Oxford, Cambridge, LSE Decisions Thread

Student Lounge International Students
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<p>Hey, Hemann. Actually your school grades don't matter as much in the UK as they do in the US; they worry that some schools are harder than others and so the comparison would be unfair. So it's mostly just your standarized examinations (IB, A levels, AP, SAT...) what counts. However, if you're an international student, Oxford might ask you to send them a copy of your transcript (I had to send one to Cambridge), and if that's the case, they will give your grades some consideration. LSE didn't ask me for any grades beyond my IB score (which I put in my UCAS app), nor did any of the other British unis that I aplied to. St Andrews (in Scotland) does ask for your transcript, though.</p>

<p>And about the school thing, well, I don't see how they could put an emphasis on it for international students (surely they were not familiar with my Chilean school, for instance). I am no expert but I quite honestly don't think that it is true. For one, Oxbridge is trying to recruit more students from working class backgrounds, and putting an emphasis on the kind of school an applicant attends to seems like would only benefit rich private school kids.</p>

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<p>i see...well, the school that i was referring to was the name of the school that you went to as there are some schools in singapore that are well known for being excellent in the field of academics...like maybe you got the same score as a another guy from a school that has a good reputation, whereas you are from a school that is less well known, would you be at a disadvantage??</p>

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<p>luxastraea: question here, about the SAT2--u took the spanish which is ur first language right? but I was told that it would be pointless to take a language subject in ur first language. I am really confusing now..0_0
well if it works for u, maybe I can take the Chinese:)
p.s. u sure have very impressive stats! :) no wonder u can get all those impressive offers!:)</p>

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<p>yah...dude, you really have impressive stats...</p>

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<p>Hermann: I would imagine that if you got the same score than a guy from a better-known school in a standarized test (i.e. A levels, SAT, IB, LNAT, TSA...), then it'd be all the more impressive. On the other hand, Oxbridge really doesn't look into your school grades much precisely because of grade inflation and the differences between one school and another. My advice is not to worry about it; they're not really thinking of admitting your school to their uni, but you as an individual. My school wasn't involved at all with my application process (I even had to teach my referee how to write my reference, and then translate it for her) and I did alright.</p>

<p>Kujalulu: You were told right; it is mostly useless to take a language test in your mother language, but the colleges that I applied to only asked for two SAT IIs. All but Princeton and Harvard, which is why I'm currently trying to force mysef to go over my French notebooks from three years ago in order to take the French SAT II this Jan 24th. (My brain is rebelling, though, cause part of me wonders why I'm even making the effort at this point). But I digress! If Chinese is your first language then taking it could be a plus, but it cannot go towards meeting your colleges' requirements. In other words, it'd be cool if you took it (and if you can get a high score with little to no effort on your part I'd say go for it) but only as an extra, not as an "instead of". And by the way, I envy you so much! I'm trying to learn Chinese right now and it's soooo hard. Damned tones....</p>

<p>Anyways, thank you both for celebrating my offers with me, lol. If I got them it's just because I'm extremely stubborn and don't take no for an answer. I'm sure you too can get in wherever you want if you get the right information, and convince yourselves that anything is achievable. :)</p>

<p>(Yeah, I know I sound like a self-help book. It's all the post-acceptance giddiness, I swear. Don't judge me!)</p>

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<p>My UCAS status just changed today. The deadline for replies is set to 4th JUNE. lol. it means I'll be able to sit down and slowly think through my choices, were I lucky enough to be presented with a good array of them, when april comes. [US school application results] Nice one there, UCAS.</p>

<p>Btw, did anyone receive the cambridge international trust application thing which they're supposed to mail to you? Or were you supposed to ask for them?</p>

<hr>

<p>@Hermann: I suspect that your suspicion of the 'particular singapore school' is quite true? Something along the line of 'highest acceptance rate' is listed on the wiki page i think, for that particular school you're probably referring to. </p>

<p>Actually Singapore is rather on the favourable side of oxbridge, and hongkong too actually. They send down people especially to interview everyone -- even the medicine applicants, in singapore's case. Compared that to other international applicants who need to go cambridge for their interview....talk about favouritism.</p>

<p>At any rate, were I the admission officer[or the actual faculty, in the case of UK admissions], I would tend to trust schools that have provided me with a reliable source of good students, as opposed to schools that I have not heard of? </p>

<p>Yes it is very biased, but then again, it works like gambling, in the sense that they're betting on a school with higher chance of giving them a student who's as good as what his/her grades say. I mean, grades are not really a very accurate reflection of a person. This is one of the many reasons why people struggle to get into high schools with fame/reputation, other than that those schools might provide a better education.</p>

