FAQs: School Advice
How difficult is it to get into Oxbridge?
There used to be a joke about Oxbridge entrance. At some colleges, so they said, when you went for interview, they’d throw a rugby ball at you. If you caught it, you were in. Nowadays, a rugby ball may still occasionally be tossed around at interview, but only in the context of philosophical speculation or a mathematical equation.
Oxford and Cambridge have been Britain’s leading universities for over 800 years, famed for their scholarship, networking opportunities and eminent alumni. Until recently, however, as well as training lawyers, clergymen and educators, the ancient universities were partially run as finishing schools for upper-class young men. This is categorically no longer the case.
Are these the right universities for you?
For many A Level students, and even more for many parents, Oxbridge is the pinnacle of their academic aspirations, the sine qua non of a university education and a recognised path to fame and fortune. But Oxbridge is certainly not for everyone (even some of the brightest) and it certainly won’t guarantee riches, or even a job.
There are, of course, many reasons to go to Oxford or Cambridge, not least of which is the beauty of the architecture, but the primary and central benefit of the education offered here is the tightly focused nature of the teaching. All students are taught by tutorial, either one-to-one or in very small groups. To undergo that intensity of education you need to be thoroughly interested in a specific subject and happy to produce a heavyweight volume of work. Many eighteen year olds are still relatively undecided about their intellectual interests and many too would rather dedicate the period between school and work to a more even-handed balance between study and play.
No matter how great your passion for a subject, however, there’s no point applying to Oxbridge unless you are already extremely well qualified academically. It’s not obligatory to have straight A*s at GCSE but, particularly since the ongoing tweaking of the entry requirements, the higher your AS grades the more likely you are to get in.
As well as a proven academic track record, you will also have to have chosen appropriate A Levels. Both Oxford and Cambridge prefer applicants with at least three A Levels in academically demanding ‘hard’ subjects like English, Maths, Chemistry or History, since it’s felt these demonstrate a candidate’s ability to think. Successful science applicants almost invariably have three science A Levels and hose hoping to study medicine will require Chemistry amongst their subjects. Certain other subjects, too, have specific A-level requirements.
The Application
The Oxbridge admissions process is complex, with different deadlines to other UCAS universities. It also requires a passion for form filling that will certainly put off all but the enthusiast.
Before an applicant can even start the paper trail they will have to choose between Oxford or Cambridge (only those applying for an Organ scholarship can apply to both), and they will generally have had to made a decision about their preferred college.
Applicants must first fill out their UCAS form, UCAS Personal Statement and Open Reference and then submit a separate application to either Oxford or Cambridge.
The Oxbridge application form requires candidates to name a preferred college ( though they may delegate that choice to the university) and to provide an additional personal statement.
If the university is interested in a student, he or she will usually be required to submit examples of written work either in the subject they are planning to study or in a related field (for example, if your applying to read PPE, you might submit a History essay). Some colleges and some subjects ( particularly the arts and social sciences) will also require you to sit an additional test, a non subject-specific paper to assess critical thinking and problem solving, which may be sat in advance of the interview or during the interview period.
Those applying for Medicine at Oxford and Cambridge or Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge will have to fill in the form for the Biomedical Admission test or BMAT, which is sit at school or college before the interview period. Only those performing sufficiently well in this test will eventually be granted an interview. Those applying for Law will have to sit the LNAT, and this too provides a pre-interview edit.
Candidates who have already completed their A Levels may put in their application in September and will be interviewed early, but the bulk of candidates, applying in their A2 year, will be expected to have their application in by October and will be called for interview in December. Oxford makes its offers in December, Cambridge in January.
Choosing the university, the subject and the college
Oxford and Cambridge are both world-class educational institutions with international reputations, outstanding facilities and cutting-edge research, but they do have significant differences in approach and atmosphere. Oxford is a bustling small city, while Cambridge is a quiet country town.
The structure of the degree and the courses they offer also differ. Some courses (Land Economy, for example) and some combinations of subjects (Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)) are only offered at one university or the other. And even the same subject may be differently taught. Modern Languages at Cambridge tends to be more linguistic, while Oxford is more literary.
Cambridge, too, offers the Tripos system, in which its degrees are split into two blocks, Part 1 and Part II. Usually this subdivision allows undergraduates to move from a broad overview to a specialist focus, but it can also provide the opportunity to move from one subject to another, History of Art, say, to Philosophy.
Even well-guided sixth formers can find choosing a college particularly traumatic, which is hardly surprising since Oxford has 30 to select from, Cambridge a scarcely more manageable 29.
Most colleges now have informative websites with details of their history, tutors, financial support and accommodation. The many college Open Days will give you a 3D-flavour and University guide books, such as those published by The Times and The Guardian, provide a handy college-by-college analysis. Subject-specific booklets are also available and furnish useful insight into the specialist interests of academics in a particular college.
