Oxford Materials Science

Hi! I’m a student studying Materials Science at Oxford!
I felt the same as you when I applied- I had an interest in biomaterials and was worried I didn’t know enough about Materials science as a whole but I would say they don’t expect that (as long as you don’t say that you know it on your personal statement!).
Here’s a link to my personal statement : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zhFSXa9xz9s1D7W3PUlf3LOG36SG34EpLuCCcbxCUsA/edit
I wouldn’t fixate too much on other people’s personal statements as I’ve read other students personal statements and they are very different! I would recommend making bullet points of everything you’ve done/read and then expanding on them at first rather than the finished product.
In terms of interview questions, I would say that they are questions on content from physics, maths and chemistry which often link to materials science/what we study in first year.

Thank you so much - I didn't really know where to start as exemplar matsci personal statements are few and far between! Also, did you apply for matsci everywhere or did you receive offers for other courses? I ask as I'm planning to apply for Materials at Oxford, Materials and Engineering at Imperial and Materials Chemistry at St Andrews, however my other 2 options will probably be physics (as I'm quite indecisive!). Do you think a personal statement aimed at matsci will disadvantage me applying for physics? Final thing, for my a-levels, I do maths chemistry and physics - I know further maths isn't required but do you think this will disadvantage me as I am not doing it and make my application less competitive? Thanks !

I applied to do variations of biomaterials courses at Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Imperial so slightly different courses but similar. Some of the courses were much more biological than others (the Birmingham course was under the department of dentistry from memory?). It’s hard to balance them both in the same personal statement but definitely possible! If you’re undecided, I would recommend starting to write a personal statement for both separately and see what happens. I did this for straight materials and a personal statement for biomaterials and found I had a lot more to say and was more passionate about the biomaterials parts I wrote so I decided to apply for courses that allowed me to specialise in biomaterials but to varying levels so I could decide later!
I would also recommend checking out Natural Science courses- there are a few that allow you to do Materials science & physics (I’m pretty sure Loughborough do off the top of my head!). This would allow you to make the decision later down the line. However, there is a lot of physics within Materials Science (although definitely not all the things you could study doing a degree in physics!). I find that there is plenty of physics for me (but I’m much more interested in the other parts of materials science which is much more like chemistry!).
I would say half of my year hasn’t done further maths so it’s not going to make your application less competitive! I did further maths A Level and all I’ve found is it makes it a bit easier in first year as there’s less new content (but still plenty of new content for further maths students!) but we’re all at the same level very quickly! The tutors look for potential to learn, not what knowledge you have so it won’t hold you back in interview!

I applied to do variations of biomaterials courses at Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Imperial so slightly different courses but similar. Some of the courses were much more biological than others (the Birmingham course was under the department of dentistry from memory?). It’s hard to balance them both in the same personal statement but definitely possible! If you’re undecided, I would recommend starting to write a personal statement for both separately and see what happens. I did this for straight materials and a personal statement for biomaterials and found I had a lot more to say and was more passionate about the biomaterials parts I wrote so I decided to apply for courses that allowed me to specialise in biomaterials but to varying levels so I could decide later!
I would also recommend checking out Natural Science courses- there are a few that allow you to do Materials science & physics (I’m pretty sure Loughborough do off the top of my head!). This would allow you to make the decision later down the line. However, there is a lot of physics within Materials Science (although definitely not all the things you could study doing a degree in physics!). I find that there is plenty of physics for me (but I’m much more interested in the other parts of materials science which is much more like chemistry!).
I would say half of my year hasn’t done further maths so it’s not going to make your application less competitive! I did further maths A Level and all I’ve found is it makes it a bit easier in first year as there’s less new content (but still plenty of new content for further maths students!) but we’re all at the same level very quickly! The tutors look for potential to learn, not what knowledge you have so it won’t hold you back in interview!

Sorry to keep questioning you, but I was also wondering which aspects of physics were covered in matsci? I really enjoy the quantum parts but I’m not to keen on electricity or fields!

It's not a problem! There's not a lot of info on materials science out there!
In 1st Year, I have studied Quantum, Electromagnetism, statistical physics (like gases etc.) and deformation.
If you want to know a bit more about what we study the lecture synopses here (https://www.materials.ox.ac.uk/teaching/ug/uglectures.html ) will give you a good idea

I applied to do variations of biomaterials courses at Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Imperial so slightly different courses but similar. Some of the courses were much more biological than others (the Birmingham course was under the department of dentistry from memory?). It’s hard to balance them both in the same personal statement but definitely possible! If you’re undecided, I would recommend starting to write a personal statement for both separately and see what happens. I did this for straight materials and a personal statement for biomaterials and found I had a lot more to say and was more passionate about the biomaterials parts I wrote so I decided to apply for courses that allowed me to specialise in biomaterials but to varying levels so I could decide later!
I would also recommend checking out Natural Science courses- there are a few that allow you to do Materials science & physics (I’m pretty sure Loughborough do off the top of my head!). This would allow you to make the decision later down the line. However, there is a lot of physics within Materials Science (although definitely not all the things you could study doing a degree in physics!). I find that there is plenty of physics for me (but I’m much more interested in the other parts of materials science which is much more like chemistry!).
I would say half of my year hasn’t done further maths so it’s not going to make your application less competitive! I did further maths A Level and all I’ve found is it makes it a bit easier in first year as there’s less new content (but still plenty of new content for further maths students!) but we’re all at the same level very quickly! The tutors look for potential to learn, not what knowledge you have so it won’t hold you back in interview!

hey how do you prepare for the PAT and the interview? Especially since material science is not taught in school

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Also the PAT is the physics aptitude test so it's not going to test you on aspects of materials science most people won't have studied before doing a degree. Likewise they aren't testing you on your current knowledge of materials science in an interivew. They are trying to find out how you can apply what you already know (from A-level Physics/Maths/Chemistry/etc as applicable) to unfamiliar physical sciences problems (which may be materials science based) to gauge how well you will be able to learn materials science (and related areas) generally, not having studied it before (which is expected).