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English at U of Oxford- entry requirements- is this enough

Hi, my daughter (State school in Scotland) wants to do English in University and wanted to apply for Oxford. Her Scottish Highers results just arrived and she has got AAAAB with A English/History/French/Drama and B in Art.
She is doing Advanced Highers in English/History and a Higher in Philosophy.
Are these grades enough to apply and will she stand a chance or should she just look elsewhere?
Thanks
Original post by helpfuldad
Hi, my daughter (State school in Scotland) wants to do English in University and wanted to apply for Oxford. Her Scottish Highers results just arrived and she has got AAAAB with A English/History/French/Drama and B in Art.
She is doing Advanced Highers in English/History and a Higher in Philosophy.
Are these grades enough to apply and will she stand a chance or should she just look elsewhere?
Thanks

It looks like they expect AAAAB in highers plus then AA in two advanced highers and either a B in a third AH or an A in a further higher in S6. So provided she gets As in S6 she seems to be on track in terms of the paper application.

Obviously in terms of preparation for the course and wider reading for the personal statement and interview, I don't know what she's done. Generally it's a good idea to read widely, and particularly worth looking at some medieval material as this is mandatory for the first year of the course there (and optionally one can specialise in this entirely). Chaucer, Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Dream of the Rood, and Beowulf are common texts I believe so looking at one or two texts from those might be useful to gain some more breadth - otherwise the course ranges across basically the entire breadth of English literature as a time period so just whatever literary texts are of interest beyond the curriculum are probably appropriate.

Might also be worth her looking at some critical theory (e.g. some kind of introductory literary criticism and theory book - I liked Bennett & Royle as a non-English student but English students seem very fond of the Terry Eagleton book) to sharpen her literary analysis skills.
Reply 2
Original post by artful_lounger
It looks like they expect AAAAB in highers plus then AA in two advanced highers and either a B in a third AH or an A in a further higher in S6. So provided she gets As in S6 she seems to be on track in terms of the paper application.

Obviously in terms of preparation for the course and wider reading for the personal statement and interview, I don't know what she's done. Generally it's a good idea to read widely, and particularly worth looking at some medieval material as this is mandatory for the first year of the course there (and optionally one can specialise in this entirely). Chaucer, Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Dream of the Rood, and Beowulf are common texts I believe so looking at one or two texts from those might be useful to gain some more breadth - otherwise the course ranges across basically the entire breadth of English literature as a time period so just whatever literary texts are of interest beyond the curriculum are probably appropriate.

Might also be worth her looking at some critical theory (e.g. some kind of introductory literary criticism and theory book - I liked Bennett & Royle as a non-English student but English students seem very fond of the Terry Eagleton book) to sharpen her literary analysis skills.

Thank you. So helpful. Much appreciated.

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