Oxbridge FAQ!

We might live in something approaching a police state, but things aren't quite that bad yet! However, I would advise you to reconsider, as you could miss out on some offers if you wait until the deadline to send your application in

i know that it cant be that big a deal applying at the last minute to oxbridge. I applied (i.e. got my form in) on the 15th of October. I was then asked to write an essay, with a deadline 1 week away (the deadline was the same for all applicants, it was my stupidity of applying late). I managed to get that essay in by special delivery on the afternoon of the deadline. I was then given the LAST interview in the entire college (I know i was last, I had to wait ALL day on the last day and when i went back to pick up my bag nobody was there).

They still let me in

Goes to show being bang on the deadlines doesnt screw you over

i know that it cant be that big a deal applying at the last minute to oxbridge. I applied (i.e. got my form in) on the 15th of October. I was then asked to write an essay, with a deadline 1 week away (the deadline was the same for all applicants, it was my stupidity of applying late). I managed to get that essay in by special delivery on the afternoon of the deadline. I was then given the LAST interview in the entire college (I know i was last, I had to wait ALL day on the last day and when i went back to pick up my bag nobody was there).

They still let me in

Goes to show being bang on the deadlines doesnt screw you over

Hee hee. Best British comedy writing EVER. You could write for your entire lifetime and never come up with enough good material to form a single episode of it.

Let's see... what are my favourite Humphreyisms?

There was a brilliant one in a cabinet meeting where Humphrey was explaining why the minutes to the official meetings existed so that officials could be officially sure of what they said in the meeting because in any meeting of officials the officials with have a different recollection of what they said so the official minutes are kept to settle minute disputes between officials about what the officials said, officially. Or something like that. I wish I had the quote.

The one I do have is from the sub-committee meeting where Humphrey defends accusations that he and the minister are just batting back and forth between each other ( Humphrey has just claimed that the minister is responisble for administrative policy, while the minister maintained that Humphrey was the chap to speak to because he was in charge of policy administration ).

"Yes, yes, yes. I do see that there's a real dilemma here. In that, while it has been government policy to regard policy as a responsibility of Ministers and administration as a responsibility of Officials, the questions of administrative policy can cause confusion between the policy of administration and the administration of policy, especially when responsibility for the administration of the policy of administration conflicts, or overlaps with, responsibility for the policy of the administration of policy." ( Not as good without Nigel Hawthorne's delivery but nothing ever could be ).

I don't know about the civil service but if I'm not good enough to take philosophy on to levels beyond undergraduate and fail to produce anything worth publishing I may try to worm my way into politics via the scottish legal system. Watch this space.

most smart people are lazy

Any people who've been through the process this year feel there new inputs are required for this?

At the end of the day no amount of debating, essay writing comps or reading of broadsheets will get you into oxbridge, what gets you in is ability, and passion about your subject.

All of the above is one method, probably a very good method, but (in my view) what you really need to do is be passionate and very good at your subject, and to find out what you can about it. However what is most important around application time is not to spend most of your time perfecting an Oxbridge application when you should be passing your exams and having some sort of social life. At the end of the day no amount of debating, essay writing comps or reading of broadsheets will get you into oxbridge, what gets you in is ability, and passion about your subject.

Would you not say that taking the time to enter essay competitions, and read extra about your subject counts as passion? And winning those competitions in your subject, winning relevant debates (all of the top debaters should be able to get in for Oxford PPE) counts as ability?

&I'd rather read than do this ridiculous Mechanicslarky that they shoved into my Maths syllabus, when I specifically said I didn't want to do anything but Pure and Stats...

You mean your school doesn't choose modules based on what you want? Shocking.

Half of the syllabus is self-taught, and there's only three of us, so there should be some lee-way. I volunteered to self-teach S3/S4 instead of doing the dreaded Mechanics (I can't even do M1)...so I didn't think it was that unreasonable?