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Prizes at school in your course subject (and lack thereof)

Hi,

I've heard that many Oxbridge colleges place a high importance on school prizes and the like. Will they necessarily look down upon someone applying who has not come top in their year group for the subject they wish to study? What would be their attitude to someone who has perhaps won prizes in other subjects, but not in the subject they wish to study at university, if these subjects are fairly irrelevant to the choice of course? I'm worried they might think: why are you applying to study X? You should be applying to study Y! and that they might interpret this as a sign of a lack of passion for the subject and that your real interests lie elsewhere.

If I genuinely want to do the subject I'm applying for above all others, but just haven't won any prizes for it or anything like that, could this be harmful to my application?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Reply 1

username115564

16

We have a Prize for each subject (person with highest score in the exam), and a Most Improved for each subject. I shouldn't think winning a prize in another subject would detract from your application, it'll show that you're able to transfer skills between subjects.

Reply 2

--

3

Unless you specifically said 'I came first in [Subject A] and [Subject B].' and omitted the subject you want to study, how would they know? If you're that worried, just don't mention the awards at all, its not like its a requirement. If they don't know that your school does the awards, they won't know that you didn't come first. :smile:

Reply 3

sng

1

I never even mentioned that I had one prizes at school. There are much more important things you could be writing on your personal statement to show passion for your subject such as books you've read and ec's related to your subject. There is literally not enough space to write about prizes on the personal statement. Some scholars from my year didn't even get invited for interview let alone get in. There are MUCH more important things than winning prizes as far as your application is concerned such as grades/tests/interviews so

Reply 4

Helenia

20

I've never heard that they give a damn about prizes. I don't think I mentioned mine in my application and I can't remember if my referees did. I had lots, but I hardly think it was the clinching factor which got me in.

Plus, of course, I'm assuming that not all schools have subject prizes, so it's not like they can use it as that much of a discriminator.

Reply 5

Chiron

As Helenia says, not every school (mine for instance), has subject prizes (or prizes at all for that matter!) so it can't be used as a discriminator. In other words, don't worry about it.

Reply 6

sjuthani

6

Although I wasn't awarded it until after I got my offer (about February time), I doubt being the best public speaker and debator in the year in any case would have had much to do with my application.

Reply 7

Morbo

17

And Lo! came Worzo. And He said, "Nothing shall matter except thy ability and thy motivation". And the OP did see that the Word was good, and went forth to spread the Word.

Reply 8

coldfusion

2

jackwhatton

We have a Prize for each subject (person with highest score in the exam), and a Most Improved for each subject. I shouldn't think winning a prize in another subject would detract from your application, it'll show that you're able to transfer skills between subjects.

Man if we had those kind of rules for our subject prizes i'd have won two!! But i guess since they didnt' have the most improved they didn't give me the second one probably due to the fact that it wasn't my chosen subject at cambridge....

Reply 9

--

3

coldfusion

Man if we had those kind of rules for our subject prizes i'd have won two!! But i guess since they didnt' have the most improved they didn't give me the second one probably due to the fact that it wasn't my chosen subject at cambridge....

You wuz robbed!!! Have you lodged an appeal with the appropriate authorities and notified your universities of your pending court case straight away?

Reply 10

FadeToBlackout

15

3232

You wuz robbed!!! Have you lodged an appeal with the appropriate authorities and notified your universities of your pending court case straight away?

Sue, Grabbit and Run, inc., will be happy to take your case on! :p:

****

In a serious mode, I've got a host of prizes over the years from Year 7's Achievement in Geography to various awards for History, helping the school, etc., but didn't mention a single one. My Van Der Brandt award for History didn't influence my application at all.

Reply 11

Cexy

quint07

I've heard that many Oxbridge colleges place a high importance on school prizes and the like.Possibly.

Will they necessarily look down upon someone applying who has not come top in their year group for the subject they wish to study?

No.

What would be their attitude to someone who has perhaps won prizes in other subjects, but not in the subject they wish to study at university, if these subjects are fairly irrelevant to the choice of course?

They won't care.

I'm worried they might think: why are you applying to study X? You should be applying to study Y! and that they might interpret this as a sign of a lack of passion for the subject and that your real interests lie elsewhere.

You're wrong.

If I genuinely want to do the subject I'm applying for above all others, but just haven't won any prizes for it or anything like that, could this be harmful to my application?

No.

Reply 12

F1 fanatic

16

Well given that these awards are fairly subjective and dependent on the school I don't see that they'll count for anything at all. One schools "great achievement award" is very possibly different to another's. For example, my school had a shield called "student of the year" which you won in year 12. Despite what you might think this was actually an award for the best GCSE results in the school - but the title is somewhat misleading.

Consider also, that different schools have different levels. A student should be treated on their individual performance and not relative to their fellow students. I doubt Oxbridge is going to discriminate against anyone because they happened to have a student slightly better than them who kept nabbing all the prizes. I suppose it looks quite nice if you have them, a little flourish, but not at all if you don't.

Reply 13

Johnny 5

12

They'll let you in if they like you.

Reply 14

quint07

OP

Thanks for all the replies. It was just a little annoying thing at the back of my mind, but now all is at rest... all but getting good grades, finding relevant work experience and polishing my interview technique, that is. :rolleyes:

Reply 15

coldfish

12

Subject prizes? What are they?

Reply 16

Kicky

2

I didn't mention any in my application because I didn't have any! If you have won relevent ones mention them, but I don't think they'd affect the decision as as someone above said, they are subjective

Reply 17

Chewwy

17

the oxford website

We only let people in who have won copious school prizes in their subject.

so some people in this thread are lying to you.

Reply 18

digital-observations

I don't even know if my school have subject prizes (definitely didn't at the end of Year 11, no idea about sixth form)... actually I lie, we have 'Year 13 prizegiving' a few months after exam results, the name seems to suggest that prizes may exist as well as exam certificates. But even so, this is over a year after we've applied so...pretty irrelevant to ucas applications.

Reply 19

$Avatar for sTe\/o$

sTe\/o

16

quint07

Hi,

I've heard that many Oxbridge colleges place a high importance on school prizes and the like. Will they necessarily look down upon someone applying who has not come top in their year group for the subject they wish to study? What would be their attitude to someone who has perhaps won prizes in other subjects, but not in the subject they wish to study at university, if these subjects are fairly irrelevant to the choice of course? I'm worried they might think: why are you applying to study X? You should be applying to study Y! and that they might interpret this as a sign of a lack of passion for the subject and that your real interests lie elsewhere.

If I genuinely want to do the subject I'm applying for above all others, but just haven't won any prizes for it or anything like that, could this be harmful to my application?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

The fact is, in some schools it will be easy to get prizes and others it will be difficult. Also, there is no vetting of the process. In my school I got the highest marks in pretty much every subject, year on year, but I still only got a handful of prizes because they wanted to spread them out. This is why, imo, they shouldn't and don't count for anything.

Prizes at school in your course subject (and lack thereof)

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