Can anyone explain the process of admissions of Oxford/Cambridge?

<p>Hey - I’m English, and I’ve been through the Cambridge admissions process. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Okay. One, you write a personal statement, based heavily upon your academic interests and achievements. Listing awards is possibly not the best idea - for example, my statement focused on English lit. I detailed why I’d chosen the subject for study, what my favourite areas were in the subject and my favourite authors - limiting myself to about three, wrote a paragraph on my external interests, and tried to round off well. The style is fairly formal. </p>

<p>You apply via UCAS - <a href=“http://www.ucas.com%5B/url%5D”>www.ucas.com</a> - by signing up. All ‘Oxbridge’ applications have to be sent via your referee by October 15th. Basically, you sign in, list your academic grades and qualifications under their system, write your personal statement and submit it to a referee - probably your school guidance counsellor. They write a reference for you, and submit the actual form.</p>

<p>With Cambridge and Oxford, they both ask for a supplementary form, which you can download off their websites, or ask to be sent from the universities themselves. You can either apply to a distinct college - sort of like a ‘house’ in Harry Potter - or have an ‘open application’ which means your application will be allocated to a particular college. If you’re female, undoubtedly, you’ll be allocated to one of the all female colleges. </p>

<p>Once you’ve chosen a college, you fill out the individual Cam/Ox forms. They ask you to list, again, your academic results to-date - ie, SATs, SATIIs, AP results, etc, and they give you the option of an additional personal statement, detailing why you have chosen to apply to Oxbridge. It’s a good idea to write something. </p>

<p>Then you post it all off, and in December, they call you for interview. About 97% of Cambridge applicants are interviewed, and about 80% of Oxford’s. Cambridge (the way I applied) interview in the first two weeks of December, and then let you know in the first week of January, whether you’ve been accepted, rejected, or pooled. (Similar to waitlisted) If you are pooled, and another college picks you, they will re-interview you, possibly, and then either accept or reject you. Oxford simply has you there for three days, and have interviews at three different colleges.</p>

<p>If you need any more information, particularly about Cambridge, let me know. :)</p>