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Reply 800
Original post by shoshin
Yes, you will be able to wander round as many as you like :smile:

If I could perhaps suggest a route after Balliol? Maybe pop next door to Trinity for a couple of minutes, then down Broad Street and into Holywell Street for a very quick gander at New, then straight up Mansfield Road and you will find your ideal college at the top on the left :wink:


Haha thank you :wink: I just know I want to visit Balliol, St John's and Corpus Christi. And what's all this about a free lunch in the college you booked into?! Sorry about the silly questions :colondollar:
Original post by candide
Hey, I got rejected from UNIQ too - for history. At first it got me rather down, I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my application: was i just not good enough? etc etc. Anyway, the other day I got an email saying I got second in this Oxford history comp. Now, thats made me feel alot better as it seems more a proper measure of academic potential. Basically, it made me realize that UNIQ shouldnt be taken to seriously as a measure of how good u are. Obviously those on it are good, but they are not necessarily any better than those left behind.

Hope that helps.

Incidentally, I'm also gonna apply for PPE. =D


I didn't even get that. WAAAH. :frown::frown::frown::frown::frown:
Reply 802
Original post by nerimon18
I didn't even get that. WAAAH. :frown::frown::frown::frown::frown:


What I'm trying to say is:

UNIQ asked for a (very) short personal statement. Alongside the data about how deprived your area (and not you personally) is, that was all they had to work with. Don't despair that you weren't selected - when you apply for real they'll have a longer PS, a reference, the TSA, plus grades, to look at. Then you'll have interview. The selection process and the data they use to select will be completely different. Stiglitz talks about the importance of information when we make choices - it's the information which determines the selection; different information determines a different selection. Thus, you can't really argue that a UNIQ rejection indicates that you'd get rejected for real...

Its a whole new ball game come october! Good luck! =]
Hey, do any of you guys know if Oxofrd look at UMS scores at all, or is that just Cambridge?

hmm im wondering because my UMS are the best thing going for me given im a very socially awkward person and would fail terribly at interview.
Original post by tgarrud
Hey, do any of you guys know if Oxofrd look at UMS scores at all, or is that just Cambridge?

hmm im wondering because my UMS are the best thing going for me given im a very socially awkward person and would fail terribly at interview.


No uni's cept Cambridge (because they have a separate questionnaire you need to fill in)
Just wanna throw it out there that they want UMS of every exam> includes GCSE btw I think. Google it and you'll see an example.

You only declare grades on UCAS but if your UMS is exceptionally high i.e. 95+ you can get your referees to mention it.

What subject is this for?
Original post by tgarrud
Hey, do any of you guys know if Oxofrd look at UMS scores at all, or is that just Cambridge?

hmm im wondering because my UMS are the best thing going for me given im a very socially awkward person and would fail terribly at interview.


Being socially awkward doesn't at all mean you would fail at interview. It's a test of aptitude not about whether they would like to have you round for a drinks party :smile: In my first interview I was a wreck and mumbled a lot of my answers towards my tutors' shoes ...

You can always ask your referee to put your UMS in your reference. But Oxford do not collect and use them in the way that Cambridge do.

Don't forget depending on subject you may also have the pre-interview test to impress them :smile:
Original post by KatherineGiddins
No I haven't been but will definitely go to an open day in September- It's a bit awkward for me to go over to Oxford beacase I'm from Northern Ireland, but I have seen New college on tv many times and reading it's website it seems like the right one for me. The Bridge of sighs looks so beautiful and I love the old architecture. I don't want to get my hopes up though about applying.


Ah yeah, I get that, its harder when you can't just get the train down. But yeah, it's so gorgeous, I'm completely in love with it, which isn't the best position to be in because there's a ~7% chance I'll get in, and of that tiny shot, a 20% chance I'll get pooled somewhere else. :frown:
Good decision though, great minds think alike. :biggrin:
Hello everyone! I must apologise but I haven't read all 40 previous pages of this thread, but I'll be reading all the future pages! I'm a 2012 Computer Science applicant :smile:

Looking likely I'll apply to Oxford (open day was very good, location is close to me, course content is what I want, teaching style will work, also going to UNIQ Summer School) but might go visit Cambridge too, so not fully decided yet!
Original post by fluteflute
Hello everyone! I must apologise but I haven't read all 40 previous pages of this thread, but I'll be reading all the future pages! I'm a 2012 Computer Science applicant :smile:

Looking likely I'll apply to Oxford (open day was very good, location is close to me, course content is what I want, teaching style will work, also going to UNIQ Summer School) but might go visit Cambridge too, so not fully decided yet!


Near by? But aren't you in southampton?
Original post by eyebeforeyou
Near by? But aren't you in southampton?


