Good Enough for Oxbridge?
Hello, I am currently in year eleven, post-exams, and researching universities. I have always wanted to go to Oxbridge, but always brushed it off, thinking I am not clever or impressive enough to get in, but now I am considering it again.
For GCSE's, I am predicted an A*/A in everything, except for maths, for which I am predicted 2 B's. Next year, I'm doing 4 A-levels, humanities and arts subjects, including English Literature, which is what I want to study at university.
For extracurriculars, I do not have many. I have been a member of many choirs, and have been a part of a few musicals/shows. I have won many writing competitions, mainly creative, and have written a few pieces for my local newspaper, and a few sketches for children's Christmas shows. I have a part-time job at a local café. I did my year 10 work experience at a freelance research company last year.
By the time I finish sixth form, I am hoping to have achieved a grade 6 or 7 in piano, and a grade 8 in singing. I will continue to enter writing competitions and be apart of choirs, etc.
Is there anything more I could be doing? Any writing competitions I could enter, creative or essays? Recommendations for things I could read?
Mainly, is there any advice you could give me over the next couple of years to better my chances?
For GCSE's, I am predicted an A*/A in everything, except for maths, for which I am predicted 2 B's. Next year, I'm doing 4 A-levels, humanities and arts subjects, including English Literature, which is what I want to study at university.
For extracurriculars, I do not have many. I have been a member of many choirs, and have been a part of a few musicals/shows. I have won many writing competitions, mainly creative, and have written a few pieces for my local newspaper, and a few sketches for children's Christmas shows. I have a part-time job at a local café. I did my year 10 work experience at a freelance research company last year.
By the time I finish sixth form, I am hoping to have achieved a grade 6 or 7 in piano, and a grade 8 in singing. I will continue to enter writing competitions and be apart of choirs, etc.
Is there anything more I could be doing? Any writing competitions I could enter, creative or essays? Recommendations for things I could read?
Mainly, is there any advice you could give me over the next couple of years to better my chances?
Reply 1
First of all, oxbridge personal statements are more focused on academic achievement and interest specifically in the field, rather than unrelated extracurricular activities. Essay competitions would be a good idea for a personal statement if you want English lit.
However if you want your musical skill to have more interest to them: find a church, cathedral or classical ensemble to sing in. If you want to express preference / apply to an ancient college at Oxford or Cambridge (rather than having an open application), being part of a serious choir in the work part of your UCAS application could indicate interest in having a choral award. It's best that you're still in the choir by the time of your application. You could also just say you want to sing in a chapel in your personal statement if you're dead-set on oxbridge, but it could jeopardise your chances with mid-safe courses on your UCAS.
Even if you're not religious, choral awards give you a bursary and free meals and you get to sing and even tour. Colleges individually look through applicants, and those with a strong chapel tradition may be interested in your application if you have an interest in choral music.
Church choirs are easy to get in and you need a reference from the director to apply to choral award. At Cambridge you apply after you get your offers. There is more information on the application process from Oxford and Cambridge, but generally Oxford colleges have a stronger chapel tradition. The Cambridge colleges with chapel traditions are King's, St John's, Gonville and Caius, Jesus, Trinity, Queens, St. Catherine's etc. There are also organ scholarships, but they look for people with Grade 9 in piano and they are VERY competitive. The number of organ players isn't decreasing as much as people say it is.
However if you want your musical skill to have more interest to them: find a church, cathedral or classical ensemble to sing in. If you want to express preference / apply to an ancient college at Oxford or Cambridge (rather than having an open application), being part of a serious choir in the work part of your UCAS application could indicate interest in having a choral award. It's best that you're still in the choir by the time of your application. You could also just say you want to sing in a chapel in your personal statement if you're dead-set on oxbridge, but it could jeopardise your chances with mid-safe courses on your UCAS.
Even if you're not religious, choral awards give you a bursary and free meals and you get to sing and even tour. Colleges individually look through applicants, and those with a strong chapel tradition may be interested in your application if you have an interest in choral music.
