I’m currently 17 years old and in the 12th grade (I’m going to the 13th grade) in Germany.
I’m doing very well at school (average grade 1.18) and I’m also doing a junior degree in maths at the University of Hamburg.
I have already completed Linear Algebra I and II with a grade of 2 and Analysis I and II with a grade of 3.7. Unfortunately, the last one is so bad because it was very demanding and I had to do a lot for school at the same time. I’m now taking algebra in the winter semester.
In addition to watching English videos, I’ve also started taking English lessons with native speakers for the last two months to improve my English skills.
I have been looking into studying in England before, especially Oxford.
I have already read some experiences and tips here in this forum, but not 100% of what I would like to know.
I still have about a year to go before I have to apply to Oxford.
I would like to get an assessment of whether it is at all possible for me to be accepted at Oxford?
I would also like to know how I can best prepare myself within this year?
In particular, how to prepare for the MAT test, but also whether any special activities (extracurricular activities) would look good on my CV (voluntary work, etc.) or whether there is any special preparation for the MAT test?
Additionally, would I be grateful for any good resources (books, videos, courses, workshops) on how to prepare for interviews, essay writing, the MAT test, etc.?
Are there any specific events from Oxford that might be helpful?
Is an assessment by a teacher from my school also necessary or helpful?
Are there any other comments, important aspects and/or tips you can give me from your experience regarding acceptance to Oxford?
I am largely aware of the risks or disadvantages of such a study programme from posts here in the forum, for now it’s just a matter of how to best prepare for it.
Practice with past tests, perhaps with someone who can help you figure out the steps you missed.
Bath, Edinburgh, Durham, plus of course Imperial and St Andrews should also be considered and thus investigated.(You’d have 5 choices total for your UCAS list).
ECs won’t matter for the UK unless they help you with your preparation for the course (degree program).
An issue is also cost: due to Brexit, European students are no longer part of the UK price scale nor do they have access to loans, so you’d need about 50k each year. Oxford would have some scholarships but they would not cover most of the costs.
If you’re interested in the US - as this is a US-focused website- tell us more about your budget and what you’re looking for since US universities all have “personalities” and different requirements. Depending on your family’s income (under 75k/year, under 125k/year, or more) they can be less expensive than UK universities and even than German universities… Or wildly more expensive.
UToronto and Waterloo in Canada would also be very good.
Thank you for your detailed answer!
At first I only thought about England, but if there are good “cost-effective” universities in the USA, that would definitely be a possibility too.
However, I am a bit surprised that you say that tuition fees cannot be completely covered in England/Oxford.
I had actually read something else that said that if you are accepted, it is easier to pay the fees. I thought that could be taken over by the state or the university itself?
Unfortunately, I don’t have the budget to pay the tuition fees in full, so I would have to rely on scholarships.
If they want a student they can offer scholarships from the university or the College but in general international students have become a way for universities to get ££ (there have been huge funding cuts/issues in the past few years, with the government cuts not compensated by UK fees, so internationals bear the brunt of the differential).
But first things first, you have to be admitted and as you know it’s not easy :-).
EU students are no longer part of the UK fee scheme as they were before Brexit; even English students do not have their fees covered by their government, recently even those aiming for teaching, nursing, or NHS medicine, and the grants for low income students had been converted to loans. The new government may or may not change these. (Scotland covers the fees for Scottish students at Scottish universities.) As you can imagine, if UK students aren’t covered, internationals aren’t. So it’d depend on your application being really really uniquely good - beyond “being good at maths” it should show you think/breathe maths AND have the potential to contribute in some way AND are better than the other internationals they’ve admitted. Not to be taken for granted even if admitted. But you can’t know until you go through the application process.
For the US:
Run the NPC on Princeton, Williams, and MIT (three HIGHLY selective universities). If the Net price calculator indicates a cost that’s affordable for your family you can decide whether you want to apply.(It’ll be a rough, minimum estimate because you can’t get any federal aid.) Odds there are lower than at Oxford but if admitted you’d pay roughly what the NPC indicates, which is good if they expect 0-10k (that amount is all-inclusive -covers tuition, fees, room, food, books, transportation, clothes, incidentals. The UK has separate amounts for tuition, college fees/housing/food…)
Yes, like being an IMO gold medalist.
Many of the scholarships are for poor and/or Commonwealth countries.
