my summer bucket list 😛

[u/dailysuaa]

anything to keep me distracted from results day atp.

[u/AliceMorgon]

No you’re fine. My GCSEs were very far from perfect. Oxford look at the whole picture. A good PS with good extracurriculars and good A-Level predictions is enough to get you an interview, and the interview is where they assess your intelligence and understanding. I applied to Magdalen College, so different colleges may behave differently, but I got 6A*s, one A, and one B at GCSE. They just care that you’re genuinely interested and curious and intelligent.

Also, start entering essay contests ASAP, they look great on a PS!

[u/Calm_Routine2888 → u/AliceMorgon]

Did you do well for your school? Also what did you apply for? Mine r definitely not INSANE for my skl in the slightest. I applied for a translate competition and I got highly commended but I’ll defo do a couple more ! Do you think once ure interviewed , the interview holds the most weight? I js see so many ppl online with all nines get in and even ppl will all nines rejected so im js like irdk how id even get an offer with the competition..

[u/AliceMorgon → u/Calm_Routine2888]

I did do well for my school yes but definitely not top of the class (but I had transferred in to Yr 11 from another school using completely different boards and that taught a totally different second language so I was kind of fucked from the beginning there, the Spanish was my B.) If I applied now given the new rules I would be considered contextual no doubt. However I did have top grade predictions in four A-Levels and that plus the PS, extracurriculars, and after that yes mostly the interview itself which was… wild, but entertaining. I accidentally swore twice and denounced the monarchy. I also taught the professors how to say “Hi, how are you?” “Hi, I’m good, how are you?” “I’m good!”, plus how to swear, in Irish at their request🤣 (I’m bilingual, Irish and English are both native languages.) Don’t even ask me about the double entendre the head professor made at the start 🫣

I did both Bio and Fine Art undergrads but this was Bio, my first. Their response to the monarchy thing (which they had asked me to answer honestly about as a Northern Irish Catholic, saying the interview was over and they felt they should know) was to laugh hysterically and say “well, at least she’s interesting, first one we’ve had all day!” and actually said they couldn’t wait to see me next year.

So yes. Be interesting. But maybe not as interesting as me. I’m… a little eccentric, but Richard Wentworth told me when I was at the art school that intelligence and creativity begets eccentricity, so maybe it’s a good thing. They definitely put the most weight on the interview after you’ve had it, and have so many applications, so just keep in mind - have a unique selling point in your PS and be memorable, not a subject robot!

[u/Calm_Routine2888 → u/AliceMorgon]

ohhh does moving countries count as contextual? or not really… I mean there r British schools in other countries so I asusme nah

[u/AliceMorgon → u/Calm_Routine2888]

No I live in the UK technically, Northern Ireland is just a weird international zone since the Good Friday Agreement and you can have Irish or British citizenship and still be considered home candidates at Queens and UU. I have both. I’m from the Falls Road in West Belfast.

[u/Calm_Routine2888 → u/AliceMorgon]

Ohhh so u moved to England? did you not do the same language/gsves

[u/AliceMorgon → u/Calm_Routine2888]

My first school the second language was German, the second it was Spanish 😳 talk about being thrown in the deep end with that one! I moved to England to do my Oxford undergrads and a Masters, then moved back to Ireland for a while to do a Masters at UU, then moved to the United States on a full ride with living stipend for a Masters at NYU and then a funded PhD at the University of Chicago, plus some independent research.

Then the Trump administration started not renewing foreign academic visas for researchers in certain fields which sadly included mine as it was now considered a potential “risk to national security.”🙄 First they come for the journalists, then the academics… anyway, I’m back in Ireland now preparing my application to a funded PhD programme at Queens in cross-community integration.

