University of Oxford 2024 Undergraduate Applicants Official Thread

Welcome all new applicants and re applicants.Just a last minute reminder Oxford Open days are tomorrow and Thursday 29th of June.Do go along if you can it is the best way of getting a feel for if Oxford is for you and to check out some potential colleges you might end up applying to.
No booking just turn up.Timetables for subject talks are available on the website of University of Oxford and colleges will have their own meet the tutors set ups and accommodation tours.
There is a final open day on Sept 12th during Autumn term.

I’m pretty sure it’s Sept 15th in the Autumn term
In which case, that’s a Friday, so you may need to pull some strings with your sixth forms/colleges to get permission to go.

I think you are both correct. There is one in June and another in September. If you are considering Oxford I strongly recommend you to go along. You may be pleasantly surprised. I am a single mum, whose children were on free school meals at primary level. Yet when they went up to Oxford they were surprised by how welcoming the place was and with students of all nationalities and backgrounds. If you are very hard working and keen on your subject, why not apply?

thanks for setting up this thread @TypicalNerd and I hope students visiting this thread will benefit from talking to each other. Then there is scotney and I who will be happy to answer if we can.

Absolutely agreed.

I’m also around if anyone has any questions regarding applying for chemistry at Oxford or reapplying to Oxford following an unsuccessful first attempt.

I will just point out there is a code of conduct and that will restrict what questions I am allowed to answer - especially in relation to interviews.

Subject applying for ~ Biochemistry
College applying to ~ New College probably, still debating with Exeter though.
A-Levels/ Equiv taking ~ Biology, Chemistry, History, French
Predicted/ Achieved grades (A level/ eq)~ A*A*A*A*
Achieved GCSE/ Equiv grades ~ 10 grade 9s, 2 grade 8s
Why Oxford? ~ I love the city and it has the more specific science courses that I prefer, I’d initially been looking at Cambridge Natsci but decided that just biochemistry at Oxford was the better fit.

Subject applying for ~ chemistry
* College applying to ~ Somerville
* A-Levels/ Equiv taking ~ chemistry, mathematics, and philosophy
* Additional qualifications (if any) - EPQ
* Predicted/ Achieved grades (A level/ eq)~ A*A*A*
* Achieved GCSE/ Equiv grades ~ 10 grade 9s
* Why Oxford? ~ I think that the small-scale tutorial system will suit me very well.
* Why that college? (if you know why) ~ Somerville was lovely on the open day (and you're allowed to walk on the grass!).
* State/Private/Grammar/Home ~ state school.

Hello, I’m a physics offer holder Fingers crossed my A Levels will be enough to go to uni T-T
Feel free to ask me anything about applying too

what were your a level predicted grades if you dont mind me asking

I do physics, chem, maths, further maths, predicted 4A* (well my school made us do maths A Level in year 12 if we’re FM people which I got an A* in so ye)

Will college did you apply to and why if you don’t mind saying. Thanks

Chemistry is an amazing choice of course (no bias ofc) and Somerville has an amazing library, which makes it a good option imo. Furthermore, the two chemistry tutors at Somerville are wonderful.
https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/course/chemistry/

A little bit of (unsolicited) advice- I’d really recommend looking at getting hold of a copy of the book “Chemistry^3: introducing inorganic, organic and physical chemistry”, if you can. It is really accessible and provides a nice introduction to some of the material covered in undergraduate chemistry courses. Furthermore, if you are taking the chemistry Olympiad, it provides really good explanations of some of the recurring topics, such as unit cells.