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Canadian Intl. Student Help

yk2007

Hi guys, new to the student room so please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong because I'm so used to reddit.

I'm a grade 11 student in Vancouver, Canada meaning I graduate next year. I've been exploring my university options and feel like Oxford Maths + CS or Maths will be the perfect fit for me because of the tutorial system, modules offered, community, etc.

I still have 1 year left to develop my math skills, super curricular activities as well as my personal statement and was wondering what I should be doing in that year. I know that as an international student, it would be much harder for me to get into Oxford.

I know that Oxford doesn't care about your extra curricular activities, but Canadian universities do so I'm trying to do both extra curricular and super curricular activities during my free time.

Here is what I have done so far:

What I think are my "super" curriculars:

- Taken university level classes at local uni (linear algebra, differential equations, biomathematics, graph theory, etc.) My school only offers AP Calculus BC and I wanted to make sure I'd be ready for Oxford level math education
- Mentorship with professor. I've contacted a local university professor and had him as my mentor last summer and have made different Python code to simulate biological situations
- Participated in lots of math contests, with small awards but nothing notable. I got close to qualifying for the Canadian Math Olympiad but unfortunately missed cutoff :C trying again this year
- Teaching Python courses at a local academy and developing my own curriculum. Data science, statistics, NumPy, etc. (Paid work experience)
- Helped create an engineering curriculum for ~1 year for 5/6 year old kids (Paid work experience)
- Started my own coding camps at local libraries teaching kids Scratch, Python, Robotics, etc. (Volunteer experience)

What I think are my "extra" curricular:

- Ski instructor at local mountain
- Adaptive snow school instructor (volunteer), teaching sit skiing, students with autism, etc.
- Club leader for school

I'm hoping to gain research experience before coming to Oxford through my local university and maybe a summer project.

Are these the types of things UK unis want to see? I've been tailoring my applications mainly for US/Canada so I'm not too sure if this is what they mean by "super" curricular activities I could talk about in my essays.

Reply 1

normaw

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

Welcome to TSR :smile:

. I have moved your post to the Oxford forum to help you get some replies.

Reply 2

BetaVersion2.9

Looks as if you have a good grasp of the difference between extracurricular and super curricular. Your extracurricular activities are exactly the type of thing Oxford is looking for, and continuing these and other academic activities should make for a strong personal statement. Not true that as an international student it's more difficult to get into Oxford, as they're only interested in people with a good academic ability and potential, regardless of background or nationality. Good luck!

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