brb interview :D

[goldenquagsire]

I was beginning to get a bit jealous of the surprising number of people in my school who've already gotten uni offers (one dude already has offers from three of his five choices, wtf). But just now I've checked my email, and the University of Birmingham has given me an offer to read history if I can get ABB or higher!

Now, obviously Birmingham is not my first choice (although it is a very respectable institution!). But it's just nice to get an offer so early on, and it's also great for bragging rights!

Basically, life is good~

 

[opaltiger]

Re: woah, first offer!

It's mostly the less competitive unis that issue offers early. I got my first around this time, then the other four between January and, like, March. So basically all this means is that you applied to really good unis. 8)

Anyway, well done! I know exactly how you feel right about now. :P I think I'm going to have fun watching this process from the other side.

 

[goldenquagsire]

Re: woah, first offer!

Yeah, I've noticed that Southampton in particular is throwing around offers like candy. On the other hand, the aforementioned three-offers guy got one from Manchester and one from Exeter, both of which iirc are pretty competitive...

Also, I fail reading comprehension and my dad pointed out that actually I was offered AAB. Not quite as tasty as ABB, but hopefully I can manage that.

btw, did you have to take an entrance test for Cambridge? I had to do the HAT exam for Oxford yesterday and it was pretty damn brutal. I hope they look past that paper and invite me in for interview, where they can see me for the ~*special snowflake*~ that I am. :(

 

[opaltiger]

Re: woah, first offer!

I had a short test before my interview, but it was nothing standardised or anything. And by 'before' I mean in the hour directly preceding.

 

[Murkrow]

Re: woah, first offer!

I don't know about Manchester but Exeter seems to have done a lot of their offers pretty early this year, the first bunch of offers people I know got were from there.

 

[Jolty]

Re: woah, first offer!

offers
in November
WHAT

I didn't get balls till January!! man I didn't even FINISH my ucas form till December

is it just nerds going to redbricks who get shit done this early or what lmao
EX-POLY REPRESENT

but in all seriousness, congrats bro :D hope you get an offer from your first choice too yeaaaaa

 

[opaltiger]

Re: woah, first offer!

is it just nerds going to redbricks who get shit done this early or what lmao

Oxbridge deadline is October 15th.

 

[Jolty]

Re: woah, first offer!

Oxbridge deadline is October 15th.

aah fair enough then :B

 

[goldenquagsire]

Re: woah, first offer!

I had a short test before my interview, but it was nothing standardised or anything. And by 'before' I mean in the hour directly preceding.

godDAMNit. you were lucky, man.

I guess history is just horribly competitive compared to science. :(

I don't know about Manchester but Exeter seems to have done a lot of their offers pretty early this year, the first bunch of offers people I know got were from there.

oh? that's pretty funky...

I was thinking about applying to Exeter. It has an absolutely lovely campus and the history department is supposedly pretty good. but:
a) my cousin is already there so I don't want to cramp his style :P
b) Exeter is really in the middle of buttfuck nowhere and I get bored of countryside very quickly

but in all seriousness, congrats bro :D hope you get an offer from your first choice too yeaaaaa

thank you. :D

is it just nerds going to redbricks who get shit done this early or what lmao

opal already explained about Oxbridge, but I'll add that everyone in my school who's not taking a gap year is expected to hand their UCAS form by December at the latest.

 

[opaltiger]

Re: woah, first offer!

godDAMNit. you were lucky, man.

I guess history is just horribly competitive compared to science. :(

Nah, Oxford is just mean and cuts out lots of people before interview, so they need some sort of test. I think they interview something like 60% of applicants whereas Cambridge does 95%.

 

[Dannichu]

Re: woah, first offer!

I don't know about Manchester but Exeter seems to have done a lot of their offers pretty early this year, the first bunch of offers people I know got were from there.

Haha, that's funny - my sixth form was just outside of Exeter and 70%+ of people who went to uni after went to Cardiff. Fair trade XD

I was thinking about applying to Exeter. It has an absolutely lovely campus and the history department is supposedly pretty good. but:
a) my cousin is already there so I don't want to cramp his style :P
b) Exeter is really in the middle of buttfuck nowhere and I get bored of countryside very quickly

Oh, pssh. Exeter's wonderful and has pretty much everything you need as a city inside it - it has The Cavern! Where Muse used to play every week! Before they got all famous and started doing Twilight soundtracks! Yeah, it'll be a pain to get home (I travel to/from Exeter and London, and it's not that big a deal - you can Megabus it for £5 if you book early, and the train's only around four hours), but it's not like it doesn't have shops and stuff.

I complain about it, but I'll defend dear old Devon to the death :)

In other news, congrats! :D

 

[goldenquagsire]

Re: woah, first offer!

