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Oxford Applicants 2016 Entry & Interview chat

Reply 2220

mattpas

Original post by Bearbert

I'd suggest Jamie Mills. Former PPE student. The fee is 20£ apparently, but think he offers more than what you want.

What does he do in addition to proofreading and commenting?

Reply 2221

Bearbert

5

Original post by mattpas

What does he do in addition to proofreading and commenting?

You could always look out at his website to be exactly sure! Even if you don't feel like enrolling for this, you could just watch his free videos which IMO are really good.

Reply 2222

Smithy-Smiths

10

Original post by googolplexity

Yeah my school wanted my first draft in before we even broke up for the summer, so now I'm on my fourth and almost finished

Haha Fourth? Pal, I'm on my Seventh and counting. We have to submit our entire UCAS Application tomorrow by 6 pm at my school, but UCAS WON'T BE WORKING UNTIL MONDAY, and I usually leave school at 6!! Suffice to say, I am royally frustrated. And in case you were wondering, the deadline was confirmed Friday at school, and the 'UCAS update' started at 6 pm that evening.

Reply 2223

googolplexity

Original post by mattpas

Does your school give you a lot of support for the statement? I'm a French student and they really dont give any as few people apply to the UK. I was wondering if there was a place where i could get my drafts reread by students for cheap?

Yeah every student has a mentor, who helps you out with university application and general school stuff. So whenever I'm done with a draft I just submit it to my mentor

Reply 2224

Plagioclase

21

Original post by Smithy-Smiths

Haha Fourth? Pal, I'm on my Seventh and counting. We have to submit our entire UCAS Application tomorrow by 6 pm at my school, but UCAS WON'T BE WORKING UNTIL MONDAY, and I usually leave school at 6!! Suffice to say, I am royally frustrated. And in case you were wondering, the deadline was confirmed Friday at school, and the 'UCAS update' started at 6 pm that evening.

Why? It's like a month before the deadline, I don't get what they're achieving by rushing you... Good luck!

Reply 2225

googolplexity

Original post by Smithy-Smiths

Haha Fourth? Pal, I'm on my Seventh and counting. We have to submit our entire UCAS Application tomorrow by 6 pm at my school, but UCAS WON'T BE WORKING UNTIL MONDAY, and I usually leave school at 6!! Suffice to say, I am royally frustrated. And in case you were wondering, the deadline was confirmed Friday at school, and the 'UCAS update' started at 6 pm that evening.

Okay 'pal', it's not a competition

Reply 2226

mattpas

Original post by Bearbert

You could always look out at his website to be exactly sure! Even if you don't feel like enrolling for this, you could just watch his free videos which IMO are really good.

Yeah video was good thanks a lot! Would love some help though, feel like everyone is so well prepared haha

Reply 2227

mattpas

Original post by googolplexity

Okay 'pal', it's not a competition

Haha I'm not done with the first one

Reply 2228

BJack

19

Original post by Plagioclase

Sorry if there was any misunderstanding, when I was talking about not being able to make an admissions test due to the broadness of the course I was talking about Earth Sciences rather than Chemistry.

Yes, I know. But if you think the course is too broad for a 3 hour test to provide sufficient coverage, how could a couple of half hour inteviews be enough?

Original post by mattpas

I found a service where you can get it checked in 24h for 5£ by someone doing PPE at Oxford. Do you think I should go for it?

I wouldn't necessarily trust any random Oxford student to know what makes for a good personal statement. The PS is given little weight for deciding admissions for Oxford, so it's quite possible they wrote a lousy statement but did well in the TSA and interview.

Reply 2229

Plagioclase

21

Original post by BJack

Yes, I know. But if you think the course is too broad for a 3 hour test to provide sufficient coverage, how could a couple of half hour inteviews be enough?

With Earth Sciences, you've only got one compulsory subject - Maths. All students applying are going to have a scientific background but there aren't any compulsory sciences (you have to have Physics or Chemistry) so all of the scientific content would have to limited to GCSE level in order to make it accessible for everyone taking it. It's not like Physics or Chemistry where you've got a specific chunk of facts that all applicants are going to know, since only a minority of applicants have A Level Geology and they don't think particularly highly of that anyway. The entire interview experience felt very personalised, not a lot felt like "stock" questions and quite a bit of it also involved discussion around physical specimens which you can't recreate in an exam paper. I'm honestly not sure what you could put in an aptitude test for Earth Sciences.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2230

hopefulecon12

2

I'm newwww. E and M.