Church choirs are easy to get in and you need a reference from the director to apply to choral award. At Cambridge you apply after you get your offers. There is more information on the application process from Oxford and Cambridge, but generally Oxford colleges have a stronger chapel tradition. The Cambridge colleges with chapel traditions are King's, St John's, Gonville and Caius, Jesus, Trinity, Queens, St. Catherine's etc. There are also organ scholarships, but they look for people with Grade 9 in piano and they are VERY competitive. The number of organ players isn't decreasing as much as people say it is.
Reply 2
Original post by Anonymous
Hello, I am currently in year eleven, post-exams, and researching universities. I have always wanted to go to Oxbridge, but always brushed it off, thinking I am not clever or impressive enough to get in, but now I am considering it again.
For GCSE's, I am predicted an A*/A in everything, except for maths, for which I am predicted 2 B's. Next year, I'm doing 4 A-levels, humanities and arts subjects, including English Literature, which is what I want to study at university.
For extracurriculars, I do not have many. I have been a member of many choirs, and have been a part of a few musicals/shows. I have won many writing competitions, mainly creative, and have written a few pieces for my local newspaper, and a few sketches for children's Christmas shows. I have a part-time job at a local café. I did my year 10 work experience at a freelance research company last year.
By the time I finish sixth form, I am hoping to have achieved a grade 6 or 7 in piano, and a grade 8 in singing. I will continue to enter writing competitions and be apart of choirs, etc.
Is there anything more I could be doing? Any writing competitions I could enter, creative or essays? Recommendations for things I could read?
Mainly, is there any advice you could give me over the next couple of years to better my chances?
For GCSE's, I am predicted an A*/A in everything, except for maths, for which I am predicted 2 B's. Next year, I'm doing 4 A-levels, humanities and arts subjects, including English Literature, which is what I want to study at university.
For extracurriculars, I do not have many. I have been a member of many choirs, and have been a part of a few musicals/shows. I have won many writing competitions, mainly creative, and have written a few pieces for my local newspaper, and a few sketches for children's Christmas shows. I have a part-time job at a local café. I did my year 10 work experience at a freelance research company last year.
By the time I finish sixth form, I am hoping to have achieved a grade 6 or 7 in piano, and a grade 8 in singing. I will continue to enter writing competitions and be apart of choirs, etc.
Is there anything more I could be doing? Any writing competitions I could enter, creative or essays? Recommendations for things I could read?
Mainly, is there any advice you could give me over the next couple of years to better my chances?
sorry to break it to you but no im better than you at everything in a UUU student got a music degree and they wont let me in so why would they let you in
Reply 3
Original post by Anonymous
Hello, I am currently in year eleven, post-exams, and researching universities. I have always wanted to go to Oxbridge, but always brushed it off, thinking I am not clever or impressive enough to get in, but now I am considering it again.
For GCSE's, I am predicted an A*/A in everything, except for maths, for which I am predicted 2 B's. Next year, I'm doing 4 A-levels, humanities and arts subjects, including English Literature, which is what I want to study at university.
For extracurriculars, I do not have many. I have been a member of many choirs, and have been a part of a few musicals/shows. I have won many writing competitions, mainly creative, and have written a few pieces for my local newspaper, and a few sketches for children's Christmas shows. I have a part-time job at a local café. I did my year 10 work experience at a freelance research company last year.
By the time I finish sixth form, I am hoping to have achieved a grade 6 or 7 in piano, and a grade 8 in singing. I will continue to enter writing competitions and be apart of choirs, etc.
Is there anything more I could be doing? Any writing competitions I could enter, creative or essays? Recommendations for things I could read?
Mainly, is there any advice you could give me over the next couple of years to better my chances?
For GCSE's, I am predicted an A*/A in everything, except for maths, for which I am predicted 2 B's. Next year, I'm doing 4 A-levels, humanities and arts subjects, including English Literature, which is what I want to study at university.
For extracurriculars, I do not have many. I have been a member of many choirs, and have been a part of a few musicals/shows. I have won many writing competitions, mainly creative, and have written a few pieces for my local newspaper, and a few sketches for children's Christmas shows. I have a part-time job at a local café. I did my year 10 work experience at a freelance research company last year.
By the time I finish sixth form, I am hoping to have achieved a grade 6 or 7 in piano, and a grade 8 in singing. I will continue to enter writing competitions and be apart of choirs, etc.
