Getting accepted to study at Oxford or Cambridge is no easy task. Even if you are extremely smart, it will still be difficult to enter, competing with the best in the world. Being well prepared will help you enter these two prestigious universities.
Steps
Step 1. Decide if Oxbridge is right for you
You could consider the best universities abroad or other specialized universities (eg Mechanical Engineering).
Step 2. Decide if you are going to dedicate yourself fully
You will have to work over 40 hours a week on some subjects, so make sure you are ready to work hard.
- Do not take 5 A levels (types of English diplomas to prepare for university) in the last year. Most universities will expect you to get 3A due to the workload and will not accept you for that reason. Unless you prove to be extremely intelligent, the odds are against you. Do extra work for 3 more subjects, instead of just sticking to the schedule of 4.
- Middle school diplomas are often used to distinguish between participants based on the high number of excellent grades obtained. Oxbridge is unsure about the reliability of the excellent grades on pre-college courses, so you need to have a solid profile at graduation. Even if pre-university courses won't guarantee you a place, you should have at least an excellent in the subject you are interested in and in those related to it.
Step 3. Decide what you want to do
It might seem obvious, but if you're not 100% sure, they'll notice during the interview and be reluctant to pick you up. You need to know exactly why you want to take that course. If you are not sure if you will like the course, do not. The workload will make you fall behind if it's a course you don't like and you'll end up getting bored for three years and giving up on everything.
Step 4. Get good grades in high school
If you don't have good grades in high school, it will be difficult for them to accept you. If you don't get good grades, even good grades are enough.
Step 5. Choose your college
Learn about all colleges. You will be able to read online statistics for each college, to understand how many people have applied and been taken in each course. If you are confident and smart enough, apply for the top or specialized colleges in your course. If you are unsure, choose one of the less coveted colleges or one that is further away from your course, as they tend to have few enrollments, increasing your chances of being taken.
- Cambridge is different from Oxford, where most colleges specialize in a few subjects. In Cambridge, all colleges offer almost any subject, making a course more likely to have few enrollments and increasing the odds for you. However, if you're not smart enough, they'll rather have few signups than take you.
- Only sign up if you're unsure or don't care which college you'll go to, as Oxbridge is Oxbridge in the end. However, if you are a woman and do an open enrollment, there is a 90% chance that you will end up in a female-only college.
Step 6. Write an excellent presentation of yourself
It must be perfect. Let several teachers and even your friends read it. Follow the advice of experienced teachers only, as they will know what they want in Oxbridge. A recommended format is this:
- Introduction on the subject, why you want to follow it, etc. (show some knowledge of the course)
- Academic achievements
- Non-academic achievements
- Extra-curricular activities and hobbies
- Conclusion (include what you want to do after college, something that has to do with the subject).
Step 7. Make sure you explain what you do besides school, as recruiters need to ask about hobbies
This would suggest that you are smart enough to get good grades and have some free time that you will want to give up to go to college. Furthermore, do not lie; they will notice if they call you for an interview.
Step 8. College answer
When the college sends you a request for paperwork on schoolwork or other jobs, don't send them late. Set aside some free time to work on it carefully. Make sure that the pieces you send will report the grade if they ask for schoolwork.
Step 9. Interview
If they call you for an interview, they usually ask to stay for a few days. It is advisable to be prepared. There are courses held every year for students to prepare for the interview; however, they are very expensive, sometimes up to several hundred euros, and not worth signing up for unless you are really desperate. The university provides this information online. It is a good idea to ask teachers to fake different types of interviews, eg. easy, difficult, technical (but look for teachers who have been to the best universities!) Normally they will ask you questions outside the program. Some colleges also ask questions about subjects you shouldn't even know until after studying at university. So prepare ahead of time on subjects you will study the following year and be ready to respond using independent thinking. Any question they'll ask you in Oxbridge requires it. If you can't think outside the box, it's hard for them to catch you.
- For an essay-based topic, be prepared to debate the pros and cons in each question.
- For a language degree, be prepared to speak fluently in your chosen language during the interview or try to translate a language you've never seen before.
- For science interviews, be prepared to answer obscure questions, such as estimating the number of molecules in your body.
Step 10. Success
If you get caught, the road isn't over yet. If you don't study hard for excellent grades, they won't lower the levels required for you. Rather they will offer the job to someone else the following year. Once you receive the letter of admission, you have about 6 months to go through all of your excellent levels and make sure you catch more excellent ones. Once this is done, congratulations! You're about to experience what hard work really is.
Just because you've been offered a seat doesn't necessarily mean you'll get it automatically. Most of the offers have as a condition the obtaining of certain grades. The typical Oxford offering is AAA at level A (excellent), while the Cambridge offering has included the new A * level since 2010
Step 11. Rejected
Congratulations, you are one of a thousand who seemed smart enough to get into Oxbridge, but couldn't. A lot of smart people have bad days, which means they can't get in even if they deserve it. While all of your friends who have joined work hard for a grade, you can be more relaxed and get a great grade from another university. If you are tempted to wait a year and try again, you need to be sure you want to delay graduation by one year. If you are, don't apply to the same college, as they typically don't accept more than one application from the same person. If you failed to get into Oxford last time, try Cambridge, although you might be better off choosing another university for your chosen degree rather than waiting a year.
- In the year of waiting, do something productive, don't waste time. Look for a job in the course that you would like to do or travel. Make sure he's got revisions before he goes to college, so you'll be ready for the first term, whether he's in Oxbridge or not. Learning parts of the course in advance can also help.
- Oxbridge doesn't care how much you know, but how you approach a problem. You must have a deep passion for the subject. You must also have great clarity in expressing yourself, with extreme precision in the evaluation, and be flexible in debates, with a creative but logical mind.
Advice
- Be confident in the interviews, being nervous just means making everything go wrong.
- You need to know why you want to go to college, why you want to study that course, and what you like about that course.
- Study as much as you can before and after the interview.
Extra-curricular activities relevant to the course you are applying for are critical to your presentation. Don't make a simple list; explain how they are related to your course. Explain why you like them.
Warnings
- Apply for the special needs plan if you come from a family and a school where few people go on to study.
- Don't just bet on Oxbridge. Most people can't get in despite being very smart.
- If you are not prepared to work towards getting good grades in high school, then you will not be able to survive in Oxford or Cambridge. The workload is triple if not greater than that of the school.
