Will receiving 1 B in my higher results, decrease my chances of getting into Oxford?

Hi, I'm applying to Oxford for physics this year, and I have gotten 5 As and a B for my higher subjects. I got an A in engineering science, physics, math's, music and history, however I got a B in English, could this significantly decrease my chances of getting into oxford, even if I continue to get 3 As for my advance higher subjects that I'm now doing in S6?

Reply 1

imaanali1

unlikely, my brother is studying medicine at Oxford and he had a B in chemistry

Reply 2

mjohnstone314159

I would doubt it considering you have 5A's at higher which is pretty much the gold standard nowadays. It will be your personal statement which will make a bigger difference.

Reply 3

leviticus.

Original post by mjohnstone314159

I would doubt it considering you have 5A's at higher which is pretty much the gold standard nowadays. It will be your personal statement which will make a bigger difference.

doubt Oxford care much for the personal statement, many colleges don't bother reading them; the GCSEs and aptitude tests (PAT) are probably more important.

Reply 4

mjohnstone314159

Original post by leviticus.

doubt Oxford care much for the personal statement, many colleges don't bother reading them; the GCSEs and aptitude tests (PAT) are probably more important.

True but I think that showing an interest in your chosen subject is important. Should also be able to act as a starting point to your interview should you get one.

Reply 5

leviticus.

Original post by mjohnstone314159

True but I think that showing an interest in your chosen subject is important. Should also be able to act as a starting point to your interview should you get one.

definitely important but not nearly as much as grades/academics (and indeed cannot be a substitute for them). I know of many interviews that utilised the PS heavily and many that didn't even mention them at Oxbridge so its always important to make a good one.

Reply 6

mjohnstone314159

Original post by leviticus.

Yeah, I think that currently op should be focused on personal statement as they can't do much else. Do you think that grades and academics are important considering most people applying are likely to have top grades and therefore not very much to differentiate them by? Would have thought that at Oxford personal statement, and admissions tests like you said would become quite important because of this?

Reply 7

leviticus.

Original post by mjohnstone314159

I don't think Oxford have ever used the personal statement in that way, it is simply not cost-effective to comb through thousands of them and have discussions on each one. Normally they use some sort of ranking/point system that uses GCSEs, cGCSEs, A-level grades and the admissions test + any contextual factors. Medicine for example only use gcses and bmat 50/50 in an algorithm to shortlist students. Chemistry used to rank students out of 5 using their A-level grades, gcse A*s and reference. PPE/Econ and management use number of A*s at gcse, A-level predictions, cGCSE and TSA for shortlisting as 'high priority' - reference as 'medium' and personal statement as low. Not to say a candidate should dismiss the personal statement at all, a poorly written one would catch eyes and get them scrapped but splitting hairs like they hold incredible weight isn't appropriate either.