A childhood dream, the prestige, or just for the lovely campus. There are many reasons anyone might want to be an Oxbridge student. A year ago, I was like you, striving to find my way into the college gates. And just like you, I was lost on what to do to boost my chances. Thankfully, I managed to secure an offer to study Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Here, I give you the roadmap that I never had, to guide your way to a an Oxbridge offer.
The Boarding Tickets 🎟️
There are two boarding tickets you need to hop on the train to your destination of an Oxbridge offer, namely exceptional grades and a decent personal statement. Without either one, you are at risk of getting rejected before you get a chance to get an interview.
Ticket One: Exceptional Grades 💯
If you are using your AS level grades to apply, your UMS score must be very high. For some years, even straight As are insufficient as the competition is intense. If you are using predicted grades to apply, it goes without saying that you should aim for a perfect grade of straight As. It doesn’t mean that you have no shot at getting an offer with less than perfect grades, but its best to get every edge you can. If you are applying using some other accreditation, just make sure that it is very much above average.
Ticket Two: The Personal Statement 📜
Passion and curiosity. Those are the two main things they are looking for in your personal statement. Your personal statement should scream with enthusiasm for the subject you are applying for. It should also demonstrate that you are taking tangible efforts to deepen your knowledge of the subject content.
The Train Tracks: The Interview 💼
The interview sets the direction of your Oxbridge Application, it is in your interest that its pointing in the right direction. Oxford typically offers 2 or more interviews. Cambridge, on the other hand offers two interviews, from two different colleges, if you interview in the UK, and only 1 interview if you interview overseas.
Railroad Switch One: Overseas Interview or Interview in the UK 
There are pros and cons for both options if you are an international student. Having two interviews allows you an opportunity to make up for any blunders you make in any one of them, just as the saying goes, “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket”. On non-pandemic years, you are able to visit the campus and experience what its like to live there.
However for the overseas interview, you will usually get a very seasoned interviewer. Their prompting will be slightly more instructive and they will be slightly more experienced in assessing your suitability to being in Cambridge.
Railroad Switch Two: To Mock or not to Mock? ✋
Sweaty palms, shaky voice and shivering hands. Those are common symptoms amongst interviewees across ages and backgrounds. Sometimes, the nerves can get so bad that they affect your interview performance. What’s the solution? Mock Interviews. Ask your seniors, teachers and friends to help you get a taste of the interview experience beforehand. A good rule of thumb is to get at least 5 mock interviews before the actual thing.
The Train: The Admission Test 📖
A very important aspect of your application is how well you fare in your admissions test. The test is different depending on your chosen subject and also is different depending on your choice between Oxford and Cambridge. The main way to prepare for the admissions test is none other than to read through the specifications. The specifications is a pdf file released that contains the scope of the questions on your admissions test (for most admissions tests). As long as you are able to tick off all of the boxes on the specifications document and do reasonably well on past year questions, you should be able to get a decent score on your admission test. You should also search the web for the converted scores for your test, usually you don’t need a full raw score to get a full converted score on each test and most are designed to prevent most Oxbridge applicants from achieving full scores. So don’t get discouraged if you don’t get a good raw score.
Your Luggage: The Mindset 🧠
The most important part about your application should be, YOU. While it is important to know the do’s and don’ts in an Oxbridge application, it is essential that your goal is not only to be a good Oxbridge applicant, but is to become a good Oxbridge student. With that mindset, you would naturally push yourself to do things that will boost your chances at getting in. After all, the entire admissions process is the universities best attempt at deciding whether or not you are suitable to be a student at their university.
Final Words 💬
All in all, I don’t mean to say that getting a Oxbridge offer should be the be all and end all of your application. Take your time in your application to explore more about yourself and your passion towards academia. And if you don’t get your offer from Oxbridge, it doesn’t mean that you are anyhow worse off than the other offer holders, hold your head up high and strive for success in your field and careers. There are many things in this blog post that warrant a more in-depth explanation, and I will have some follow up blog posts exploring them, so don’t forget to subscribe to be notified of new blog posts 😂.