Oxbridge

It is never too early to think about applying to Oxbridge. Each year a significant number of students apply to Oxford and Cambridge Universities and a pleasing number of them achieve success; in 2011 for example a record 5 students gained places at either Oxford or Cambridge. Competition is fierce, and anything which you can do to differentiate yourself from the competition will help. If you are really passionate about studying a particular subject at Oxbridge, be sure to talk to the Sixth Form Office, your Tutor and your Teachers about which books they would recommend, what programmes on Radio 4 you should be listening to, what courses or work experience you should be planning and how you might go about deepening your passion by researching a particular topic in greater depth. You should be reading widely and taking every opportunity given to you in class to extend your work beyond that required by the syllabus. Successful applicants have always shown a proactive approach to developing their love of learning in their chosen field.

Some subjects require applicants to take a special test; this may be a national test such as the BMAT for medicine or may be a paper set and marked by the university. Many courses will also require you to send in examples of marked work from Year 12. You should ensure that you familiarise yourself with all the details so that you can plan your preparation accordingly.

We provide students with a number of opportunities throughout the year to aid their application to Oxford and Cambridge uinversities. These include organised visits, attendance at an Oxbridge regional conference and at talk at School by an Oxbridge Admissions tutor. Past students also frequently offer their help and advice. We also arrange mock interviews.

College and university open days are a great source of information and you will find details of these on the Oxford and Cambridge websites. It is considered essential for all serious applicants to have visited at least one open day. These are arranged by you as an individual.

University of Oxford site: http://www.ox.ac.uk/

University of Cambridge site: http://www.cam.ac.uk/

For details of how to apply to Oxford click here http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/how_to_apply/index.html

and for Cambridge: http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/apply/

CambridgeThinking Skills Assessment www.tsa.cambridgeassessment.org.uk

Medicine www.bmat.org.uk and/or www.ukcat.ac.uk

Law www.lnat.ac.uk