Applying for Oxford

By Becca Sidhom

Hi! I’m Becca and I thought I'd talk about my Oxford application process. I was lucky in that my school had advisors for applying to Oxbridge, so I had a lot of guidance which I'll be passing onto you. Here are the best things I learnt about the sorts of opportunities concerning ‘super-curriculars’ that Oxbridge look for.

I decided to prepare my personal statement quite early on in Year 12, this was due to the fact that I was already working on sitting my Maths A-Level a year early. Starting my personal statement ahead of the usual timeframe meant that I was able to research a larger array of topics. I did every Olympiad I could, a First Aid course, maths workshops, chemistry workshops, and webinars. All of this helped me find a section of science that I loved – which, I believe, is the most important part of your personal statement – and went with it.

It turns out that I love the chemistry of drugs and medicines, so I centred my EPQ around cannabis. My researched was expansive, but I focussed on the chemistry. Having this passion made writing my personal statement so much easier because now I could tailor it to be reflective of my passions and ambition in the field. While I didn’t think it at the time, the personal statement was the easiest bit!

When I found out I had an interview with Oxford, I was so concerned that I would forget everything that I’d learnt, or I’d make a fool of myself – and guess what? I did!

In my first interview, it took me (what felt like) a very long time to identify a molecule as a radical – chemists will know how silly that is – and from that point I was flustered all the way through the interview, I can barely remember what we talked about.

The interviewers were lovely and made the experience a little calmer – we jokingly conversed at the end about Breaking Bad, and were surprised when I, someone who literally did an EPQ on a drug, hadn’t seen it. My second interview was worse. It was on physical chemistry, which is similar to physics, and I have a strained relationship with physics, so I was already out of my comfort zone.

When my writing pad that my college had provided didn’t work, I though it was the worst possible thing to happen. I was proven wrong as minutes later, horror of horrors, my wifi cut out. I was almost at tears and red in the face. I got re-connected, and we finished the interview. The interviewers were, again, lovely and understanding, but I though for sure I had blown it. Obviously however, they saw something they liked.

So now my advice for interviews is this: no matter what, something will go wrong, so what's the point in worrying? If you're meant for oxford, you’ll know your stuff – the interviewers will see this. As long as your passion matches your knowledge, you’ll be fine. Applying was stressful, but I gained confidence in myself and my abilities. The Oxford interviewers saw something in me, so I must be doing something right!