I'm an American who just finished her second year at Oxford - AMA!

Student Lounge International Students
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@penguin2 , Oxford colleges have traditional (or maybe) stereotypical identities the way LACs have, but students identify with that identity more or less. The usual questions apply: is this really my place if I am female - lower middle class or below - a state school student - not Anglican or even Christian - a person of colour - a foreigner? Some colleges were created to be inclusive some have managed to create inclusive identities, and others…not so much.

Some students rather stay in their college bubble for three years, after all they all have their own halls, bars, sports facilities, boathouses, choirs, libraries…and when they are out and about on the town or go to London, they go with the friends from their colleges.
Others prefer to socialise in university wide ECs and actively want to meet people from other colleges. The Oxford Union, theatre groups, the best music ensembles, the student newspapers are good ECs like that. Scientists may have lab times with students from other colleges.

You may see a very clear trend among international students towards the latter.

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@roycroftmom, I’d very much be tactical and not apply to the most popular colleges for PPE (they publish the stats). Though with PPE, I’m frankly not sure whether there are really any not so popular colleges out there…it’s just a very hard subject to get in for, period.

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Hi,

I am a current junior who has a passion for math/physics. What exactly is my route to getting into Oxbridge? I know that I have to take the PAT or something like that, but could you explain how I can take that in America? Thanks!

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PAT is for Physics at Oxford, MAT is for Math at Oxford, Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment is for NatSci at Cambridge. Which course you are applying for will determine which test you need to prep for. Note that you can only apply to Ox OR Bridge, not both (unless you are an organist). The process is the same for all three exams.

You can find US testing sites here:

https://www.admissionstesting.org/find-a-centre/

If there are none close to you, see if there is a British school near you- they always offer the tests, but are not listed as test sites. Your GC can contact them and they are generally helpful about registering outside students for admissions tests. If that doesn’t work, your school can become a test site. Be aware that this can take a time (starting with the time it takes you to talk them into it!), so start figuring that out now.

Be sure to practice! there are past papers online. Ask your science and maths teachers to run over the syllabus (links available on each subjects web pages) to make sure that you have covered as much of the material as possible.

But…aren’t you going into the AF before college?

If your plans are evolving, note that you will need 5s in Calc BC, Physics and another science for Ox, plus 2 more APs for Bridge. There’s pretty much no getting around that.

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Hello, new question here. How is the whole living abroad thing working out? How often do you fly home, or do you just stay in the UK or Europe? Was it difficult adjusting? My father is concerned about my chances at getting recruited for jobs in the US with a foreign degree. Any insight on that?

And I’ve noticed that there is a lot more work day to day, but the semesters are much shorter. What was your experience with that? Do you do a lot of school work or internships over those breaks?

What is it like for Americans? Do all the Americans tend to stick to each other or other international students, or do they become well-incorporated with the British students? Thanks for doing this!

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Hi @libsea…the OP has been quiet for a while, so I am jumping in with the bits that I am familiar with :slight_smile:

re: going home / breaks

So, this is one of the biggest differences between Oxbridge & other unis: it turns out that the words “vacation” and “holiday” are not synonyms. “Vacation” at Oxford means you “vacate” your room - as in, move out entirely*- and go home to study what you have been working on during term. End of term exams (called “collections”) are sat when you come back from “vacation”. The idea is that you use those breaks to study the parts of the syllabus that you didn’t get to during term.

There are internships in some fields (law, finance, consulting are the usual suspects), and some ongoing research projects (mostly STEM), but it’s really secondary- except summer after second year, when the big firms recruit. The terms are super-intense so the first part of the vac is usually recovery, and the last part is studying for collections.

Going home for Thanksgiving is really not an option, not just for distance, but also because of where you are in the term- you finish up the 1st week of December. There is an annual joint Oxford-Cambridge ski trip (called Varsity Trip- there’s a video if you do a search) the week after Michaelmas term ends, when some 3K+ Oxbridge students hit the slopes together. Collegekid preferred a smaller getaway, so a small gang of pals would go various European places together before heading home for break.

re: recruitment in the US

It matters what you want to be recruited for! but Oxford carries plenty of weight as a name. One thing to be aware of is that US colleges get out earlier than Oxford does, so a lot of US internship dates will start before you are ready. Oxford also goes back a lot later, though, which can be an advantage in negotiating a later start date!

re: Americans at Oxford

There are three main categories of American students at Oxford, and they don’t interact much: grad students, visiting/study abroad** and full time undergrad. There are so few full time American undergrads (~200 across 45 colleges & PPHs, out of 1700 total US students, out of 12K undergrad/24K total students) that you will probably be aware of most of them. But- they really don’t stick to each other- nor, with the exception of some of the Chinese and to a lesser extent Indonesian students- do other international students stick with their compatriots. You may be the only American in your college; unless you are at Catz (St Catherine’s) or Teddy Hall (St Edmunds), which host a lot of visiting / study abroad students, you are unlikely to have more than a couple of others. From your other thread you are a potential Historian, so there are likely to be a few fellow Americans in the various combinations (+ Pol / Eng / Econ / Modern Lang). At Oxford you are known more by your subject and college than anything else.

