Worried about Oxford

Hi all!

So this post isn't about me but about my friend, M, who is in year 12 and I was hoping some people here might know more than I do because I am but a lowly B-student. He is currently having a bit of a worry about life and I was wondering if there's any info whether anecdotal or not that might set his mind at ease.

M is a hopeful Oxford applicant for Computer Science and Mathematics. Just gonna list a whole bunch of stuff for context... He studies maths (A* in Christmas mocks), further maths (A*), computer science (A*) and physics (A). He runs a sixth form maths club, a lower school cipher club, and is part of the school's robotics team. He was unable to get the role of maths prefect (which he is worried about) but got the role of "assembly prefect" instead. He takes part in MAT study sessions. He has read *lots* of books about programming and maths, and much of the Oxford recommended reading list for his chosen course. For his non-examination assessment in computer science he is studying chaotic systems and it has a lot of complex maths. He has completed an online course (I can't remember what it was but it was pretty high level maths) and he is going to be doing a 3 week computer science internship over the summer. He also will be in touch with a maths professor he met and spoke to at the Oxford open day to ask for some extra work.

M's friend has already done an internship and has now been accepted into the Eton summer school to do some maths thing and M has been feeling very inferior. He's terrified that he's not doing enough and he feels as if he won't get in unless he goes to a summer school (although I think it's a bit late for that now and he's already really busy over summer).

I was wondering just how important a summer school is, since the UCAS application sets aside a separate section for it (uni prep) and M's nervous about leaving that section blank. I also wanted to hear input about whether or not he's doing enough to be considered for an interview. He feels like he is lazy, but to me he seems to never take a break! Is there anything more he could/should be doing? Should I help him do more or tell him to take a break?

I just want to say that M is so clearly passionate about his chosen course, and I think if he gets to the interview stage he'll have a strong chance of getting an offer, but I know it would absolutely crush him if he never even gets that far and I want to see him succeed.

Thanks so much in advance for any advice!
- P

M sounds like he would be a very strong applicant. He should apply.

Not being in a summer school is not a problem: I hardly look at the section on university preparation. (Going on a summer school can be a good way of learning; but there are lots of other ways, such as what M is already doing.)

He should carry on doing what he's doing -- but also try to have some fun over the summer.

Gavin