how i REALLY got into oxford

hey guys and welcome back to my channel today I have one of the most requested videos on my channel since my last video over three years ago about how I got into Oxford you guys have been asking for this again and again so today I thought I'd finally get the people what they want and make an updated video on apply to Oxford because in the last couple of years I've definitely learned a bit more about the admissions process learned a bit more about how things worked and so I'm ready to impart that information to you I've got my handy dandy book because I've made some notes because I really want to give you guys the real lowdown on how you get into Oxford how I got into Oxford and where I can help you so this video is going to be split into two main sections the first one is gonna be me talking about my process of how I applied and the second part is making we giving you some tips about the process so feel free to skip to different parts of the video depend on what you're here to watch so the process of applying and hopefully getting into Oxford is a really weird one it's very different from a lot of other universities especially because other universities don't have as many stages of the application so let's talk about each of the key six stages that there are so first there is thinking about applying talks University and look you already did it you're already one step ahead than the rest of the people I told you this video was really gonna help second it's actually applying why my hashtagging so we're gonna talk about the entrance exam fourth getting an interview fifth getting an offer and sick meeting that offer so let's start at the beginning I [Music] first started thinking about applying to Oxford quite early on now this doesn't have to be reflective of how early you should be think you could be about to go into year thirteen or be in year 7 and that's totally fine I definitely was one of the people who started thinking about Oxford quite early on I wasn't sure what I want to study at Oxford but let's just say watching enough Harry Potter and thinking that Oxford was Hogwarts was enough for me to want to go there but that was all I really knew at that time my school had almost no history of people going to Oxford in the year above me there were two people who got into Oxford but before that there wasn't anyone for about 15 years and so there's very little support from the school in terms of trying to give you advice on how to put in a successful application so the reality was that I was on my own for a lot of it my school was quite us focused as I was at an International School in New Delhi and so it wasn't really their fault they didn't know that much about how supply dogs bridge I still made it through that's already provide enough encouragement to you that you could do it too so after I did my GCSEs I done quite well in them and that's when it really truly entered my radar that Oxford was something that I could consider I can't stress how important this initial step of thinking about applying to Oxford is because if you don't apply for the right subject that can actually have a detrimental effect on the rest of the steps of the application so early on I thought I wanted to apply for physics for me attend to year 12 I was so dead sure and applying physics and then when I started doing more physics in sixth form I realized this actually wasn't the subject for me then I switched to maths then economics then even engineering for a bit and then I realised that computer science might be the one so the key takeaway from that is don't worry about switching around what you want to apply for that early on no one really knows what they want to do but I did my research went on the website look at course two looked at different course descriptions and then thought about the kind of things that I might be interested in studying I then narrowed down on computer science so in the summer between year 12 and 13 I actually went to Oxford on a random day in the summer holidays and actually visited now the thing that people might not know is that even if you do miss an open day you can always go and visit the colleges and the department at your own leisure in your own time so my dad and I parked and rode away from the computer science department I walked into reception and asked if there was anyone there that could help show me around because I was I was a prospective applicant and wanted to have a look I was introduced to this amazing personal department called Susannah so she's one of the people that work with sort of schools and access liaison and sort of organizing all of this sort of open days to study days to any access rate events of the department she's basically runs and she happened to be in at that time so she met me in the reception gave me a little tour of the department me her and my dad actually sat down and spoke for like a solid hour and a half and I think that was one of the most pivotal point in my application process speaking to someone who knew tons of information was able to sort of wipe any preconceptions that I had of the process and just sort of tell me tell me the process as it is when I left that meeting we were just talking about general things like what the courses entailed what life at Oxford was like whether I have the right see profile whether I had the right IB subjects things like that and that gave me so much confidence that someone else thought that yes I was doing the right thing so that you know I actually had a shot coming from a school where people didn't get in that often one person's encouragement gave me the hope I needed to really put my all into the application moving on to the actual application process I spent the summer perfecting my personal statement and applied to Hartford College for computer science and philosophy now a lot of you probably thinking where did this philosophy thing come from I actually found out about the course while I was at the open day it sounded absolutely fantastic and considering that moment I was doing the theory of knowledge in the IB while I was at school I was already quite interested in philosophical ideas this for me felt like the perfect course to blend the sort of mathematical side of things as well as the qualitative side of things I submitted my application well before the you cast deadline which hopefully you should already know is the 15th of October and then signed up to the admissions test so Oxford was one of the five universities angel' applying to I applied to Oxford Imperial UCL Durham Warwick that can't believe I still remember that now the admissions test for me was the bit that I was the most scared about because it was the bit that I felt like I had the least amount of preparation for I know people who are on my course who went to schools that had hours of practice before an entrance exam and also I didn't think I realized the importance of it when I was applying now being at Oxford I know that the admissions test for