Video series: Live Q&As with students
InsideUni team members launch our series.
In this session we introduce our video Q&A series and cover a broad range of questions about apply to and studying at Oxbridge.
⭐ Cambridge panellists
Natalie (1st year, History, Fitzwilliam College)
Akil (4th year, Engineering, Robinson College)
Tami (1st year, Human, Social, and Political Sciences, Fitzwilliam College)
⭐ Oxford panellists
Helena (Master's (and recent Oxford undergraduate), English, St. Cross College)
Charlotte (4th year, Maths, Keble College)
Peter (2nd year, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, St. Hilda's College)
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:33 - Introduction to InsideUni
00:02:07 - Introduction to panel members
00:03:07 - Introduction to Section 1: Day in the Life
00:03:15 - Day in the life of a Maths student (Oxford)
00:04:30 - Day in the life of a History student (Cambridge)
00:05:38 - Day in the life of a Human, Social Political Science student (Cambridge)
00:07:14 - Introduction to Section 2: Questions submitted in advance
00:07:30 - Do people get in having reapplied if they didn’t get in the first time around?
00:09:42 - Do we like the teaching methods and are they up-to-date?
00:13:10 - As an international student, what is a detailed breakdown of the process from first contact with the university to getting in?
00:16:34 - How important are colleges and which one is best?
00:18:37 - How does the college pooling system work?
00:21:10 - What is the social life like?
00:24:20 - Introduction to Section 3: Questions submitted during the live Q&A
00:25:02 - Are Economics lessons integrated into Engineering studies?
00:26:55 - What book would you recommend to read beyond the HSPS recommended reading list?
00:28:38 - Would you recommend applying to Nuffield College? How do I decide which college to apply to?
00:30:30 - Are there any major differences in PPE teaching between different colleges?
00:31:41 - Any tips for the personal statement (including for subjects you haven’t studied before university)?
00:37:31 - Are practice interviews a good way to prepare?
00:40:48 - Is the emphasis on academic subjects true for Master’s applications/personal statements as well as undergraduate applications?
00:42:18 - What kind of maths questions come up in the Economics interview?
00:45:40 - Introduction to Section 4: One useful resource we used when we applied
00:45:52 - Akil (Engineering, Cambridge): I Want to Study Engineering website (https://i-want-to-study-engineering.org/)
00:46:00 - Charlotte (Maths, Oxford): Oxford Maths Department Website (https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/)
00:46:29 - Natalie (History, Cambridge): Cambridge History Virtual Classroom (https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/prospectiv...)
00:46:48 - Peter (PPE, Oxford): ‘Thinking Strategically’ by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinkin...)
00:47:44 - Tami (HSPS, Cambridge): ‘The Racial Contract’ by Charles W. Wills (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rac...) and ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ by Frantz Fanon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wre...)
00:48:36 - Helena (English, Oxford): Carol Rumen’s ‘Poem of the Week’ column in The Guardian newspaper (https://www.theguardian.com/books/ser...)
00:49:12 - Introduction to the rest of the Q&A series
00:50:24 - Ending, thanks to Project Access (https://projectaccess.org/) and how to stay involved