Reapplying to Oxford Next Year (Unique Extenuating Circumstances)

As a reapplicant myself I would ask, do you really want to go through the stress of the application again, this time knowing you put a year on hold for it?

good question

wasn't really stressed though

People really don't take my situation for what it really is. It was crazy difficult to study in fact if I had the flu all year it would have been so much easier.

It is not my problem that Oxford's selection process is flawed

my MAT performance is fine just not as high as I expected

really you think it's fair that I cam compared to a candidate who has been in sixth form and had good study conditions to me like that?

really you think it's fair that I cam compared to a candidate who has been in sixth form and had good study conditions to me like that?

wow if it happened to you I am sure you wouldn't think so

just sounds like you are jelly at this rate

would having a flu all year with multiple doctor's not count?

If yes then honestly wished I had that instead for the sake of the application. My life would have been legit easier.

sigh

I will most likely take all 3 STEP papers as an attempt to make me more competitive for oxford (and some unis I applying to use STEP)

would having a flu all year with multiple doctor's not count?

If yes then honestly wished I had that instead for the sake of the application. My life would have been legit easier.

sigh

What are you going to blame that on?! Sorry, but you're coming across as someone that doesn't take control of the situation that you're in, but complains instead. Your attitude needs to change - try to make the best of whatever situation you find yourself in. Good luck.

Oxford is very competitive and if you didn’t make the requirements extenuating circumstances or not they had the right to reject you, they don’t have to consider them. That being I said I completely understand why it upset you. I’d consider other universities Oxford and Cambridge aren’t the only 2 good universities in the UK. Your grades are still really good so you’ll have plenty of options .

Honestly mate... Being a little brutal here but a flu isn't extenuating circumstances either, perhaps rather than worrying about excuses you should have doubled down on your work? have you read or seen statistics for number of applicants who even get an interview at oxford? It's very few. To even be considered you need top grades, sure people with extenuating circumstances might have more leniency on their grades but thats for people with serious issues, like cancer or something of that magnitude really... a flu and finding it hard to revise wouldn't cut it.

Maybe I don't know much but I'd say if you still have the chance crack on with revision and get top grades, forget about excuses.

good luck

STEP won't help you for Oxford.

Not having an A* in Maths is a fatal problem, no matter the "extenuating" circumstances*. It will also be problematic for any "top" maths university, such as Warwick or Imperial.

You need to check with some Oxford colleges on their view of resitting Maths A-level if you do plan to reapply.

*Your extenuating circumstances should have been covered by your referee, not in your PS.

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I can assure you, the stress is faaaaaar worse reapplying!

Again you say that it's not your problem the Oxford system is flawed. Just because you've failed, doesn't mean it's flawed. They look at your entire academic record along with your predicted grades, your general aptitude in admissions tests and your passion in your PS/Interview. It is such a comprehensive assessment which ensures the best are selected. You seem to think that the fact they base everything on academics is wrong, just because you didn't get the right grades. It's arguably the best university in the world, they're obviously going to look at your academic record instead of everything else. Yes, the system isn't perfect but it's not far off. Your MAT performance must be of a high standard for Oxford as they interview a low percentage and usually use the admissions assessments as a cut off for who to interview.

You should've only taken it early if you knew you were ready to achieve the grade you wanted. Again I know many people who have taken it early successfully with A*. I would look into the acceptance of resits as I feel this would damage your future application.

You had no time to do past papers under exam conditions but you had the time to attempt STEP papers all for an A-Level Exam? Highly believable I must admit.

Lastly, your GCSEs are just below average for Oxford. Many successful applicants have a majority of A*s at GCSE. Please stop complaining about the system and Extenuating Circumstances. Work instead.

Hope this helps.

You had no time to do past papers under exam conditions but you had the time to attempt STEP papers all for an A-Level Exam? Highly believable I must admit.

Disclaimer: Yes I know there are prolly over 9000 threads like this but bear with me as my situation is quite unique.

I'm an EU applicant BTW.

Here we go...

So I applied for Oxford Math and git rejected pre-interview even with the extenuating circumstances I experienced.
However I feel like they have not been considering them for what they are; maybe I wasn't clear enough on them.

I will now give a detailed account, now obviously I couldn't put even half of this in my PS but I did indicate that I had extenuating circumstances (I will indicate which part I included in my PS in bold).

