The English 2008 Applicants / Offers / Rejections Thread

Nothing from Oxford in the post :frown:

...but a letter inviting me for an interview from Warwick :biggrin:

Reply 1781

username115564

16

Got rejected from Christ Church, Oxford this morning.

Reply 1782

tigrrmilk

11

I practically ran home, but there was nothing in the post from Oxford. And tomorrow I won't get home until late... ugh.

Reply 1783

JW

Got rejected from Christ Church, Oxford this morning.

Unlucky, sorry to hear about that. Was it just the interview you felt didn't go well? I'm a bit sceptical about my AS grades - getting a D in a Psychology module doesn't bode too well, I think.

Terrible post here, but I'm bound to hear soon :s-smilie:

Reply 1784

UPsilamba

12

Naranoc - congrats :biggrin:

When is it?

JW - Sorry to hear about that :frown:

What’s your next favourite? Do you care enough to reapply or will you be happy elsewhere?

Reply 1785

It's on the Feb 1st :biggrin:

. I'll hopefully be able to brush up on the stuff I thought I was weak on in my Oxford interviews.

Reply 1786

UPsilamba

12

Well good luck with that :biggrin:

What did they focus on in your Oxford interview? My Cambridge one was very individual. Questions about my essays, CAF and personal statement, and general lead-on questions.

Reply 1787

Cheers! Well, the focus of my two interviews was quite similar. The first one was a discussion of a few texts in my PS, general questions like what books I don't like and what book I started off not liking but grew to like, and then course-specific ones (I'd memorised the structure of it the night before so I had no problem with that :biggrin:

). The second was almost exclusively about one text (Clarissa), with the interviewer quickly adding at the end that he'd meant to discuss my essay but had no time.

You didn't get any "What do you think of this year's Booker Prize winner" questions did you? :tongue:

Reply 1788

username115564

16

Naranoc

Unlucky, sorry to hear about that. Was it just the interview you felt didn't go well? I'm a bit sceptical about my AS grades - getting a D in a Psychology module doesn't bode too well, I think.

Terrible post here, but I'm bound to hear soon :s-smilie:

I'm guessing my grades were below average (AABA), but if they wanted to reject me on the basis of my grades they could have done so before interview.

I didn't feel my first interview with Conrad was very fair. I know this sounds like whining but I don't think any candidate is at their best when being grilled about a play they've not read, or being commented on the sweatiness of their handshake!

Reply 1789

JW

I'm guessing my grades were below average (AABA), but if they wanted to reject me on the basis of my grades they could have done so before interview.

I didn't feel my first interview with Conrad was very fair. I know this sounds like whining but I don't think any candidate is at their best when being grilled about a play they've not read, or being commented on the sweatiness of their handshake!

I got AAAB too, so I'm not sure what their view on that is either.

:laugh:

How did you move on to an unfamiliar play? Yeah, that interview went badly (or so it seems) for most people. I avoided mentioning Jane Austen, even though I should have, because I heard from other interviewees that he's obsessed with her, although I think I pissed him off by talking about homoeroticism in the portrayal of Twelfth Night on stage.

Reply 1790

username115564

16

Naranoc

I got AAAB too, so I'm not sure what their view on that is either.

:laugh:

How did you move on to an unfamiliar play? Yeah, that interview went badly (or so it seems) for most people. I avoided mentioning Jane Austen, even though I should have, because I heard from other interviewees that he's obsessed with her, although I think I pissed him off by talking about homoeroticism in the portrayal of Twelfth Night on stage.

I sent in my essay on Othello, Hamlet and Macbeth. 2 minutes into our conversation he asks "Have you read King Lear?". No. The next 15 minutes i'm getting quotes from King Lear thrown at me to knock down my arguments - of course I couldn't respond very well because I couldn't contextualise the quotes, or decipher most of their meanings in such a short period of time. Very annoying.

Having said that I thought my second interview actually went very well. I'm guessing Conrad is responsible for the majority of the decision making, though.

Reply 1791

JW

I sent in my essay on Othello, Hamlet and Macbeth. 2 minutes into our conversation he asks "Have you read King Lear?". No. The next 15 minutes i'm getting quotes from King Lear thrown at me to knock down my arguments - of course I couldn't respond very well because I couldn't contextualise the quotes, or decipher most of their meanings in such a short period of time. Very annoying.

