<p>Does Oxford prefer IB Diplomas or AP classes over the other?</p>
<p>Take my advice with a grain of salt, since I've only gone through the application process, not the actual being-at-Oxford process, but this is advice that people gave me when I was applying, and it served me well.</p>
<p>I'd advise only applying for Oxford if you are both good at and absolutely passionate about a single subject. You will have to choose your subject before you apply (you will not do any work in any academic field outside this subject for 3/4 years, and it is very difficult to change). Your application will not be about ECs, your personality, etc - your personal statement will be "I want to study X and will be good at X because of Y," and your interview will basically be an academic tutorial carried out by tutors in your subject. Likewise, decisions will be made primarily by interviewers (in your subject, in your college). The one exception to this is if you apply as an international and interview in the US - then you are not going to be interviewed by someone in your chosen college/subject. I chose to fly over to the UK for interview for this reason - and it was successful. Can you be successful by interviewing in the US? I would suppose so, but from the people I know who have applied/rumor/etc, it may be better to do it in the UK, with your subject tutors.</p>
<p>As for APs, I think they are roughly equivalent to A-levels. I applied as a post-qualification student with only the SATs, three SATIIs, and four APs (each relevant to my subject), and received an unconditional offer (ie, they don't care how many more exams I take or don't take.) I don't believe they ever looked at my high school transcript. It was really a matter of "Are you good at Subject X, and related fields?" rather than "Are you good enough."</p>
<p>But the process was very, very different from that of trying to get into to US schools that I applied to. I cannot stress that enough. And I can't imagine that an individual could be equally happy in either environment; they seemed such different atmospheres!</p>
<p>PS: Be wary of the 1/3 and 1/4 statistics. While it is true that Oxford accepts 25% of applicants, one cannot apply to both Oxford and Cambridge, pretty much halving the applicant pool at each school.</p>
<p>thank you for that it was helpful
I don't think I will be applying there because as desperately as I want to go to school in the UK, I'm not quite sure I'm ready to choose a definitive major yet. I know I'll probably be studying history or sociology.
do you have any idea of their intereviews are fact based or more theoretical, open ended-like?</p>
<p>but now I'm thinking that I might just apply to have a reason to visit England again (for the interview). what a great way to fool my parents =P
hahaha.</p>
<p>Hey,
I just made a post about my interview process here...</p>
<p>Hope it helps! (in a nutshell, the answer's "Theoretical," although I think some basic grounding would be necessary in a subject like History or English. My subject's more obscure, so I wasn't expected to know too much...)</p>
<p>alamode, just a question, but why do you want to be in the UK so much? The reason I ask is that lots of people apply to Oxford because of its perceived mystique - the academic gowns, the old colleges, the hall dinners - and then get very disappointed and downcast when they actually get there, and discover that much of it is not like that! </p>
<p>As for interviews - theoretical, theoretical, theoretical. Anything 'applied' is anathema to Oxford tutors - hehe, I remember a conversation with my tutor that when something like this:</p>
<p>Me: I was wondering if you would write me a reference - I'm applying for an MA in linguistics.
Him [sounding horrified]: Linguistics...hmmm. That's not... <em>applied</em> linguistics is it?!
Me: No, no, theoretical linguistics!
Him [incredibly relieved]: Ah. Yes. Good! Of course you can have a reference! </p>
<p>Obviously, if you're applying for something like Law or Medicine, it will different. But the key thing to remember in the interview is that what you already know is not important - they will teach you what they want you to know. They're looking to see how your mind works - can you assimilate new information quickly, think logically, understand how one conclusion impacts upon another. </p>
<p>Also, a jadedrealist is right about the admission statistics - you should basically ignore them. An application to either Oxford or Cambridge (can't apply to both) involves significantly more work than an application elsewhere, so people don't tend to just throw in an app on the off-chance they'll get in. Secondly, admissions stats vary significantly depending on course. Here are the stats for a random selection of courses:</p>
<p>Earth Sciences: 47.8%
Classics and Modern Languages: 32.1%
Experimental Psychology: 20.9%
Law II: 9.7%</p>
<p>Thirdly, these stats vary from year to year. The year I applied (03), the admissions stat for my course was around 50%. Last year it was 34.2%.</p>
<p>So basically what I'm saying is, stats are useless ;) (But don't tell any mathematicians I said that)</p>