GCSEs: 11A*s
AS: 5As (maths, fm, physics, econ, critical thinking)

Ugh the TSA Scares me..I'm gonna need serious practice for that.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2231

Smithy-Smiths

10

Original post by googolplexity

Okay 'pal', it's not a competition

Whoa, that was unnecessary stand-offish. I wasn't trying to be condescending, I genuinely use that expression. But okay.... never mind.

:K:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2232

Smithy-Smiths

10

Original post by mattpas

I found a service where you can get it checked in 24h for 5£ by someone doing PPE at Oxford. Do you think I should go for it?

Personally I wouldn't recommend it. There are a gazillion of successful Oxbridge applicants on TSR already, and they would be more than willing to review your PS for you... although, one could argue that they're not admissions tutor. But they were successful... so I guess it all depends on where you stand.

Remember, it'll be entirely subjective and you don't want to fall into the trap of having too many inputs and being stressed out. So it depends. I had my PS reviewed by 3 teachers; one who oversees Oxbridge applications at my school, one who studied the subject I'm applying for, and a teacher who successful completed her Masters this year at Oxford. Surely you must have teachers fitting similar criteria at your school? Also, the best advice I've heard was from an aspiring Cambridge Medic (unfortunately her UMS in comparison to other applicants meant she just missed out on an offer). Get the History department at your School/College, they're surprisingly helpful in ciphering out the unnecessary rambling from the serious academic jargon. Trust me, exhaust all other options before investing in outside sources.

:h:

I hope I've helped!

Reply 2233

Smithy-Smiths

10

Original post by Plagioclase

Why? It's like a month before the deadline, I don't get what they're achieving by rushing you... Good luck!

I know! But they need to add References, and they asked for a copy of our Personal Statements on Friday; we're collectively quaking in anticipation for their 'reviews' tomorrow.
Knowing the kind of person that I am, and seeing as I am trying to minimise my stress levels this Year so I can enjoy the application process fully irrespective of the outcome, I think that finishing with UCAS this early allows me to concentrate on my LNAT and making the necessary notes I need to, to stay ahead in my A2 classes.

And thank you for your well wishes! How's your application going? Have you finished your PS? And when is your deadline?

Reply 2234

Plagioclase

21

Original post by Smithy-Smiths

I know! But they need to add References, and they asked for a copy of our Personal Statements on Friday; we're collectively quaking in anticipation for their 'reviews' tomorrow.
Knowing the kind of person that I am, and seeing as I am trying to minimise my stress levels this Year so I can enjoy the application process fully irrespective of the outcome, I think that finishing with UCAS this early allows me to concentrate on my LNAT and making the necessary notes I need to, to stay ahead in my A2 classes.

And thank you for your well wishes! How's your application going? Have you finished your PS? And when is your deadline?

No, I'm not applying this year fortunately - I did this process last year! We didn't have any 'strict' deadline in our school because everyone who wanted to apply to Medicine or Oxbridge just liased individually with the Head of Sixth. I submitted mine at the start of October and I'm pretty sure I was one of the first - most people send it very close to the deadline. My personal statement was barely written this time last year!

Reply 2235

BJack

19

Original post by Plagioclase

With Earth Sciences, you've only got one compulsory subject - Maths. All students applying are going to have a scientific background but there aren't any compulsory sciences (you have to have Physics or Chemistry) so all of the scientific content would have to limited to GCSE level in order to make it accessible for everyone taking it. It's not like Physics or Chemistry where you've got a specific chunk of facts that all applicants are going to know, since only a minority of applicants have A Level Geology and they don't think particularly highly of that anyway. The entire interview experience felt very personalised, not a lot felt like "stock" questions and quite a bit of it also involved discussion around physical specimens which you can't recreate in an exam paper. I'm honestly not sure what you could put in an aptitude test for Earth Sciences.

That's roughly what I was trying to say too. :smile:

Reply 2236

Oakflame

1

Are there any specific things the referee is supposed to write? I'm from Sweden and the teacher writing my letter of recommendation has written a few before, but she asked me for the specific things the universities I am applying to wanted to be included. Is there such a thing? If so, where do I find it?

Reply 2237

Smithy-Smiths

10

Original post by Plagioclase

No, I'm not applying this year fortunately - I did this process last year! We didn't have any 'strict' deadline in our school because everyone who wanted to apply to Medicine or Oxbridge just liased individually with the Head of Sixth. I submitted mine at the start of October and I'm pretty sure I was one of the first - most people send it very close to the deadline. My personal statement was barely written this time last year!