advice for applying to oxbridge

hii i'm in year 12, studying art, history and english literature, predicted to get 2a*a-3a*s, and want to apply to cambridge in particular, but i'm concerned that art is considered a soft subject and not very strong, so i was wondering if it would hinder my application? i'd apply for history at uni. if there are any tips for getting into cambridge i'd really appreciate them!

Ooo. I can answer this one. I got an engineering offer last week for the university and although its not exactly the same as yours my advice is still relevant. For now, all you have to do is learn and learn to talk. This will cover both your personal statement and interview when you get around to it. To find stuff to learn when you are at oxbridge level simply talking about what you like about your current courses and so the universities like to talk about super curriculars. These are like extra curriculars but academic. This could be through things such as essay writing competitions or just plain reading. You don’t have to win the competitions but just have to say that you did them. Reading wise to start off, go to some of the college websites and find reading lists for History or whatever you end up choosing. Try and read 5 to 10 books before personal statement time and learn to talk about them to absolutely anyone that will give you an ear for 5 mins. This will let you pick out your favourites as shown through what you talk about the most. Then when it comes to personal statement writing you can choose these books to go with but make sure they aren’t directly from the reading lists as you will look a little vanilla (I did this last year accidentally and got rejected but accepted this year going a little more interesting). Also a tip for the personal statement is try to make it flow. Link up things so is reads well and allows a seamless transition between topics. Any other questions just chuck them in the thread and I can try answer them. Also in terms of Art. The university really doesn’t care as long as its not required specifically. I know someone that got into Oxford Law after doing Psychology, Biology, and Chemistry.

Hey, if anything Art A-Level is super rigorous!! I’m an offer holder who took Media Studies (applied for English) so I don’t think you have much to worry about )

wow this is so helpful!! just curious, how many of the reading list books should i aim to read? i do quite a few extracurriculars and i'm working on some super curricular stuff too so i don't have huge amounts of time to read these books. how do i go about sourcing the book? academic books are super expensive and so i don't want to break the bank buying a million of them

wow this is so helpful!! just curious, how many of the reading list books should i aim to read? i do quite a few extracurriculars and i'm working on some super curricular stuff too so i don't have huge amounts of time to read these books. how do i go about sourcing the book? academic books are super expensive and so i don't want to break the bank buying a million of them

hii i'm in year 12, studying art, history and english literature, predicted to get 2a*a-3a*s, and want to apply to cambridge in particular, but i'm concerned that art is considered a soft subject and not very strong, so i was wondering if it would hinder my application? i'd apply for history at uni. if there are any tips for getting into cambridge i'd really appreciate them!

hey! i recently got an offer for law at cambridge, and do maths, history, and art. i think my tips will show you that you can do little but still get an offer, albeit you have the grades (im predicted 3A*s and you seem to be on track for that, so youre fine). a key thing to keep in mind is that cambridge interviews 70-80% of applicants, so as long as you meet their requirements, you should be guaranteed an interview. my friend has an offer for history at cambridge, and her main advice for interview was that every night for around 2 weeks before her interview, she would find a random historical source and try and talk about it for at least 5 minutes; you need to think as creatively as possible for this, even if what youre saying sounds absurd, and then maybe try and tie in your analysis to wider historical facts youre aware of to show academic prowess. for my personal statement, i mentioned 2 books (i didnt read either, just summaries, but that is very risky and you probably shouldnt do that), as well as 2 academic articles, and an essay competition i had entered. i wouldnt try and 'stand out' in your personal statement, because you will probably end up going against what they are looking for; the main thing to do is to show your insights and opinions into what you have read, dont just list facts. i disagreed with one of the books i read partly, and then connected that to something i read as a result of this to find out more, and that is exactly what they are looking for. remember its a PERSONAL statement: still make it heavily academic (i usually see the 80:20 rule thrown about, but mine was more like 100% academic), but ensure you are using your own opinions/interpretations of the supercurriculars you have included. best of luck!!

Hi!! I really don't want to come off as nosy or too pushy, but did you do any other extracurriculars which you mentioned/ played a significant part in your application? Which books did you read? I'm in Y10 and Cambridge is my absolute dream but I never know if I'm doing enough, so if you could let me know then I'd really appreciate it

hii i'm in year 12, studying art, history and english literature, predicted to get 2a*a-3a*s, and want to apply to cambridge in particular, but i'm concerned that art is considered a soft subject and not very strong, so i was wondering if it would hinder my application? i'd apply for history at uni. if there are any tips for getting into cambridge i'd really appreciate them!