Is there anything more I could be doing? Any writing competitions I could enter, creative or essays? Recommendations for things I could read?
Mainly, is there any advice you could give me over the next couple of years to better my chances?
Hello!
As has been noted above, an Oxbridge personal statement would be more academic-focused than extra-curricular focused. As you'd be applying for English Lit, you'd want to show breadth and depth of reading that goes beyond your school syllabus. Reading some Old/medieval English texts might be helpful, as I believe those topics are still covered (and perhaps even mandatory still!) at Oxford. Not familiar with Cambridge, perhaps someone else can comment on their course.
So the main thing at this stage would be to start reading widely and make little notes about what you read, e.g. what are the main arguments/topics spoken about in what you read; how convincing do you find the author/poet/playwright's arguments, and how things you read compare and contrast, or link together.
It may be good to read some literary criticism too, though I'm afraid I have no recommendations to give you (I studied music at Oxford).
Good luck and remember there are loads of other great unis to choose from too, so don't get too fixated on Oxford or Cambridge
Reply 4
Original post by Anonymous
Hello, I am currently in year eleven, post-exams, and researching universities. I have always wanted to go to Oxbridge, but always brushed it off, thinking I am not clever or impressive enough to get in, but now I am considering it again.
For GCSE's, I am predicted an A*/A in everything, except for maths, for which I am predicted 2 B's. Next year, I'm doing 4 A-levels, humanities and arts subjects, including English Literature, which is what I want to study at university.
For extracurriculars, I do not have many. I have been a member of many choirs, and have been a part of a few musicals/shows. I have won many writing competitions, mainly creative, and have written a few pieces for my local newspaper, and a few sketches for children's Christmas shows. I have a part-time job at a local café. I did my year 10 work experience at a freelance research company last year.
By the time I finish sixth form, I am hoping to have achieved a grade 6 or 7 in piano, and a grade 8 in singing. I will continue to enter writing competitions and be apart of choirs, etc.
Is there anything more I could be doing? Any writing competitions I could enter, creative or essays? Recommendations for things I could read?
Mainly, is there any advice you could give me over the next couple of years to better my chances?
For GCSE's, I am predicted an A*/A in everything, except for maths, for which I am predicted 2 B's. Next year, I'm doing 4 A-levels, humanities and arts subjects, including English Literature, which is what I want to study at university.
For extracurriculars, I do not have many. I have been a member of many choirs, and have been a part of a few musicals/shows. I have won many writing competitions, mainly creative, and have written a few pieces for my local newspaper, and a few sketches for children's Christmas shows. I have a part-time job at a local café. I did my year 10 work experience at a freelance research company last year.
By the time I finish sixth form, I am hoping to have achieved a grade 6 or 7 in piano, and a grade 8 in singing. I will continue to enter writing competitions and be apart of choirs, etc.
Is there anything more I could be doing? Any writing competitions I could enter, creative or essays? Recommendations for things I could read?
Mainly, is there any advice you could give me over the next couple of years to better my chances?
“I am not clever enough to get in” - Your GCSE grades will probably be significantly above the average applicant, especially if you are applying to a humanities subject there, most are nowhere near as competitive as the STEM ones nor do you have to be super clever. If you can get strong A-Level grades too then you’ll be in an even better position. Good luck.
There doesn't seem to be any indication you couldn't apply successfully in terms of grades so you're absolutely fine on that front.
As noted generic extracurriculars are actually of little interest to Oxford and Cambridge, and they have stated this many times. They really are most interested in what you have done specifically in relation to the course you plan to study and how you've explored it beyond the A-level syllabus (if it's a subject available at A-level).
So they really want to see you do wider reading in your subject area first and foremost, and that you have critically analysed and reflected on that reading. Aside from that, so-called "supercurricular" activities such as in this area essay competitions can be valuable ways to explore your interest but they recognise not all students have equal opportunity to pursue those so it's really just something that is worth keeping an eye out for your own sake.
My understanding as above is that both Old English and Middle English language and literature are compulsory at Oxford in first year, and at Cambridge at least Middle English language and literature are compulsory. Oxford also has a route through the course to focus on English philology and material text/manuscript studies kind of approaches (at Cambridge this stuff is more within the ASNAC course I believe though). So reading some material from those periods (even in a modern translation/rendering) might be helpful.
