Getting over it (A level edition)

Oxford reject 🔥 Imperial incoming, maybe?
Aiming for 3A*s, realistically getting 3 Us
Past papers to do!
Maths: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 P1, P3, 2023
Chemistry: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Physics: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 P1, P2, 2023
Completed!
Maths: 2017, 2018, 2022 P1
Chemistry: 2017, 2018
Physics: 2022 P3
Plans for after A levels?
Clapping professors at Oxford open day 👏 and meeting Thriving Frog irl 🦦

Which subject did you apply for at Oxford? Perhaps you should re-apply with your A-Levels achieved this October again?

I applied for chemistry, my interview scores were 5.5 and 5.5... lowest offer my college made was 6 and 5.5
I'm considering reapplying, only if I get 3A*s
Otherwise, I'm going imperial for chemistry 😇
(Unless if I somehow get lower than 3As 😭)

Imperial is arguably just as good as Oxford for chemistry. I wouldn’t take a year out just to apply to Oxford again. You might get rejected again, and there is no guarantee that you would get into Imperial again either. Not worth it in my opinion, unless you wanted to take a gap year anyway for some other reason, like travelling.

I know that it's a big risk, I'm not expecting to get into Ox either if I were to reapply, the only condition that I would 'consider' gap yearing, would be if I were to get 3A*s.
I want to get good at maths and chemistry before starting university. Mainly, because I'm worried I'm going to struggle in imperial's course with only A level maths knowledge, as I want to take Maths and Physics part 1. I'm hoping to specialise in physical and organic chemistry, and maybe pursue a master's at Ox instead. I know that imperial's physical chemistry department is one of the best in the world.
And I think taking a year out to recover from mental health struggles, getting my thyroid problems diagnosed (suspected Hashimoto's, but GP won't do anything until I get clinical hypothyroidism, which chances of developing are increasing 5% per year ) and chronic coccyx pain properly diagnosed as well, would be beneficial before starting uni.
I'd also be doing tech/business internships in possibly Germany, and travelling, if I were to gap year.

I applied for chemistry, my interview scores were 5.5 and 5.5... lowest offer my college made was 6 and 5.5
I'm considering reapplying, only if I get 3A*s
Otherwise, I'm going imperial for chemistry 😇
(Unless if I somehow get lower than 3As 😭)

You could study A-Level Further Maths on the Edexcel examboard as they have so many resources online. Because you will cover most of the Core Pure 1 and 2 content in your first year of your degree and perhaps take Further Mechanics 1 and Further Decision 1 papers for the optional papers, since they have the least content.

Just returning to TSR for a very brief moment… don’t worry, I’ll be disappearing again soon lol

If you are planning on taking a gap year anyway for the sake of health, then you may as well reapply to Oxford if you are still absolutely convinced it is still where you wish to end up. You have four other spaces on UCAS that you can fill with “safer” choices and you presumably weren’t too far off an average offer holder’s performance in the interviews. My experience was that filling out the UCAS application and preparing for the interviews was much quicker and easier the second time round, if that is of any reassurance.
If you do reapply, do:
-Go to open days (if you can) for Oxford, Imperial and any other universities that appeal.
-Read around the subject. I recommend “Chemistry^3” by Burrows et al and the first quarter of “Organic Chemistry” by Clayden et al.
-Use RSC chemistry Olympiad past papers and C3L6 chemistry challenge past papers to practice problem solving before interviews.
-See if you can get mock interviews.
-Keep your maths skills sharp. This can be done by occasionally doing past papers, the edexcel IAL ones were my go-tos.
-Ask your school if you can use their buzzword for UCAS (and possibly do your interviews there if you cannot access all the technology needed for them).
And also, don’t:
-Reapply to the same Oxford college(s) that interviewed you or make an open application (unless you were interviewed by typically oversubscribed colleges).
-Do absolutely nothing in the way of studying.
-Apply only to Oxford (and Imperial). I applied only to Oxford in my gap year and realise just how dumb that was.
Lastly, if you don’t reapply to Oxford, then there is no shame in making that choice. There are plenty of brilliant universities out there and right now, it sounds as though you are taking the correct steps to ensure a strong set of A levels and to weigh up your options. Keep doing the amazing work and I’ll return around results day to see how things are going.

