<p>Can anyone tell me just how impossible it is to get into Oxford? There's not even a forum on this site for it... which must mean it's very, very rare.</p>
<p>Oh jeez, because I just fell in love with the description and the photographs.</p>
<p>Advice/experiences/chastisement, anyone?</p>
<p>People who are accepted at American ivies are turned down to Oxford, and there are collegs at Oxbridge that ask for a minimum of number of AP scores of 5. Oxford does not look at any ECs.</p>
<p>Still, if you really want to, go for it. You may be surprised.</p>
<p>Try doing a search. I know that cupcake (Oxford student) has done many, many posts on this.</p>
<p>For example:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=4618623%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=4618623</a></p>
<p>A good friend of my daughter's was accepted at Oxford, contingent on getting a 5 on the AP Chem test. He decided that he wasn't that wild about Oxford after all, but it would have been a pretty stressful test if Oxford had been his first choice, especially since he wouldn't have known his score until 2 months before he was supposed to leave for college!</p>
<p>I don't know about Oxford, but Cambridge only accepts a handful of U.S students straight out of High School. Most American students there seem to have completed one year of college studies in the States prior to admission.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Try doing a search. I know that cupcake (Oxford student) has done many, many posts on this.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>I am famous (bows to the crowd)!
[QUOTE]
I don't know about Oxford, but Cambridge only accepts a handful of U.S students straight out of High School. Most American students there seem to have completed one year of college studies in the States prior to admission.
[/QUOTE]
Exactly. Same for Oxford. There are actually loads (and I mean 800+) of US students at Oxford and a similar number at Cambridge. But the vast majority are graduate students. Undergrads I would guess 50ish, but nearly all of them completed a year a a US college before coming to England. But look at it this way, you can apply to US schools and then apply to Oxbridge during you first year. You may well decide that you are happy at your US school and not apply, or you may be rejected but it won't matter because you will already have a school. win-win situation :)</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
A good friend of my daughter's was accepted at Oxford, contingent on getting a 5 on the AP Chem test. He decided that he wasn't that wild about Oxford after all, but it would have been a pretty stressful test if Oxford had been his first choice, especially since he wouldn't have known his score until 2 months before he was supposed to leave for college!
[/QUOTE]
Absolutely the norm at **all **UK universities. All offers of a places are "conditional" on grades pending. </p>
<p>UK students get their A-level grades in August and this is a big national event. It's on TV and everything. They interview students who get the highest grades etc. Application details are given in that post of mine linke above. But basically for most subjects you can apply for 6 places, then you wait to see how many "offers" you get. then you have to choose a 1st choice and a 2nd choice offer, and reject all the others. Normally the second choice asks for lower grades than your first choice (a bit like a safety, but there is no real concept of this in the UK). So on results day if you don't get the grades for your first choice, you probably will get the grades for choice 2. If not, you are "cleared", which is a process of matching all students to empty places (in my experience a lot of them end up in a place they don't want to be and drop out, but basically everyone does get a place). Sometimes, if you don't make the grades for you first choice you can call them and plead, but in the case of the most competitive unis and subjects, the answer will almost certainly be no. It's worth a try though! I am sure I have read that Oxford make 11 offers for every 10 places, so they expect 1 person in 11 not to get the grades. Don't know where I heard this though!</p>