1. Get good grades
Yes, your grades will need to really dazzle. GCSEs are seen as evidence of work ethic – and you need a really strong one of those to cope with studying at Oxford or Cambridge. Our ‘guesstimate’ is that the average successful applicant has around eight A* GCSEs – or 8/9 grades under the new system – under their belt.
2. Show wider reading
Simply following the syllabus in Years 12 and 13 and doing the minimum your teacher requires won’t cut it for Oxbridge candidates.
For any humanities, social science, science or engineering degree, you should read widely around your subject – and the same goes for when you’re applying to any other highly sought-after university, for that matter.
3. Prepare for your interview properly
Think of your Oxbridge interview as being a bit like an exam, but out loud. This will be an intellectual interrogation, although it should be a friendly one! The key is in your preparation!
Get a teacher, careers adviser or even a friend to do a mock interview with you. Re-read what you said in your personal statement – your interview may be based on what you wrote. Like personal statements, interviews for Oxbridge are an opportunity for an admissions tutor to see how you think and respond to a question or discussion, rather than your interest in the subject or the experience you’ve accumulated (not that this isn’t important, as you’ll see below). In this way, interviews (and personal statements) are slightly more ‘academic’ in nature, than if you were applying to a non-Oxbridge university.
Budding scientists and mathematicians should expect to work out questions on paper or using a whiteboard.