Many thanks for the advice, always appreciated!
If I were to make a study plan for a gap year, it'd be:

Looking forward to hearing from you again ʕノ•ᴥ•ʔノ

Back again lol… seriously for the last time lmao
That is a good plan. My thoughts and recommendations on each point are as follows:
-Calculus is really worth doing beyond an A level standard. For functions you didn’t have to graph at A level, generally it would be helpful to practice differentiation in full so you can spot things like turning points more easily and it would be smart to cover limits, too. I recommend looking at physics and maths tutor and Bicen maths to see what they have for Edexcel FP1 as you will need to know the Taylor series and L’Hôpital’s rule. It may also be wise to look at partial derivatives (not in further maths at all afaik) and vectors (in FP1 and CP1/2 as well), as these are the first things you will cover maths-wise in the course.
-Those are good choices. maybe read the first few chapters of each and then cherry pick the later chapters based on what you find interesting.
-Doing A level maths/chem stuff and C3L6/RSC olympiad papers is wise. It may also be a good idea to try explaining concepts from the A level stuff to someone who is less familiar with it, if that is at all possible.

Thank you so much!!
I've already visited St John's twice on two open days, I'll definitely come visit the chemistry section in the tea and tutors event next open day if you're there.
I've talked to Professor Robert Hoye before, and he seemed very nice, but I think I gave a bad first impression lol, asking about Vallance's research , but he gave a brief description about his research and the work he does instead, which was very interesting also. My friend mistook him for another sixth former and asked him what he wanted to do at uni , and he seemed bemused but very chill about it. It was quite funny. I have a friend who's in 3rd year now, at St John's doing biochemistry. But we haven't talked for ages...

I'll consider it, thanks, but I think I'd rather spend my time learning the maths and physics, namely quantum mechanics as well, required for the course rather than worrying about another A level exam. But it's annoying that some colleges have a preference to people with furthermaths, which I think was part of the reason I was rejected, having seen that the vast majority of people of the college, all with 4 A levels, I applied to who've received offers having done fm.

I can give you the Edexcel Further Maths eBooks in the cloud online. 🙂

I know how I said the last post would be my last one (ofc until A level results day), but I think it is probably necessary for me to say that I have considered being around for open days, but I’m not entirely sure how permitting my schedule is likely to be.
Rob is amazing and his research is fascinating. I doubt you created a bad impression of yourself in front of him, as you did at least show that you are interested in the research conducted at Oxford. I mean if you want to talk about creating bad impressions, in my one and only conversation with him, I asked Dr Josef Boronski (a fellow at St John’s whose research has involved the synthesis of some weird organometallic complexes) if in all his research, he had determined whether diberyllocene tastes nice (iirc he seemed rather unfazed and commented that unfortunately he didn’t yet have an answer to that question).
Whilst I would recommend talking to a physchem tutor (ideally professor Vallance herself), there currently isn’t a permanent one at St John’s and I am not sure whether the other colleges you may consider visiting have tea and tutors events.

Ah, well I'm most likely going to the first open day to meet Thriving Frog, so hope to see you there, and if not no worries

Yeah, he seems like a great guy. I suppose that they probably get all sorts of questions on a daily basis, but it's all very cool to get to talk to them about it in person.

There's a meet the tutors event for every college, I'm not sure whether any that I'm interested in will clash this year. I'm considering st Peter's, st catz, lmh etc. but they all seem to be a quite long walk away from central. Last time I walked to st catz and my feet were hurting quite badly at the end of it 🤣

Hey I wanted to ask why u wanted to study chem I’m currently in yr12 and I don’t know what to do tbh I really do want to study chem but idk I if there is a lot u can get out of a degree in chem im not quite sure abt the careers u can get into that’s y I was also considering studying chem eng as I do enjoy maths and chem a lot and the physics seems calm and there’s a lot of career opportunities u can get out of it I just don’t know if that’s the same for chem

Current Oxford Chemist here.
There are plenty of job opportunities accessible after both chemistry and chemical engineering.
If memory serves, most chemistry graduates who do not go into research or further study tend to go on to become chartered accountants/into the finance sector, practice patent law or go into teaching/the education sector. Of course, this is far from a comprehensive list of possible job opportunities and a better list can be found here: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/chemistry.
A similar list can be found here for chemical engineering: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/chemical-engineering
I personally have an interest in going into research, with a particular focus on catalyst design and transition metal chemistry (i.e specialising into inorganic chemistry). If you are struggling to decide on a job you like the sound of now (which is perfectly fine), then I would urge you to compare and contrast roughly what both degrees entail as they are different and you may find the material covered in one is much less appealing than the other.