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Original post by thechemistress
Wow, it sounds really useful actually :biggrin: shame that I haven't heard about it before xD

Haha, I was at LMH yesterday and the girl touring me said it was known as 'Merton, where fun goes to die' :lol:

Good choice, Magdalen is so lovely. Definitely one of my top five choices xD


My teacher did Law at Oxford and said the same about Merton! It is lovely though :lol:

Where else are you considering?
Original post by maberg
Hi! An international applicant of E&M, anyone applying for E&M here and/or international applicant?


International applicant for EP :biggrin:


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Am i wasting an application?
Applying for Geog at Oxford (Open App) i have 2 A*s and 8 As - pretty good for my school and have 3 As and a B at AS... Im worried my GCSEs are too bad seeing as I go to a private school and I know they look at contextualised scores...
Original post by politicalmind
Am i wasting an application?
Applying for Geog at Oxford (Open App) i have 2 A*s and 8 As - pretty good for my school and have 3 As and a B at AS... Im worried my GCSEs are too bad seeing as I go to a private school and I know they look at contextualised scores...


From what I learnt today they contextualise your GCSEs with your aptitude test so aim for a high mark in that. I wouldn't worry though, your GCSEs are fine as they are. Any reason for an open application? Nothing wrong of course it's just interesting as a lot of people advise against it
Original post by antigone-
From what I learnt today they contextualise your GCSEs with your aptitude test so aim for a high mark in that. I wouldn't worry though, your GCSEs are fine as they are. Any reason for an open application? Nothing wrong of course it's just interesting as a lot of people advise against it


To be honest, its because my teacher didn't know what college i wanted to go to when she registered me for the TSA - can i change now?

Why is it controversial?
Original post by politicalmind
To be honest, its because my teacher didn't know what college i wanted to go to when she registered me for the TSA - can i change now?

Why is it controversial?


If you've sent off your UCAS form to the unis then I'm not sure, I doubt it but check with your teachers.

Don't be concerned - all the colleges are great but you do run the risk that you'll be allocated a college that you don't actually like, isn't the best for your course, doesn't have particular facilities (law libraries for example), only offers accomodation for 2 years etc.

Yet, 1 in 5 applicants don't end up in the college they choose so I guess all applicants run this risk too! :tongue:
Original post by antigone-
From what I learnt today they contextualise your GCSEs with your aptitude test so aim for a high mark in that. I wouldn't worry though, your GCSEs are fine as they are. Any reason for an open application? Nothing wrong of course it's just interesting as a lot of people advise against it


What do you mean by 'they contextualise your GCSEs with your aptitude test'? :smile:
Original post by LoveToArgue
What do you mean by 'they contextualise your GCSEs with your aptitude test'? :smile:


They weigh the two together in order to come to some form of score, that score would then be used to decide who gets shortlisted.

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Original post by Princepieman
They weigh the two together in order to come to some form of score, that score would then be used to decide who gets shortlisted.

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So if someone got amazing GCSEs but performed poorly in an admissions test, they would theoretically have no advantage/disadvantage over someone who performed poorly in their GCSEs but amazingly in an admissions test?
Original post by LoveToArgue
So if someone got amazing GCSEs but performed poorly in an admissions test, they would theoretically have no advantage/disadvantage over someone who performed poorly in their GCSEs but amazingly in an admissions test?


Not necessarily, there is a threshold at which the former needs to meet on the admissions test to be considered for interview. Sure, if they met that threshold, the person with a stronger set of GCSEs would be looked upon favourably. That said, I don't think they'd be looked upon more favourably than the latter but I'm sure an admissions tutor or someone more knowledgeable can weigh in.

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Original post by LoveToArgue
So if someone got amazing GCSEs but performed poorly in an admissions test, they would theoretically have no advantage/disadvantage over someone who performed poorly in their GCSEs but amazingly in an admissions test?


I don't think the two have a 50:50 weighting, in many cases the admissions test is more important e.g history which apparently has a 70:30 ratio in regards to the HAT and GCSE's.

I think it may also depend on the college you apply to


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Original post by iBall
I don't think the two have a 50:50 weighting, in many cases the admissions test is more important e.g history which apparently has a 70:30 ratio in regards to the HAT and GCSE's.

I think it may also depend on the college you apply to


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How does one go about finding the ratio of weighting for the admissions test vs GCSEs?

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Original post by antigone-
It's lovely and warm now though! It's for year 13s planning on applying and gives advice on interviews, aptitude tests etc. It was incredibly useful actually

I was in Merton which is lovely and very large, I would recommend it to any History applicants, the tutor there was lovely!

Don't regret my application to Magdalen though :wink:


I agree I really liked Merton
Original post by Princepieman
How does one go about finding the ratio of weighting for the admissions test vs GCSEs?

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I saw that statistic in this thread by Lucilou101, but I haven't seen anything which gives an idea of that ratio. Since multiple factors are taken into account a GCSE:Admissions test ratio would be hard to derive.

From what I've been told however, the ratio is always in favour of the admissions test all other things being equal. This is probably because it's most recent and many applicants are international and do not offer GCSE's - only the equivalent from their country.


