<p>Hello, I am aware that British citizen can only apply to one of these universities; however, I remember coming across on the internet and these forums that internationals can apply to both of the universities. Is this true? Can anyone verify this? I know that Oxford and Cambridge are basically identical however if one could apply to both schools there is the small chance that even if one rejects the person, the other institution might accept the person. So can international students apply to both of these universities?</p>
<p>I saw one of the persons stating this saying that once you don't apply through UCAS, you can apply to both, so that's why I'm asking this question, for clarification and/or verification.</p>
<p>You can apply to one from the 67 or so Oxbridge colleges, since at an undergrad level, the admissions are administered by the colleges, and not the university. </p>
<p>At an graduate level, however (MPhil, PhD), you can apply to both of them, it’s true, and the admissions are administered by the university. But just at a graduate level. For undergrads, you must decide that Cambridge or Oxford, and then, which college.</p>
<p>Oh thank you With all these people on the internet saying internationals can apply to both at the undergraduate level it really can get confusing.</p>
<p>One more thing:
Is it true that they don’t really look at your transcript/high school with that much importance/weight, and that what matters the most is your interview and A levels?</p>
<p>I presume everything matters But yes, the A levels are essential - you must have A-s and A*-s for instance, but that’s just a start, the demanded minimum. The interview(s) is also really important, and the test as well. As I see, at CC people usually forget, that the test is just as important as the interviews. And the tests are pretty hard I’m quite confident about that :)</p>
<p>The tests are intentionally very hard to see how applicants will cope with the material they’ll be coming across. Similarly, the interviews are pretty intense. In my interview for philosophy the interviewer’s opening gambit was “does this piece of paper exist?” and everything I said was met with instant rebuttal. </p>
<p>Anyway, all Cambridge and Oxford care about in their applicants is how well they’ll do in the course they’re applying for. ECs mean nothing more than a sign of time management skills.</p>
<p>That’s the main difference between Oxbridge and US universities. Usually in US universities interviews are basically informative sessions where the interviewer asks the interviewee about things the university may like to know and the interviewee can ask the interviewer about things which he/she would like to know about the university. However, at Oxbridge, the interview is really intense and you are drilled with questions related to your prospective major; more like a test than an actual interview. </p>
<p>Thats the thing, I heard Oxbridge doesn’t consider your transcript with great weight as the interview and A-levels are what matter the most. Is this true? Do they not consider the transcript with that much importance? If they do, would they be more focused on overall grades, or grades in subjects which relate to your prospective major?</p>
<p>The interview tests your ability to deal specifically with the course, ie the supervisions etc, and also whether the person actually wants to teach you for the next three years. Your A Levels test both your general academic ability, ie you need A*AA to get in, and in the case of subjects like science/maths/languages (ie those that require prior knowledge) also that you have the required knowledge to start the course; you can’t start a maths degree there if you haven’t done Maths, obviously. </p>
<p>In short, if you want to go there just scrap the time you’re putting into the superfluous ECs, read loads around your subject and make sure you get all As. </p>
<p>Beyond that the only other thing they’ve any interest in is some demonstrated interest in the subject you’re applying for, eg reading around the subject etc…</p>
<p>Get all As in school (as in your transcript?) or all As in A levels? NO ONE in my school has all As, that is not an exaggeration. I’m not really sure though what kind of grades the people in my school get who go to Oxbridge because quite frankly, I haven’t heard of anyone from my school going there recently for undergrad.They all go to American or Canadian universities or med school in our own country.</p>
<p>Most people I know from my home country who went to oxbridge did their A-levels in the UK as opposed to at home. This is usually the best approach</p>
<p>Because we’ve national exams in the UK, GCSEs at 16 and A Levels at 18, the tests that your teachers might give you every now and then to check your progress don’t count towards anything. That said, A Levels themselves are split into 6 exams each, although it was 8 when I did them. The grades for those individual exams do matter and you really don’t want to get less than a B (70%) in any of them. Straight As therefore is AAA at A Level, although even that isn’t enough anymore as Oxbridge ask for A*AA. </p>