especially for mathematical subjects forms quite a big part of whether or not you're invited to an interview so putting as much effort into that was actually parama my school was actually not that helpful with it because they hadn't had anyone that had sat them out before so I found an online course that was offered by Mei which like the father maths thing you could definitely find it online I definitely would recommend it especially for applying for maths because it's kind of maths focused but I was basically looking for any help that I could on the Internet to try and attack some of these maths problem because as those of you that have looked at the mat or the admissions test in general they're not very straightforward they're not like an a-level exam they're not like an IB exam they're testing a skill set that would help you flourish on a course as opposed to any specific content although the maths physics and some of the engineering exams have specific content as you'll when you look at the questions you realize exactly what I mean when I say they're not actually testing for that content they do use that content but they're actually testing for an underlying skill set so then came the day for I think it was in November that I sat the exam and it went absolutely terribly I remember sitting in the exam going I really want to cry but I don't actually have time to cry so I think I need to just power through yeah it was actually quite a sad day I remember my dad was waiting outside because it was this remote test centre in the middle of nowhere in New Delhi because my school wasn't a test centre and yeah I thought it went horrific Lee I mean my dad's standing outside like smiling and meters going please don't smile because this is not a smile worthy occasion I was so dead sure that I wasn't getting an interview because the test just was not great at all but that's the thing you just can't lose hope because you don't know what happened so this day is etched in my memory forever on the 27th of November it was some ridiculously early time like 5 a.m. I was about I would have got up for school at around 6:00 and I remember my phone vibrating and normally I'm quite deep sleep when I don't wake up my phone vibrated which meant an email or something and I woke up and I had this weird feeling that it was probably something to my interview even though it was a ridiculous time to get an email about an interview and I checked it and it was a interview invitation I ran downstairs to where my parents up who both very excited but I was over the moon because for me the mat the entrance exam felt like the hardest part of the process and I had finally jumped that hurdle if you do get to this stage really you should be really proud of yourself because honestly getting an interview in itself is such a big feat I know for computer science an interview you've had you've had to beat out more than half of the candidates already now the interviews themselves were held in Oxford I was invited to Hartford College I had a total of five interviews which actually sounds like a lot and is a above average because it's a joint honours there's usually two interviews per College that you interview out so I had two at Hartford two at bail which was a randomly assigned college and then another one at Hartford on the third day so I was there for three days and the int were highly mathematical in nature there's a lot of practice and example questions out on the internet a lot of logic puzzles mostly mathematical looking at some discrete math some probability but yes very mathematical in nature my school had told me to prepare for questions like why Oxford why computer science why not Cambridge really crazy questions in philosophy I wasn't asked any of those in fact most of my questions are the kind of things that would be an extension of a level or I'd be mathematics the only crazy things were probably the philosophy questions and that's because it's philosophy and they also just want you to try and think outside of the box so after I'd had the first four interviews I wasn't expecting to have another interview because I thought they'd gone okay you can't really tell just because of the nature of them where they've gone well or not because if they if they're going well you might be aren't asked even harder questions and then you might struggle with them so you might feel like it's not going well but then you might also just have done one question in the entire interview but then them pushing you really hard in that question and feel like you actually made a lot of progress with their prompts and that's also great and so I'd say don't read too much into the interviews I know someone who walked happening to you instead that the interviewed said see you later and they had taken that too yet I'm definitely getting in this interviewer said he's gonna see me later and so that means I must be getting in and that cam didn't actually get in so really don't think about what they're saying these interviewers are doing like 20 interviews a day like churning out candidates one after the other and so I kind of exhausted and don't realize what they're saying half the time so don't latch on to anything they say so I came out of my fifth interview was absolutely exhausted it's a very draining experience as well it's quite a weird experience you're there with a bunch of other candidates all kind of all competing for the same place as we were trying to be nice but you also don't want to like psych yourself out by hearing what other people are doing prepare so it's a very weird situation but don't worry because everyone knows it's a weird situation in summary the interviews themselves were the things I was expecting some of the questions were out of the box but in hindsight they were just trying to see what I would do with questions that weren't very normal and more than anything they were just trying to see a whether I'd be good in a tutorial situation and be whether I was really passionate about that subject once I left Oxford I was so uncertain about how they had gone I think as time went on especially cuz it's like almost a month between you finishing into his new finding out I was becoming more and more pessimistic about what might happen and I was kind of becoming more sure that I probably wasn't gonna get a place then was because I don't know it just felt like it was just so untouchable and then the day came I think was a 12th of January the 11th of January and I got a letter that had said that I had received an open offer from Hartford College which meant that I was guaranteed a place at Oxford but they just hadn't decided which college yet and I was absolutely over the moon remember I broke down I cried my family were crying and white people teach that my school were crying like it was a massive fee and I think that if anything that should give you encouragement you might not come from back home where lots of people get into Oxford you might not be at a school where people are very