about you
- Don't repeat information - it suggests you're running out of thing to say and fills up valuable space
- Avoid cliches
- Avoid passive or neutral terms to describe yourself e.g. "I'm quite good". Be positive and show off that you do have these skills.
- Research the course you're going to study so you know what you're going to do and why you want to do it (e.g what sort of modules you are taught)
- Talk about things you've done outside of your A levels/equivalent standard course requirements
- For most people, remember that this personal statement is aimed at five universities not just Oxbridge! Accidentally mentioning any one by name or location will get you a big negative mark from the others
- Avoid jokes, you don't know if the person reading it will share your sense of humour
- make connections between your interests and your chosen course
- draft and redraft and redraft until you're happy with it!
- UCAS have plagiarism detection software that all PSs are ran through, so obviously make it your own work.
When you're actually writing, a good way to start off is make a list of points to include so you've got something to work with! The structure we were given:
Paragraph 1 – Intro
Personal trigger for interest in subject (not just “I’ve always been good at it/liked it”) – how your subject relates to society/current affairs if applicable and relevant. Which aspects of the courses you’re looking forward to – prove you know what you’re getting into.
Paragraph 2
What you have done to develop interest – trips, books, wider reading (in & out of school). Link to subject – work experience, relevant volunteering. Part time job – relevant skills gained, not just facts. Career aspirations - if you have one, put it in – it’s not set in stone because you wrote it in a personal statement.
Paragraph 3
Non-academic achievements, e.g Duke of Edinburgh - skills gained – relevance! Doing a gap year? If so, why – benefits?
Paragraph 4 - Summary
Short – just a few lines. Final impression. Recap – this should answer “why do you want to go to university and study your course” and “why do you deserve to be offered a place”. Relevant to course – make reference to course choice/area, not generic. Career aspirations are positive to mention at this point. Can keep it vague-ish for multiple courses, but course area should be clear.
... This is a lot more stuff than I realised I had so hopefully it helps!
- The general advice is your personal statement should be around 80% academic (relating to the subject you're applying for)
- Personal statements are more important for some subjects than others - e.g. physics they're a very small part of the application, I'd imagine for english etc they're much more important!
- Listing things is 100% a bad idea! Instead when talking about things you've done you should explain how they're relevant and/or what skills you gain from it (this is a big thing, you should try and make everything as relevant as possible). Your experiences themselves are not important, what you took away from them is.
- Be concise, you're working with a limited number of characters/lines!
- Be honest
- Specifically don't lie about wider reading, it's the sort of thing they like to bring up at interviews!
- DON'T talk about how wonderful your grades are and how good you are in class - these are covered in the rest of the application/the reference
- Get another human to check your spelling and grammar, they can pick up things a computer's spell checker can't
- Avoid statements like "I'm looking forwards to having an experience to remember for the rest of my life" (you don't generally forget three years of your adult life) and "looking forwards to independence" (is rarely optional for people going to uni) and "my family...) (this is about you). They might be able to make suggestions as well...
- ... but don't let them rewrite it! This is your personal statement about you
- Don't repeat information - it suggests you're running out of thing to say and fills up valuable space
- Avoid cliches
- Avoid passive or neutral terms to describe yourself e.g. "I'm quite good". Be positive and show off that you do have these skills.
- Research the course you're going to study so you know what you're going to do and why you want to do it (e.g what sort of modules you are taught)
- Talk about things you've done outside of your A levels/equivalent standard course requirements
- For most people, remember that this personal statement is aimed at five universities not just Oxbridge! Accidentally mentioning any one by name or location will get you a big negative mark from the others
- Avoid jokes, you don't know if the person reading it will share your sense of humour
- make connections between your interests and your chosen course
- draft and redraft and redraft until you're happy with it!
- UCAS have plagiarism detection software that all PSs are ran through, so obviously make it your own work.
When you're actually writing, a good way to start off is make a list of points to include so you've got something to work with! The structure we were given:
Paragraph 1 – Intro
Personal trigger for interest in subject (not just “I’ve always been good at it/liked it”) – how your subject relates to society/current affairs if applicable and relevant. Which aspects of the courses you’re looking forward to – prove you know what you’re getting into.
Paragraph 2
What you have done to develop interest – trips, books, wider reading (in & out of school). Link to subject – work experience, relevant volunteering. Part time job – relevant skills gained, not just facts. Career aspirations - if you have one, put it in – it’s not set in stone because you wrote it in a personal statement.
Paragraph 3
Non-academic achievements, e.g Duke of Edinburgh - skills gained – relevance! Doing a gap year? If so, why – benefits?
Paragraph 4 - Summary
Short – just a few lines. Final impression. Recap – this should answer “why do you want to go to university and study your course” and “why do you deserve to be offered a place”. Relevant to course – make reference to course choice/area, not generic. Career aspirations are positive to mention at this point. Can keep it vague-ish for multiple courses, but course area should be clear.
... This is a lot more stuff than I realised I had so hopefully it helps!
Oh my goodness. Go raibh mile maith agat- a thousand thank yous! That is so extremely helpful, I really appreciate it.
