Oxford Applicants for 2012 Entry

He doesn't fulfill the minimum requirement and still wants to apply? That I call confidence Actually, if you don't fulfill the minimum grade requirements, you will probably not even get invited to an interview, right? Why does he want to 'waste' a choice on his ucas form...

Hii I was looking through the (now rather large!!!) spreadsheet today at school and got really freaked out by the sudden mass (relatively, anyway) of people applying for German now...I was naively hoping I'd be the only one!

Did anyone else submit their PS on here, by the way? What kind of feedback did you guys get? I was quite lucky to get a really nice Cambridge student and not some kind of harsh sadist

I have just read (well over the last 24 hours) one hundred and sixty one pages of posts from last years Oxford Applicants thread...

It sounds like the snow was a nightmare for them in terms of their acceptance/rejection letters getting stuck in the post! The stress for them was almost painful to read, not looking forward to that... I think we should chose which college to apply to based on which send their outcome letters out first!

Hii I was looking through the (now rather large!!!) spreadsheet today at school and got really freaked out by the sudden mass (relatively, anyway) of people applying for German now...I was naively hoping I'd be the only one!

Did anyone else submit their PS on here, by the way? What kind of feedback did you guys get? I was quite lucky to get a really nice Cambridge student and not some kind of harsh sadist

Wow you read ALL of that? IMPRESSIVE!

I have just read (well over the last 24 hours) one hundred and sixty one pages of posts from last years Oxford Applicants thread...

It sounds like the snow was a nightmare for them in terms of their acceptance/rejection letters getting stuck in the post! The stress for them was almost painful to read, not looking forward to that... I think we should chose which college to apply to based on which send their outcome letters out first!

I had to stop myself! It does seem very nerve-racking and the letters are given so close to christmas

at Christchurch, leaving left-wing messages on the paper flip-chart.

Christchurch: Fanciest JCR in that they have giant TVs, a pool table and comfy leather chairs. An amazing hall (the one Harry Potter's great hall is based on in the movies, as I'm sure you all know), great looking college and good food. All this was offset, however, by the candidates we met there. There was a really snobby vibe to the place and when we went in to look for biscuits, one guy playing pool sneered at us and, in the poshest voice imaginable, actually said, "Eugh, noobies...". We met a really nice girl who was applying for English there who said that she didn't really get on with many of the other candidates, putting it down to her being a "statie" and a lot of the others being privately or publicly educated.

That was you!!!! My friends and I stood around it for a while drinking tea and eating biscuits, going 'hmmmm...'

Might I ask if we met in Hall? one evening a boy lent over from a few seats down and said hello, and that he was from Balliol. That night there was turkey for dinner and the most amazing chocolate brownies for dessert!

I was just wondering: I took French, Maths, English Lit and History at AS. I got 90+% in all, and I chose to drop History. Is Maths, French and English a suitable combination for Law at Oxford? I've had my History teachers harassing me, saying that History's such a fantastic subject for Law- and I'm sure it is. But I simply enjoy English far more. It won't harm my chance to have two languages... will it?

I think it's nice that we find out before Christmas, whereas applicants to the other place have to wait until after Christmas.

As long as it doesn't snow (and let's be honest it doesn't often) we'll be fine

I don't know if you have been stalking this one thread where they are talking about the rejections letters from Oxford, but some people got their rejection on Christmas!!! That must be horrible and it's also cold-hearted from the admission tutors. How can you send out such a horrible message on Christmas

I have quite a few extra-curriculars and I didn't want to run myself into the ground by Christmas with three arts subjects, and then Maths exams in January too- plus I take Critical Thinking. Oh dear- I'm really quite worried now, as History seems to be the subject everyone thinks I should have taken. I was just utterly miserable studying it last year, and didn't particularly want to go through the whole malarkey again, despite how well I ended up doing.

Surely a) no post got delivered on Christmas Day and b) no admissions tutors were at work emailing or phoning people on Christmas Day?

Here you go: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=33848895&highlight=christmas

I also couldn't believe it...

I have quite a few extra-curriculars and I didn't want to run myself into the ground by Christmas with three arts subjects, and then Maths exams in January too- plus I take Critical Thinking. Oh dear- I'm really quite worried now, as History seems to be the subject everyone thinks I should have taken. I was just utterly miserable studying it last year, and didn't particularly want to go through the whole malarkey again, despite how well I ended up doing.

So, just discovered that there's another person in my school applying to Oxford for maths. He got AABC at most in his Highers, and the minimum requirement is AAAAB (w/o extenuating circumstances). Why would you do that?

In light of the sudden sharing of interview experiences, I think its time to reveal I'm a re-applicant! I applied for history at Christchurch last year, got invited to a trrainwreck of an interview after a mediocre HAT, and was expectedly rejected.

Firstly:



That was you!!!! My friends and I stood around it for a while drinking tea and eating biscuits, going 'hmmmm...'



Might I ask if we met in Hall? one evening a boy lent over from a few seats down and said hello, and that he was from Balliol. That night there was turkey for dinner and the most amazing chocolate brownies for dessert!

I'm afraid I have to (shamefully) admit to a certain sense of unfounded pride in Chch while I was there, mainly due to how impressive the place was. However I didn't really think myself any better than candidates from other colleges, and a surprisingly large number of people I met had actually been allocated Chch, despite it being perceived as one of the more popular colleges. Also, the whole state/private school thing never really came up, and as far as I'm aware, nobody ever asked another candidate about it. Then again, as an international student, I didn't really get it in the first place, and most of my friends weren't from England.
What I'm trying to say is, don't be put off applying to Chch by its reputation as a snobby college. I was actually very worried about this, especially as a left wing Irish nationalist, and almost freaked out my first night when I found out the first person I spoke to was a viscount's daughter, and that one of the history tutors was so right wing that she thought stupid people shouldn't be allowed to vote. But I was pleasantly surprised. There was a fairly balanced mix of political ideologies, with a slight weighting in favour of centre/ left, and nobody really cared if you had different 'loyalties' to them. Though a friend of mine did get a lot of laughs when she announced she was a lib dem! Most people didn't care about politics at all. example:
Libdem friend to me: were you following the thing with the Miliband brothers?
Me: I remember one was quite good looking, and the other one won.
Mod languages applicant nearby: yeah he was good-looking...
Lib dem friend looks disconcerted
In conclusion, everyone I met there was really nice (including the viscounts daughter and a Tory in horned rimmed glasses who said the prayers in Latin in Hall!)

As for my interviews, both were disastrous, particularly the first one, which started off badly, and then got progressively worse as I realised how badly I was doing and panicked. I went blank on several questions I could have answered perfectly, and missed several opportunities to bring up topics I wanted to talk about. In hindsight, my advise to all interviewees would be to stay calm at all costs!!!

Funniest conversation was with aforementioned (very posh) Tory, who I was quite intimidated by, until:
Tory: Where are you from
Me: South Ireland
Tory: I have cousins in Killorglin
Me: I go to school in killorglin
Tory: I went there to visit once, I've never seen so many pubs in my life.

So, just discovered that there's another person in my school applying to Oxford for maths. He got AABC at most in his Highers, and the minimum requirement is AAAAB (w/o extenuating circumstances). Why would you do that?

Oh a girl in my year may be applying for PPE with AABCC (I think it was this. If not, similar).