Also at some point in A-level familiarising yourself with some critical/literary theory might be useful. People seem to really like Terry Eagleton's book for that, when I had to do a literature adjacent module and I wanted some exposure to that I personally liked the Bennett & Royle book. I got "Beginning Theory" recently which also seems decent from the bits and pieces I've read so far. Any one of those (or something similar) might be worth having a browse through sometime. Cambridge I have heard emphasise "practical criticism" a lot in their course as well so that might be something to explore if applying there...?
Otherwise as noted just read widely in literature beyond the A-level syllabus - try and read across a range of time periods and genres/formats, avoid just reading e.g. Regency era novel(la)s for example! Plays and poetry are also important, classical comedy/tragedy were very influential in modern literature in English so reading some Greek tragedy in translation might help you understand how that very structured approach shaped later literature, and reading e.g. the metaphysical poets like John Donne or Middle English poetry like Pearl can help you appreciate some of the breadth of literature in English (and invariably you will cover both at either uni I expect). Although the courses are both focusing on literature in English, reading some world literature (or classical literature as noted) in translation can be illuminating also I'm sure to understand how narrative structures of Western literature in English are not universal perhaps.
Also for some broader contextual information it may be interesting to read a bit about the history of the printing press, development of the (concept of) the book, and how texts were written and transmitted before that (i.e. some idea about manuscripts and how they were produced/shared, and how this impacts our reception of earlier texts from that era - textual critcism, stemmatology and palaeographical considerations might be interesting to explore informally and help shape your understanding of how we get current critical editions of texts).
As noted generic extracurriculars are actually of little interest to Oxford and Cambridge, and they have stated this many times. They really are most interested in what you have done specifically in relation to the course you plan to study and how you've explored it beyond the A-level syllabus (if it's a subject available at A-level).
So they really want to see you do wider reading in your subject area first and foremost, and that you have critically analysed and reflected on that reading. Aside from that, so-called "supercurricular" activities such as in this area essay competitions can be valuable ways to explore your interest but they recognise not all students have equal opportunity to pursue those so it's really just something that is worth keeping an eye out for your own sake.
My understanding as above is that both Old English and Middle English language and literature are compulsory at Oxford in first year, and at Cambridge at least Middle English language and literature are compulsory. Oxford also has a route through the course to focus on English philology and material text/manuscript studies kind of approaches (at Cambridge this stuff is more within the ASNAC course I believe though). So reading some material from those periods (even in a modern translation/rendering) might be helpful.
Also at some point in A-level familiarising yourself with some critical/literary theory might be useful. People seem to really like Terry Eagleton's book for that, when I had to do a literature adjacent module and I wanted some exposure to that I personally liked the Bennett & Royle book. I got "Beginning Theory" recently which also seems decent from the bits and pieces I've read so far. Any one of those (or something similar) might be worth having a browse through sometime. Cambridge I have heard emphasise "practical criticism" a lot in their course as well so that might be something to explore if applying there...?
Otherwise as noted just read widely in literature beyond the A-level syllabus - try and read across a range of time periods and genres/formats, avoid just reading e.g. Regency era novel(la)s for example! Plays and poetry are also important, classical comedy/tragedy were very influential in modern literature in English so reading some Greek tragedy in translation might help you understand how that very structured approach shaped later literature, and reading e.g. the metaphysical poets like John Donne or Middle English poetry like Pearl can help you appreciate some of the breadth of literature in English (and invariably you will cover both at either uni I expect). Although the courses are both focusing on literature in English, reading some world literature (or classical literature as noted) in translation can be illuminating also I'm sure to understand how narrative structures of Western literature in English are not universal perhaps.
Also for some broader contextual information it may be interesting to read a bit about the history of the printing press, development of the (concept of) the book, and how texts were written and transmitted before that (i.e. some idea about manuscripts and how they were produced/shared, and how this impacts our reception of earlier texts from that era - textual critcism, stemmatology and palaeographical considerations might be interesting to explore informally and help shape your understanding of how we get current critical editions of texts).
(edited 10 months ago)
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