LMH Oxford: Ask us anything

Do admissions tutors take into account a mix of school ie international and UK. My son left high school in Canada at the end of grade 10 and started A levels at sixth form last year. He will be applying as a home student and deferring a year on his application. As he does not have GCSE's which the other UK students will have, will this be a big factor against his application. While he did not graduate from high school in Canada as he left at the end of grade 10, he does have his academic transcript and most of his marks were in the 90%'s. He performed very well in his AS year (Maths UMS 100,100,100,98,98,97) and is predicted 3 A star and an A so I have no doubt will meet the offer requirement, however his unique schooling may put him at a disadvantage? Hopefully he'll be able to perform well in the MAT.Do colleges take a students personal circumstances in this kind of instance? Or will the fact that he does not have GCSE's mean an automatic rejection?

I had similar concerns with making an application - no GCSEs but better AS and much better A2s. I was told that it would not be a disadvantage at all and that I could not be disadvantaged for not having the opportunity to take GCSEs.* Change of school system counts as an extenuating factor.

(*This was especially the case *after* A2 grades, where I asked a couple people about it and they mentioned that GCSEs were not very important for post-A2 applicants.)

Thanks, this is really helpful to hear! His change of school system has been noted in his PS/ reference so hopefully it is taken into account. If all else fails he can apply again in his gap year as it seems he would be in a stronger position with his A2 results.

Thanks for your help

No worries and best of luck to him

Hi I'm torn between applying for Biology and Biochemistry. Just wondering how much biology is involved in the Biochemistry course as it is ultimately the "bio-" part of Biochemistry that I'm more interested in. I want to see life through the lens of molecules. The course overview online seems very chemistry-oriented but I've also heard (friend of a friend spoke to a current student) that there is a lot of biology after the first year...
Thanks!

@auburnstar when can we make you an official rep?

Hi I'm torn between applying for Biology and Biochemistry. Just wondering how much biology is involved in the Biochemistry course as it is ultimately the "bio-" part of Biochemistry that I'm more interested in. I want to see life through the lens of molecules. The course overview online seems very chemistry-oriented but I've also heard (friend of a friend spoke to a current student) that there is a lot of biology after the first year...
Thanks!

I have a very detailed reply for you from one of our really fantastic ambassadors. I hope it helps

Hi! I’m just about to start my third year studying the Biochemistry course at Oxford, having starting in October 2015. From what you’ve said and from my experience of the Biochemistry course, and my impression of the Biology course here from friends, I would say applying for Biochemistry sounds like a good choice if it’s the molecular aspect of biology you enjoy!

In terms of the chemistry-orientation, it’s true this was a big part of first year. One of our five first-year exam papers was solely Organic Chemistry and I found this quite tough and a big jump from how I found chemistry at sixth form (I did the OCR A-Level syllabus A). The questions I faced in my two interviews for Biochemistry at Oxford were also much more heavily weighted towards topics from my Chemistry studies at sixth-form than my Biology studies. I would say the ‘Biophysical Chemistry’ in the first-year Oxford Biochmistry course was also more chemistry-oriented in relation to my sixth-form Chemistry studies in terms of the concepts covered (e.g. rates of reaction, equilibria, enthalpy, entropy, free energy, inter- and intramolecular bonding, covalent and non-covalent interactions, transition metal ions). However, the chemical/physical/thermodynamic/kinetic principles were all presented in a molecular biology context – e.g. in relation to what drives protein folding, enzyme mechanisms and their reactions within cells.

