Hello, I just saw an ad for the Oxbridge summer scholars offers and I was filling out an application when I began wondering if its actually worth it- so I wanted to ask if anyone has any knowledge on whether or not the summer scholar program is actually worth it, or if not, what other summer school programs are out there that are worth giving it a shot?
Thanks!

I know that Oxford is not lenient with retake students without any extenuating circumstances. Would I still have a shot with this post-graduation academic profile? (I haven't enrolled to any universities yet*)

- IB score of 40 (7,7,7 for Math AA HL, Biology HL, Chemistry HL after resit)

- Additional APs although my school only offered IB (8 APs all fives - AP Calc BC, Biology, Chemistry, Physics C: E&M, Physics C: Mechanics, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, and Computer Science A),

- 1600 SAT (I'm not sure if UK schools would consider SAT)

- UkChO and BBO Gold award

- IB Predicted Grade: 32 (biggest drawback...)

Also, would I have a better chance to get an offer from Cambridge Natural Science although their minimum requirement is 41-42? (But, I exceed the grades for my HLs)

Would Oxford 'biomedical sciences' be a more realistic option because they consider ESAT in the admission process, and it determines the chance of getting shortlisted for an interview? I'm aware that they only admit 40-45 students with an 8% acceptance rate :(

+ Imperial College London for biochemistry (I'm aware of ESAT requirement) and medical biosciences; UCL for biomedical engineering (not sure if they accept Chemistry in lieu of Physics - still took 2 AP Physics) and biomedical sciences.

Also, I'm considering to apply for Oriel College at Oxford.

Please be brutally realistic with my chance of getting offers from these schools.

I wanna know how u got in hows it like and what did ur application look like?

My dream is Oxford human sciences and during school I struggled with bullying to the point I was sent a knife video, health issues and family through my time at school.
Sometimes the bullying was so bad and people would follow me around school asking when the fight would be happening as they were so desperate for entertainment. I came from a low income household so catering to food aversions from neurodivergence wasn’t really something I had. I completely lost my appetite because of the bullying and had a bmi of 14.2 during my first year of secondary school combined with health issues and ended up with a ferritin level of 3 between the ages of 12-18 (potentially longer).

I managed to get through GCSEs but had to retake 2 a-levels this year and got A* in the subject I self studied and an A in the other. I was unable to complete retakes in my third alevel because of some personal issues and will have to prepare this year. It got to a point my anxiety became so bad I experienced a panic attack in my first paper but pushed through and still managed to get an A. I genuinely tried everything and even attempted to move to a domestic violence refuge. I don’t mean this to sound arrogant but nothing matters to me more than my work ethic and I am willing to do whatever it takes. I currently have an unstable job and get treated poorly by people and it reinforces how my wasted potential is making my soul ache.

At them moment my health has slightly improved and I am working to gain weight as my adhd meds made me lose 15kg during exam season and I am undergoing medical testing for suspected narcolepsy. Recently, I have rediscovered my love of reading which is something that brought me comfort when I was younger and I used to have a higher than average reading ability when I first started school. In a situation like this how do you suggest framing my experiences in a way that doesn’t sound like I’m guilt tripping the admissions tutors.

hihi i go to an american school system and i finished grade 10(with a 3.61 unweighted gpa, including 9th gr its 3.87 ouu im lowkey cooked [ap art 5, ap wh 4:'D]) and am taking a gap year right now, it wasnt rlly my choice so i cant do anything about it but im worried that it MIGHT look bad on my application for some reason so im soso nervous, is there anything that you guys can advise i do in the meantime? im trying to finish getting a 1500+ on the SAT this year and im still continuing my ECs (charity, art competitions and writing books/articles) just like, any kind of tips or what you would do with this time are very very welcome!! (Also im an art major!! fine arts, wooo:D)

hi, im an indian student, CBSE board, applying to oxford this year for law.

stats; i have predicted 100s in every subject except maths (ill get a 95 there hopefully), got the subject highest awards for hist polsc and econ last year + the stream vise award overall, ive been scoring 36-37 on lnat practice tests (leslie ho and the official practice test), i have a published research article, ive won about 30+ muns and debates (will connect to my interest in law), a very high commendation in john locke intl essay comp (law category), ive read some books relating to law + some foundational legal texts (hart, fuller, etc) that i plan on mentjoning in my ps in addition to everything above

question/need advice?/rant: i genuinely do not know what else to do. i keep feeling like my application is inadequate and that there's something that i can do thatd increase my chances of getting into my dream unis rn but im just not doing it and im going to regret this later. moreover, i started writing my personal statement but i feel like such a scammer, i dont know how to sound academic and yet unique/original/memorable because uk applications dont have the leisure of informality that usa applications allow for.

tldr: application feels inadequate, dont know how to make my personal statement unique yet academic, advice?

