Hi,
I was very fortunate as another QEHS student from three years before me, thanks to Mr Dawson putting us in touch, gave me lots of advice on which college to choose at Oxford.
The most important things for me were
- how many people there were in the college (for me it was the bigger the better to have the greatest chance of meeting like-minded people)
- how big the geography cohort was each year at that college (because if there were 8 of us you could always sail along in the middle of the pack, whereas at some colleges there were only 2 in a year and I think you’d have been academically scrutinised a bit more in that case - I wanted the easiest life possible!!)
- and proximity to the geography lecture theatre - I didn’t want to have to cycle for a long time on a hangover. Teachers don’t tell you this but it’s practical and worth bearing in mind! My college (which you live in) was very close to the geog department - other colleges are closer to other departments and whilst this certainly shouldn’t be the driving reason for college choice, it’s worth a thought.
There are also political persuasions to some colleges - most are pretty middle of the road (as Keble was) and I actually hadn’t really explored my own political views until I got to uni, so was glad to be somewhere where I felt safe to do so. Colleges like Christ Church & Merton are more Conservative, whilst Wadham is more leftwing. It’s worth bearing this in mind if you’re someone already quite politically minded as I had friends who were more leftwing in colleges they felt were quite stiflingly right wing and this affected their college experience somewhat.
Interview wise, I’d prepped topic material, and ‘why geography’ type questions, but was quite surprised when they asked me ‘why university’. Not specifically Oxford or Keble, but just more broadly ‘university'. Might be helpful to have a think about that - of course every interview varies but it would have been nice to have thought of an answer to that beforehand.
For Oxbridge applications, I remember being quite taken aback that at an Open Day, the geography course director said they couldn’t care less how much charity work you’d done or how good you were at sport, they just wanted to see excellence in your subject, and a clear passion for it. Talk about what you’ve read etc. This can certainly be different for other unis and *isn’t* me saying don’t mention extra-curriculars in your UCAS application, but perhaps message admissions people at the universities you’re looking at and see what they want you to talk about. Be pro-active.
Jack Remmington
You can contact Jack at: jackremmington@live.co.uk
Or explore his page on the Community Hub
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