Maths personal statement help
I’m currently in y12 and i’m hoping to study Maths at a top uni such as oxford. I’m really struggling with finding supercurriculars to do. I’m not eligible for any outreach programmes such as the sutton trust summer schools.
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
Scroll to see replies
Reply 1
Hi, would you be eligible for stemettes or a different residential programme?
Reply 2
21
Original post
by AnonymousI’m currently in y12 and i’m hoping to study Maths at a top uni such as oxford. I’m really struggling with finding supercurriculars to do. I’m not eligible for any outreach programmes such as the sutton trust summer schools.
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
Have you looked at the supercurriculars on oxford and cambridge maths pages?
There are some example lectures, you could start the step foundation stuff, do some of the ukmt stuff, have a read through a basic maths history book or work though some older/elementary maths or ....
It really depends on what youve already done / what youre interested in. The main thing is to do some stuff yourself.
Reply 3
12
Gresham College lectures are great, im in year twelve and I love them, although they can be long
Reply 4
21
For maths/oxbridge, extracurriculars are irrelevant and while work experience is possible, it will contribute little to the maths supercurriculars which is what the ps should be about.
Reply 5
Original post
by AnonymousI’m currently in y12 and i’m hoping to study Maths at a top uni such as oxford. I’m really struggling with finding supercurriculars to do. I’m not eligible for any outreach programmes such as the sutton trust summer schools.
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
MAT preparation can probably wait until the start of summer holiday, because if you start too early you won't have learnt enough Maths from A level to be able to access the questions.
Reply 6
11
You may be interested in this: MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge (M3 Challenge)
Reply 7
Original post
by sound-famous-MAT preparation can probably wait until the start of summer holiday, because if you start too early you won't have learnt enough Maths from A level to be able to access the questions.
That's too late - we start at Easter ...
Reply 8
I applied for maths at cambridge (waiting post interview).
You could try focusing on maths-adjacent supercurriculars as well, like coding, cryptography or even something more abstract like puzzles (I talked about rubik's cubes). If you don't have enough just plain maths stuff (I know I didn't), you could always start a club, I hear top uni's like that stuff. It doesn't have to be just maths, maybe a multidisciplinary club and just talk about the maths part on your personal statement. Good luck, and honestly you have plenty of time.
You could try focusing on maths-adjacent supercurriculars as well, like coding, cryptography or even something more abstract like puzzles (I talked about rubik's cubes). If you don't have enough just plain maths stuff (I know I didn't), you could always start a club, I hear top uni's like that stuff. It doesn't have to be just maths, maybe a multidisciplinary club and just talk about the maths part on your personal statement. Good luck, and honestly you have plenty of time.
Reply 9
Original post
by est2002Hi, would you be eligible for stemettes or a different residential programme?
I’ll take a look at them thankyou!
Reply 10
Original post
by thjellyfishpiI applied for maths at cambridge (waiting post interview).
You could try focusing on maths-adjacent supercurriculars as well, like coding, cryptography or even something more abstract like puzzles (I talked about rubik's cubes). If you don't have enough just plain maths stuff (I know I didn't), you could always start a club, I hear top uni's like that stuff. It doesn't have to be just maths, maybe a multidisciplinary club and just talk about the maths part on your personal statement. Good luck, and honestly you have plenty of time.
You could try focusing on maths-adjacent supercurriculars as well, like coding, cryptography or even something more abstract like puzzles (I talked about rubik's cubes). If you don't have enough just plain maths stuff (I know I didn't), you could always start a club, I hear top uni's like that stuff. It doesn't have to be just maths, maybe a multidisciplinary club and just talk about the maths part on your personal statement. Good luck, and honestly you have plenty of time.
Thanks i might look into some cryptography! Just out of interest what made you choose cambridge over oxford if you don’t mind sharing 😁
Reply 11
Original post
by AnonymousThanks i might look into some cryptography! Just out of interest what made you choose cambridge over oxford if you don’t mind sharing 😁
Nothing special, just visited Cambridge when I was in y10 and thought it looked nice. I think the course is slightly more pure maths, or at least there are paths into more pure areas of maths. im sure oxford has that as well just maybe to a lesser extent. I also think maybe it has a slightly higher reputation (tiny difference though) for stem subjects. And obviously its further away from swindon than oxford 😀
Reply 12
Original post
by AnonymousI’m currently in y12 and i’m hoping to study Maths at a top uni such as oxford. I’m really struggling with finding supercurriculars to do. I’m not eligible for any outreach programmes such as the sutton trust summer schools.