supportive you might not know a lot about the process I've known people that weren't there before but you can do it and then came to meeting the actual condition my offer was a thought that was thirty-nine IV points with the 766 a higher level and the seven had to be in maths and I literally got a seven in maths by like two marks so I'm really glad that happened but meeting the offer is also another big part of that process but if you're losing motivation the most important thing to remind yourself is that you that this is it you've done the hard bit now is the bit of them just you just proving to them that yes I'm exactly the candidate that I that you have thought that I am so that was my process of applying to Oxford now some of the main tips that I have for you number one do your research that is the biggest thing I can tell you know what you're getting yourself into because if you don't if you don't know what your course is going to entail then that will definitely be reflected on in an interview if you know exactly what you're getting yourself into by applying for physics by applying for engineering by applying for history do the research put related things in your personal statement that will reflect very well in an interview and if you can discuss and if you can discuss related topics in an interview if they do ask them in your personal statement that is always valuable and more than anything even if you do get in or it is the kind of place we can't just get by so if you're not motivated by the subject that you've applied to do it's gonna be very hard to stick on like lots of people do leave because they realise that you know what you need to be very motivated to stick on and I actually picked the wrong subject so it is important that you do that that you try your best to make the right decision early on number two apply early make sure you get all of your puzzle statement related issues out of the way over the summer make sure you apply to the entrance exam on time because if you missed that deadline there's no going back number three while we're talking about your personal statement make sure that it is as academic as possible most I'd say most personal statements are 80% academic twenty percent extra at the end oxford will not read will not care about that part that extracurricular stuff at the end anything that is super curricular meaning it is extracurriculars related to your subject are fantastic because they are showing that you're going above and beyond because you're passionate about your subject so include as much of those that could be competitions online courses this is a great time to be doing things like that reading around the subject and whatever you can do this relates to your subject that's above and beyond what you'll be doing at school is fantastic to put down add interviews don't get psyched out by other people prepare by going over the relevant a level or IB stuff that you've been doing at school also talking to as many people family members friends about your subject the more you get comfortable talking to people about your subject talking about why you're interested in something explaining a concept someone who might not take that subject a level or IB or your parents is a really good way to get comfortable talking to a tutor and more than any body of knowledge tutors are really testing and checking for whether you'll be some a little flourish and shoe toriel situation so really practice that because that is something that really can help and then the last tip I have is become try and enjoy the process as much as you can it's a tough process but you can make out alive whether or not you get a place it really doesn't matter that much it's an amazing process to just be a part of because it takes a certain set of balls to put yourself up for that and say look I want to do this whether or not you get in you will definitely learn a lot from the process if you do get in fantastic it's a great place to be and if you don't there are amazing other institutions out there that are also fantastic to be out I know that if I wasn't an Oxford I might even had a somewhat happier university like in terms of not necessarily less work but maybe better mental health may be more of a work-life balance maybe spending more time my friends at university in London if I went here so I think there's pros and cons to everything so don't get so coarse on Oxford that you end up stressing or psyching yourself out and then performing not as well as you would have just believe in yourself like I really I kid you not I had so much internal confidence not overconfidence but confident in myself when I was applying not because I thought I'd get in but just because I thought that I had given it my best shot and that's all you can do so really just give it your best put your effort in terms of research preparation speaking to people reaching out to tutors if you come on an open day you have a question email a tutor they will reply they love speaking prospective applicants just get involved and back yourself that's all I have to say yeah this videos getting becoming quite as Miranda Hart would say a chatty ramble a Chambal so I think I'm gonna end it here but I really really hope that this was helpful please do click that thumbs up button if you haven't already it really helps the channel really helps my videos and click that subscribe button because I've been making a lot of Oxford related videos recently a lot of university related videos I'm in my last year at Oxford now I'm about to graduate my last term Trinity term at home thank you Miss coronavirus but yes I'm at home I'm about to graduate from Oxford University I can't believe I'm saying that because it feels like just yesterday that I was applying if you enjoyed this video do let me know in the comments down below I'll ask me any questions if you have them and yeah I'm actually thinking about making a similar video for investment banking cuz I'm about to start a job in investment banking over the summer I did an internship in it last year so if you'd like to hear about that do let me know in the comments down below again don't forget to give this video thumbs up and click that subscribe button if you'd like to hear more see and hear more from me and also hit that Bell icon to get notifications thank you so much for watching and I hope you guys having a fantastic day wherever you are and that you're keeping safe social distancing if you're watching this in the future yes that was a thing have a fantastic day and I'll see you guys soon bye you

Channel: ThisIsMani

Views: 158,009

Keywords: oxford, oxford university, oxford application, oxbridge application, oxford application process, oxford union, applying to oxford, college application, ucas, oxford interview, oxford uni, oxford vlog, applying to university, oxford interview experience, how i got into oxford, how to get into oxford

Id: 0NoO9UJ0LMQ

Length: 17min 51sec (1071 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 25 2020