i'm just about to take my AS levels, and need to really start looking at sorting out firm (ish) uni choices.
I was looking at Materials Science at oxbridge, but cambridge only do natural sciences, so that ruled that out.
I need to decide which colleges to visit for open days, but will probably only have time for 2, does anybody have any reccomendations out of
Corpus Christi, Mansfield, Queen's, St. Anne's, St. Catherine's, St Edmund hall and Trinity (these are colleges which do the course i want)
Finally, i'm currently taking Chemistry, French, english Language, Maths and Further Maths (with possibilty of doing AS additional further maths if absolutely necessary).
The course requirements are AAA, which shouldn't be a problem, but although i fulfill the "subjects required"- maths and physics or chemistry, i don't do physics as well, which is in "highly recommended". How negative for my application would this be, as a lot of the Physics A level is just easy Mechanics.
Soz for the long post, but i kind of need to sort this out.
and you do realise you can look round the colleges anytime you like, just walk into the porters lodge, ask for a prospectus and if you can have a look around.
if you do it in term time, you'll also get to chat with the students etc.
then after you've spent like a day looking round all the colleges that do your course, decide which ones you'd like to go to on their open days, as in an open day you'll see far more of the college and get a better feel of what its like, than when you're just walking round them.
i went to cambridge looking round colleges probly about 8 times and talked to current and past students etc before i settled on the one i wanted to apply for
Check our the alternative prospectus at OUSU's website. They will give you lots of information on college costs, as well as things like scholarships, accommodation etc. Find your top two from there, and pay them an open day visit.
in one day, you'll probably only go to one college's open day, proper- as in all their talks and meeting the tutors and question and answer sessions etc. but that'll finish by lunch time and then in the afternoon, you'll be able to visit the department (i assume you're going on their science open day in june where the departments have stuff on as well) as well as look round several other colleges, which will still be arranging tours with students and give you a chance to talk to people less formally. Thing to remember is that most of a college's formal open day will be the same whichever college you go to, since it'll be talking about the course and the application process and dispelling myths about oxford, so it doesn't really matter which one you pick, given it's quite likely you'll change your mind about a place once you see it in person anyway.
I was pretty sure i wanted to apply to oriel before i came on an open day, but once i got there i was really turned off by quite a few things that i'm not going to discuss here (pm me if you really wanna know) and by the end of it had almost changed my mind about applying to oxford entirely. Then i visited lincoln, a student gave me a tour and talked about the course and the life of the college in a much more down to earth way- honestly this was a lot more helpful than the formal open day in the morning since all that told me was stuff i'd already gleened from the prospectus. This took about 30mins, so you could easily fit in several tours like this in an afternoon.
Then i visited lincoln, a student gave me a tour and talked about the course and the life of the college in a much more down to earth way- honestly this was a lot more helpful than the formal open day in the morning since all that told me was stuff i'd already gleened from the prospectus. This took about 30mins, so you could easily fit in several tours like this in an afternoon.
It was the students on the Wadham open day that decided things for me.
I was looking at Materials Science at oxbridge, but cambridge only do natural sciences, so that ruled that out.
Finally, i'm currently taking Chemistry, French, english Language, Maths and Further Maths (with possibility of doing AS additional further maths if absolutely necessary).
The course requirements are AAA, which shouldn't be a problem, but althoughi fulfill the "subjects required"- maths and physics or chemistry, i don't do physics as well, which is in "highly recommended".
I need to decide which colleges to visit for open days...
If you look at the course summaries for materials science, given in detail here: http://www.materials.ox.ac.uk/teachi...handbooks.html .. you'll see it's quite physics-y. So I guess while not having physics isn't a complete show-stopper, it's not ideal.
I think you'd best contact the materials tutors in each of the colleges and ask them about their opinion on your not having A-level physics (or even AS?). That may have a stronger bearing on which colleges you focus on than anything else. Or you could contact the materials science department directly. According to their website, http://www.materials.ox.ac.uk/admiss...e/contact.html
they have a schools liaison person. (Martin Carr), so I guess he'd be a start.
If you look at the course summaries for materials science, given in detail here: http://www.materials.ox.ac.uk/teachi...handbooks.html .. you'll see it's quite physics-y. So I guess while not having physics isn't a complete show-stopper, it's not ideal.
I think you'd best contact the materials tutors in each of the colleges and ask them about their opinion on your not having A-level physics (or even AS?). That may have a stronger bearing on which colleges you focus on than anything else. Or you could contact the materials science department directly. According to their website, http://www.materials.ox.ac.uk/admiss...e/contact.html
they have a schools liaison person. (Martin Carr), so I guess he'd be a start.
DtS
thanks
a lot of my mates do physics at AS, and its really easy, its just simple mechanics. I wanted to so physics, but it couldn't be timetabled at my school, so i chose chemistry over it
Finally, i'm currently taking Chemistry, French, english Language, Maths and Further Maths (with possibilty of doing AS additional further maths if absolutely necessary).
The course requirements are AAA, which shouldn't be a problem, but although i fulfill the "subjects required"- maths and physics or chemistry, i don't do physics as well, which is in "highly recommended". How negative for my application would this be, as a lot of the Physics A level is just easy Mechanics.
Soz for the long post, but i kind of need to sort this out.
A friend of mine was in exactly the same situation. He opted to take up the entire physics course (AS&A2) in his U6 year, and made Oxford aware of this when he applied. He got an offer for Material Science at St Edmund Hall.
I wanted to so physics, but it couldn't be timetabled at my school, so i chose chemistry over it
Make sure your school say this in your UCAS reference, so the admissions tutors know you have a good reason for not having done physics. And committing yourself to do a "catch-up", like JW's friend, can't hurt.
Trinity has a reputation of being a tad full of private school tools.
And, ermm, from personal experience, it really is.
My girlfriend's there, you see, and I've spent a good few weeks staying over in the place.
It's quite cliquey, and whilst you're still likely to find people you get on with, it can easily feel hostile/claustrophobic at times.
[EDIT] Before anybody contrives to take offence, I don't mean that all private school people are tools, or that even the majority are; just that a lot of those private school people in Trinity seem to be. [/EDIT]
Trinity has a reputation of being a tad full of private school tools.
And, ermm, from personal experience, it really is.
My girlfriend's there, you see, and I've spent a good few weeks staying over in the place.
It's quite cliquey, and whilst you're still likely to find people you get on with, it can easily feel hostile/claustrophobic at times.
[EDIT] Before anybody contrives to take offence, I don't mean that all private school people are tools, or that even the majority are; just that a lot of those private school people in Trinity seem to be. [/EDIT]
I've heard it can be insular, but I think that's true of any smaller college, not necessarily because of the state:private ratio.
what you like about it, cos what you like, other might hate
It's small, so you'll know absolutely everyone. It's one of the prettier colleges imo, and it's got a decent location (even if it is dwarfed by Merton and Christ Church on each side). The JCR community tends to be fairly lively, the library's one of the better ones in Oxford (described by Erasmus as a "wonder of the world) and the bar's cheap.
I'd recommend coming down to look at colleges though. It's far easier to decide once you've actually been there. Prior to visiting Oxford, I'd planned to apply to Oriel, but I really liked Corpus when I came down to visit Ox.
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