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
I’m also in year 12, and in a similar situation to you 😭😭 I don’t have much that I’ve done so far other than UKMT competitions, but I got quite an interesting book for Christmas called “Mathematics and the Imagination”. I don’t know if it will be that useful, but I’m a couple chapters into it and it’s quite entertaining!! It’s a pretty relaxed book, not too difficult to read, so I thought you might be interested.
good luck!Reply 13
Don’t be too worried about supercurriculars. Try taking a couple hard lectures or courses that you can find online and write about your experience. Also try enter any maths competitions you can find, and check Oxford website for their reading lists and advice. Other than that just get really good grades and you’ll be fine
Reply 14
12
hey, i got into oxford maths a few days ago so can tell you what i did. i went to a state grammar school but no widening participation criteria applies to me. i hope some of these are applicable to you.
if you’re a girl, st. john’s women in maths summer camp is great or you could apply for the murray edwards step summer school. i think there is a trinity-christ one too.
if you do physics, senior physics challenge run by isaac physics is open to anyone but you have to come in the top 50 to qualify. you can link it to maths easily.
i read the book “how not to be wrong” by ellenberg. and that was it.
imo reading books isn’t as important as learning from them and doing further research- you can just find a random book in a library and pick a topic/problem out. for example i learned more about spherical geometry and taught a lesson about it.
also i just found a random topic from watching youtube vids (the use of number theory in cryptography) and decided to do a deep dive into it- ended up writing an essay which i entered to a competition and giving a presentation.
youtube vids such as 3 blue 1 brown or numberphile are good if you want interesting maths problems at the right level.
I started MAT prep in september. i only did the step foundation modules before that. it worked for me but different things work for different people so can’t prescribe anything.
a side note- even if no criteria applies to you, you can technically still apply just in case.
good luck!
if you’re a girl, st. john’s women in maths summer camp is great or you could apply for the murray edwards step summer school. i think there is a trinity-christ one too.
if you do physics, senior physics challenge run by isaac physics is open to anyone but you have to come in the top 50 to qualify. you can link it to maths easily.
i read the book “how not to be wrong” by ellenberg. and that was it.
imo reading books isn’t as important as learning from them and doing further research- you can just find a random book in a library and pick a topic/problem out. for example i learned more about spherical geometry and taught a lesson about it.
also i just found a random topic from watching youtube vids (the use of number theory in cryptography) and decided to do a deep dive into it- ended up writing an essay which i entered to a competition and giving a presentation.
youtube vids such as 3 blue 1 brown or numberphile are good if you want interesting maths problems at the right level.
I started MAT prep in september. i only did the step foundation modules before that. it worked for me but different things work for different people so can’t prescribe anything.
a side note- even if no criteria applies to you, you can technically still apply just in case.
good luck!
Reply 15
Original post
by lucyy06hey, i got into oxford maths a few days ago so can tell you what i did. i went to a state grammar school but no widening participation criteria applies to me. i hope some of these are applicable to you.
if you’re a girl, st. john’s women in maths summer camp is great or you could apply for the murray edwards step summer school. i think there is a trinity-christ one too.
if you do physics, senior physics challenge run by isaac physics is open to anyone but you have to come in the top 50 to qualify. you can link it to maths easily.
i read the book “how not to be wrong” by ellenberg. and that was it.
imo reading books isn’t as important as learning from them and doing further research- you can just find a random book in a library and pick a topic/problem out. for example i learned more about spherical geometry and taught a lesson about it.
also i just found a random topic from watching youtube vids (the use of number theory in cryptography) and decided to do a deep dive into it- ended up writing an essay which i entered to a competition and giving a presentation.
youtube vids such as 3 blue 1 brown or numberphile are good if you want interesting maths problems at the right level.
I started MAT prep in september. i only did the step foundation modules before that. it worked for me but different things work for different people so can’t prescribe anything.
a side note- even if no criteria applies to you, you can technically still apply just in case.
good luck!
if you’re a girl, st. john’s women in maths summer camp is great or you could apply for the murray edwards step summer school. i think there is a trinity-christ one too.
if you do physics, senior physics challenge run by isaac physics is open to anyone but you have to come in the top 50 to qualify. you can link it to maths easily.
i read the book “how not to be wrong” by ellenberg. and that was it.
imo reading books isn’t as important as learning from them and doing further research- you can just find a random book in a library and pick a topic/problem out. for example i learned more about spherical geometry and taught a lesson about it.
also i just found a random topic from watching youtube vids (the use of number theory in cryptography) and decided to do a deep dive into it- ended up writing an essay which i entered to a competition and giving a presentation.
youtube vids such as 3 blue 1 brown or numberphile are good if you want interesting maths problems at the right level.
I started MAT prep in september. i only did the step foundation modules before that. it worked for me but different things work for different people so can’t prescribe anything.
a side note- even if no criteria applies to you, you can technically still apply just in case.
good luck!