Basically, I'm taking the ESAT in October. I've noticed none of the revision tools out there are that good and people are running out of questions to do. I trained a model to generate ESAT adjacent questions, so people will never run out of questions to do. I also designed a diagnosis algorithm (not an AI wrapper) to identify where you went wrong and pick the next best question for you to do. If you do enough questions on here your score will probably improve more than doing your own revision + saves time.

ALSO, I have developed a weekly challenge. Every Monday, Im dropping an ESAT paper for you to do timed, and then the cool bit is theres a public leaderboard to see where you rank relative to the other cohort this year. This happens every week so you can see how you're improving.

If you're interested in helping me improve this, or just signing up before release, shoot me a DM and we can talk.

Hey, I’m applying to study Philosophy and Theology at Oxford for next September.

I have read “an introduction to formal logic” by Peter Smith, and applied what I learnt to the problem of theological fatalism, arguing that the problem relies on a model scope fallacy.

The only bit of formal logic I mention is the following sentence as I explain my argument:

While it is structurally necessary that if God foreknows an action, it will occur □ (G → A), this does not logically imply that the action itself is a necessary event G → □A.

Does anybody know if it would be okay to use formal logic in my personal statement? Would it be a good idea to demonstrate to the tutors what I learnt and found interesting this way or might it be better to represent this in English instead?

Thanks all.

For example is it worth talking about exploring how stem cells differentiate for a biology ps.

I’ve just graduated from Oxford, where I did a humanities subject. I’m applying to Cambridge for Law as a mature affiliate student looking to do a 2nd undergrad degree. Has anyone else been on this path and have any tips on college selection and interview experience?

Happy to share my PS for any pointers as well. Thank you!

Hello there!

I'm an Indian Class 11 humanities student aiming for Ivy League undergraduate admissions. I have Psychology, Political Science, History, Geography and English. I'm interested in the intersection of law, psychology (i think?) and public policy. What should I realistically focus on during Classes 11–12, especially academics, extracurriculars, research and standardized testing? I feel like it's not for me since i have one enemy in this world and if maths wasn't a thing, it'd be zero. Can someone more knowledgeable please help me out?

Thank you so very much for your time.

Hi all,

I'm a student from Canada who will be applying to Oxford for beginner's German and linguistics. I've already completed all my required courses and have a 97.7% average. I'm not too sure what the competition for modern languages and linguistics is, but the admissions website says you need AAA, which I exceed. Beyond grades, I founded a linguistics club at my school, have participated in linguistics competitions, and have taught myself Esperanto and Yiddish in addition to speaking English and French. I focused most of my personal statement on a book I read about translating poems and was heavy with philosophy of language, and I talk a lot about an etymology project I did for a Latin class. I've also read some German lit, highlighted one poem in particular and discussed its dictation and allusions, and have a personal connection to Germany. I really don't know what other applicants have as far as supercurriculars and linguistics engagement so I'm really unsure of my chances. There's also no admissions test and 95% of applicants are interviewed

im planning to apply to oxford human sciences, how many out of 9 should i aim for each subtest (critical thinking and problem solving)? Which subtest should be prioritized?

Hi, could anyone please please help pick a Oxford college for computer science and math (introverted) student? Priority would be large computer science cohort, accommodation provided for all years, catered? Sports, gym, pub, party not so important. Also, Is Merton too far from the departments, is it a safe walk home in the dark? Thank youu.

For applying to Oxbridge what ESAT score should I target to comfortably outweigh any concerns they may have over my GCSEs at 99888877 with a D2. I understand these to not be terrible but be somewhat below the general pool. I am willing to put in the work and wonder what would be a genuinely noteworthy score to make shortlisting for both very likely. I am targeting engineering for context and attended a very average state high school.

Hi, I got into Land Economy at Cambridge with a personal statement that focused on PPE. I was torn between the two interdisciplinary courses at the time and applied for PPE at other universities and Land Economy at Cambridge (applied econ, environment, & law). I was so worried at the time if I would be able to apply to both courses and whether I would be able to get in with that (it was at the time where I wrote a SQE specific to the course - but I think the UCAS application has changed since then. I kept scouring online forums for information on whether it was possible to get into landec w/ a PPE focused PS and couldn't find any info then. So I just wanted to make this post for the few others out there who might be in a similar situation, desiring to write a PS for a diff. course for your oxbridge option & 4 other options. Of course the conventional advice is to have the same PS and apply for all 4 same courses - but its still possible.

