Oxford Applicants for 2012 Entry

Original post by medbh4805

There's always pop maths stuff like Adventures in Numberland...but I don't know what would be suitable for a PS :holmes:

I think "popular" stuff is fine if you can talk about how it relates to your passion for maths :smile:

(not that this applies to you as a classics applicant...)

Reply 2423

thethinker

1

I looked around Oxford today and it was amazing, especially Christ Church :smile:

I missed the English faculty talk though, did anyone go? What did they say?

Reply 2424

Original post by desy.kris

lol that's cool! :smile:

okay, have you seen the document with numbers of students taking each course at each college? if not, it's worth having a look IMO :smile:

yeah, the most they have in one college is only 13 -___- hahaha

dunno, the prospectus says 19 :O the number of female students accepted is only two, so I'm very pessimistic! argh!

I've seen it. Trying to ignore it, because it has about a 10% success rate for Canadians out of ~100 applicants; as well it says St John's only took about 5 people last year... not too worried about the actual numbers for the course or the success rate though. At ~17%, it's decent. 70% for interview, so here's hoping. :smile:

Though I was lurking on some Oxford thread and someone applied to St John's last year, and then asked for a review why they got rejected. On the email they said there were 19 applicants competing for 3 places - at the interview alone. I suppose the other couple were pooled or something. Anyway... I could easily apply to a college with a higher success rate of applicants, but I'm not going to - I have my heart set on St John's. >.>

Original post by desy.kris

has anyone started writing their personal statement? :P I have! and I'm enjoying it!

I've started a while ago, and so far it's not finished at 5051 characters. :s-smilie:

I still need to include at least one other book, too! Urgh. Hopefully editing will shave off some characters. I haven't even written the two sentences I was planning for EC, anything on my international status, or my conclusion...

Reply 2425

Original post by fluteflute

Maths has to be one of the hardest subjects to write statements for. (Especially with no books to write about)

I know you're not applying for straight Maths but there was an Oxford student lurking about here some time ago who posted his (?) PS on Maths. Anyway, I forgot which it was, but if you check the PS Library there are a couple Maths statements for Oxford.

The one I was speaking of referenced quite a few books, and they weren't really pop books, just problem-solving ones or something. :/

Reply 2426

Original post by fluteflute

I think "popular" stuff is fine if you can talk about how it relates to your passion for maths :smile:

(not that this applies to you as a classics applicant...)

actually, if I don't get in for classics (my choices are all fairly high risk) I want to take a gap year and apply for maths :ninja:

Reply 2427

Original post by punctuation

I know you're not applying for straight Maths but there was an Oxford student lurking about here some time ago who posted his (?) PS on Maths. Anyway, I forgot which it was, but if you check the PS Library there are a couple Maths statements for Oxford.

The one I was speaking of referenced quite a few books, and they weren't really pop books, just problem-solving ones or something. :/

I'm not even doing a joint honours maths course :biggrin:

but Computer Science is heavily mathematical (even without doing Maths + CS)

Reply 2428

Original post by fluteflute

I'm not even doing a joint honours maths course :biggrin:

but Computer Science is heavily mathematical (even without doing Maths + CS)

Oh right, sorry. I thought you were doing CS + Maths but I think that's someone else...

Original post by medbh4805

actually, if I don't get in for classics (my choices are all fairly high risk) I want to take a gap year and apply for maths :ninja:

Hey, classics at Oxford has about a 50% success rate, so I'm sure you'll get in no problem. :tongue:

You seem to know your stuff. *points to motto* :wink:

Are you applying for classics at your four other choices as well?

Reply 2429

Original post by punctuation

Oh right, sorry. I thought you were doing CS + Maths but I think that's someone else...

There's at least three or four CS + Maths people around :smile:

Original post by punctuation

Hey, classics at Oxford has about a 50% success rate

Wow, really? That seems very high...

Edit: Yes Classic is the subject with the highest success rate at Oxford: 41.5% in 2010

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2430

PhenolphthaleinX

13

why is everybody writing about a book? :O sorry, I AM a noob! I don't think I read anywhere in Oxford's site to write about any book, they even said any prior knowledge in computing is not necessary for Computer Science :s-smilie:

I have only started writing today, and have got 2983 words! I'm happy with it :smile:

I think what I've written so far is quite good :smile:

and, I have to agree that CS alone at Oxford is already heavily mathematical! I actually wanted to take the CS-Math double degree but when I looked at the modules I thought CS at Oxford is mathematical enough as it is so I figured I would just minor in Math later instead of taking the double degree lol

PS. thanks Niki_girl for the rep! :biggrin:

how many ones can a user give out per day? pretty sure I've reached my limit -_- lol