I would also say a big chunk of our first-year course encompassed a lot more directly molecular biology-oriented topics. These were mainly in ‘Biological Chemistry’ and ‘Molecular Cell Biology’ and included

- protein structure, function and folding

- enzymes, their reactions, mechanisms and regulation

- DNA and RNA structure, storage and replication, transcription and translation, mutations and repair (we actually shared our genetics lectures in the first term with first year Biology students)

- biological membranes architecture (the proteins and lipids) and transport

- metabolism – reaction pathways, cycles and mechanisms, how they’re regulated and diseases associated with faults in these pathways or processes – including:

o glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA, or Krebs) cycle and mitochondrial electron transport chain in respiration

o the light reactions and dark reactions (Calvin cycle) in photosynthesis

o fatty acid synthesis and degradation

o amino acid metabolism

- cell structure and division (including the roles of different organelles and the cytoskeleton)

- signalling pathways for communication between and within cells

I would say the second-year course has involved delving into these topics introduced in first-year Biological Chemistry and Molecular Cell Biology in even more molecular detail. Although we’ve needed the chemistry-oriented principles we learned in first-year Biophysical Chemistry for this, there has been nothing as solely chemistry-oriented as the first-year Organic Chemistry.

I hope that all makes sense – since you mentioned the online course overview, a lot what I’ve talked about relates to that, in particular the five strands of the first-year course (https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/biochemistry-molecular-and-cellular?wssl=1). If you can get a sense of whether a similar level of molecular biology is included in the Oxford Biological Sciences course that may also be useful. If you decide to apply for Biochemistry, can I just say that we have two great tutors at LMH - Phil Biggin (our main tutor, also a lecturer for the biochemistry course) and Garry Brown (who we share with the medics at LMH, and who has taken us for metabolism- and genetics-related tutorials). They are both very approachable and friendly and extremely knowledgeable and passionate about their subjects!

Hi,
I’m applying to LMH to do English, but my grades are A*A*B. I do have extenuating circumstances to explain the B, in that I had a panic attack in one of my maths modules, which affected my confidence for the remaining two. I am retaking it, and was told by the English department that this wouldn’t prevent me from receiving a conditional offer; however, I am no unsure as to how to claim these extenuating circumstances, as I do not have an official mental health diagnosis and my mum is refusing to take me to a doctor (she is a victim of the societal stigma with regards to mental health). I have anti-anxiety meds prescribed, but I’m not sure if this will help, and I could potentially provide a letter from my school counsellor who I saw regularly, but again, I’m not sure if that will suffice. Unfortunately, I have no way of getting to the doctor alone as I don’t drive, and it’s too far. Any advice?

Sorry to butt in here, but one possibility may be to ring your GP and ask for a telephone appointment to discuss these things with him/her.

@LMH OXFORD
How much merit is there to the claim that it's harder to get into Maths+CS than straight Maths at Oxford?

Here, Merton says that the average MAT scores between straight maths and math+CS amongst all/shortlisted/accepted applicants were about equal: 50/67/73 and 51/67/74, respectively.

So it appears to me that the people applying for the combined degree aren't actually leagues ahead of the straight maths applicants; the distribution is about the same. Am I missing something, or is the notion of Maths+CS being harder to get into something of a myth?

Hi,
I’m applying to LMH to do English, but my grades are A*A*B. I do have extenuating circumstances to explain the B, in that I had a panic attack in one of my maths modules, which affected my confidence for the remaining two. I am retaking it, and was told by the English department that this wouldn’t prevent me from receiving a conditional offer; however, I am no unsure as to how to claim these extenuating circumstances, as I do not have an official mental health diagnosis and my mum is refusing to take me to a doctor (she is a victim of the societal stigma with regards to mental health). I have anti-anxiety meds prescribed, but I’m not sure if this will help, and I could potentially provide a letter from my school counsellor who I saw regularly, but again, I’m not sure if that will suffice. Unfortunately, I have no way of getting to the doctor alone as I don’t drive, and it’s too far. Any advice?

Hi Marrium!

I was wondering if its possible to change courses at Oxford?
I have an offer for Biochem, but now after serious thought and consideration, I really think I'd prefer Chemistry more.

Has this ever happened before? If so,could you please tell me how difficult it is to change courses?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks in advance!

Hi @LMH OXFORD could you take a look at the PM I sent?