<p>As for whether the A Levels you take matter, it depends on the subject. If you’re applying science or maths for example, then you’ll be expected to have taken at least two science/maths A Levels, if not three. Similarly, if you’re applying for English then you’ll need an English A Level. Beyond that, the only requirement is to ensure at least two of your three A Levels are traditional academic subjects: maths, sciences, languages, english lit, economics, etc. You can’t just take easy subjects like media studies, general studies, English language as they “don’t prepare you sufficiently for the course.”</p>
<p>Can you self study, I guess so. It’s a lot of material though. Each subject normally gets 5 hours teaching a week for two years, so it’s a lot to cover!</p>
<p>As an American you can just do APs though, you don’t need A Levels.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If A levels are broken down into 6 subjects, why are the grades given in 3s? E.g. A*AA, AAA, AAB, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>If A levels aren’t enough, what else could you do to help improve your chances? Other than acing the interview.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m sort of interested in Economics and Management at Oxford, and for entrance requirement they only have A-levels: AAA. Does that mean that they can be done in any subject (relating to the major of course such as Economics or Mathematics)? There is no specification as to how many you need, so how many do you need?</p></li>
<li><p>I just looked up on their website and they don’t have my country’s requirements, however they do have another country with the same exams:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>The thing is, you aren’t even able to take that many subjects. I think you can take maybe 5, probably 6 (highly doubt this though), as timetable scheduling wouldn’t even allow this. Secondly, to get into certain CAPE subjects, you have to fulfill the CSEC/CXC requirements. In which case, doing that list up there isn’t possible. For example I’m doing subjects like Principles of Accounts, Principles of Business, Economics, French, etc. in school and I (and everyone else at my school) wouldn’t be able to take all those in CAPE, because we wouldn’t have the prerequisites in CSEC as you are only allowed to do so many and no more because we already have 3 compulsory and can do 6 more at maximum. So for example some people have no sciences, or no businesses or only 1 science and only 1 language because that’s all we can take.</p>
<p>Another thing, why on earth would you need Bio, Chem, and physics for courses such as Economics and Management. For CAPE, better suited subjects would be Accounts, Management of Business, Economics, Mathematics, etc. 9 CAPE subjects is basically unheard of. So were they just listing out what you could have, or do you need to have all of these to be accepted to the university? Because if its the latter, then it is basically impossible.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post, but please help :(</p>
<p>1) An A Level is broken down into 6 modules. So, the maths A Level for example, is broken down into Core 1, Core 2, Core 3, Core 4 Statistics 1 and Statistics 2. The results in those 6 modules come together to give you the grade for one A Level.</p>
<p>2) A Levels are sufficient for proving academic ability. Getting in though is virtually all about the interview. Oxbridge turn away something like 6000 people a year who go on to get AAA or better, so the grades really only open the door for you, it’s the interview that gets you through it.</p>
<p>3) For economics at Oxford I would highly recommend doing Economics and Maths for two of your A Levels: most applicants will have done so. As for the third just pick what you want.</p>
<p>4) Sorry, can’t help. No idea about that exam system.</p>
<p>So 1 would be fine right? So if you did two a levels with all As you would get AAAAAA? Or is it that say math alone would be 1 A, and Econ would be another so therefore that would be AA and then an AAA means that you would need an A in 3 A levels?</p>
<p>Sorry, I wasn’t clear. When Oxbridge ask for AAA or A*AA, each letter is a completely different A Level. So, for example, the first A is Maths, the second A is economics and the third A is Physics. </p>
<p>Then within each of those A Levels there are 6 modules. So, 6 modules in the maths A Level (the cores and stats mentioned above), 6 in the economics A Level and finally 6 modules in the physics A Level.</p>
<p>Yes it does , thank you One last thing, what do the asterisks signify? A grade over 90%, as As start at 80%? Is it possible to get A<em>A</em>A*?</p>
With all these people on the internet saying internationals can apply to both at the undergraduate level it really can get confusing.</p>
One last thing, what do the asterisks signify? A grade over 90%, as As start at 80%? Is it possible to get A<em>A</em>A*?</p>