Oxford Applicants 2016 Entry & Interview chat

If I have AAABB at As does anyone think I could get a place?

Yes, although it would help if the A's are in subjects that are relevant to what you're intending to apply for.

planning on studying physics- I have an A in physics but not in maths :/ I think my teachers will still predict me and A/A* though

That could be a problem, given how important Maths is to your subject. I guess you might have a chance if your results in the PAT (particularly the maths section) strongly suggested that your AS result in Maths was a fluke, combined with an excellent interview, but it would really have to be very impressive.

If my teacher predicted me an A* would they pay more attention to the prediction or the AS grade?

It probably would help, although not by a huge amount since they're also aware that predictions can be wrong, particularly if they're predicting such a big leap in grades. As I've said, an extremely impressive PAT and interview performance might persuade the tutors that your AS Maths grade was a fluke but I'm not going to lie and say that a B in AS Maths isn't a problem when you're applying for Physics at somewhere like Oxford.

Do you think it would be better to just not apply this year and wait till next year, because I know I can get an A*, I'm only a few ums off an A and I have had 100% on nearly all homework and tests this year,

Unless you genuinely want to take a gap year, no. Taking a year out just for the sake of improving your chance of getting into Oxford isn't a great idea because even with top grades, you're still not guaranteed a place and you could very well end up where you started, but now having wasted an entire year of your time. There's still no harm in applying to Oxford and with AAABB at AS you've still got a great chance for practically every other university in the UK, and the truth is that you'll probably end up just as happy somewhere else as you would be at Oxford even if you don't get in.

If you do have ideas on how you could spend your gap year constructively and you don't feel that it would be a wasted year even if you didn't get into Oxford the second time round, then you could apply post-A2. If your A2 results are great then you'd definitely be in a much stronger position applying. It's still not a bad idea to apply this year though, at the very worst you'll have gained experience that will be useful in your second application.

Hi I've just got my AS results and hoping to study chemical engineering. Is it really worth applying to Oxford?
Grades: 10 A* s and 3 As for GCSE
AS:
Maths:
A with 272/300UMS

Further math:
A with 252/300 UMS

physics:
A with 260/300 UMS

Economics
A with176/200 UMS

Chemistry:
B with 239/400 UMS




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Does anyone know if you have to apply to Oxford to take the PAT? I'm tempted to take it for fun .

You should definitely try remarking one of your chemistry papers since you are 1 mark from an A, otherwise you should definitely apply.

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Yeah I guess that's true. Its not so much that I've got my heart set on oxford, its more that I feel like my maths grade gives me a disadvantage for most unis really, I don't feel like I should have that disadvantage (I am looking into a remark which might remove this problem)

Unless we're talking about Oxbridge or Imperial, I really don't think a B in AS Maths is going to be the end of the world. But I hope the remark is successful!

I'm pretty sure it's only available to people applying for related courses at Oxford, but you can always give papers a go

I've already had one paper remarked and it came back the same grade. Not sure if it's too late to get the other paper remarked. I should? You'll be the first person to say so ahah. Thank you so much for replying.


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Well I certainly would say it's worth another shot, and it will be back with you before the October 15th deadline if you do it asap.