Oxford offer dillema

Hi, I've moved your thread to the University of Oxford forum, hopefully some current or former students might be able to help advise

As to how likely you would be able to change course, I think it's hard for anyone except an admissions tutor to say...@BrasenoseAdm might be able to offer some advice as to what the outcome of the situation might be for their college to offer some context perhaps (although often such policies can vary between colleges).

I would suggest contacting the offering college as soon as possible, and discuss it with them. They won't withdraw your offer for expressing a potential interest in changing to another subject, and can advise you on whether that's likely or feasible and what route to possibly follow otherwise. You won your place at Oxford, so your college obviously has faith in your academic abilities; the question is how satisfied they might be that those could be applied to an English degree.

Hello, I am an Oxford offer holder.... But for geography. I realized that English is actually what I want to do although I was really debating which one of the two to apply for and now I'm stuck with an offer for a subject I don't want to take. My dillema is really whether I should withdraw from ucas entirely and take a gap year to reapply for English with no guarantee I could get another offer from oxbridge or if I should push through in the hope that they might let me switch.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Oh wow that’s amazing! It’s my dream to study geography at Oxbridge. I know this isn’t relevant to your thread but what advice or tips would you give to someone writing their geography personal statement now? What in retrospect do you wish you would have or have not had done? How did you prepare for the geography admissions assessment and how was it? Thank you 😄💜

Hola Amerso,

Your best bet is to contact the college making the offer as artful_lounger suggests. We would suggest doing so ASAP if you are convinced Geography is not the right course for you.

Brasenose Admissions

I had actually contacted my college a few months back when I first realised that I wanted to switch but they told me that they were unable to accept me for English but did not tell me the reason why. All my teachers insisted that I do not withdraw from ucas though which makes the situation frustrating now as I am convinced about wa ting to do English. Do you think that if I asked again after I had gotten my grades and proven myself they might reconsider?

Hello, it's awesome that you want to do geography! The advice I would give is to really show you have read widely outside what is required of you in your school syllabus. Any books, trips, essay competitions, epq, future learn, summer schools etc are all very useful things you could include. These are the so called super curriculars and I would recommend mainly focusing on those, whilst extra curriculars (aka hobbies) should be clearly linked to how they helped you appreciate the subject more. Geography is a tremendously broad subject and its advantage is that it allows you to focus on any aspect of it you like. Don't be afraid to be more of a physical or human geographer (I definitely prefer human) and focus on that in your personal statement as it is often the starting point of your interview and you want to come across as passionate. In a nutshell your personal statement should be a "show don't tell" type of structure. Don't say that you love geography without being able to back it. What have you actually done to show this?
In retrospect, I would have been less stressed about the interviews as they are literally just a discussion of your interests. They are not trying to catch you out and as long as you show that you are passionate and teachable you are doing the right thing.
I did not take an admissions test as Oxford is introducing them this year but my advice is to do all the past papers available and have your teachers give general feedback. At the end of the day, the admissions test is just one part of your application and you shouldnt be too worried about it as I have lots of friends going to oxbridge that didnt perform brill at them and still got in.
I hope this is of help.
Wishing you the best of luck in your academic journey!

Hello, I am an Oxford offer holder.... But for geography. I realized that English is actually what I want to do although I was really debating which one of the two to apply for and now I'm stuck with an offer for a subject I don't want to take. My dillema is really whether I should withdraw from ucas entirely and take a gap year to reapply for English with no guarantee I could get another offer from oxbridge or if I should push through in the hope that they might let me switch.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Assuming the decision is final, since you no longer wish to read Geography but wish to read English, the alternatives are to withdraw and take a gap year or seek a place at another university through clearing.