<hr>

<p>@ luxastraea: LOL to the reference part. My teacher essentially said, ok give me a list of all the things you want to see in your reference, as detailed as possible, and I'll write it.</p>

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<p>oh dear then...looks like i will have to work doubly hard then to maybe stand a chance of getting into LSE...any specific things that you might know they happen to look at??</p>

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<p>LSE looks at a lot of things - not just the personal statement. The adcoms have rebuffed my near-perfect personal statement and recently changed my track status to "unsuccessful". Couldn't find my password for a week; now that I have, I wish I hadn't. Ignorance is bliss, they say. For today, at least, I agree :( :(</p>

<p>It's all about America now.</p>

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<p>reika: That's neat, though, you got to write your own reference in a way! Sort of. Oh, and what do you mean by the "cambridge international trust application thing"? I haven't heard of anything like that, and I haven't received anything other than my acceptance letter either. Should I be worried?</p>

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<p>thanks luxastraea!. well I previously planned to take the Math level 2 & physics & chemistry in the SAT2. But I think it must take a lot of time to prepare coz I heard that there are many stuff on the phy and chem tests are not covered in the A-Level syllabus. I guess I could take Chinese in stead of either of them then. that would make it alot more easier.:) </p>

<p>oh is the singapore school you guys talking about the Raffles Junior college?? I saw the wiki too when I did the school research. I actually befriended a graduate from RJC on the facebook and she told me that RJC sent 40 to 50 ppl to oxbridge every year, but another singapore school, the Hwa Chong Institute, sent more than 100 students to oxbridge every year. ( really took a shock there!) But RJC sends more students to the US.</p>

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<p>oh btw, objectively, Chinese is really hard, especially for u guys. we chinese would've been amazed by those foreigners who can SPEAK Chinese, not to mention foreign ppl who can write or read in Chinese. but I bet you guys are going to have loads of fun learning it, coz Chinese culture is indeed very mysterious and absorbing. with China's long history, it's virtually not possible to explore every aspect of Chinese history and culture. Most academics spend their life time on one small niche (I don't really know how can I put it in an appropriate way, hope u understand it.) any way, what I trying to say is, don't get frustrated, and I hope u enjoy learning it:)</p>

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<p>^ 40-50 are accepted to Oxbridge from RJC and about 100 are accepted to Oxbridge from Hwa Chong per year. That doesn't mean 100 people actually matriculate there - some (like me) chose the US over Oxbridge, others can't afford the school fees, etc...</p>

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<p>well, it's "sent" not "accepted". it's the graduate's own word, I didn't distort the meaning nor exaggerate it.</p>

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<p>^ Well, I seriously doubt Hwa Chong (my school, btw) or Raffles sends that many to Oxbridge every year - even Imperial only matriculates around 100+ Singaporeans total per year (based on the people who turn up at the Imperial pre-Orientation in Singapore and their facebook group).</p>

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<p>Oh. Actually, according to the 07 batch stats, 45 were accepted to Cam and about 15 to Ox for RJ. And that's excluding the people who don't report their offers by the way.</p>

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<p>Sorry to get slightly off topic but are all you [heading to Obxridge/LSE/Other UK colls] paying full fee Int'l tuition? Because the lack of fin aid is what turned me off. Anyone know of scholarships or...?</p>

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<p>^ Cambridge does provide limited financial aid/scholarship/bursaries through the Cambridge Overseas Trust, Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and funds from individual colleges.</p>

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<p>Yeah, but "limited" is the operative word there; they aren't exactly generous with their scholarships (at least Oxbridge isn't, and I assume the same holds true for other UK colleges). However, assuming that you won't receive financial aid at any school to which you apply, Oxbridge would be roughly one-half the price of American universities (3 years at $35000 per year compared to 4 years at $50000 per year).</p>

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<p>Quote: Pinkpineapple, do you mind giving us your stats? I don't think it would be too much to say the college, but it's up to you to decide.</p>

<p>Well all I am willing to say is it's one of the older colleges and small in both size/# students.
I'm not sure what "stats" you would like but I had 2350 on the SAT, 2370 combined for 3 SAT IIs which were the two histories (US/World) and Math II. I had four 5's on AP exams. I am very excited for Oxford.</p>

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<p>LSE has a lot of discretionary scholarships as well as the LSE Support Scheme. Check it out:</p>

<p>Applicants</a> with Overseas fee status</p>