Finally, some unasked for advice: Oxford is great if you really, truly love your subject. The HisPol Collegekid would give me books for Christmas that were written by her tutors and lecturers- it is really amazing. But if you just kind-of like history compared to your other subjects, think carefully. It is super intense, and it’s all you do for 3 years.

On the other hand, if that sounds great to you- get cracking on making sure that you can take the HAT, on finding a paper that you can use to submit with your app and (esp) making sure you have your APs lined up!

*UK students take all their stuff home for vacations; most colleges have a place for international students to store their stuff and a few colleges will let you pay extra to keep your room through the vacations. You can infer from this that ‘doing up the dorm room’ is not a thing in the UK!

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@libsea - @collegemom3717 right on the mark as always. Just a few things to add based on my son’s experience.

Other Americans: My son connected with most of the American undergrads in his year through a group chat before they got to Oxford and actually met a few in our area over the summer before school started. The Oxford American Society was rebooted last year and is a way to meet other American students. My son has also met other kids from his HS at Oxford during their visiting terms. But, no, they don’t hang out together as a group all the time. He spends much more time with his college friends.

Breaks: He comes home after every term (with the detour for the Varsity Trip after Michaelmas as he races) but spends most of the time studying. A chance to consolidate material from the term and prepare for collections at the start of the next term. He’s done internships over the summer break (otherwise known as the “long vac” - one of my favorite Oxfordisms) but given the timing of terms, it can be challenging to find one in the US. He did his internship in London last summer. Storing your belongings over break can be a challenge as well. Colleges say that they make space available for international students, but in his case, that didn’t really work out. We have family a couple of hours away, so his aunt/uncle would turn up the last day of term and pick up his stuff and drop it back off for him at the start of the next one. He got lucky with his accommodation this year and had a small college owned house so he didn’t need to do that. For fourth year next year, he’s rented a house on Cowley Road with seven college friends, so he won’t have to move his stuff then either.

It’s been a great experience for him and he loves it there. Good luck if you decide to pursue it.

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@collegemom3717 For a prospective History student whose school does not offer any HIstory AP’s, what should be the route to fulfilling the requirement? Other than an APUSH self study and AP Literature, most of my scores will be in STEM. Do you think that two AP scores in History is very important?

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Thanks so much for posting this thread! I know you’re a philosophy major, but I was wondering if you have any insight on engineering at Oxford. I’m really interested in going there, but I don’t know if I’m good enough. I’m interested in biomedical engineering, but if their chemical engineering is better, I’d rather do that.

Also, what is applying like? My school counselors don’t know much about international admissions, so I don’t even know how to apply.

Finally, what is the cost like? My main worry about the colleges I want to go to in the US is price. The only school that would be cheap for me, as of now, is the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

Again, thank you so much!!!

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@riverandsasha3 - there is no financial aid at Oxford. Prepare to pay for 4 years full price, international rates, and have proof of payment in order to get your visa.

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@134g8h4owv, there is both the getting in- and then there is doing the work! Have you looked at the HAT (History Aptitude Test)? How closely have you looked at the syllabus for each year of the History course? Is history a long-time interest of yours, one in which you have read widely outside of school?

I know (British) students who got into History with a mix of science and history (A levels in History, Math and Biology)- but I would be more concerned about a US student: there is only 1 A level for History, and the admission tutors know exactly how prepared a UK student will be with it. They already don’t rate APs as highly as A levels, and they are used to US students applying with several history APs. If you are doing a self-study history this year, I recommend European Hx >> USHx. If you took USHx as a Junior take the subject test, then self-study AP Euro.

The HAT score will be key to getting an interview, and don’t forget that you have to submit an example of relevant(ish) written work as well.

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@collegemom3717 Thanks for the reply. In terms of my ability in History, I have been quite successful in many U.S. competitions which have garnered me some big awards, as well as some research internships and publications. I know that Oxford is less focused on cumulative achievement then U.S. colleges, and has a general focus on what you have read–which are reasons that are attracting me to this type of admissions system. I have read widely on a few sub-disiplines in history which I love.

I think that I have the applicable skills to do well on the HAT and interview, and my historical research experience which I use almost the entirety of my free time shows my interest in history, but my fear is that testing will be a barrier for my school does not offer AP.

Do you think that, given that I make the rest of my application strong, I could gain a conditional offer to get an AP score later? Also, do personal achievements in history ever hold any weight, or is the entire focus on exam scores, written work, and interview?

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You will need at least 3 scores of something- AP or subject tests- and at least one of them must be history, no matter what. That your school doesn’t offer them, and you can’t arrange to self-study & take them is not their problem (I know that sounds harsh, but it is the bottom line: if you want into their system you have to play by their rules).

Personal achievements in history are relevant in themselves- but they are not enough on their own to overcome the exam requirement. They can be mentioned in your LoR and Personal Statement (be strategic in how you do it, obvs), when you are making your case for why you are a great fit for this course. Your exam scores, LoR, written work, PS, and (especially) the HAT are the hurdles you have to cross to get the interview. The interview is make or break (the other elements can come back into play, usually for the people in the middle- not a clear cut or accept).

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Hello, and thanks for your offer to answer questions. My son was accepted to Brasenose back in January. We have yet to receive the letter asking for a deposit or any info about applying for a student visa, etc. Is this normal?