Oxford students give advice to their younger selves

This may be one of the most important posts I’ve ever put together.

I recently received an email from an offer-holder asking me what advice I had for someone in their position: what would I tell a fresher, or indeed my 18-year-old self, if I had the chance? Not, by any stretch, an easy question to answer. I do have my own pieces of advice to give, but I also turned to the many, many wonderful Oxford students and graduates in my life, some of whom I know personally, others of whom I share online spaces with, and asked them the same question. And goodness, did they deliver! Below, a collection of funny, honest, timeless advice from people who have been through the Oxford experience and are all the wiser for it. We make mistakes so you don’t have to.

If you find this post helpful, please let me know in the comments, and please share this post with the people you know who are also hoping to start university soon!

notes from 2nd week

It is yet again that time in my life where, when I am asked how I am, I simply do not have an adequate answer to give that doesn’t involve a sigh of some kind. It is the intensity of workload of Finals, but without the same permission to shut myself off from the world and stop taking calls and emails entirely. I am still currently in the stage of half-hoping, half-believing that this dissertation will write itself. Bills mount up, important messages go unanswered, and still I am only at the very beginning stages of what needs to be completed in about three weeks. 

Oxford Interviews: An Updated Guide

Hi everyone,

As the invitations to MML interviews have been coming out this week, I’ve been receiving lots of questions about them, so I thought I’d make a new blogpost about the experience and what you can do to prepare. There’s some MML-specific advice in here, but the rest is just general. I’m going to add the regular disclaimer that this is all my personal opinion, that every interview is slightly different, that experiences differ between subjects, tutors and colleges, and please not to sue me if what I say doesn’t match up with your experience. Thank you. I have also included some of my friends’ top tips for interviews, so keep reading!

Applying to Oxford: Biochemistry

Hello, and welcome to our new guest series on the blog: applying to Oxford for various subjects. There will be a guest contributor every day writing about their personal experience of applying to Oxford for their own subject.

Today’s post is written by Zachary, who studied Biochemistry.

Applying to Oxford: Biology

Hello, and welcome to our new guest series on the blog: applying to Oxford for various subjects. There will be a guest contributor every day writing about their personal experience of applying to Oxford for their own subject.

Today’s guest poster is Fern talking about her experience with applying for Biology.

The Final(s) Weeks

*Zayn voice* Hey, what’s up – it’s been a while…

If you used to read my “10.5 Weeks” series and wondered what happened to the last 2.5 weeks, wonder no more. It’s been a long time coming, but if you were curious to know how the last weeks of my degree were, this post is for you! It’s a long one, so grab a snack and a cup of tea!

Week 6: Billiards, Baroque & BFFs

Oh man. This is coming later than I would have liked. Last week was a bit of a squeeze, though, especially in terms of work, so the blog had to wait until now. I’ve really been looking forward to getting a new update done, despite the beautiful weather outside beckoning me…

Week 4: Translation, Tension & Trinity Term

Surprise! I bet you didn’t expect another post this early, did you? Sadly, it’s rather more out of necessity than zeal – it’s the start of Trinity Term, meaning my exams start on Monday and continue throughout the week, so I won’t be able to put together a post during the early part of the week like I normally do. Monday at 4 is German speaking, Tuesday at 10.15 is Spanish speaking, Wednesday at 9.30 is Spanish listening and Thursday at 9.30 is German listening. In between, I still need to revise literature, so it’s going to be a tiring week.

Week 3: Home, Hidalgos & Health Food

The weeks are rapidly running away from me, and it would be a lie to say I’m not worried about fitting everything in.

Week 2: Sonnets, Stress & Shopping Sprees

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for all the love on the last post and in the comments on Instagram: it’s so great to know that this series is of interest to so many of you. This week may be a little less exciting in terms of big news, but it was really enjoyable nonetheless! I’m also sorry this comes a little later than the last post, but it’s been a busy few days!