<p>@alcibiade the Student Room is incredibly useful! Thank you!</p>
<p>Hi there, I’m a senior who applied to the classics program at oxford and was just wondering if anyone could enlighten me on the nature of the writing samples i should send in, specifically for the classics (II) program? I recently took the admissions exam and did quite well, i would say, but am also worried about my lack of high AP scores. I only took 2 exams junior year, those being AP English and AP Human Geography. I scored a 5 on both, and am predicted to score 5’s on all 6 AP classes i’m currently taking. I scored a 35 on the ACT. Would anyone who got accepted or applied be willing to chance me? I would absolutely love to study classics, and as a senior with a fairly low GPA, oxford is my number one choice. In addition, does anyone know if the acceptance rates posted on the Oxford website are cumulative or if they somehow exclude applicants from outside the UK from these statistics? Thank you all in advance. 
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<p>Classics has a relatively high success rate (I know a current 3rd year who admits to choosing it partly for that reason…), but overall US students have about an 8% admit rate (compared to 23% for UK students), so I would not bet the farm on that 42% admit rate. </p>
<p>As for your written work, they note on the Classics website that one of the reasons people aren’t invited for interview includes:</p>
<p>“submitted written work that shows a lack of intellectual coherence or power of analysis, or serious inaccuracy, or a poor command of expression in English”</p>
<p>They also note that:</p>
<p>“assessors will be looking for signs of good basic knowledge, powers of analysis, powers of expression, ability to construct a coherent train of thought, and to shape an argument. The quality of English expression and of presentation may also be part of the assessment, according to the circumstances under which the work was done”</p>
<p>The last part relates to whether it was done as a test or a paper.</p>
<p>So, in choosing which written work to submit, look for work in which you had to analyze or construct an argument, and for which your teacher thought that that element of it was strong. I have known people to use work from Grade 11 if they haven’t anything from this year (and I know one student who used an essay from summer course taken between Grades 10 & 11). </p>
<p>Come back & tell us if you get invited for an interview!</p>
<p>Anybody out there applying to Cambridge this year? My S applied to Trinity college and now we are waiting to see if we get an invitation to interview. Nerve-wracking!</p>
<p>We applied 2 years ago, Laurel, and started actively working on it 2 years before that. Yes, It’s agonizing every step of the way. That being said, our d (an American and European) loves Cam, it has lived up to her expectations. </p>
<p>Just to follow up: we got the invite and came out to the UK for the interview. </p>
<p>Since we were travelling anyway, we stopped by the Imperial College, the other UK school that my son is applying to. UK schools have “Open Days” a few times a year and don’t expect candidates any other time, but the dean of admissions in his interested subject graciously met with us. It was pretty informal, just a chat about the department and the school, and he even took a few minutes before his next meeting to show us around, really nice guy. For future reference about Imperial College, it seems to be a STEM and engineering school that got spun off from London University… it’s got an incredibly diverse student body, I heard at least four languages in the elevators while I was there. It is almost like Cooper Union in terms of physical layout, it’s just a large city block full of buildings in the middle of Kensington. The location is fabulous, right next to Royal Albert Hall and literally across the street from the Victoria & Albert museum. The flip side is that much of the student housing is not next to the university, but elsewhere in London, and is only guaranteed for the first year. After that you have to get housing elsewhere in London with friends. That could be pretty expensive since London has a severe housing shortage. On the other hand, living in London for college could be pretty awesome if you can afford it, and Imperial College has lots of reciprocal agreements with other European universities. </p>
<p>Now we are at Cambridge, which is small and very beautiful. My son already did his interview, but we’re not supposed to talk about that until next year. There are no campus tours, but you are allowed to stay a night in the dorms and meet with current students. </p>
<p>Best of luck, Laurel and son.</p>
<p>My d interviewed at Cam and she left feeling she had failed it. It was one of many times we kind of lost hope, but then she got a conditional offer (i.e. prolonging the stress until mid-July!). </p>
<p>I am quite worried that anyone managed to apply to Imperial college without realising it is a specialist science college. Did you do any research at all eg look at their website for a minute? This is what it says in large letters on the first page.