Having said that a passion for your subject is a pre-requisite, a certain amount of strategic planning in your subject choice will certainly further your chances of success. Architecture, Law and Veterinary Medicine have a particularly low rate of offer per applicant (under 15 per cent) while Classics, Anglo-Saxon and Earth Science admit about half of those who apply. The universities’ admissions sites give a break down of statistics in each subject.
Both Oxford and Cambridge rank their colleges according to the number of Firsts they achieve in any given year, Oxford in The Norrington Table, Cambridge in The Tompkins Table. Colleges nearer the top of the tables tend to be richer and harder to get into. Medicine, for example, at Jesus, Oxford, near the top of the table, has had almost three times as many applicants over the past seven years as Medicine at St Peter’s, which is much lower down.
You have to be aware, too, that not all colleges offer all subjects, and even those that do may not offer the same number of places. Oxford have now formalised a more centralised admissions system and all colleges who offer the same subject will now consult, before and after interview, to ensure that appropriate candidates are not handicapped by their choice of college.
If no one in your family and few from your school have been to university, you can apply to Cambridge by means of the Cambridge Special Access Scheme. Applications are put in in the normal way but(yet another) form will be included from your school which describes your individual circumstances. Oxford operates a similar scheme.
The Interview
A very high proportion of applicants (about 90 per cent) are interviewed, though a candidate may not be given an interview if their grades, school reports or submitted work are not sufficiently good to give them a reasonable chance of success.
For most candidates the interview is the most intimidating part of the application, particularly if they come from a school which does not specifically prepare them for what to expect.
Cambridge has certainly done its best to demystify the process and have produced a 25-minute film, viewable on line, which gives candidates in both arts and sciences a clearer picture of how the interview will be conducted.
Interview candidates come up to the university for two or three days and most are interviewed by at least two people, generally on two separate occasions. Each interview lasts about 20 minutes.
By the interview stage, the interviewer will have seen the candidates personal statement plus submitted schoolwork and/or specifically written tests, but these will only be used as a starting point for discussion.
‘The point of the interview is to discover whether the student has a brain outside what they’ve learnt at school,’ says one English don, who regularly interviews prospective candidates. ‘It’s our job to weed out the polished performers who’ve been pushed to a supreme plateau, but will then idle for three years, walk off with a rubbish 2.2 and go off and work in a bank.’
This don, too, underlines the fact that interviews are primarily about your mind not your extracurricular activities. ‘Virtually every personal statement makes out that the candidate is Mahatma Gandhi, cultivates ferrets and has done the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Frankly, our view is, that’s nice for you, but what’s it got to do with us?’
Nervous candidates should be comforted, however, if their ‘mind’ does not show to best advantage on the day. ‘The interview is only part of the selection procedure,’ says one admissions tutor. ’It’s as much about your track record and how you’re going to do in your A levels.’
Some candidates will not be offered a place by their first choice college, but will have sufficiently impressed their interviewers to be considered by another college. At Cambridge about one in six applicants will go into what is known as The Pool and, of these, about 20 per cent will later be offered places, either after a further interview or without one.
Offers are made quite quickly after the interviews takes place and applicants who already have their A-Level grades will be given a confirmed place. Those in their A2 Year will be offered a conditional place. Most conditional places demand three grade As, though occasionally candidates will be offered something slightly lower.
If, your grades are ultimately not as high as expected, you may sometimes be accepted anyway, if not at your first choice college, then elsewhere at the university.
If you fail to get a place (and the chances are always high) both Oxford and Cambridge are happy to provide feedback to the head of your school or the person who wrote your report. If this feedback is sufficiently encouraging and your heart is still set on Oxbridge, it can sometimes be worth going through the whole process again after you’ve received your results.
What you can do to prepare
The best academic schools in the country (the ones that send 10-50 successful candidates to Oxbridge each year) often provide specialist preparation both for the application and for the interview.
‘We don’t do specific training for Oxbridge entrance,’ says the head of sixth form at league-table-topping North London Collegiate School. ‘But what we do offer in Year 13 is preparation for a university course in a particular subject, whichever university the girl is applying for. We prepare them to be brilliant at their subject. Everyone, too, has a mock interview with someone from outside the school.’
For those without such well-developed sixth forms, the answer can sometimes lie in the specialist businesses set up to help candidates with everything from the choice of course to interview technique.
‘I attended a one-day interview seminar,’ says Oxford fresher Jo Campbell, whose Hertfordshire comprehensive provided little in the way of application advice. ‘I found it very useful in dealing with the kind of question I was later asked.’
The universities, not surprisingly, are unenthusiastic about these businesses and generally tell parents they are wasting their money. But, while it is, of course, essential to choose a reputable supplier, there seems little doubt that some of these outfits are well staffed with knowledgeable experts who may well further your chances of an Oxbridge place.