Does your school/college help you with your application

How much support are you getting at school or college with your choice of university and your personal statement?

On a scale from pretty clueless to well supported, where are you?

Reply 1

hilrho

15

Well I'm home-schooled so I don't have any support what so over. I wonder if I'll actually even stand a chance at all of even scoring an interview with oxford.

Reply 2

Blazinq

14

I've had none whatsoever, but I think I'm pretty capable of doing it all my self, apart from the PS where I'll give it to people to evaluate/review it.

Reply 3

lamp-y

9

Not very involved with choice of university, very involved with PS. (I go to an independent school.)

Reply 4

LETSJaM

16

Original post by lamp-y

Not very involved with choice of university, very involved with PS. (I go to an independent school.)

This.

<3 x

Reply 5

Katpat

Agree independent school have really intense personal statement support, uni choice basically they just list the Russel group and that's your options - also lots of interview support

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 6

Milostar

OP

17

Original post by hilrho

Well I'm home-schooled so I don't have any support what so over. I wonder if I'll actually even stand a chance at all of even scoring an interview with oxford.

I've heard that US universities look very favourably on home-schoolers. how come you don't you think you have a chance at Oxford?

Reply 7

hilrho

15

Original post by Milostar

I've heard that US universities look very favourably on home-schoolers. how come you don't you think you have a chance at Oxford?

Well I'm not very keen on moving to the states for university, I miss home too much already and would like to spend the next couple of years there.

And I don't think I have a chance at oxford because when you're home-schooled the way I am, you have no guidance what so ever. For example, after I write a personal statement no one can proof read it. Moreover, I self-teach so I don't have a teacher to say nice things about me. So at the end of the day it'll all just be my words about myself with little to no proof of their validity. So that's why and also because of this: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2481235&p=44734319

Reply 8

Milostar

OP

17

Original post by hilrho

Well I'm not very keen on moving to the states for university, I miss home too much already and would like to spend the next couple of years there.

And I don't think I have a chance at oxford because when you're home-schooled the way I am, you have no guidance what so ever. For example, after I write a personal statement no one can proof read it. Moreover, I self-teach so I don't have a teacher to say nice things about me. So at the end of the day it'll all just be my words about myself with little to no proof of their validity. So that's why and also because of this: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2481235&p=44734319

If Oxford is your dream, you should definitely get in touch with some admissions tutors there for guidance and advice on your application. They can be really helpful.

If you achieve high scores despite having no teachers or help, it will strengthen your application. Oxbridge are looking for exceptional and passionate students, and they won't write you off just because you've not had a 'conventional' education.

For any specific advice about your PS and application, just keep posting here or on the Oxford forum. You could try the Cambridge forums too as there are some really knowledgeable students and the occasional admission tutor there. And make sure you read all the TSR guides on PS writing.

Try not to be defeatist. There's always a way :smile:

Reply 9

hilrho

15

Original post by Milostar

If Oxford is your dream, you should definitely get in touch with some admissions tutors there for guidance and advice on your application. They can be really helpful.

If you achieve high scores despite having no teachers or help, it will strengthen your application. Oxbridge are looking for exceptional and passionate students, and they won't write you off just because you've not had a 'conventional' education.

For any specific advice about your PS and application, just keep posting here or on the Oxford forum. You could try the Cambridge forums too as there are some really knowledgeable students and the occasional admission tutor there. And make sure you read all the TSR guides on PS writing.

Try not to be defeatist. There's always a way :smile:

I actually feel more optimistic about applying to Oxford after reading your post, thank you very much :smile:

.

Just a questions- How do I get in touch with the Oxford admission tutors? My mums a diplomat so I am currently living in Asia.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 10

tgwktm

19

Original post by Milostar

How much support are you getting at school or college with your choice of university and your personal statement?

On a scale from pretty clueless to well supported, where are you?

i would say my school has helped me a lot, we have several information days and workshops about ucas and university, and talks about writing out personal statement. we can hand in drafts of our personal statements to our tutors to read and comment on, as well as our head of year who i have emailed on several occasions to help me with filing out confusing areas on the ucas form. i would definitely be lost without their help :redface:

Reply 11

Milostar

OP

17

Original post by hilrho

I actually feel more optimistic about applying to Oxford after reading your post, thank you very much :smile:

.

Just a questions- How do I get in touch with the Oxford admission tutors? My mums a diplomat so I am currently living in Asia.

I would think via the university website. If you can't find the info you want on the site, there should be a 'contact' link or email address. :smile:

Reply 12

hilrho

15

Original post by Milostar

I would think via the university website. If you can't find the info you want on the site, there should be a 'contact' link or email address. :smile:

Aah right, cheers! :smile:

Reply 13

Jkizer

16

They did slightly. I mean my form tutor and subject teacher are willing to read and offer support for my PS...

TSR is much more helpful though.

Reply 14

earthtome

7

My school are very involved and I love them for it, about a quarter of my year group apply for oxbridge/medicine, so they get priority, but while they are getting sorted, we get our personal statements done with our ucas tutors, so that it's ready to send whenever we want. They ask us to print out our forms so that can check everything is right, chase up all our references and they're just so lovely about it. We have assemblies where we are reminded about it, and I really enjoy that we are being pushed to make the right choices and to apply early so that we don't have it hanging over us for a long time.

Reply 15

lizz-ie

18

Before you apply, my school claims that they're going to give you loads of help, and that you don't have to worry about it, when in reality you're left to do it all yourself. I was the first person to start doing UCAS and it took me forever because I had no idea what to do! I then ended up helping a lot of other people, as no one had actually been told what to do! I never even got told the buzzword, ended up just guessing it :colondollar:

Reply 16

SilverstarDJ

18

Original post by Milostar

How much support are you getting at school or college with your choice of university and your personal statement?

On a scale from pretty clueless to well supported, where are you?

I got little support. My English GCSE teacher read my PS to look out for grammar mistakes, but that's about it. I would recommend the PS help section on TSR to review your PS - without it I don't think I would have gotten in!

Does your school/college help you with your application

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