Studying at Imperial
Imperial is the only university in the UK to focus exclusively on science, medicine, engineering and business.</p>
<p>Also Laurelhurst have you noticed there is NO CAMPUS in Cambridge? The university isn’t separate from the town, it’s within in. There is no campus to tour. However, if you want to look round some colleges just speak to the porters and tell them you are there for interviews. Then they will probably let you look round for free (unless there is some kind of event happening eg carol service, wedding). If you want a separate campus, Cambridge is the wrong place for your son. There aren’t all that many campus universities in the UK. York, Bath, Lancaster and Warwick come to mind. They’re definitely not beautiful.</p>
I’d like some advice if anyone knows. I am a U.S. student who has been interested in Cambridge for a very long time, I’m a junior this year and I hope to apply as soon as I can, but listening to some of the stuff in this thread I’m a little concerned. I go to a very very liberal high school. It’s academically rigorous but absolutely refuses to offer AP classes to its students. They do offer honors however, and I have taken honors in every class I can. Overall I have taken the most difficult classes possible at my school and have gotten a 4.0 GPA unweighted and 4.66 weighted. I haven’t taken the SAT or any SATIIs yet, but based on my practice tests my score will probably be 2200 or so. On top of that I have several extra curriculars and two science internships, but still, no AP tests. I’ve basically been counting on my GPA and SAT scores to prove to schools that I am a good student despite AP classes not being offered at my school. If Cambridge is looking solely at AP tests to determine academic quality, is there any way for me to show them the full picture, or am I doomed from the start? Most students at my school prefer to apply to liberal arts colleges, so I’m hard pressed to find advice on applying to large research universities, especially an international one of such esteem like Cambridge.
Clowdy, all you need to do is explain in your application that they don’t do AP at your high school. When my d applied (from a French high school), we were astonished at how attuned Cam admissions officers were to the particulars of her situation. They looked at her as an individual, including asking her to submit an additional essay that was perfectly in synch with her interests and in the end a growth experience - they were even nurturing, though her interviews were very tough. I have described the process at length, which you can find if you scroll down my posts.
So definitely, apply.
My only advice is, develop some interests independently of your school work, through experiences like your internships. This should include some in-depth research on your own, in something you find genuinely inspiring and fun, then write about it in your application. (At 16, my d became deeply interested in the historical Jesus - from a secular perspective - and read a number of academic books on her own, and did 2 archaeological internships in Israel. It gave her original things to write about and, in interview, they went into the subjects in depth, stumping her to see how she would think on her feet and gauging her enthusiasm and aptitude for learning.)
The situation of alcibiade’s daughter does not apply at all in this situation, as presumably she took some exams (which Cambridge will be familiar with. I would guess the French Bacc) in her French high school. This is not a case of she had no tests but still got in. This student would never have eve got to the interview without the test scores (or predicted ones) to start with.
GPA is relative to your school. Oxbridge don’t care if you are good relative to your school. They want to know you are good relative to all applicants. To make this comparison, they like standardised tests. If it is impossible for you to take any APs, I strongly advise that you contact the admissions office to explain your situations. Include the name of the subject you wish to apply for (and if possible your preferred college) and tell them of all the SATs and SATIIs you can take, in case they would accept them instead. Otherwise, your best route may be to enrol in a US college for a year, and then apply to Cambridge. They actually like that. I met several US students who had tried this route. Again you could ask the admissions office if they would consider you in this this instance.
Chowdy1, your school can’t stop you from taking AP exams. They may not offer classes that are called “AP”, but if the school is academically rigorous, you will have learned enough (with some self-study/prep) to do well. If your school is a College Board test center they can register you to take any AP exam; if they aren’t (or are so morally opposed to AP exams that they won’t, though it would be an interesting position for them to take in the situation) you can register to take them at a local high school.
Many people take AP exams without taking an AP course. My D’s secondary school did not offer APs in Eng Lang or Eng Lit b/c they felt that their ‘regular’ English course was sufficient. My D (who is now at Oxford) completely self-studied two APs (that is, never took the subject at school b/c it wasn’t offered), and self-studied for the AP in 3 further subjects which were offered as subjects but not as AP classes.
In other words: you do not have to take a class named “AP Latin” to take the Latin AP- you just have to register to take it and take it on the specified date in May.
That’s not to say it’s a walk in the park- my D did a lot of revision on her own (especially over spring break), and used a number of AP review books- but it is do-able. Given how independently you work at Oxbridge, it is actually good preparation.
Also, you can certainly take SATII subject tests. Use the January and May dates to take tests in subjects you have already done, then June for the ones you are doing this year.
In other words, you can have test scores, but it will require you to take charge of the process. To be honest, that is a good thing if you are thinking of going to Cambridge: UK universities expect you to be much more independent than most US universities seem to, right from the beginning.
What subject would you be applying for? What are the APs / Subject tests that are expected / relevant?
Oh yes, and cupcake put it really well:
GPA is relative to your school. Oxbridge don’t care if you are good relative to your school. They want to know you are good relative to all applicants.
Once again, collegemom gives great advice.
Thanks for all of the advice. I know that I am going to take the Calc AB so that is at least one AP test, as far as SATIIs I was planning on taking the Math II, Bio M, and Global History. I was already planning on self studying to take these so I will just continue with that path. Thanks especially for the story about your daughters application alicibiade. One of the internships I mentioned is actually a mentorship in paleontology with a professor of anatomy at a local university, we are hoping to get a paper of our research published over the summer, so that sounds like a perfect way to show interests independent of school work.
Clowdy, I wish you the best of luck. Oxbridge is truly phenomenal.