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Written work

Hey, I'm a bit stuck on what kind of written work to submit to Oxford. I've already emailed them, but they were really vague and didn't give me much help. :frown:

I'm applying for French and Philosophy, and I'm required to submit two pieces - at least one in French, and the other can be in English.

I was thinking about submitting one essay on the set text I'm studying (Bonjour Tristesse), and another essay on religious language.
Do you think that's suitable?

For those who have been required to submit written work - did you prepare something especially for Oxford, although they ask of you not to? I seem to get the impression everyone makes a special effort on written work and pass it off as their usual standard... I doubt I have enough time to perfect my essay so I'm just considering submitting essays completed as part of homeworks. Will I be at any disadvantage? :confused:

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Reply 1

Cirsium

19

Heya
Yes some people do write stuff specially. I've a friend here doing French and German and he wrote a totally new essay about a book or a play or something... possibly Brecht even though he wasn't supposed to, and said it had been an idea for coursework. That said the other lings i know tended not to have done, but then said friend hadn't studied literature at that point and wanted to write something on literature. I wouldn't say you'd be at a massive disadvantage but at least try to polish something
Essays on texts are a good idea. I'm not entirely sure by what you mean about religous language?

Reply 2

loopyloo243

OP

1

Yeah, I would've liked to send in something written especially, but my teachers really aren't giving me as much help as I need. After about two 30 minute sessions on Gide's 'La Porte Etroite' they expect me to have completed an essay after half-term. The second essay topic isn't even specified, so I'm having to research on unfamiliar/completely new concepts and literature, and complete it within a few days! :frown:

By 'religious language', I meant the essay I'd written was part of a RS homework, 'How meaningful is God talk?'. Is that Philosophy-related enough?
I think I'm just going to polish the existing essays a bit, and hope that's good enough. I've been so unbelievably stressed over the thought of having to write two giant essays on completely unfamiliar topics. :frown:

Reply 3

leannemarie

11

I'm having a few problems too. I haven't actually been asked for work yet, but if I were to be asked there would be a problem because I haven't actually done any yet for Spanish. I'm trying to sort the problem out now!

Reply 4

kellywood_5

17

I haven't done much either. All I have is an essay on the environment, written at the end of Year 12, and my AS oral presentation, written in March of Year 12 but not marked. The English essay won't be a problem because I think that can be for any subject, so I could send an AS sociology essay.

Reply 5

36264

I've applied for Philosophy and French at Oxford too and have nooooo idea what i'm going to send in... we don't do French Literature as part of the A Level course so I guess I'll need to do something out of the blue. Plus I haven't heard back from them at all to confirm my application! :eek:

Reply 6

loopyloo243

OP

1

No, I haven't either! I'm getting paranoid that my school didn't send off my Oxford Application Form... I think they'll probably wait until they've got your written work, and then send you interview details?

At the Modern Languages Information Day, they said that any piece of original work done in school would do, at least one in French, and preferably of different types. So it could be an exam piece, or an essay etc. They like to see how you express yourself in English as well, so anything in English related to some aspects of France? If you do Philosophy or something English-based, like Politics, that'll probably do.

I emailed the Modern Langs department, and they gave me this:

'Written work: Two pieces of recent school or college work (preferably of different kinds) relating to the language you wish to study; at least one of them should be in that language (unless you are proposing to start the language from scratch).
Written test at interview: 30 minute test in the modern language. In Philosophy a 1 hour test of your ability to reason analytically and to use language accurately.

You are expected, therefore, to provide two essays for the language you are hoping to read at Oxford, one in the target language and one in English.

The College of your choice, or if you have made an open application, the allocated College, will be in contact with you soon after the deadline to give you precise instructions regarding the written work it wishes you to supply. Generally, it must be a fairly comprehensive essay which has been corrected by your teacher but not amended by you. It must be work that you have already done and had marked, not something you quickly write up for the purpose.'

Ideally, it would've been good to write a French essay on French literature, and then an English one on French philosophy or something. So if you can do that, it's probably a good combination :smile:

Thing is, my college hasn't been in contact with me at all about written work. I think I'll email them... You should try too. Which college are you applying for by the way?