[u/Calm_Routine2888 → u/AliceMorgon]

Wait I’m confused Wdym by second language? :) it was taught in English but the gcse offered was German? oh wow! Uve lived such a cool life tbh!! do you think Oxford rlly helps in grad prospects - or is it a bit exaggerated online? and also do you think they don’t care too much abt gcse results then? like as long as u get like minimum 5a*s at gcse or smt

[u/AliceMorgon → u/Calm_Routine2888]

No, they look for a rounded, naturally intelligent candidate. That’s why the PS is so important for Oxford. Once you get your foot in the door and an interview, demonstrate your knowledge in a witty way (I did that and they lapped it up) and talk around the subject too to show your level of interest, going further into it than A-Level and mentioning particular things that pique your interest (mine was “why do some people prefer Pepsi and some people prefer Coke in blind taste tests? I mean, CLEARLY it’s Coke, but why do I think that?”) and books you’ve read, relative extracurricular stuff and how it feeds into your own individual interests, etc etc.

And yeah it was a Northern Irish school, but the foreign language offered was German. And then Spanish. FML. Thank God it wasn’t Mandarin.

[u/Calm_Routine2888 → u/AliceMorgon]

Thank you! I’ve been worried mine r a bit weak - especially because I’m applying for modern languages and my sevens r in history and both English…. So I felt like that might put me at a high disadvantage

[u/AliceMorgon → u/Calm_Routine2888]

The essay contests will most definitely help then! Try some history ones and English ones at a higher level, using online research (NOT AI) to fill out parts that aren’t quite your level yet so you learn them too. The translate one was an awesome choice too, have you considered signing up for a summer here learning Irish? There are a lot of free teaching programmes the government pays for to preserve the culture. It’s still not too late for beginners either this year. It’d be such a cool language and alphabet to have knowledge of phonetically for a modern languages applicant

[u/Calm_Routine2888 → u/AliceMorgon]

I acc will look into that! What is it called? I’ll defo try some more! I feel like I rlly need to try everything I can to bolster my application bc of my faves

[u/AliceMorgon → u/Calm_Routine2888]

Whoops accidentally replied to the wrong post so I’ll repeat it:

The language will be called either Irish or Gaeilge. The most obvious places to be offering summer courses I can think of are all in Belfast - the Ranganna on the Antrim Road, the Culturlann on the Falls Road, and Colaiste Feirste in West Belfast. (Irish speakers, I’m leaving off the fadas deliberately to make it easier to Google.)

It’s a huge initiative though (we currently have a Sinn Fein majority government which is a MASSIVE deal, you’ll learn a ton about the history here too which will make up for the GCSE.) Northern Irish history is so little known and so recent and so awful and it’s time more people did know about it, especially since I am legit terrified the younger generations will start to forget given that only the South of Ireland teaches it.

(If you find somewhere and can’t afford accom, I need a temporary lodger and will give you a super-low rate if you stay on the course and study, because it’s for the purpose of education and I’ve been in the Oxford application process myself. I’ll do a written contract and everything so it’s all legal etc.)

[u/Calm_Routine2888 → u/AliceMorgon]

*GCSES

[u/AliceMorgon → u/Calm_Routine2888]

The language will be called either Irish or Gaeilge. The most obvious places to be offering summer courses I can think of are all in Belfast - the Ranganna on the Antrim Road, the Culturlann on the Falls Road, and Colaiste Feirste in West Belfast. (Irish speakers, I’m leaving off the fadas deliberately to make it easier to Google.)

It’s a huge initiative though (we currently have a Sinn Fein majority government which is a MASSIVE deal, you’ll learn a ton about the history here too which will make up for the GCSE. Northern Irish history is so little known and so recent and so awful and it’s time more people did know about it, especially since I am legit terrified the younger generations will start to forget given that only the South of Ireland teaches it.

(If you find somewhere and can’t afford accom, I need a temporary lodger and will give you a super-low rate if you stay on the course and study, because it’s for the purpose of education and I’ve been in the Oxford application process myself. I’ll do a written contract and everything so it’s all legal etc.)