I complain about it, but I'll defend dear old Devon to the death :)

Devon (and most of rural Britain for that matter) is beautiful and green and *lovely* for a holiday, but you can't begin to imagine how bored I would get without access to a proper big city. srsly. :(

 

[opaltiger]

Re: woah, first offer!

Devon (and most of rural Britain for that matter) is beautiful and green and *lovely* for a holiday, but you can't begin to imagine how bored I would get without access to a proper big city. srsly. :(

Oxford is more or less the same size, you realise.

 

[goldenquagsire]

Re: woah, first offer!

Oxford is more or less the same size, you realise.

but it's just *busier* and closer to where the action is. Exeter is the middle of nowhere. :(

 

[goldenquagsire]

Re: woah, first offer!

Update: I now also have an AAB offer from Newcastle. :D

The thing is, unless Newcastle has something amazing going for it that Birmingham doesn't (and it may well do, I need to visit both and do more research before I can make a definite choice) I'll probably choose Birmingham as my insurance, unless something retarded happens like Bristol or York giving me an AAB offer (though a guy can dream...)

In retrospect, I rather wish I hadn't chosen both Newcastle and Birmingham. Subbing one of those two for a different uni (maybe Leeds, Warwick, Exeter?) would have been better, in case both Bristol and Oxford turn me down. But that's life.

In other news: still no word on the Oxford interview front. This wait is agonising. I'd rather they just put me out of my misery now, seeing as I'm unlikely to get an interview with my (probably) weak HAT scores, relatively unimpressive grades and scathingly-marked sample essay (seriously, my teacher was an utter bitch about it and she's normally a bro). :(

 

[goldenquagsire]

bumpan.

so somehow I made it and I have an interview! god knows how I didn't fail the HAT, god knows how they didn't use my essay as bog roll, god knows how my depressing GCSE grades didn't fool them. and what surprises me (and makes me a little nervous) is that other guys in my year who I know are better at me at History and who I guarantee did better in the HAT got completely rejected. but there you have it.

this time tomorrow (and for the next three days, Oxford is a bitch about interviews) I will be in New College, doing probably the trickiest thing I've ever had to do. even if I don't get a place, I'm damned happy to have gotten this far.

will do a post-match analysis on Friday evening when I get back. :3

 

[opaltiger]

So how'd it go? :o

 

[Dannichu]

Eeeee, well done! :D Hope it went okay!

 

[goldenquagsire]

thanks guys. :o

so, the first interview I had was with New College's medieval specialist. that was scary because one of the foremost authorities on the middle ages was grilling me on my rather poorly-written sixth form essay on Becket. buuut it turned out that he was a nice guy, so it went alright (although goddamnit how I did I forget how to pronounce "multiplicity"?).

then the second interview was a double-act with a specialist in early modern history and another guy who I *think* was a postgraduate that got roped in? and that also went quite well (apart from one horrible moment of bullshit on my part, you know when you just forget where you're going with a sentence but you just can't stop?) I think the fact that the guys said "okay we have to stop now because we've run out of time, there was still loads of stuff we wanted to ask you" is hopefully a good sign.

actually tbh I feel a little bit arrogant/weird/nerdy saying this but I rather enjoyed the interview process. getting to have really deep debates about History with some of the greatest minds in the field is an amazing experience that I don't really get in my day-to-day life. and I didn't feel nervous once I got into the swing of things, it was just you stand your ground, argue your case, think on your feet. there was something thrilling about the whole thing.

SO OVERALL I may well have a chance at an offer, and most other oxford candidates I know are saying that we're supposed to find out next week. hrm.

other stuff:
the other candidates are actually nice people! no snobby middle class white boys talking about their golf handicaps (although I've heard some horror stories from my friends applying to other colleges). I can see myself enjoying the next three years, should I get in. in fact, despite the fact that ~22 people were competing for ~9 places, there was actually quite a friendly atmosphere.

Oxford is GOD TIER town, during some downtime I had a look around the Ashmolean and Blackwell's. however it's kind of depressing that in such a lovely place there seems to be a heck of a lot of homeless people. and it's absolutely freezing in the winter, poor souls. :(

 

[opaltiger]

actually tbh I feel a little bit arrogant/weird/nerdy saying this but I rather enjoyed the interview process

If you hadn't, you'd hate the actual experience of being at Oxford.

I think the fact that the guys said "okay we have to stop now because we've run out of time, there was still loads of stuff we wanted to ask you" is hopefully a good sign.

Excellent sign.

the other candidates are actually nice people! no snobby middle class white boys talking about their golf handicaps (although I've heard some horror stories from my friends applying to other colleges)

I haven't yet run into any snobby middle class white boys. But then, this is Oxford we're talking about...