Original post by will_cash
Not sure whether anyone can help here but:
Having been to oxford last month, I fell in love with Merton College. However since then, everyone I have spoken to has been wary of me applying here, as it is apparently so competitive. Is Merton as competitive as people say? I know I shouldn't really take it into consideration, and just apply where I like the most. But I'd love to know if anyone had any information that could help me. The course I'm applying for is PPE.
Having been to oxford last month, I fell in love with Merton College. However since then, everyone I have spoken to has been wary of me applying here, as it is apparently so competitive. Is Merton as competitive as people say? I know I shouldn't really take it into consideration, and just apply where I like the most. But I'd love to know if anyone had any information that could help me. The course I'm applying for is PPE.
Merton is not especially competitive, and takes lots of candidates who applied to other colleges every year. Here are some stats: https://public.tableau.com/views/UoO_UG_Admissons2/AcceptanceRate?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no
Also check out the student satisfaction surveys by college https://public.tableau.com/views/OxfordUniversityStudentBarometer/SatisfactionOverview?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHome=no
Original post by QueenOfCaffeine
Oh my goodness. Go raibh mile maith agat- a thousand thank yous! That is so extremely helpful, I really appreciate it.
No problem, good luck with your application!
Hey!
GCSE grades: 11 A* 1 A
A Levels: History, English Literature, Latin, Greek
Course: Classics
College: 90% sure that I'm applying to Oriel- does anyone know if it's good for Classics?
Hobbies: reading (lotr, Harry Potter), learning strange languages (Sindarin, Linear B, Hieroglyphs, Anglo-Saxon runes) astronomy, cooking, drawing, badminton...
How I'd feel if I got in: I wouldn't believe it!
Any other classics applicants?? I'm the first in my school to ever apply for classics so advice would be appreciated
Posted from TSR Mobile
GCSE grades: 11 A* 1 A
A Levels: History, English Literature, Latin, Greek
Course: Classics
College: 90% sure that I'm applying to Oriel- does anyone know if it's good for Classics?
Hobbies: reading (lotr, Harry Potter), learning strange languages (Sindarin, Linear B, Hieroglyphs, Anglo-Saxon runes) astronomy, cooking, drawing, badminton...
How I'd feel if I got in: I wouldn't believe it!
Any other classics applicants?? I'm the first in my school to ever apply for classics so advice would be appreciated
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by TheClassicsGeek
Hey!
GCSE grades: 11 A* 1 A
A Levels: History, English Literature, Latin, Greek
Course: Classics
College: 90% sure that I'm applying to Oriel- does anyone know if it's good for Classics?
Hobbies: reading (lotr, Harry Potter), learning strange languages (Sindarin, Linear B, Hieroglyphs, Anglo-Saxon runes) astronomy, cooking, drawing, badminton...
How I'd feel if I got in: I wouldn't believe it!
Any other classics applicants?? I'm the first in my school to ever apply for classics so advice would be appreciated
Posted from TSR Mobile
GCSE grades: 11 A* 1 A
A Levels: History, English Literature, Latin, Greek
Course: Classics
College: 90% sure that I'm applying to Oriel- does anyone know if it's good for Classics?
Hobbies: reading (lotr, Harry Potter), learning strange languages (Sindarin, Linear B, Hieroglyphs, Anglo-Saxon runes) astronomy, cooking, drawing, badminton...
How I'd feel if I got in: I wouldn't believe it!
Any other classics applicants?? I'm the first in my school to ever apply for classics so advice would be appreciated
Posted from TSR Mobile
I'm considering reapplying for Classics, Oriel is on the list, I heard it was really good from people who were interviewed there last year!
Original post by youngson
If you're from a private school do you think there are higher chances of being accepted than from a state school, as I've heard many private schools employ staff purely to aid Oxbridge applications?
Whilst oxbridge have many access schemes to help state school applicants and are trying for a more even split in acceptance rates there is undoubtedly a massive advantage of going to a private school.
Note that about 10% of students go to private schools, yet make about 50% of the Oxbridge cohort. 90% of us go to state schools yet only make about 50%... So yes, the split may make it seem even, but it is definitely no where close to proportional with the number of students studying at either types of institutions.
IMO going to a state school which doesn't provide much help, as well as not qualifying to be flagged on the Oxbridge admission system (I.e you don't go the worst of the worst schools, your state school has average GCSEs, not hugely under the national average, one parent has been to uni, you don't quite qualify for low income, haven't been in care) aka the majority of us are in the worst position when applying to Oxbridge. This is because we don't get special consideration from being flagged nor able to compete with private school applicants who often get huge amounts of support (This is from speaking to many friends, not an assumption.)
Of course this is just my opinion, and potentially biased because what I described above is more or less me. I for sure feel very excluded as I can't afford any private summer schools/ other helpful schemes and don't qualify for almost all of the free ones. I hope I haven't offended anyone, that wasn't my intention but I would like to hear other views!
P.S I am still not sure if there is much point in applying to Cambridge, even though it is the dream mainly because of what I explained above.
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