Reply 7

goonerjack

Fitzwilliam at Cambridge don't want any essays so I'm sorted lol... shame really because I'd already written quite a decent one!

Reply 8

kellywood_5

17

goonerjack

Fitzwilliam at Cambridge don't want any essays so I'm sorted lol... shame really because I'd already written quite a decent one!

I'd be happy to take it off your hands so it doesn't go to waste :p:

Reply 9

loopyloo243

OP

1

Lol, me too! :biggrin:

Reply 10

36264

I made an Open Application... and it was sent off on the 14th October :redface:

It was a last minute decision, so it's all a bit crazy! Which college have you applied for?

Reply 11

Che!

11

Ive written my essays and i'm sending them off by the end of the week.

One on L'Etranger, in French
One on A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hope they'll be OK!

Reply 12

leannemarie

11

che_guevara

Ive written my essays and i'm sending them off by the end of the week.

One on L'Etranger, in French
One on A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hope they'll be OK!

I played a fairy in Midsummer - awesome play!

Reply 13

goonerjack

kellywood_5

I'd be happy to take it off your hands so it doesn't go to waste :p:

Yeah would be a shame, ah what the hell you can have it if you want... i'll just copy & paste it in, not sure if it's up to the standard required tho so not criticising!...

Me gusta Fitzwilliam porque es bien. El fin.

Good luck with your application!

Reply 14

kellywood_5

17

goonerjack

Yeah would be a shame, ah what the hell you can have it if you want... i'll just copy & paste it in, not sure if it's up to the standard required tho so not criticising!...

Me gusta Fitzwilliam porque es bien. El fin.

Good luck with your application!

Lol! If I have it right, that means 'I like Fitzwilliam because it's good. The end', yes? Yay, I can understand a bit of Spanish! :smile:

Not sure Sidney Sussex would appreciate it though :p:

Reply 15

Che!

11

leannemann

I played a fairy in Midsummer - awesome play!

...and I bet you were an EXCELLENT fairy! :smile:

Its my fave Shakespeare play!

Reply 16

goonerjack

kellywood_5

Lol! If I have it right, that means 'I like Fitzwilliam because it's good. The end', yes? Yay, I can understand a bit of Spanish! :smile:

Not sure Sidney Sussex would appreciate it though :p:

Yeah, well understood! You doing French/Italian or something like that? I'd realised that the Fitzwilliam part wouldn't follow for you afterwards, you might want to change that before you submit it :wink:

!
--------------

midnight_tiptoe

Hey, I'm a bit stuck on what kind of written work to submit to Oxford. I've already emailed them, but they were really vague and didn't give me much help. :frown:

I'm applying for French and Philosophy, and I'm required to submit two pieces - at least one in French, and the other can be in English.

I was thinking about submitting one essay on the set text I'm studying (Bonjour Tristesse), and another essay on religious language.
Do you think that's suitable?

For those who have been required to submit written work - did you prepare something especially for Oxford, although they ask of you not to? I seem to get the impression everyone makes a special effort on written work and pass it off as their usual standard... I doubt I have enough time to perfect my essay so I'm just considering submitting essays completed as part of homeworks. Will I be at any disadvantage? :confused:

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thought I'd reply to the original post as well! I've heard that they want one discursive (sp?) piece and one argumentative, although that might vary between colleges. I'd definitely do an essay on the text you're studying, guess you'll be working through that quite a bit at school so you know you'll have a good grounding in it. The other essay I would go for something that you're interested in, as it's likely that they'll bring up the topic of your essays up at interview. If you can argue your point well (previous oral topic or something?) then that'd be very impressive.

As for the quality of it, although a lot of people will spend a ridiculous amount of time perfecting it, I personally think that's a bit of a waste of time. If you have the best piece of writing ever, they'd expect you to match that at interview/exam, so it looks a bit dodgy when you won't. However if your essays and interview are to relatively the same standard, they'll know that you haven't got somebody to write your essay for you. Having said that, when I did a piece that I thought was going to go to Cambridge, I spent longer than normal checking things I wasn't 100% on in the dictionary and doing a bit of outside reading, but I didn't go overboard. Good luck with it!

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