Having said that I thought my second interview actually went very well. I'm guessing Conrad is responsible for the majority of the decision making, though.

So essentially, nothing constructive at all. I would have called it good cop/bad, had that woman actually said anything to me >_>. The Bose one I thought went fairly well too, with her smiling on one side and the guy nodding enthusiastically on the other.

Reply 1792

oHarrieto

Hiya, I applied for english on the 18th of November to Cardiff, Birmingham, Exeter, Leeds and Southampton, and I haven't heard anthing from them. lol I know im being impatient but i was wondering if anybody has had offers from any of these, and when they applied etc.

Thank you x

I heard from Cardiff around 5-6 weeks after I sent off my application (which was the beginning of October).

Rejected by Warwick on Saturday, which made me a little panicky about my other choices (as Bristol, Durham and Oxford all have higher entry requirements) - but Warwick was my fifth choice, so I wasn't not too gutted.. just a little.

... And then I got an offer from Oxford this morning, which made it all better! :smile:

Reply 1793

Congrats Ellen! :biggrin:

Which college did you apply to?

Reply 1794

username102860

10

Naranoc

The second was almost exclusively about one text (Clarissa), with the interviewer quickly adding at the end that he'd meant to discuss my essay but had no time.

That's generally quite a good sign as it shows the interviewer was enjoying the discussion too!

I have to admit, I'm even jealous of those with Oxbridge rejections, but attended the interview. To be able to discuss literature with the calibre of professors on offer is phenomenal and kind of makes me regret not applying. Good luck again though everyone, and I'm sorry to hear about your rejection JW, but the experience can only stand you in good stead.

Bloody hell Ellen, that's fantastic! Congratulations! :biggrin:

Reply 1795

Thanks Naranoc and Ploop! :biggrin:

I applied to Keble, but my interviews there were horrific.. and I wasn't very keen on the academics (though it was probably their "interview persona" more than anything - I'm sure they're nice really!) But then I had two more interviews at Harris Manchester, which I utterly fell in love with (the academics were so, so nice and the place was much more attractive than I thought it would be) - and those interviews were a little bit better. The offer came from Harris Manchester, so I'm doubly happy as I couldn't help feeling when I came home that I should've applied to HMC in the first place. Huzzah!

I hope you both get some awesome news soon! And you're bound to hear really soon from Oxford, Naranoc, aren't you? :smile:

Reply 1796

Ploop

That's generally quite a good sign as it shows the interviewer was enjoying the discussion too!

I hope so, although I'm not sure if his smug grin throughout is anything to go by :laugh:

*ellen marine*

Thanks Naranoc and Ploop! :biggrin:

I applied to Keble, but my interviews there were horrific.. and I wasn't very keen on the academics (though it was probably their "interview persona" more than anything - I'm sure they're nice really!) But then I had two more interviews at Harris Manchester, which I utterly fell in love with (the academics were so, so nice and the place was much more attractive than I thought it would be) - and those interviews were a little bit better. The offer came from Harris Manchester, so I'm doubly happy as I couldn't help feeling when I came home that I should've applied to HMC in the first place. Huzzah!

I hope you both get some awesome news soon! And you're bound to hear really soon from Oxford, Naranoc, aren't you? :smile:

Sounds great :biggrin:

Yep, probably within the next couple of days. I got extra interviews at Magdalen, but people are getting offers from there already so I don't think I'll hear from them. Christ Church is where all my hopes now rest, although I regret not scrutinising the rest of the applicants to judge how good they were :laugh:

Reply 1797

Haha - my English teacher went to Christ Church (after being interviewed at Hertford, where he got right up the interviewer's nose apparently), and loved it - and Magdalen is just plan gorgeous, so you can't really go wrong with either! I shall keep my fingers crossed for you!

I didn't even see any of the competition at HMC, never mind scrutinising them, heh. It's annoying for you, not knowing how good they are - but at the same time it might have caused undue stress if they came across to you better than they did in interview, as you'd be stressing thinking the competition was tougher than it was. Now a fly-on-the-wall style eavesdrop during the interviews would've been handy, haha. Best of luck! :biggrin:

Reply 1798

Reverie.

14

*ellen marine*

... And then I got an offer from Oxford this morning, which made it all better! :smile:

Well done; that's fantastic! :biggrin:

Reply 1799