This was so helpful thank you so much!! i’m currently applying for the Christ’s Trinity residential, this is a bit random but when answering the question about exploring maths beyond the curriculum, should i state what i’ve done or write it in a more personal statementy way? Congratulations on your oxford offer
Reply 16
12
Original post
by Ruby1234565432This was so helpful thank you so much!! i’m currently applying for the Christ’s Trinity residential, this is a bit random but when answering the question about exploring maths beyond the curriculum, should i state what i’ve done or write it in a more personal statementy way? Congratulations on your oxford offer
errr hard to say. i def wasn’t point blank stating them it was more like i’d say what i did, link it to something else and say why i enjoyed it. flow was more important than getting everything in there for me
Reply 17
Original post
by AnonymousI’m currently in y12 and i’m hoping to study Maths at a top uni such as oxford. I’m really struggling with finding supercurriculars to do. I’m not eligible for any outreach programmes such as the sutton trust summer schools.
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
I’m worried since i have pretty much nothing to write about in my personal statement and i’m half way through y12.
Does anyone know of any maths books which aren’t overused in personal statements or any programmes which don’t require widening participation criteria and are free (except the leaf courses).
Are there any good lectures online which a y12 could understand?
Also when is a good time to start looking at MAT questions?
Any help is much appreciated thankyou!
https://thinkingbeyond.education/beyondquantum/
Try applying for this! I did this last year (I applied theoretical physics) but there's a very heavy focus on advanced calculus and maths and its uses in quantum fields. It's quite an intense programme but utterly fantastic and I learnt a ton, it was honestly the best thing I've done so far to help my learning in physics/maths fields outside school. You end up doing a research project which I wrote a lot about on my personal statement, and you can pick more maths- tending research projects as there's a lot of choice, I would highly highly recommend giving it a go!
Reply 18
Original post
by Anonymoushttps://thinkingbeyond.education/beyondquantum/
Try applying for this! I did this last year (I applied theoretical physics) but there's a very heavy focus on advanced calculus and maths and its uses in quantum fields. It's quite an intense programme but utterly fantastic and I learnt a ton, it was honestly the best thing I've done so far to help my learning in physics/maths fields outside school. You end up doing a research project which I wrote a lot about on my personal statement, and you can pick more maths- tending research projects as there's a lot of choice, I would highly highly recommend giving it a go!
Try applying for this! I did this last year (I applied theoretical physics) but there's a very heavy focus on advanced calculus and maths and its uses in quantum fields. It's quite an intense programme but utterly fantastic and I learnt a ton, it was honestly the best thing I've done so far to help my learning in physics/maths fields outside school. You end up doing a research project which I wrote a lot about on my personal statement, and you can pick more maths- tending research projects as there's a lot of choice, I would highly highly recommend giving it a go!
I was thinking about applying to this programme but I'm not entirely sure how it's realistic for an a-level student. Not only is it a big time commitment (12-14 hours a week) but it drags on into as-level exams. I'd like some advice on how you managed to do it (stay on top of a-levels etc), is it flexible (i.e can you watch the lectures at different times to the schedule), is the content manageable, and any tips for an applicant?
(edited 9 months ago)
Reply 19
Original post
by DiscreteAnalysisI was thinking about applying to this programme but I'm not entirely sure how it's realistic for an a-level student. Not only is it a big time commitment (12-14 hours a week) but it drags on into as-level exams. I'd like some advice on how you managed to do it (stay on top of a-levels etc), is it flexible (i.e can you watch the lectures at different times to the schedule), is the content manageable, and any tips for an applicant?
Unfortunately the lectures weren't flexible as you join in real time in order to be able to ask questions/participate in discussions but for me they were all scheduled in the evening (like 8-10pm) so I didn't find it clashed with anything especially as I do several extracurriculars earlier in the day, and so I kind of worked around with frees and at points before the lectures in the evening to get my studying done. It is a big commitment but once you get past the first couple weeks with the initial lectures stage, the research stage is far more flexible (I had A level mocks when producing my research project so I just did the project on weekends and maybe 2 evenings a week and managed to come out with good grades). It was a lot of work so if you go for it it's a huge commitment but I thought for the quality of learning and lectures and people I got to work with and be mentored to through it that it was worth it by far for me.
In terms of tips for an applicant, I talked about some books I'd read, a MOOC on quantum physics and some activities I learnt through an Oxford Particle Physics lecture day, so maybe mention anything like that. With the notion stage, I basically did the tasks as written on the guidance with a little extra research around each, and I remember I also talked about a lot of python and other programming languages I knew (but especially python as they use that in the course) and I talked about some of my own python projects I'd done in my own time. Hopefully some of that helps!
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