Reply 2431

Original post by punctuation

Hey, classics at Oxford has about a 50% success rate, so I'm sure you'll get in no problem. :tongue:

You seem to know your stuff. *points to motto* :wink:

Are you applying for classics at your four other choices as well?

maybe, I'm applying for Classics 1A which is for people who did both Greek and Latin at A level so I don't know how competitive that is compared to the other branches, but you can never be sure of anything :beard:

I have to do the entrance exams too in Latin and Greek and submit two essays :ahhhhh:

yeah, except Exeter, I'm going to apply for Classics with study abroad :smile:

Reply 2432

Original post by fluteflute

There's at least three or four CS + Maths people around :smile:

Wow, really? That seems very high...

Edit: Yes Classic is the subject with the highest success rate at Oxford: 41.5% in 2010

Yep, was just about to quote that figure. ^^

Original post by desy.kris

why is everybody writing about a book? :O sorry, I AM a noob! I don't think I read anywhere in Oxford's site to write about any book, they even said any prior knowledge in computing is not necessary for Computer Science :s-smilie:

I have only started writing today, and have got 2983 words! I'm happy with it :smile:

I think what I've written so far is quite good :smile:

and, I have to agree that CS alone at Oxford is already heavily mathematical! I actually wanted to take the CS-Math double degree but when I looked at the modules I thought CS at Oxford is mathematical enough as it is so I figured I would just minor in Math later instead of taking the double degree lol

PS. thanks Niki_girl for the rep! :biggrin:

how many ones can a user give out per day? pretty sure I've reached my limit -_- lol

Well, it's generally advisable (read: you should. really.) to read widely around your subject... key word, reading. So in your research for your personal statement you're bound to come across some books, and if they're good ones, why shouldn't you (read: you should. really.) mention them?

It's not something Oxford specifically asks for, it's more of a convention/common sense that you write about a book. You're probably not going to write about a film or a song, so books are the best form of media to reference... That's it. :smile:

Reply 2433

PhenolphthaleinX

13

because I'm a noob as I said, I don't know where specifically to ask general questions about PS (in which thread?). so may I ask here?

since I'm considering using abbreviations in my PS, I wonder if the universities would be familiar with some abbr. like ICAS (International Competitions and Assessments for Schools) and AMC (American Mathematics Contest)? they are seriously wasting my character limits so I wonder if I should just abbreviate them or not :s-smilie:

or can I use footnotes? haha :P

Reply 2434

Original post by fluteflute

Wow, really? That seems very high...

Edit: Yes Classic is the subject with the highest success rate at Oxford: 41.5% in 2010

It's because we're self-selecting

that's what they told us as the open day anyway :ninja:

Reply 2435

Original post by desy.kris

because I'm a noob as I said, I don't know where specifically to ask general questions about PS (in which thread?). so may I ask here?

since I'm considering using abbreviations in my PS, I wonder if the universities would be familiar with some abbr. like ICAS (International Competitions and Assessments for Schools) and AMC (American Mathematics Contest)? they are seriously wasting my character limits so I wonder if I should just abbreviate them or not :s-smilie:

or can I use footnotes? haha :P

2983 WORDS? You do know the limit is 3000 characters... did you mistype?

Anyway, it's considered grammatical to do it the other way around, as well it's best you include the full form. Makes it easier for the tutors. For example: I participated in the American Mathematics Contest (AMC) blah blah... if you're referencing it again, you can just refer to it as 'AMC'. However if you're only referencing it once, you can skip the abbreviation in parentheses altogether. :biggrin:

Reply 2436

Original post by medbh4805

It's because we're self-selecting

that's what they told us as the open day anyway :ninja:

Self-selecting? What does that mean? :s-smilie:

Reply 2437

Original post by desy.kris

why is everybody writing about a book? :O sorry, I AM a noob! I don't think I read anywhere in Oxford's site to write about any book, they even said any prior knowledge in computing is not necessary for Computer Science :s-smilie:

It's a tricky one, because whilst they say you don't need prior knowledge, then you also need to be able to show you've researched the subject and know what it entails. (Because lets not forget, Oxford is very competitive! In 2010 only 12.8% of CS applicants got in.) An easy way to show that is further reading.

Original post by desy.kris

and, I have to agree that CS alone at Oxford is already heavily mathematical! I actually wanted to take the CS-Math double degree but when I looked at the modules I thought CS at Oxford is mathematical enough as it is so I figured I would just minor in Math later instead of taking the double degree lol

I don't think the Oxford structure allows you to "minor in math later". You'd have to do the double degree (in later years you have the option to vary the number of modules you do in each area).

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2438