Advice for Year 12 applying for Oxford chemistry

Hi! I have just finished my undergrad in Chemistry at the University of Oxford and I have over 150 hours of tutoring experience including in oxbridge admissions. I would be happy to chat about any/all aspects of the application process, help with personalstatement writing, and specific subject tutoring. Feel free tomessage me if interested!

I’m in Year 12 currently and aspiring to study chemistry at Oxford university. What draws me in especially is that after suggestions from my teachers to aim higher, I looked at the different courses and modules offered (such as theoretical and medicinal chemistry) and they really appealed to me! I love the broadness of the degree program too. This has really motivated me to work hard and prepare for applying to MChem entry.
Recently, I was on a chemistry program held at Balliol college where I had the opportunity to experience the atmosphere at one of their colleges as well as have a biochemistry/chemistry tutorial session (I especially enjoyed this and think this type of learning suits me!). We were also given pre-reading prior in order to let us experience what it’s like for actual students.
My A-levels are maths, further maths, chemistry and biology (predicted 4A*s). For GCSEs, I performed very strongly at a large state school. So, I’m mainly focusing on preparing for the interview which is really the make or break in an obtaining a successful offer. Could I please get advice from applicants, offer holders or students about what the interview was like and how to prepare? I have started to make a checklist of information and help I’ve received so far. Also, which college you applied to (as I heard that could make a difference) and general thoughts regarding Oxford chemistry? Thank you so much- any help would be really appreciated!!

Hi! I have just finished my undergrad in Chemistry at the University of Oxford and I have over 150 hours of tutoring experience including in oxbridge admissions. I would be happy to chat about any/all aspects of the application process, help with personalstatement writing, and specific subject tutoring. Feel free tomessage me if interested!

Just so you are aware, there is a code of conduct applicants to Oxford are required to follow and so we can’t give exact details of our interviews (i.e what we were asked etc).
I have just finished my first year of MChem chemistry at Oxford. I got in on my second attempt having been previously rejected after making an open application (I was assigned St Hugh’s as a first college and St Hilda’s as a second). I applied to Magdalen, was interviewed by Magdalen and Somerville, got an open offer from Queens and yet somehow I ended up at St John’s lol. Any advice given is based on what I did right the second time and in hindsight having messed up the first.
I personally used Olympiad round 1 past papers (and some round 2 past papers I had access to from when I got in to round 2 in 2022, but I believe these are resources that unless you are a round 2 participant yourself, you unfortunately won’t be able to access) to get practice applying what I had learnt at A level to unfamiliar situations and taught other students material from the A level course to get practice with improving my communication and articulation skills. As your interviews are only about half an hour long, you need to know how to boil down your explanations to make them as relevant and concise as possible.
I’m sure you’ve heard thousands of times that the interviewers need you to think out loud - and this advice is really important. Make sure you explain assumptions you make in calculations, why you have reached x conclusion etc etc - even if you use erroneous reasoning, you will still at least make it clear that you can at least independently think about a problem and it makes it quicker and easier for your interviewers to give you more specific and helpful prompts where necessary.
If you have any questions about my experience of the first year of the course, feel free to ask away. Just note that I’m not very active on TSR any more and so expect slow responses from me.

With your achievements I definetelly feel that you can get an interview, you just need to crack the interview, which I think with practice ull defo be able to do. I also heard that chemistry at oxford has one of the highest acceptance rates out of all their courses, so it will be easier to get in than others.

Hi, thanks so much for your reply and how much detail you’ve put in for your experience! I’ve recently just finished school, DofE and I’m abroad currently so I’ve haven’t been on TSR for a while too. Thanks for the suggestion of using Olympiad papers- our school doesn’t enter us for them unfortunately but I’ve had a look and will definitely be solving more of those questions to develop my communication skills for chem. Something I’d like to ask is if during your first year, the content taught is broad- by that I mean if you study all areas of organic, physical and inorganic chemistry before specialising afterwards? Or will the second year also be similar? I’ve heard you will eventually be able to select modules you want to study and I’m just wondering when that will be. I really appreciate your response!