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Reply 2354
Hey, I'm panicking a bit as I have to hand a form in to school TOMORROW to register for an admissions test and I need to put the college to which I'm apply but I REALLY DON'T KNOW :O
Could anyone help me please?
Here's a little bit about myself:
Hoping to study history, hard-working, sociable, chatty, likes parties etc, not v sporty but happy to join in, musical, up for anything...
I'd prefer an old(ish) college that's central.
(Don't know if that helps!)
Can anyone suggest a college please?!?!?!?!
Original post by lucyx
Hey, I'm panicking a bit as I have to hand a form in to school TOMORROW to register for an admissions test and I need to put the college to which I'm apply but I REALLY DON'T KNOW :O
Could anyone help me please?
Here's a little bit about myself:
Hoping to study history, hard-working, sociable, chatty, likes parties etc, not v sporty but happy to join in, musical, up for anything...
I'd prefer an old(ish) college that's central.
(Don't know if that helps!)
Can anyone suggest a college please?!?!?!?!


Worcester is technically not central (in Oxford speak) but it's only a five mins (less if you're speedier than me. Which, tbh, you probably are :tongue: ) walk to Carfax. It has buildings from the 13th century - present day. Worcester students know how to party hard. There's an active music society with a secular choir and an orchestra. There is also the chapel choir if you like choral music and can sing well :smile: There are all kinds of levels of sports there. We have a small gym on site and are the only college to have multi-purpose sports pitches within the college grounds.

Most importantly, we have a LAKE and DUCKS. The history tutors there are friendly and nice (one of my best friends did History at Woosta from 2007-2010 and the same tutors are still there) :yes:

@colourtheory studies History at Woosta, so I will wave my magic wand and hopefully colourtheory will appear to do the hard sale for Woosta on you :biggrin:
Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd
Worcester is technically not central (in Oxford speak) but it's only a five mins (less if you're speedier than me. Which, tbh, you probably are :tongue: ) walk to Carfax. It has buildings from the 13th century - present day. Worcester students know how to party hard. There's an active music society with a secular choir and an orchestra. There is also the chapel choir if you like choral music and can sing well :smile: There are all kinds of levels of sports there. We have a small gym on site and are the only college to have multi-purpose sports pitches within the college grounds.

Most importantly, we have a LAKE and DUCKS. The history tutors there are friendly and nice (one of my best friends did History at Woosta from 2007-2010 and the same tutors are still there) :yes:

@colourtheory studies History at Woosta, so I will wave my magic wand and hopefully colourtheory will appear to do the hard sale for Woosta on you :biggrin:


K'bam!
Original post by colourtheory
K'bam!


MY MAGIC POWERS WORK :ahee:

:wizard:
Original post by lucyx
Hey, I'm panicking a bit as I have to hand a form in to school TOMORROW to register for an admissions test and I need to put the college to which I'm apply but I REALLY DON'T KNOW :O
Could anyone help me please?
Here's a little bit about myself:
Hoping to study history, hard-working, sociable, chatty, likes parties etc, not v sporty but happy to join in, musical, up for anything...
I'd prefer an old(ish) college that's central.
(Don't know if that helps!)
Can anyone suggest a college please?!?!?!?!


Hey! I think we've spoken before :smile: Worcester could actually be the perfect college for you.

I'm exactly like you; I'm hard-working, ambitious, but sociable, grounded, and love to have a good time with mates. I'm also not sporty and don't feel like the college's strength in sport shapes my experience if I choose to focus on other things. Drama and music is another of the college's strengths; we have various students productions each year that go down a storm.

In terms of history I'm convinced that Worcester is the best college ever. The director of undergraduate studies for history is the fellow that tutors here at Worcester, and he is a total genius. He teaches you to approach the course critically and to be brave enough to challenge the examiner and to pick the question apart. The paper he teaches us in the first year is his specialism and most of the first year historians at Worc got firsts.

He's also really keen on opening up the discipline to include art history, anthropology, feminism etc. and he's very well placed to teach students according to their interests. If he can't cater for it, then he knows exactly who to contact to make sure that you're able to study exactly what you're interested in.

Please check the wiki for more!
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Worcester_College,_Oxford
Reply 2359
Original post by colourtheory
Hey! I think we've spoken before :smile: Worcester could actually be the perfect college for you.

I'm exactly like you; I'm hard-working, ambitious, but sociable, grounded, and love to have a good time with mates. I'm also not sporty and don't feel like the college's strength in sport shapes my experience if I choose to focus on other things. Drama and music is another of the college's strengths; we have various students productions each year that go down a storm.

In terms of history I'm convinced that Worcester is the best college ever. The director of undergraduate studies for history is the fellow that tutors here at Worcester, and he is a total genius. He teaches you to approach the course critically and to be brave enough to challenge the examiner and to pick the question apart. The paper he teaches us in the first year is his specialism and most of the first year historians at Worc got firsts.

He's also really keen on opening up the discipline to include art history, anthropology, feminism etc. and he's very well placed to teach students according to their interests. If he can't cater for it, then he knows exactly who to contact to make sure that you're able to study exactly what you're interested in.

Please check the wiki for more!
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Worcester_College,_Oxford


Yup, that's me, well remembered! :biggrin:
Thank you so much for this, I am very tempted!
I've managed to narrow it down to Worcester or New, but honestly, from what I've read, all the colleges sound amazing :biggrin:
If you're offered an interview, are you interviewed in more than one college?