Personal statement dilemma for Oxford

If Biology is your preferred course of study, why are you planning to apply for Earth Sciences at other universities? You will have to choose one course or the other eventually. Decide before you apply and you can write a personal statement focused on one course, which will be substantially better for all of your university applications.

Agree with the reply above. However, you could try developing an interest in palaeo-biology, looking at long term evolution and how environmental change has accelerated or stopped evolution.

Honestly- i thonk it would be useful to decide which is your greater priority, and if your determined to study biology at oxford, focus heavily on biology, find a couple linking topics to earth sciences and mention those. Be cautious as if you attempt to balance both biology and earth sciences it will be difficulty to seem committed to one, go through an overall lens of biology consistently even whilst mentioning earth sciences. If you have strong grades and a strong personal statement you have a strong chance of getting into oxford, dont dilute your passion for biology just in case you dont get in! good luck xx

Most of the courses I want to apply to next year are Earth Science degrees but I also would like to apply for Oxford for Biology. I know they are quite a bit different but I'm interested in both types of course and am predicted to get the right grades in the right subjects for both courses. However on the Oxford website it says 'You are unlikely to be shortlisted for interview if your personal statement does not make it clear that Biology is your preferred course of study'. (How) can I make it clear that biology is my preferred course of study without neglecting earth sciences in my personal statement? Getting into Oxford would be a dream come true for me, but I'm just worried if I don't get in and my personal statement is just talking about Biology rather than Earth Sciences. Any advice appreciated, thank you!