You study the three core disciplines of chemistry in depth and you are also taught any maths you likely won't have covered previously that will be necessary for first year. So at the end of the year, you are required to sit four preliminary exams (one in each of the core fields of chemistry and one in maths).
The second year is similar, but you can elect to take a supplementary course and you have fewer maths lectures - and once these are done, you don't need to study maths outright again. At present, there is just one supplementary course per field of chemistry (chemical crystallography for inorganic, quantum chemistry for physical and aromatic and heterocyclic pharmaceutical chemistry for organic).
Third year does appear to involve taking core material as well, but this time you get to pick multiple options and these are all assessed on the part IB options paper. This is presumably what you've heard about.

Hi, thanks so much for your reply! I’ve recently just finished school, DofE and I’m abroad currently so I’ve haven’t been on TSR for a while. I think the main area that I would like to focus on is the interview process; I’ve heard that because they don’t have an admissions exam for chemistry, it has the heaviest weighting in receiving an offer. Also, around 80% of applicants will receive an interview invitation. I’ve made a Google document that has a wide variety of topics which has come up in interviews from people who’ve had them (not specific questions as I know they’re not allowed to share) so I know what to look out for. I really appreciate your help!!

Hi, I'm also looking to apply for chemistry! If there are any resources on interview questions or advice for a standout PS I would love them 🙂

Look at the link I put in reply #11 on this thread. It will take you to a post with model answers to interview questions I had made up earlier on that same thread. Bear in mind they can ask you anything from both AS and A2 chemistry and ordinary A level (pure) maths, so there may be some questions that will not be fully accessible to you yet.
As for a standout PS, I will have a think and see if I can remember everything that I put in mine and why. A few things I do remember:
-I had read parts of "chemistry^3: introducing inorganic, organic and physical chemistry" by Burrows et al. and the chapter on hydrogen mentioned that hydrogen can behave as a metal under certain conditions due to the existence of H2^+ cations. I then explained that I found this odd as such cations shouldn't be able to exist if the model for covalent bonding taught at A level is to be applied and so it prompted me to look into MO theory as an alternative explanation.
-I discussed my favourite practical in A level chemistry (preparing a series of transition metal complexes) and how it provided an insight into how transition metal complexes could be prepared for purposes such as catalysis.
-I explained how mentoring other students in chemistry had benefited me academically and how I had been proactive about providing resources for my classmates.
-Because I had got into round 2 of the UK chemistry Olympiad in 2022, I discussed how it had given me an insight into what studying chemistry at university is actually like and how much I enjoyed the experience, which I later used to justify that chemistry at uni would be a good fit for me. Obviously getting into round 2 of the chemistry Olympiad is bloody hard and is not expected of you as a result, but you can still get a good insight into what uni chemistry is like using things like MOOCs (oh and by the way - don't mention university open days, these don't count as supercurriculars and really don't help you to stand out) and you can use similar reasoning.
I would also remind you that for Oxford chemistry, the PS is not the be all and end all of your application and it usually isn't the most important metric in deciding whether you land a place or not.

Hi, Thanks a lot for the quick response! Are there any specific skills they look for?

If you don't mind sharing, which topics are these?

Since 70 percent of applicants get called in for interviews, I'm wondering (as chem has such high requirements on the first place) which applications would get rejected at all?

Those who struggle in the interviews and lose sight/miss the point of what the questions are actually asking.
The questions may well be solvable with A level knowledge, but understanding how the A level material is useful and how it relates to the unfamiliar scenario the interviewer has asked about is what proves to be most applicants undoings as far as I know.
The interviewers are essentially testing their applicants to see if they have what it takes to apply what knowledge they have to a level that would benefit them in a tutorial, rather than assessing whether the applicant has mastered the methods required to ace their A levels. As such, many students with strong sets of grades get rejected because they are good at acing exams, but not quite able to demonstrate a sufficient capacity to think beyond what is required at A level or otherwise show that the tutorial system would just not benefit their learning style.