What should i do to get in engineering at oxford university?

Hello!

I am a student going into Year 12 this September and I wanted to know what kind of super-curricular activities, work experiences or competitions were available either virtually or in-person for engineering that would be useful in my personal statement when applying for top university such as Oxford. Which engineering books are also recommend to read?

Lastly, what would a top student's Oxford University application consist of? I know good grades are essential but what are the other main things that one may forget.

If you could help, it would really mean so much to me!

Why is the course at Oxford of interest?

Edit; I read your comment wrong.. do you mean i should include why it is my interest or tell you why

I just wondered why you are looking at Oxford ... it doesn't offer a year in industry for example.

Doing well in the PAT will probably be the main requirement to be invited to interview. assuming you meet grade/subject requirements. So preparing for that would realistically be more important than any "supercurricular" activity you could pursue and should not be neglected!

You don't need work experience, and while participating in e.g. science fairs or mathematical competitions may be something you can discuss in your personal statement they also aren't required. If they are available to you by all means do see if you can explore them. If you're in the UK the UKMT competitions for the maths side or science fairs like the Big Bang Fair might be worth looking into.

thank you for your help!! do you think for UKMT and other competitions, would it be worth mentioning even if i dont get gold/1st?

Being a daughter of immigrant parents who never got to go to university, one of the only things that I could do for all their help would be going to Oxford! Also, I believe that in the career prospects way, going to Oxford might allow me to gain an advantage (?) when looking for jobs by future employers (if i ended up graduating first class). +Its been a dream of mine to go there since I was very young lol

For Engineering, assuming you want to work in industry, experience and accreditation is key - the uni you go to is not looked at all.

Reality of the matter is that there's a strong chance Oxford won't read you personal statement. That being said, you should find things related to engineering you find interesting, and go read about them or listen to podcasts about them. You then mention them in your PS, why you found it interesting and what you did after that to develop your interest more (so what did you read after this and what did you find out etc). For STEM courses, there is a strong chance they won't look at the personal statement at all and focus more on objective measures, although this isn't always the case, just more generally for their more mathsy courses. For engineering jobs, going to Oxford probably won't be as advantageous as other universities which offer years in industry, if you want to work outside of engineering in say law or consulting, Oxford will help a lot more.
FYI the grade you would need from oxford is a 2:1, a first is great, but isn't going to be outwardly more useful for many industries than say extra-curriculars or work experience.

I was thinking of working in software and completing a masters at imperial and maybe do an internship while doing my undergraduate. do you think that it could make up for it? Also, do you mean by 'oxford wont read my ps' that they focus more on grades than ps?

I was personally thinking of going into software or aeronautical so do you think if i did an internship for 1/2 years while going to university it would be of any benefit? i am also thinking of completing a masters at imperial

If your interested in software, id think you’d be better off looking at computer science type degrees.

im not sure which one yet... i might do aeronautical. thats why i dont want to commit to a cs degree :/

I was thinking of working in software and completing a masters at imperial and maybe do an internship while doing my undergraduate. do you think that it could make up for it? Also, do you mean by 'oxford wont read my ps' that they focus more on grades than ps?

for oxford, the majority of people have great grades, and a strong PS / reference. what they care more about is how you do in the admissions tests and interviews.

i think the idea is you should be doing super curricular activities because you enjoy them - because they’re a way of learning more about something you are interested in. not just to fill up your personal statement.

I think you won’t get the same depth if you try and switch to CS later on, and it would be easier for you if you can find your preferred degree earlier.


That said the bachelors & switch program for masters is very viable either way, ive seen a few people move onto both CS & aero programs having come from alternative analytical bachelor courses.

If you want to get relevant internships it will make life harder but it’s unlikely to be the end of the world either way.

A year in industry is better - I would suugest an MEng [integrated masters]