Personal statement for oxbridge

Do you do a seperate personal statement for Oxbridge or is it the same as the one you send to all the other uni's thx (It's just i wish to apply for a different subject at oxbridge than other uni's as that particular course is more suited to me.)

As you are applying for a different subject at oxbridge using the space to write about why you chose that particular course & oxbridge might be useful especially if you are gearing your personal statement towards a different course.

I would think that would be the ONLY reason to use the special Oxbridge box - eg you are applying for Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge, but obviously you're just applying for English at your other unis as they don't offer ASNAC - so in your ucas form you talk about your interest in English literature in general and say you especially hope to do modules in pre-Chaucerian etc, but in the special Cambridge box, you harp on about your ASNAC interests and how you are dying to read medieval Welsh poetry in the original.

Plenty of people don't fill in the special box and they get in. I'd say don't fill it in unless you really have something worthwhile to say.

What I wouldn't do is use the box to say how wonderful you think the uni and the collegial system is, and how you fell in love with the storied quads when you saw it on a snowy day blah blah, OR to say how you think you, with your sensitive nature, are so uniquely suited to the tutorial system.

I also don't believe it's necessary to say why you chose that college: if you chose it because it's gorgeous and famous for the subject they'll think 'well, naturally', and if you chose a less popular college because secretly you thought your odds might be improved, but you lie on the form and say how much you like the untraditional atmosphere and long distances from the tourists in the town centre, they'll probably just think you're a bad liar.

And, if you get interviewed or pooled to another college which ISN'T gorgeous and famous for the subject, the fact that you made a big deal about those aspects is going to worry you. Least said, soonest mended.

I also don't believe it's necessary to say why you chose that college: if you chose it because it's gorgeous and famous for the subject they'll think 'well, naturally', and if you chose a less popular college because secretly you thought your odds might be improved, but you lie on the form and say how much you like the untraditional atmosphere and long distances from the tourists in the town centre, they'll probably just think you're a bad liar.

And, if you get interviewed or pooled to another college which ISN'T gorgeous and famous for the subject, the fact that you made a big deal about those aspects is going to worry you. Least said, soonest mended.

i didnt use it, and still got an offer. the concencus at our college seems to be to only use it if you really feel you need to (eg the anglosaxonnorseceltic idea), otherwise it would look like you hadn't crafted your personal statement very well. that was what my college sort of said... i personally was just so sick and tired of doing me ucas form that when the time came round to fill out the oxford box i was just so bored with the whole thing, i really felt i had spent long enough on my personal statement... i just felt anything else would be overkill.

can i just ask, when u do your interview and they are deciding who to pick etc, does the personal statement get looked at again in judging, or is it merely to just get the interview, which 95% of people get anyway?

can i just ask, when u do your interview and they are deciding who to pick etc, does the personal statement get looked at again in judging, or is it merely to just get the interview, which 95% of people get anyway?

You have the option of writing a mini personal statement on a separate oxbridge form (you can write a small paragraph) - if you decide to use the space they provide you shouldn't include anything you have included already in your personal statement. It is debatable whether or not to use it - some schools tell their students only to write something down if it's important whereas other schools advise all oxbridge applicants to use the space to talk about why they particularly want to study at oxbridge.

As you are applying for a different subject at oxbridge using the space to write about why you chose that particular course & oxbridge might be useful especially if you are gearing your personal statement towards a different course.