Ahead of the Curve

September is one of the most fulfilling times of the year for those who guide and advise on university applications. The first deadline of 15 October, inclusive of clinical careers like medicine and dentistry as well as Oxbridge, demands that students applying for these highly competitive pathways get their applications finalised and sent off now. Those in schools and colleges entrusted with the ‘back end’ of UCAS – checking the mechanics of the applications, proofing the quality of personal statements, crafting the meticulous supporting statements of the reference – get to spend much of their time with the most ambitious, tenacious and organised of students, readying themselves to finally click ‘submit’ on the UCAS form.

These applications must be submitted earlier than others because of the significant additional demands that come with them. Oxford and Cambridge have long relied upon interviews with candidates to simulate the tutorial teaching typical of both universities. In one-to-one or two-to-one settings, the nature of teaching at Oxbridge has long relied upon the dynamic articulation of ideas and evaluation that direct discussions bring. These institutions want students who are amenable to that style of teaching, and so they want to craft a situation like that in the interview. As interviews occur in December of Year 13, applications must come to Oxford and Cambridge before that. Additionally, in anticipation of such interviews, potential applicants develop the skills required for interview – wider, deeper discipline-specific reading, fuller Supercurricular engagement – and ensure they discuss this in their personal statement to encourage consideration for interview, and provide discussion points for interview.

As such, for potential applicants for Oxford and Cambridge should be enhancing their academic profile and building their broader subject understanding beyond their curriculum studies as soon as possible. At Oxford International College, this is the intention behind our Supercurricular programming: students join one of our four Global Strategic Pathways to ensure their Supercurricular opportunities are directly supporting the most competitive applications in their subject areas. Our timetabled electives programme allows students to select opportunities for deeper subject engagement from the beginning of Year 12, and our departments guide further reading and support competition entries that provide personal statements with the valuable experiences that clearly distinguish a student from their peers.

Even with the breadth of experiences that make a strong personal statement under their belt, a student will need to take time to craft compelling and competent responses to the specific questions UCAS provides them. The best way to help students do this is regular and thorough discussions with application experts to encourage reflection and evaluation of additional reading and wider experiences, ensuring what is eventually written is based on genuine and well-evidenced experiences, discussed in an authentic way. If this advice and guidance can call upon deeply experienced teachers, some with past involvement in selective university admission, then the applications will be all the stronger. This is at the heart of OIC’s planning, where our University Counsellors – typically with post-graduate research experience in their subjects and a deep understanding of competitive admissions – meet with our students to hone and perfect the personal statements.

Oxford and Cambridge, like an increasing number of UK universities, also rely on admissions testing to determine academic capabilities and relevant subject-specific skills. These play a key role in shortlisting students for interviews, and so a strong performance in these tests is a must for Oxbridge applicants. As well as drawing on existing subject knowledge, such tests also explore how students think, their capacity to evaluate unfamiliar data, construct coherent and nuanced arguments, and meet the intellectual demands that will be quotidian at Oxford and Cambridge. Early familiarisation with such tests, long before applications are submitted, is a must for students to prepare thoroughly. As early as the spring of Year 12, students with a thought that their application might include such a test should be building an understanding of its structure, its questioning, and the skills that need to be enhanced to perform well in it. As such, although the tests are sat in the October of Year 13, OIC ensures students have engaged with the mechanics and demands of these tests long before they sit down and take it. 

If the admissions test, when sat, has shown the necessary aptitude, and the personal statement evidenced the required intellectual drive and curiosity, then a student may receive that most sought after of invitations – to an interview. The mistake that some students – and institutions – can make is to delay active preparation for this stage of the application process until the interview arrives. At OIC, we know that a considerable proportion of our students will experience an admissions interview, many for Oxford or Cambridge, and so early experience of interview-style experiences is built in to our curriculum. Conversations with our University Counsellors, subject-related discussions with our expert staff, the regular discursive environment of our small classrooms, and the regular interview-like meetings with senior leaders ensure that our students are building the metacognitive self-evaluation and active oracy skills demanded by interviews. When definitive interview invites do arrive, a concrete programme of mock interviews, using both our internal subject experts and outside mentors (who are recent graduates of Oxford and Cambridge in those subjects) enhance and refine student skills in academic discussion, critical debate, and intellectual engagement. This is why so many of our interviewed students do find themselves securing the next formal step of the process – an offer.

Those who receive offers from Oxford and Cambridge have significant reasons to cheer and to commend themselves. But of course the academic journey is far from over. When received around January of Year 13, there are still many months of learning and studying to go until the final hurdle is overcome: getting the grades. Oxford and Cambridge offers demand the best outcomes in A Levels, and so students who want to find that results day brings them the results necessary to take up their place need to have ensured that they have not let their underlying academic performance slip. The demands of the application process, rigorous and testing as they are, need to be balanced against the constant requirement to understand the A Level subject content at the highest level. Only then can an offer translate into a place when the grades required are secured. This is a further justification for early clarity and an early start when students are thinking about Oxbridge: exceptional performance through Year 12 and 13 to bring about the A Level grades demanded by the universities.

Early planning for Oxbridge is therefore not simply a matter of organisation: it is a strategic imperative. From Supercurricular engagement and admissions testing to personal statements and interviews, each stage demands clarity, depth, and sustained effort. Institutions that embed this preparation into the academic journey from the very beginning give their students the best chance not only of receiving an offer, but of meeting that offer, and of course, then thriving once they start as an undergraduate at a world-class university.