Oxford Applicants 2016 Entry & Interview chat

Out of choice. Oxford could choose to ask for AS UMS if they so wished.

I'd like to think that Oxford has at least looked into how well GCSE / AS / A2 results correlate with degree success to know whether this is information they should be collecting. They could survey current students instead of applicants, after all.

Candidates applying to Brasenose for PPE and who were invited to interview last year (either with us or at another college) scored as follows (rounding up to 2 sf):

problem solving: minimum 53, median 64, maximum 83
critical thinking: minimum 58, median 72, maximum 83
essay: minimum 54, median 65, maximum 72
overall: minimum 60, median 68, maximum 76

We think these scores are in line with the rest of Oxford. All sections count. If you are reading this, would like to read PPE, and think you can post a competitive test score ... the closing date for applications is October 15th!

At a cost. They would have to set a questionnaire like Cambridge.



Yes, I agree, but that still does not mean that Oxford has not proven a link. It's just that Oxford would rather have aptitude tests (and fewer interviews) than run a questionnaire system.

I would have thought a questionnaire would have cost a lot less than the current cost of organising admissions tests for nearly all subjects?

No ... the set-up and changeover costs would be considerable.

Yes, I agree ... but that wasn't the point you made.

Hi! In a similar vein, do you happen to have any details on the LNAT scores of successful Law candidates?

The reason that AS grades aren't as important as GCSE's, admissions tests or interviews is because Oxford hasn't proven a link between them and doing well in their degrees, unlike Cambridge. Furthermore, many UK private schools don't certificate AS grades and so none of their pupils will apply with their AS grades on their applications. AS grades are going to become even less important probably as they've been basically removed from the curriculum.

For History - the HAT and GCSEs are the main two factors used to decide whether to invite a candidate to interview, that means that an amazing HAT score can outweigh slightly less good GCSEs, but every application is different. There is no denying that GCSEs aren't important (and I'm sure fluteflute agrees with me), but his point was that you can make up for non-stellar GCSEs through other aspects of your application. Particularly if there are extenuating circumstances, or your GCSEs show that you achieved higher than the average at the school you attended.

Yes - applying without AS grades is not going to hurt an application even slightly. [As a sidenote, I know someone currently holding an offer for Classics who applied with AS grades of ABC!]

Well maybe they could know through the HAT results and by interviewing you? (plus the teacher's reference)

This is the part of your post that is a reasonably fair criticism, but I still think my original comments were fair. The role of GCSEs within applying to Oxford is mostly clouded in mystery, with Medicine being a rare example of a subject providing transparency (note Medicine is rather special and you shouldn't try to extrapolate from Medicine to other courses). History is the only other course I can think of that publicly talks about how GCSEs are used in the process. I have no clue why they don't put this on their website (it makes me a bit angry that they don't actually) but yes they say that decisions on who to interview are made based on 30% A*s at GCSE and 70% on the HAT. I understand that to mean that good GCSEs are clearly a help for History applicants, but that doesn't mean you won't be interviewed if your GCSEs aren't the best. I should repeat the caveat that this is just for history - but I've not seen reasons to believe GCSEs play a bigger role for other courses.

Does anyone know what the difference is between the normal HAT and the HAT for History and Economics? Also, what is an acceptable score to be invited for an interview? Any help is greatly appreciated.

I believe they're the same

According to the website "The test will include a question specifically for candidates applying for History and Economics" but I can't find any more information on that. It doesn't appear on the HAT past papers as far as I can tell that are publicly available.

The question is whether they could get a better degree outcome by selecting different applicants. I'm not sure a review of current students would help. They know an awful lot about the ones they accepted. It's the ones that got away that are a bit of a mystery.

Ah yes, sorry. Last year the equivalent text was "Candidates applying for History and Economics are required to take two tests: the History Aptitude Test (HAT) on 5 November 2014 and a test for Economics for those who are shortlisted, which will take place during the Oxford interview period in December 2014."

And here's the 'specimen paper' for the old test (the question on the HAT might be nothing like this, I don't know):
http://web.archive.org/web/20140929123137/http://www.ox.ac.uk/document.rm?id=2315

Thank you. If there is an extra question on the HAT, will I get a time extension? Do I still register as if I am taking the normal HAT?

Yes, I know that was the question.... If you want to know how well AS results correlate with Oxford degree success, look at AS results and degree success of students at Oxford. If that shows a strong positive correlation, you can try to select applicants with really good AS results.

According to the website "The test will include a question specifically for candidates applying for History and Economics" but I can't find any more information on that. It doesn't appear on the HAT past papers as far as I can tell that are publicly available.