UNIQ Summer School 2015

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UNIQ was one of the best weeks of my life, I met amazing friends there who I still talk to all the time. I did Oncology and have an offer for Biochemistry. Most of my friends from UNIQ applied for Medicine but got put in for Oncology as medicine is very over subscribed, but don't be down heartened if thats the case for you as Oncology was brilliant. All of the girls I became friends with doing Oncology that decided to apply have secured medicine places for next year, so it has no bearing :smile:

Good luck!

Reply 21

member3210498

Hello, I was planning on applying to the summer school scheme in Oxford and I was wondering whether anyone on here has had any past experience of applying and might have any tips (for personal statement in particular)

Reply 22

alexinorris

I feel quite disheartened with the grades on here haha..

Reply 23

Chlorophile

Would anyone be interested in seeing the personal statement I wrote for UNIQ last year? I'm not sure how helpful it'd be but I'd be happy to send it to anyone who's interested. It's actually quite embarrassing looking back at it!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 24

econam

Original post by Chlorophile

I would much appreciate it if you could send me that, thanks :smile:

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Reply 25

alexinorris

Original post by Chlorophile

That would be great if you could send it to me as well thanks!

Reply 26

Sovereignty

I'm interested in applying, but I achieved bad GCSEs (only 1A*, mostly As and a few Bs). However, I completed these in only one year. Of course it's worth applying, but does anyone think I'll actually have a chance of getting in?

Thanks for any help!

Reply 27

Chlorophile

Original post by Sovereignty

Honestly, whilst you can by all means apply, unless you go to a seriously deprived school and background and you're applying to a less competitive course, I don't think your chances are good. GCSEs are their only way of telling how strong you are academically so even if you don't think they're a fair reflection of you, it's all they have to go on :/

Reply 28

Sovereignty

Original post by Chlorophile

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't very confident with my chances anyway as it's highly competitive.

Reply 29

Chlorophile

Original post by Sovereignty

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't very confident with my chances anyway as it's highly competitive.

As I said, you can still apply - there's still a chance - just don't get your hopes up.

Reply 30

Abi790

Original post by Sovereignty

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't very confident with my chances anyway as it's highly competitive.

I would actually disagree, I met people there with those sorts of grades. Some were on the reserve lists but did ultimately end up getting a place.

Reply 31

exo97

Original post by Chlorophile

I would love to have a read of it as well thanks :biggrin:

Should I write about how I went into a senior maths challenge practice day and how much I had enjoyed the experience even though I didn't get selected?

Reply 32

exo97

Should I mention things I have done for charity, doing DofE, sports etc or should I leave this out and focus purely on the learning aspect in my personal statement?

Reply 33

Chlorophile

Original post by exo97

Should I mention things I have done for charity, doing DofE, sports etc or should I leave this out and focus purely on the learning aspect in my personal statement?

Nope, you don't have enough space to mention irrelevant things like that unless they directly explain why you should have a place.

Reply 34

lrjr97

Original post by Chlorophile

Ah it would be great if you could send it to me please!!

Reply 35

Ratalucy

I am hoping to apply for the maths proofs and codes course, mostly because I've always been fascinated by cryptography. I got 11 A*s and 1A at GCSE and go to a state school, do a little extra reading and have certificates in maths challenges, but I don't know what to write in my personal statement. Also not the most confident person, not good at talking myself up! Still trying to force myself to tell my maths teacher who went to Oxford that I actually want to apply to the UNIQ course! Any advice for how to start the personal statement? Also anyone else thinking of doing the maths course?

Reply 36

BanoffeeGuy

In the name of 'BBC impartiality' (hehe), I feel I need to add that your acceptance/rejection from the summer schools has NO BEARING at all on your acceptance to an Oxbridge institution. :smile:

I applied to UNIQ, Homerton and Sutton Trust, was rejected by them ALL, and just received a place from Oxford to study Physics, so no need to stress at all! Just give it a go and try to enjoy the experience of being able to have the opportunity to express your passion in words. It's also good preparation for the actual UCAS personal statement. :smile:

Andrew

Reply 37

BanoffeeGuy

Original post by Ratalucy

My friend Jac did that UNIQ course last year! (He had 4A*'s at GCSE, just to emphasise how well you've done!) We both found it helpful to try writing a short word document with bullet points of your achievements/extra reading/skills/motivations etc and then when it came to actually writing it the ideas flowed a bit easier, as you already have the main structure of your statement down. It also makes it a little bit easier to talk about yourself, because you have already gone through the exercise of 'recognizing your achievements', so can approach the whole thing from a slightly more 'detached perspective'.

However, while that might be a decent technique for the here and now, you must come to accept that you have already done amazing things in getting the grades you have! 11A*'s is awesome, much better than me! Think about it this way, if your friend had gained amazing GCSE grades, you'd be telling them to be happy and that they should allow themselves to take pride from their achievement! So why should you not allow yourself the same privilege?

Anyways, I digress. In regards to starting your statement; are there any particular bits of maths that excite you? (You've mentioned cryptography, maybe start with something that interests you about that?) Or was there a certain book/lecture you read or saw online etc that caused you to become interested in the subject?

The opening line to mine was just, 'Recently, I was caught thinking about windows; what causes a window to be transparent whilst so many other materials remain, at least to our eyes, opaque? ...' and then used the answer to that question as a springboard to talk about how much different aspects of physics interested me, then you just mention that perhaps you've followed this interest up a little bit with some extra reading etc and that's most of it finished! :smile:

Sorry if this hasn't been helpful, I tried!
Andrew

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 38

Ratalucy

Original post by BanoffeeGuy

My friend Jac did that UNIQ course last year! We both found it helpful to try writing a short word document with bullet points of your achievements/extra reading/skills/motivations etc and then when it came to actually writing it the ideas flowed a bit easier, as you already have the main structure of your statement down. It also makes it a little bit easier to talk about yourself, because you have already gone through the exercise of 'recognizing your achievements', so can approach the whole thing from a slightly more 'detached perspective'.

However, while that might be a decent technique for the here and now, you must come to accept that you have already done amazing things in getting the grades you have! 11A*'s is awesome, much better than me! Think about it this way, if your friend had gained amazing GCSE grades, you'd be telling them to be happy and that they should allow themselves to take pride from their achievement! So why should you not allow yourself the same privilege?

Anyways, I digress. In regards to starting your statement; are there any particular bits of maths that excite you? (You've mentioned cryptography, maybe start with something that interests you about that?) Or was there a certain book/lecture you read or saw online etc that caused you to become interested in the subject?

The opening line to mine was just, 'Recently, I was caught thinking about windows; what causes a window to be transparent whilst so many other materials remain, at least to our eyes, opaque? ...' and then used the answer to that question as a springboard to talk about how much different aspects of physics interested me, then you just mention that perhaps you've followed this interest up a little bit with some extra reading etc and that's most of it finished! :smile:

Sorry if this hasn't been helpful, I tried!
Andrew

Thank you, you have been very helpful, I love maths but sometimes it's hard to get that into words so other people can see it! Now you have given me an idea of how to go about it :smile:

Lucy

Reply 39

BanoffeeGuy

Original post by Ratalucy

Thank you, you have been very helpful, I love maths but sometimes it's hard to get that into words so other people can see it! Now you have given me an idea of how to go about it :smile:

Lucy