Relatively near by :tongue: Oxford is 80 minutes on the train, and a fairly easy drive. Compared to Cambridge which is three hours by train, or a longer drive.
speaking of awkwardness in interviews... at the Oxford Residential Biomed thing some man who was telling us all about the application procedure told us that one girl had an interview and was so nervous that she didn't talk, and that they rescheduled her another interview and she still didn't talk, but because she got some of the highest marks in Scotland for her subjects they still accepted her :O

although obviously that's not a regular occurrence :laugh:
Original post by eyebeforeyou
Near by? But aren't you in southampton?


I live in Manchester and Oxford's only about 2 hours away if you drive at 80mph for the whole journey. Cambridge is an extra half an hour
Original post by Brand New Eyes
No uni's cept Cambridge (because they have a separate questionnaire you need to fill in)
Just wanna throw it out there that they want UMS of every exam> includes GCSE btw I think. Google it and you'll see an example.

You only declare grades on UCAS but if your UMS is exceptionally high i.e. 95+ you can get your referees to mention it.

What subject is this for?


Biological Sciences, so there aren't any written tests or anything for me to impress with :/


Original post by Festina lente
Being socially awkward doesn't at all mean you would fail at interview. It's a test of aptitude not about whether they would like to have you round for a drinks party :smile: In my first interview I was a wreck and mumbled a lot of my answers towards my tutors' shoes ...

You can always ask your referee to put your UMS in your reference. But Oxford do not collect and use them in the way that Cambridge do.

Don't forget depending on subject you may also have the pre-interview test to impress them :smile:


No pre-interview tests :/ but thanks lol I can imagine being too nervous to say anything and looking like a complete idiot
Original post by dragonmeister
I'm going to LSE on the 29th, UCL on the 30th (staying overnight in London in between), with Durham (probably) on the 2nd (unfortunately I was unable to go to Warwick's open day in May) - the joys of the hectic end-of-term dash around the various open days



This is genuinely my exact itinerary! Are you an economics applicant?
Original post by Bright Lights
This is genuinely my exact itinerary! Are you an economics applicant?


LSE's likely to be Government and Economics, International Relations or Politics and Philosophy (haven't quite decided yet, am going to look around and find out more about those courses), for UCL I'm going to try for European Social and Political Studies (which sells itself as PPE but with a language element and a year abroad), and Durham and Oxford are both for PPE.

At some point I need to come up with a more insurancy university, as I've realised that my current 5 favourites are all (according to the Guardian) in the top 10 in the country (which isn't allowing that much slack for applications failure) - any suggestions?
Original post by dragonmeister
LSE's likely to be Government and Economics, International Relations or Politics and Philosophy (haven't quite decided yet, am going to look around and find out more about those courses), for UCL I'm going to try for European Social and Political Studies (which sells itself as PPE but with a language element and a year abroad), and Durham and Oxford are both for PPE.

At some point I need to come up with a more insurancy university, as I've realised that my current 5 favourites are all (according to the Guardian) in the top 10 in the country (which isn't allowing that much slack for applications failure) - any suggestions?


I don't know what they're like for your sort of course but my insurance-type choices that I will look around (and choose one or two of for History next year) are;

University of East Anglia
University of Kent (Canterbury)
University of Chicester

Also! Royal Holloway, University of London seem very tolerant of (missed) grades :smile:
Reply 816
Original post by dragonmeister
At some point I need to come up with a more insurancy university..any suggestions?


Oxford Brookes maybe? Might make sense as insurance from a number of angles, especially if you're smitten by the City after the Open Day :smile:
I would really, really like to apply to Oxford next year. But I'm not sure, I feel almost like I don't have a chance because it is so competitive and my school dosn't really enter Oxbridge candidates, nor have I been to a summer school.

Anyway...
username: Albertine
Subject: Law (but swaying towards theology as well)
Scottish highers: awaiting results
College: haven't a clue yet - a bonnie one :wink:!
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Albertine
I would really, really like to apply to Oxford next year. But I'm not sure, I feel almost like I don't have a chance because it is so competitive and my school dosn't really enter Oxbridge candidates, nor have I been to a summer school.

Anyway...
username: Albertine
Subject: Law (but swaying towards theology as well)
Scottish highers: awaiting results, predicted 5As
College: haven't a clue yet - a bonnie one :wink:!


Go for it - seriously, neither of those things should hold you back. Only a minority of applicants will have been to a summer school, Oxford won't care that you haven't. Don't let your school hold you back either, get them on side now and impress on them the early deadline, you could be a trailblazer! If you have any questions about law at Oxford you are really welcome to ask me.
Original post by Festina lente
Go for it - seriously, neither of those things should hold you back. Only a minority of applicants will have been to a summer school, Oxford won't care that you haven't. Don't let your school hold you back either, get them on side now and impress on them the early deadline, you could be a trailblazer! If you have any questions about law at Oxford you are really welcome to ask me.


Thankyou! Would you mind if I PM'd you?