Oxford Demystified - French and Spanish

Jack. My son got in for Oxford German with only 3 a* (9s). He also didn’t get an a* for German either. He got it for English. I saw someone on tsr stalking page going for French and German with a clean sweep of a*s and five a* predicted but she failed to get in. My son is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t despair. Plus you only need aaa to get in. What is most important is that you are great at literature and not bad at the language side

That’s actually really interesting. Like I said before, I hope they can see my passion for the subject and for learning too. But if not, there’s still some very good unis out there and I’ll be happy either way.

You all sound my mates hyping me up to go ask a girl on a date hahaha. But in all seriousness, I do appreciate the advice.

I see it is my job to hype deserving people up to apply to Oxford. All the people who wrote chapters for Oxford demystified just about were from state school, not many had a clean sweep of a* at gcse and none of them expected to get in. However reading the chapters it’s obvious to all of us ( because of their keenness and their ability to go the extra mile) that they got in. Of course, you have to be pretty intelligent, but no genius.

Take my younger son, for instance. Despite only ever coming top of the year once for his sciences, he bagged a place for Oxford medicine. He is, in fact the most driven person I know. Although he only scraped the offer (a*aa), Oxford was the making of him. He loves the research aspect and the project he had to do is being developed for publication.

This week he took his finals. Not only did he get a first, but he came 7th in the entire year!

Yet Edinburgh medical school rejected him, and he would have missed the Cambridge offer of a*a*a, had he applied. Can you see how important that hard work and enthusiasm is now?

@JackDarley03

Hi! I have a quick question about the personal statement. Did you read your texts in the target language or in translation?
I'm currently drafting mine for French and Beginners' German and while I have mentioned quite a few books, these have all been read in translation rather than in my target language. I have mentioned Maupassant's short stories as my reading in French, but will my application be seen as weaker if this is the only thing I have read in French?
Basically, is there an expectation to have read most of the books mentioned for the post-A Level language in the target language itself (in this case French) or does it ultimately not matter too much?
Thank you and I hope that all made sense!

Hi! I have a quick question about the personal statement. Did you read your texts in the target language or in translation?
I'm currently drafting mine for French and Beginners' German and while I have mentioned quite a few books, these have all been read in translation rather than in my target language. I have mentioned Maupassant's short stories as my reading in French, but will my application be seen as weaker if this is the only thing I have read in French?
Basically, is there an expectation to have read most of the books mentioned for the post-A Level language in the target language itself (in this case French) or does it ultimately not matter too much?
Thank you and I hope that all made sense!

Hi! I don't think I mentioned whether stuff was in the language or not tbh. I know I used a mixture of side along translations, original works, and a lot of wiki plot summaries to help me follow what was going on! I don't think you need to waste characters specifying as such, as long as you've made an effort to do some stuff in French. Of course, for the beginners German it's worth mentioning stuff in translation bc they're not expecting you to speak the language. In general though, they know you won't be super fluent at reading yet so using translations isn't anything bad (you'll get a lot quicker as you go on)

Interestingly, I don't think my tutor read my ps (he asked questions he would have known had he read it) and I've heard the same from other ml students. We may all be wrong ofc...

I don't think there's an "expectation" to have read any French or German books - or at least not an official requirement. As such, I don't imagine it matters at all. They judge potential to study literature based on performance at interview (and possibly written work), not on the number of books people (claim to) have read.

And plenty of applicants, myself included, will only have read one target language text as you have.

Interestingly, I don't think my tutor read my ps (he asked questions he would have known had he read it) and I've heard the same from other ml students. We may all be wrong ofc...

I don't think there's an "expectation" to have read any French or German books - or at least not an official requirement. As such, I don't imagine it matters at all. They judge potential to study literature based on performance at interview (and possibly written work), not on the number of books people (claim to) have read.

And plenty of applicants, myself included, will only have read one target language text as you have.

Really? I read two in Year 11 and did not even take French A level .. obviously things have changed.

Well... good for you?

I don't think it's that surprising. Not everyone knows they want to study language at that stage or don't develop an interest in the literature until late.

Ignore Muttley, she likes to be unpleasant to Oxford applicants and students for some unknown reason. Having said that, at my college at any rate there was definitely an expectation to have read some relevant literature, in the language or otherwise.

I don't think it really matters what language you read them in, as long as you can analyse them and talk about the plot etc (and the conversation will be English). I don't think they're likely to ask, and they don't generally expect specific memorised quotes in the discussion. You should probably start trying to read more in the target language though, since if you get an offer you'll have a hefty reading list to get through in French (even if you use translations alongside to begin with). How much they refer to the PS depends on the college I think. Mine asked me to explain something I wrote in it, and they also asked me to back up one of the points I made in the discussion with something I'd read (so obviously I went with something I'd only just started reading oops)

Thank you again for your help! I've got a stack of books in French that I have read extracts from (and am planning to read after the UCAS deadline) and I'm studying a French text next year, so I will be sure to get some French reading in. Those books just didn't seem right for my PS, so I haven't included them.
Did you use the original French titles of the books in your PS or the English ones?
Also, out of interest, which college are you at?

And yeah, you're definitely right not to mention the A level text bc everyone reads that! Although if it sparked off a little research project or some further reading of the same genre or author, that would be relevant

I used the French ones, but UCAS took the accents off which was annoying. The French novel I did mention I'd read entirely in French though, it was the Spanish I had more difficulty with. There weren't very many titles on my PS, I read more before the interview. BTW I'd recommend getting a head start on reading next year's novel now, it makes A2 so much easier! And I'm at Merton 😍