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Extra-curricular for Oxbridge?

Lol, so much unjustified hate for the OP in this thread. Yes, he could have phrased it more tactfully, but there are plenty of people for whom achieving 4 As at A-level is pretty likely.

Anyway, a physics degree is very mathematical - it will require pretty much everything you learn in A-level maths (except the stats) plus a fair bit more which you would learn in first year at uni. For Oxford physics, I think your GCSEs will be fine - it will be a lot more dependent on the aptitude test and interviews.

Reply 41

alexs2602

22

*pitseleh*

Seriously, Oxford and Cambridge do not give a **** about extra-curricular activities, with the exception of Medicine (where relevant volunteer/paid experience is a must).

I'd stick with choosing your subject for now, if I were you. It's silly to choose a university before you even know what course you want to study - teaching styles and topics covered differ wildly at different universities, so you might not even like the programmes at Oxford or Cambridge for your chosen subject.

And Law and Veterinary science and Dentistry too I'd imagine. Not 100% certain about the last two but I am about the first. That's not just Oxbridge though; all universities that offer those courses want ECs and work experience related to those subjects. Queen Mary expect at least two work experience placements relating to their chosen field because most of their applicants have them.

Definitely need to pick a subject and pick wisely. Many many people make the mistake of picking a subject based on career prospects and not many pick one based on passion(that's what it's like where I'm from anyway). I know innumerable people who want to go into Law and there's maybe one who actually has the right passion for it. I've made the mistake of picking the wrong subjects on a few occasions(for A levels, degree) so I get why OP may not have chosen yet but he ought to stick to his favourite subject.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 42

Jacke02

It could help if it linked to your course... eg, if you wanted to work in neuroscience, then working in a care-home you could link it to the ageing brain. Something like that will help both your well-roundedness and academics.

Reply 43

Xenopus

9

I'm doing post grad at Cam, and they really don't care about stuff like Duke of Edinburgh award, for graduate or undergraduate entry. They are slightly more interested in music, but on the whole they aren't that interested in extra curricular activities.
What they do care more about is your academic interests. You need to write a good personal statement which explains why you are interested in your subject, showing passion and motivation. It is also very important that you do well in the interview, and say lots of clever things. This is much more relevant than whether or not you collect stamps or give blowjobs to elderly and disabled people, or whatever else people do to after school to ingratiate themselves.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 44

tehforum

20

JGR

There's not much point doing an extra-curricular activity just for the sake of it. The whole point of such things are that you do them for your benefit and self-improvement, not as something to make you look more "well-rounded" on a personal statement.
That said, if you can find some hobby/activity that directly ties in with your course, it will help prepare you for the course and may make you look marginally more suitable as a candidate.

You seem to be unsure about what course you want to do, which is a bad sign, but I suppose you have a year or so to decide.

As for the A-level thing, it's OK to be ambitious. Whether your assumption that you will get all As is reasonable though, depends on which ones you take and how hard you work.

I don't think you need to worry about your GCSE results, they are relatively unimportant compared to A-levels, and you haven't got terrible results that would stand against you.

Recommended your npipe project. :yes:

Reply 45

Farhan.Hanif93

18

Xenopus

I'm doing post grad at Cam, and they really don't care about stuff like Duke of Edinburgh award, for graduate or undergraduate entry. They are slightly more interested in music, but on the whole they aren't that interested in extra curricular activities.
What they do care more about is your academic interests. You need to write a good personal statement which explains why you are interested in your subject, showing passion and motivation. It is also very important that you do well in the interview, and say lots of clever things. This is much more relevant than whether or not you collect stamps or give blowjobs to elderly and disabled people, or whatever else people do to after school to ingratiate themselves.

Reply 46

JGR

9

tehforum

Recommended your npipe project. :yes:

Thank you very much. It's appreciated ^^

Reply 47

Ray_Han

11

bobbycrisp

Thanks, good advice there :smile:

I'm doing Biology, Physics, Maths (the whole A2 in year 12) and Spanish. I will probably go to Spain for about a month in the summer, so that I can practice with people who speak it fluently and use slang/casual terms. Apart from just reading articles about the other 3 (and even so, that must be difficult for maths), do you have any ideas of what type of stuff I could do (off the top of your head)? I'll research it myself, but I may just skip over some things and a brief different perspective would be useful.

Oh yeah; at Uni, I'm not going to do maths (don't enjoy it THAT much haha), but might do any of the other 3, as well as general languages or economics or a combination of subjects. (And yes, I know to pick the course before the Uni) :P

Seeing as you don't like maths all that much, I would dissuade you from doing physics, maths, economics, engineering or anything else with highly mathematical content. I know you enjoy suvat, but I suspect that physics at Oxbridge is going to have quite a bit of applied pure maths in it as well (if that isn't a contradiction but I mean stuff from your A level pure modules that is applied to physics).
That leaves Spanish and biology, quite different subjects really. I think you should just go for what you enjoy, but pick your subject ASAP. The earlier you decide on it, the earlier you can start preparing. I don't know the exact preparation you can do for the two subjects, but I can give you an educated guess.
For Spanish, you can read literature in Spanish, watch Spanish TV programmes, go to Spain as you are intending to, e.t.c. Basically develop your knowledge of the language outside the classroom.
For Bio, reading a newspaper and keeping up to date with scientific news would be a good start. Then personally I would find a few topics of specific interest. There are lots of good books out there to read on different topics so I would expand my knowledge by reading books on my topics of interest. That gives a lot of talking points for the PS and interview and shows clear enthusiasm. In my school, the bio students have to write an essay on protein, so perhaps writing a couple of essays or a project would be a nice thing to do to further your interest (and boost your application).
Also for any subject you should be aiming for top marks, particularly for Cambridge who see all your module scores. Oxford are currently AAA, but might rise for your year.
So anyway, do go for whatever subject you like, but whatever you pick, make sure you prepare well if you are going for Oxbridge.

Reply 48

Snavej

9

bobbycrisp

My bad, it wasn't meant to be insulting or anything, it's just that I sounded so enthusiastic (or at least I did in my head) and on TV, stereotypical homosexuals speak very enthusiatically

hence the problem with stereotypes...
next time just think about what you are saying?

Extra-curricular for Oxbridge?

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