The US is a cheaper option for poor students, so much so that many of the best poor British students now go to US colleges to get better financial aid. But then extra-curricular activities become more important and chances of admission to a college that provides aid to international students are low.
You are going to need a letter of reference from a teacher as part of the UCAS application process.
Check for scholarship opportunities in Germany to attend Oxford. I’m aware of someone who received one to read Biology.
You might also want to check out the UK cousin of “College Confidential” as there are many more participants there who are familiar with the Oxbridge process.
The Math Institute offers very good resources. I believe that not only do they have practice tests but also have links to YouTube videos that go over topics covered on the MAT and/or solutions to practice tests.
YouTube also offers videos on a mock MAT interview and just general information about Oxford and its college system. Also Oxford seems to offer a lot of resources and details regarding their admission process in comparison to many other schools. You can find the information regarding admission rate by test scores on their site, for instance. Also, you can find the number of EU residents attending which has dropped significantly compared to the numbers before Brexit. There are students from the EU who got into Oxford but chose American universities as the price for them was better and sometimes significantly so at the American institution, so applying to American schools might be a good idea.
As for the UK cousin of College Confidential, I believe the site is the student room.
Thank you very much for this answeres. This is really interesting, because I read different Infos, but it can be changed until the articles are wrote.
So up now I will inform myself about also Universitys in the USA.
Can you tell me also, if the junior study is a good extra qualification?
And, I am not a Olympia medalist and I do not participate on events like this, how can I enhance my uniqueness? My ideas are the following: absolve more moduls in my junior study in maths and write a Paper with a other student in mathematics.
Is there an other option to be unique or a extra activity to be unique?
Thank you for your answere. I think my chances are lower in the USA because I am not very committed in other activities from school, university or maths…
Thank you!
I informed myself on this site, but I am still looking for extra informations or also experience.
This references letter have to be from my school teacher, correct?
What is the cousin of this site? “the studentroom”? I have asked the same question also there, but thank you for the tipp!
For the UK, your academic preparation and ability to succeed in the MAT (or anything else) is a necessary but sufficient condition. However the financial condition may make your admission unaffordable.
Deadline: Oct 15 for your teacher, so Oct.1 for your submission.
The US has holistic admission (so, the above is necessary but not sufficient) and if you are admitted to a meet need college (MIT, Princeton, Williams, Amherst…) it’d be affordable. Deadline Nov 1 for ED.
Finally Waterloo and UToronto have straightforward criteria and highly selective scholarships. Deadline Dec1 for scholarships.
You can try the Waterloo math contests btw.
I suppose you have TUM and ETZH as possibilities too?
(Yes, this website’s cousin is The student room, but here you mostly find knowledgeable adults whereas UK students are more in charge on their website.)
The fact that financing would be very difficult in England even if you were accepted is, to be honest, new information for me. I had read on various websites that financing is not too big of a hurdle if accepted… well.
I hadn’t considered the possibility in the USA until now, but it probably makes sense to look into it.
Do you even have a chance if you don’t do any sporting activities or similar?
What extracurricular activities would be important and what would make me more attractive?
As I said, I want to study mathematics and had already thought about the ETZH, but didn’t pursue it any further. Which university would you recommend to me when it comes to mathematics?
Or do you think it would be better if I did my bachelor’s degree in Germany (or ETZH, although I live in Germany, but it should work too, right?) and then try to do my master’s degree in England or something like that?
Switzerland has an agreement with the EU so even if it’s not in the EU it wouldn’t be a problem for ETZH.
British students automatically get a loan if they can’t pay. (They have to repay it most of their lives as soon as they hit a certain income level). EU students don’t have access to this financing scheme anymore. That shouldn’t stop you from applying to Oxford or other UK universities then, if admitted, apply for scholarships, but you wouldn’t know ahead of time if it’ll be affordable. I’m not sure if full tuition scholarships are available but you could email all universities
ECs are anything you do when you’re not in class. They absolutely do not mean “sports”. It can mean learning how to cook, watching elderly grandparents, knitting… If your ECs are math-based that’s what they are (although US colleges like to see volunteering but I guess tutoring in math at the Lower School would work.)
I assume you will be applying to top programs in Germany, too.
So you’d apply to German universities, ETZH, Oxford+4 others (deadline October 15) and perhaps US colleges.