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English at Oxford??

Hiya,

My names Disha and I'm planning on applying for English at Oxford this year. I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips, for the personal statement, ELAT and written work? Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

lkjhgfdsazxcvbnm

Im not an oxford student, nor applicant but this is what i would do if i was in your position
For the personal statement
• Take an original stance - don’t look up good books to read and write about them - try pick something original that they won’t have seen as often - this will make you stand out a little more
• I think it’s good to almost have a theme to your PS eg. if you’re really interested in a certain type of poetry, make sure you discuss and give focus to your interest - this shows a bit of a niche which gives your personal statement personality (obviously explore other areas too)
• Include extra-curriculars , but ur PS is short, make sure ur including your best academic achievements before mentioning any extra-curricular stuff.
• It’s best to start ur ps with wider reading in my opinion before moving onto achievements etc.

Sorry if that’s a bit obvious & generic :smile:

also good luck!

Reply 2

emilyalexandria

Original post by disha _jdfbs

Hi, I'm not studying English in particular, but I am a student at the University, so hopefully I can give some useful advice.

For the personal statement, I would also advise against just finding famous works and writing about those. This absolutely doesn't mean there's anything wrong with well-known material, though, or that they somehow prefer obscurity. Shakespeare is famous for a reason. However, it's better to focus on things that you find genuinely interesting, even if you think it's less "impressive" to a tutor. There's no hierarchy of works, and they won't be impressed that you like "high-brow" literature. Oxford really do care, though, about how passionate applicants are about the course they're applying to, and they're keen to avoid people who only apply because of the prestige. You'll get this across a lot better if you focus on your genuine interests, and you'll probably write better about them anyway.

As for the general structure, it's good to mention why you're actually interested in the subject and why you'd like to study it. This might seem like common sense, but a lot of people really neglect it. Alongside that, you should focus your personal statement on supercurricular activities, rather than extracurricular ones. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it just means things related to your course, but usually outside of your regular A level studies. Oxford don't care that you're good at playing the piano, unfortunately, and I would limit these kinds of activities to a sentence or two at the end as a maximum.

Finally, when discussing supercurriculars, I would make sure that you actually give some critical analysis and explanation, rather than just name dropping and showing off how well-read you are. Oxford don't care about how many books you've read, they care about how capable you are as a student and how passionate you are about the course. It's okay if you don't know everything already, they're looking for people that will succeed at the university and that will commit to their studies. Therefore, it's better to discuss fewer books in more detail, even if it means leaving out most of the wider reading you've done. An idiot can read a hundred books, you need to prove you read them critically and thoughtfully, and that you can say something interesting about them.

thank you so much!

For the written work and personal statement, I think that you should write about things that you would be comfortable to discuss at the interview. I would suggest not writing too much about texts that you have studied at GCSE/ A-Level as it can be difficult to get your own ideas across and I think it is much easier to write/ talk honestly about texts that you have had less formal instruction on. If there are particular books/ theories/ parts of the university course that you are interested in then include those even if you don't feel 100% confident in what you are saying. As you are writing, try to think of any problems with what you have written and consider how a reasonable person may argue against you. Defend your ideas against these arguments if you can, but don't be so stubborn that you dismiss major problems with your argument or try to cover them up. It is okay to accept that there are very good arguments from the other side, but that on balance you have an opinion that favours one side.

If you are very interested in drama/ poetry/ prose then the written work and personal statement are your chance to (potentially) sway an interviewer into your areas of interest which will make the interview much more enjoyable for you. Personally, I love drama and don't care much for most poetry/ prose other than in the analysis itself, so I focused most of my personal statement/ written work on drama and theory. The questions that the interviewers asked about my personal statement/ written work were difficult, but I enjoyed the conversation and counter-arguments because some of them I had considered and dismissed already and others were more surprising and compelling and forced me to rethink ideas that I had previously been very committed to. It is okay to consider new information and decide whether you want to continue to defend your argument or whether you want to change your mind. You are not applying because you are perfect, you are applying because you are capable and willing to study the subject at a high level.

I would suggest writing simply and honestly about your ideas, making links between texts, and having a clear structure that makes your work easy for someone else to follow. You want to avoid misunderstanding as much as possible as it can make conversation difficult if you use words that you aren't 100% sure of, or if you use the wrong word. If there are any questions you have about literature, then I think it is okay to include them in your written work/ personal statement. I think you should attempt an answer, but you don't have to pretend to be an expert. You just have to be willing to have an opinion and to think carefully about literature.

For the ELAT, I would say to have fun with it (as much as you can) and be confident in your own abilities. Don't treat it like an A-level paper or worry about how it will be marked. It is just another opportunity to demonstrate your skills and to show how well you can construct an argument on unseen material under time pressure. You can write about anything you find interesting, so if you notice anything about form/ language that stands out to you, then write about that. It's okay to not have all the technical language to explain things, but you can still describe what is happening and the effect it has on the texts and compare them that way. Try not to make statements about individual words/ sounds, but look at the text as a whole as well as its individual features and get a sense of what is similar/ different about how language works in the two texts.

If I remember correctly, there were a range of extracts to choose from including non-fiction, prose, poetry, etc. so read through them all and pick what you find easiest/ most interesting to compare/ contrast. Don't choose texts that you find difficult because you think they will be more impressive, just pick two that you understand and compare what you find striking/ interesting about their form and language.

Best of luck with your application!

(edited 7 months ago)