I am a senior in high school and I’m applying for Maths and Philosophy at Oxford after a gap year. I have a 1590 SAT, and I have a 5 in APUSH from junior year. I was also a John Locke Institute essay competition finalist. I’m was aware of the AP requirements for Oxford, so I took AP Lit, AP World History, and AP Government at school as well as self-studying for AP Chem and AP Calc. Personal circumstances (and a bit of procrastination) meant I couldn’t study enough for Chem and Calc besides almost the week before, so I think I got a poor score on them (3-4 range). I’m confident that I got a 5 in all of the other APs because I didn’t have to selfstudy. I’m planning to retake them during my gap year alongside AP Physics C. I’ve also been averaging 7-7.5 on the TMUA when I took it in the past, which I plan to take. Did I ruin my chances at Oxford, or do I still have a chance?
A 5 in AP calc is required for studying maths at Oxford.
Do you have an offer, or are you planning to attend after a gap year? If the latter, you may be able to receive an offer that is conditional on getting a 5 next year.
I don’t have an offer yet, I’m applying for the 2027 intake following my gap year. I understand that the 5 is required which is why I want to retake it. I’m just worried it’ll dramatically decrease my odds. Will a good TMUA, personal statement, and rec outweigh it?
They are quite clear about what is required. You might be okay based on the link, but I didn’t examine all the requirements. The problem is that if you plan to retake, you won’t have a score back until July of 2027. Maybe you will be accepted provisionally pending your scores.
Make sure you are ready for the interview. It’s important.
Assuming you don’t get all 5s, I would still go ahead and apply to your Oxford course. They might be concerned you didn’t ace Calc right away, but the tutors for some college might still want to interview you given you other qualifications, and in the end the worse they can do is say no.
But you should already be working on a really good alternative plan in case Oxford doesn’t work out.
I’m assuming you know you need to report all scores which is why you are worried. Bear in mind the factors you list above will be what determines whether you make the shortlist for interview, which will then become crucial.
Anecdotally Oxford prefers it when students get 5s on their first sitting, but it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker if not. I might be a little concerned at a 3 on a calc AP for a math major (if that is what it ends up being),but it is what it is and all you can do is apply with what your scores end up being.
I think the Calc BC will be a 4 but I think the chem one might be a high 3 or low 4. I really didn’t study for either at all until a couple days before the exam due to extenuating circumstances. Do you think explaining this in the letter of recommendation and a good TMUA will make up for it?
If your strategy is “I had an entire academic year to make sure I was mastering the material but something came up a few weeks before the test so I only had a few days to cram and that’s why I didn’t get 5’s” then my suggestion is not to go there.
Something else? Possible. But it depends on what your extenuating circumstances were.
I know you don’t believe me…. but there are millions of happy and successful people in the world who did not attend Oxford. Surely there are better ways to spend your time than grinding away about your scores??? You are smart and talented just the way you are– even if Oxford decides “no”.
I think you might be better off simply saying that you had some personal circumstances come up and that you will be retaking the exam. Personally, I don’t think outlining the details of those circumstances will help and that you’d be better off focusing on what you’re doing to correct the situation.
You know this is going to be a tough admit regardless, right?
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Admissions statistics
*Interviewed: 33%
*Successful: 10%
*Intake: 18
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Just do the best you can (I agree with beefeater btw on how to explain your circumstances) and makes sure you have solid backups. Are you applying to US colleges as well?
My son read Maths & CS at Oxford. They are very dubious of standard US math qualifications (SAT & AP). You will need to knock it out of the park on the TMUA to get in the mix for being shortlisted for interview based on what you have in hand.
Like HazeGrey said, TMUA and interview are much more important - as long as you meet the minimum entry requirements for SAT and AP, then the other factors take precedence