By Tilly Rose
Today is WORLD BOOK DAY! You’ll no doubt remember the pure excitement at primary school when you could choose your favourite character and turn up to lessons is full costume. Wish we still did that!
If you’re considering applying to Oxford then this should still be a BIG day for you. ‘Why is that?’ I hear you ask. Well, Oxford are looking for students with curious minds and where better to learn, develop thoughts and explore new routes than in books?
First up, think of a book or piece of writing you’ve come across at school that interested you. Then, in your own time, have a look for another book by that same author or on that same theme. The great thing about reading is it’s a never-ending path. One book always leads to another. Let this path take you down new avenues you’re interested in and you’ll start to build great connections between the texts. These connections will be gold dust in a personal statement and Oxford interview.
For example, I’d read Virginia Woolf’s Orlando at school. I then read more of her work, picking Flush which happened to be about poet Elizabeth Barrett-Browning’s dog. Elizabeth Barret-Browning was married to Robert Browning and I had already read his poem ‘Porohyria’s Lover’. All of these texts dealt with gender roles, so suddenly I had a theme and loads of connections to compare and contrast.
This by no means just works for English, there are books on maths, science etc too and it will definitely be more impressive if you’ve read about some concepts outside of the classroom.
So my challenge to you on World Book Day is pick something new to read!
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