My interest in math started when i was small and I always found math class too easy. Sadly I was unable to discover things like lateral thinking and proof until just the beginning of my A levels because I found some other subjects too difficult and was forced to pass due to the school system.

By the time of IGCSE's (CIE) I had lost interest in mathematics as I thought there was not much to it (and IGCSE math was very dull to me) so at that time I was thinking of doing physics (which I, admitedly use dto like more than now).

My school for my IGCSE's was poor with many students getting E's or below in most subjects. However I scored 5A*, 4A, and 1C. The C is in literature, which is already amazing seeing how bad I am at it (although got A* for language).

Most of my math teachers were awful but my IGCSE one was absolutely trash (seriously though). Essentially he didn't teach anything (so I had to self-study) but at the same time didn't let me study at my own pace (and had to rush my additional math studies), while at the same time threatening to send me to a lower set (was in set 1). I took both IGCSE international math (dunno why had to do that) and IGCSE additional math and scored A in both.

I now realize why I didn't get A*'s in my IGCSE math subjects, it's because I was never taught the exam technique and what the examiner's want so I went on thinking the same for A level math (and also scored A) just because of one jerk teacher misleading me so (thank god I found TSR otherwise would have never realized). My other teachers taught me the exam technique but never said that it was so which made me unaware of it until AFTER my A level math exams.

When I was about to start my A levels (a very good sixth form accepted me) my father had to do some very extensive travels for his work. My mother, having an "amazing" idea that all the family should follow him because we'd all miss him too much. This caused me to be forced to having to self study in poor conditions (hotels are awful for studying when you have very noisy siblings). I also had much less time than a typical A level student to study. This is why I took A level math early, so to spread the workload (my parents agreed that they can stay put somewhere for my exams and only my exams).

It was not until I started my A levels (edexcel math and further math, as well as ial physics) that I realized that there was much more to mathematics (I especially liked mathematical proof) and this is what convinced me to apply for math (as at the same time physics hugely dissapointed me). I even included some of the proof I did in my PS (which were very much beyond the specification). However I do have to catch up on all of this mathematical creative thinking because I was introduced to it so late compared to the competition.

I had no idea my A level grade would disadvantaged me so much that I would get rejected pre-interview even with a good MAT score. Honestly I lost all my confidence for a while there so I still performed much worse than in past papers, but I learned my lesson and will not let a dumb exam judge my abilities (because they can't when they're about memorizing methods and regurgitating them).

So obviously oxford had done absolutely no justice to my extenuating circumstances by not further asking about them etc. If in the feedback I see they have not been taken in account of, I will give a formal complaint as I think this is unacceptable in the light that oxford wishes to recruit the best mathematicians.

I do wish to reapply to oxford, provided that I achieve the grades, but at the same time I know that gap years for math is not seen well. So I decided that I would apply to unis this year and if I get a place would start the degree anyways due to the chance of still being rejected by Oxford. Is it possible to apply to Oxford when one already started an undergraduate degree?

I have no offers so far and in the case all the unis reject me I will probably start with the open university and reapply to unis next year so that I stay academically active.

If oxford rejects me again I will just accept whatever uni accepts me at this rate and try again for postgraduate studies.

I will most likely take all 3 STEP papers as an attempt to make me more competitive for oxford (and some unis I applying to use STEP)

So in the end here are my questions:
-Is it possible to apply to Oxford when one already started an undergraduate degree?
-Is the plan overall good? Any criticism to the plan?
-Is it worth reapplying to oxford knowing my circumstances? (I do still need to catch up upon the more lateral thinking side of things due to lack of exposure to it before A levels).
- Should I apply to another college next year?
- Any other advice?

Thank you in advance and have a good day .

I know I can do better, I will take January exams to see if I did understand all of this exam technique thing.

PS: please don't be harsh, I am not doing very well emotionally lately (unrelated to uni places)

I got 3 A*s at A level, thought I did very well in the MAT and still got rejected pre-interview. Don't know what else they wanted but **** 'em, I know I'm a good mathematician and I don't need them As far as I'm concerned, they lost an excellent applicant. There are plenty of excellent unis, and in my opinion purely based on the course specification, there are better maths courses offered elsewhere.