<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I'm a 16-year old girl from the Netherlands, and I have decided to apply for universities in the UK this fall. My choices are Durham (Politics), LSE (Government), UCL (European Social and Political Studies), Edinburgh (Politics) and Oxford (PPE). I have absolutely no idea of my chances of getting in at any of those universities, so I would like the opinion of someone who knows a little bit more about this stuff than me. I would especially like to hear an opinion about PPE at Oxford. I'll short list my details for you:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I'll turn 17 during my final exams at the end of this year, which means that I will be 17 when attending the university.</p></li>
<li><p>I follow the dutch VWO system, which is the highest level of highschool in my country. It is already the highest level, and I am also one of the best students in the year. Our exams work very differently from the UK, and we gather percentages of our final grades over several years. At this point, I have about 10 to 25% for each subject, with an average of about an 7.5 - 8. My Economics grade is an 9.6 at the moment (out of 10). </p>
<ul>
<li>My subject profile consists of: Sociology, English, IB English, Dutch, French, History, Economics, highest level of Maths, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. (it the toughest subject profile one can have in my country. I am automatically allowed at any course at any Dutch university, except for the very small number of courses for which there is a Numerus Fixus. For those courses there is a ballot system)</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Besides my own school system, I do IB: English A2 HL. My predicted grade will probably be 6-7. </p></li>
<li><p>My first 4 years of VWO have been bilingual, which means that I have had four years of english education in the subjects of History, Biology, Geography, Maths, and some other less significant subjects.</p></li>
<li><p>I am one of the most active Model UN member of my country. Participated in 18 conferences atm, of which I have been either Staff or Student Officer at 9 of them. It also includes THIMUN, which is the biggest in the world for highschool students.</p></li>
<li><p>I have followed the Leiden Advanced Pre-University Programme for Top Students (here at the Leiden University). It consisted of classes, taught by a professor, at graduate level, about the different government systems (mostly Netherlands, UK, France, Germany and USA), and was a combination of politics, civil law and history. </p></li>
<li><p>I have participated in several Public Speaking competitions.</p></li>
<li><p>Got two awards from my school: "Greatest Asset in Any Group Activity" and "Outstanding Contribution to the MUN Programme". </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Insignificant things:
- Have been a volunteer at a summer day camp for 5 years now, helped at many school information evenings and open days,
- I play tennis, fieldhockey and guitar, and do Zumba Fitness and Pilates, and I am working towards being a qualified Snowboard instructor.</p>
<p>Alright, so if possible, I would like to know from you if I am wasting all my time applying at these universities. I REALLY want to study in the UK, but if it is a wasted effort and you say I have got no chances of getting in, I might as well just spent that time partying here and doing fun stuff rather than writing a personal statement and sitting all these tests, since here in the Netherlands anyone who does VWO has got a guaranteed spot at any university anyways..!</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>Madeleine</p>