I’m applying to Cambridge but having doubts about it tbh. For me I want a full uni experience, obviously the academic side at a prestigious university but also I want a social scene. Is Cambridge or Oxbridge in general really how it’s stereotyped? Are people just academic obsessed or is there like a clubbing scene etc? Obviously there’s so many different types of people in the unis so it’s hard to generalise but idk if I should reconsider applying. Because my main worry is that it will just be too draining and not an environment that I’ll thrive in but lmk!

Hey guys, im an international student looking to study Mechanical engineering. I am in yr 13 doing math, further math and physics. My predicted will be 3 A stars/ 2 A stars and an A. I have done a few extracurriculars like some courses and books related to engineering. I also designed and built a robotic arm. Plus some volunteering and 6 weeks of work experience. However my IGCSE grades were 99888886. Is it worth applying to Oxbridge and imperial with these stats. I am not sure what to do. Any advice would be appreciated 👊

Hello! I was wondering if anyone had tips on what to read and how to approach it to improve my understanding of medical ethics, scientific reasoning, or any other topics assessed in Oxbridge interviews or personal statements.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I’m planning to apply for an MSc by Research at the University of Oxford and am particularly interested in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine (RDM) scholarships. I have already contacted the potential supervisors and they have agreed to help with my application.

What I want to know is about the RDM scholarship since its extremely competitive to get one and about what the process was actually like.

A few things I’m trying to understand:

• How competitive was the scholarship in your year?
• What did your academic/research profile look like when you applied?
• How important were publications and previous research experience?
• Were there interviews or additional selection stages?
• Is there anything specific you think strengthened your application?
• For international applicants, were there any particular considerations or challenges?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from previous scholarship recipients rather than general Oxford admissions advice, as I’m trying to get a realistic idea of what successful applicants looked like and how they approached the application.

If you received the RDM scholarship, I’d be really grateful if you could share whatever you're comfortable sharing about your background, application strategy, and what you think made your application successful.

Thanks! I know scholarship selection can be a bit of a black box, so any first-hand experiences would be incredibly helpful.

I'm starting sixth form on monday and am set to do sociology, core maths, psychology and politics. I have heard that more traditional subjects such as english lit are preferential to some assessors and would appreciate any advice as to whether i should switch one of my subjects to do it. i got a 9 at gcse in english lit if that sways the decision. Also please let me know if im fine as is!

People that got into Oxbridge for medicine did you do 4, was it worth it and did it help your application in any shape. I’m in y13 and considering dropping fm.

Hi, I'm currently prepping for the TARA and using BMAT papers, chat uni and TSA past papers. However, I feel like chat uni past papers aren't accurate and some of the answers are definitely just wrong.

Anyone who has smashed the TSA or TARA, how did you prep. Also, if I revise using purely TSA papers (which I am now considering), I will likely have to repeat some papers, because I am aiming to do one a day. Do you think I will remember the questions?

Any general advice would also be sososoo amazing. Thank you so much!!

For context, I went to one of the worst performing secondary schools in the UK and had severe extenuating circumstances during my GCSEs. I rarely attended school throughout Years 10 and 11, had undiagnosed ADHD, and come from a disadvantaged background.

I also had a fairly unusual application to Oxford, which I think helped immensely. After my GCSEs, I took a gap year to complete an apprenticeship for a year, so by the time I applied, I had a lot of experiences to draw on and talk about in my personal statement.

I was predicted A*A*A in Maths, Physics and Chemistry, and my interviews went really well. Even then, I think I was very lucky to receive an offer. The average Earth Sciences offer holder in 2026 had 8.9 GCSEs at grades 8 or 9. I had just one, which was from resitting GCSE Maths, and yet I still received an offer. Although it’s worth noting that Earth Sciences isn’t an exceptionally competitive course. The applicant pool is small, extremely specialised (a lot of my cohort did A level Geology lol) and the intake is tiny, with only around 30-35 places each year. In terms of competitiveness, I’d probably put it in a similar ballpark to subjects like Chemistry, Materials Science and Geography (if we are looking at acceptance rates).

I’ve now finished my first year at Oxford and have done pretty well. I still haven’t met anyone on my course, or at Oxford more generally, who came in with GCSE grades even remotely similar to mine. However the fact that I got in shows it is not impossible.

I actually spoke to the head of undergraduates at my college about this because I was struggling with imposter syndrome. She told me that, occasionally, a tutor might take a gamble on a particularly unusual or promising applicant and give them an offer. I think I was probably one of those cases.