Oxford Physics Advice

I think your Alevel choices are good for the course. I had applied to Oxford but was rejected after interviews, so this advice may not be perfect, but here are some things I found helped and things I think I should have done.

Apply to UNIQ summer school when your in year 12 if your eligible to. I think applications usually open around December. It takes place over the Easter holiday and in July and August. It was so much fun and would definitely recommend applying to. Ive heard that other summer schools are good as well so look into them as well.

Start revising for the PAT test around the start of the summer holidays between yr 12/13. I was worried about starting earlier and running out of practice material, but there is plenty on the website.

Try send your application off a couple of weeks before the deadline. This allows time to finish any parts of the application not done by this time and you don’t have to panic about rushing it. Oxbridge unis have an earlier deadline, usually in mid October as opposed to January.

Try and visit on an open day if you can. This is not vital but is good to see whether you like the city and colleges, and perhaps pick a college preference to apply to (though not vital to pick a specific college).

Look at other unis to apply to. You get 5 choices on UCAS and whilst I still definitely recommend applying, the odds are still smaller than other unis and many good candidates have to be turned away as there is a limited number of places. I am now going to one of my other uni options and love the uni I am now going to just as much as I did Oxford. Open days are good for this but so are the websites.

Read around your course. Is there a specific part of physics you like? Maybe read books or listen to podcasts about it. It is a good talking point on the personal statement and is good fun to.

Believe in yourself. Applying to uni is an exciting and nervous time. Talking to students in the year above helped me.

This is just my own advice, my application in the end was unsuccessful, but thought this might help anyway. Good luck and enjoy Alevels

Do you have any advice for picking a college because they all look so good?! Thank you for the detailed response

Do you have any advice for picking a college because they all look so good?! Also just being curious what could you have done differently when you applied? Thank you for the detailed response

I went to an open day in September yr13 with my parents as they hadn’t seen the uni and I wanted to see more colleges. I visited Magdalen, Merton, LMH,Baliol, St Annes and Somerville college. There are many more but to many to visit on open day. Some are older buildings, like Baliol and Magdalen (very much like Harry Potter style), others like LMH and Somerville I newer builds but still have a lot of history and character, and some are like St Anne’s and St Catherine’s, which are modern/recently built colleges and are very friendly to. It wasn’t an important factor in my decision but did help as I was stuck between picking which college as they are all so good. Consider how many years accommodation are available at each college. Some have accommodation for the entire course, some just for 1st and last years (where you find your own accommodation in 2nd year). I personally wanted accommodation as many years on site as possible, but if you prefer to be more independent and live with friends you meet at uni in 2nd year, maybe consider that. Distance from department is important. Some colleges like Keeble are very close to the physics department whereas some like St Hughs are a 20 min walk away (took me 20 min). You might want to be close to lectures or further away to separate home and work more (but you also receive small group tutorials in your college itself). I think most colleges have an online alternative prospectus, which I found to be useful.

It is possible to get an interview at a college you didn’t pick. I picked Merton college but had interviews at Jesus college and St Hughs, which are both lovely colleges. I think there are more simularities than differences between colleges.

For things looking back on what I would have done differently, I would have practiced speaking through maths problems in more stressful situations. I stumbled a lot in my maths interview as I got really nervous. The interviewers were both really nice though and did everything they could to help. I would also have focused more on the maths side of my PAT revision, though that was a personal weakness of mine so may not be applicable to everyone. Your not allowed to use the Casio Classwizz calculator/graphical calculators in the PAT, but it’s used by a lot of people for there a levels, before the PAT, get used to using the GCSE level Casio calculator (check the specification on the calculator on the PAT online page). I think the PAT is what ultimately let down my application. I requested feedback and my PAT score was low compared to successful applicants.

Whilst it initially hurt to have received the result I did (I wasn’t expecting to get in, but you do get very invested in the process), I’m still very glad I applied. Interviews were a brilliant experience, and I am now in contact with my course friends from the uni I’m now going to and wouldn’t trade it for the world. The hardest step I found to applying to Oxford is the initial bravery to do so, but I promise in all cases I’ve heard, both successful and non successful have turned out good in the end, so if you like the uni, go for it.

Do you have any advice for picking a college because they all look so good?! Also just being curious what could you have done differently when you applied? Thank you for the detailed response