English Lit Application

Hello,
I'm an American student interested in applying to Oxford for English Language and Literature. If anyone else has done this, could y'all tell me a little about the application process, your stats and your extracurriculars? Also the admissions test?
-thanks

Reply 1

xyz1234567

The ELAT admissions test isn’t happening this year, so that is one less thing to have to think about.

Extra curriculars (in the sense of interests unrelated to your studies, like sports and music) are not relevant to admissions. Super curriculars (eg what you have done to explore your subject beyong the school curriculum) are. These don’t have to be fancy - reading widely, listening to podcasts, reading secondary literature, are all perfectly fine, you don’t have to have entered competitions and won prizes. The point of them is that you can reflect on them in your personal statement and explain how they have affected the way you think about the subject.

Reply 2

waidh7

Hi, I’m a UK student planning to apply for English Lit at Cambridge, so we’re in a similar-ish boat!

As the person above me said, your preparation will be almost completely focused on your extra reading/supercurriculars - extracurriculars like music, sport, or hobbies will end up being maybe just a sentence or two at the end of your personal statement.

The way that I would recommend approaching it is thinking about an area of literature you love. This could be absolutely anything - theoretical approaches like postcolonial or Marxist readings, the human condition in literature, pastoral literature - essentially the thing that made you first interested in English literature. Once you’ve decided, read, read, read! Look at books, plays and poetry from different periods, listen to podcasts, watch lectures, read criticism and literary magazines etc. The main body of your personal statement will be your personal response/reflections. What have you looked at? What interesting ideas did you pick out? What did it lead you to read next? What links have you seen with other works? Show them you’d make an excellent student of literature because you’re curious and can think intelligently and independently about what you read.

You can find examples of past Oxford and Cambridge applicants’ personal statements here - they give a pretty good indication of the type of wider reading and prep they want to see.

Anyway, sorry for the essay. If you have any question please let me know cause I’m happy to answer anything :smile:

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 3

dumbbutmotivated

tysm that’s very helpful! I’ve been getting really into postmodernist philosophy through my debate program which I suppose is a supercurricular in that case?

Reply 4

Stiffy Byng

In that case, try this, from Beyond The Fringe, a very Oxbridgy satirical show of the early 1960s. Alan Bennett MA (Oxon) and Jonathan Miller MB BChir (Cantab) here impersonate every single Oxford Don in the history of the university. T S Eliot gets a mention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVQrpok9KPA