Oxford:
Name: Abhinav Mukherjee
Year: 1st year
Major: Mathematics and Statistics
Contact: insta:abhinavmukherjee18
I’m Abhinav, and I’m a first-year at Oxford reading Mathematics and Statistics (Master’s).
I enjoy Oxford (the better ‘ford) because of its history & traditions, its freedom and its prestige. My matriculation was a ceremony in Latin, I attend black-tie dinners on the regular, my lengthy vacations are mine to do with as I please, and I’ve vid-chatted with billionaires. I’ve drank with my professors, I’ve attended tournaments in London on the uni’s card, and I’ve walked through halls older than the Aztec Empire.
Applying to Oxford is a no-brainer. The application process is infinitely smoother than the USA’s because you have no application fees and don’t have to bother with a bunch of shallow essays. It’s also very meritocratic so all that matters is your proficiency at one subject.
You apply to Oxford for one course. It’s unorthodox to switch courses once in, and you may be re-interviewed and re-tested if the attempted change is drastic enough. So trying to switch from Econ to CS (a TISB classic) is basically impossible. The concept of minoring also doesn’t exist. You study one thing and one thing only for three years. The academic focus is thus unparalleled. You are tutored by world-class academics with the highest quality resources and study the most difficult content found anywhere. Some courses, usually sciences, have an integrated master’s that’s one year more than the 3-year undergrad.
Oxford is federated into colleges, where you live and spend most of your time. Colleges play a huge academic role in the form of tutorials, which is an hour with a professor where you discuss content being taught, usually through a problem sheet or essay. This Aristotle-to-Alexander style means you’re learning directly from a subject expert who elevates your understanding. This is the best teaching system in the world (Cambridge has an inferior knock-off). To give an idea of how extreme this system goes: there are 6 maths students in my year at Christ Church (my college) and there are 6 maths professors at ChCh. I have 5 tutorials a week, and so I submit 5 problem sheets a week, each of which takes several hours. This is on top of 10 lectures a week. This varies by subject.
Some college are also undoubtedly better than others (ChCh being the best). Some colleges are richer, some are larger, some have nicer people, some are more central, and Christ Church is all these things. But do your research and feel free to reach out to me about this. Your odds of getting in also don’t depend on which college you apply to. It’s common to get into a different one from the one you applied to.
Your holidays will be the envy of everyone. You have 3 terms, 8 weeks each. For the numerically illiterate, that means 197 days of vacation a year. You can use this to study, pick up related skills, or pursue an internship (this is actually the point – Ox doesn’t want you doing part-time work during term so it compresses all studies into a short period). You do get enough free time to pursue sports and other interests. Oxford has a society for everything. You have the Oxford Union, a world-famous debating society that has hosted Prime Ministers, Presidents, whistle-blowers, Miss Worlds and A$AP Rocky. You also have the infamous Piers Gav.
There does exist a large drinking and clubbing culture as a result of being in Britain (legal age 18). Don’t be prude and dry, but also don’t be an alcoholic. The first few weeks are all about meeting new people and partying before everything calms down, so give everything a try at the start and stick with what you enjoy.
Boring stuff: Uni costs nearly half compared to the US. You also finish in fewer years so that works out even better. The application process consists of a personal statement, an entrance test and then an interview. Your acceptance will also be conditional on minimum final IB scores. Things like cost and graduating in 3 years, apply to all UK schools. And UCAS counts as one app to TISB. You can’t apply to both Oxford and Cambridge (who would ever apply to Cambridge?), and you only get to apply to 5 (this is fine since UK schools’ tend to drop off quite quickly after the top four). In the UK you also get to practice law after 3 years undergrad as opposed to decades in Law school in the US.
To sum, apply to Oxford if you’re good enough. You don’t need hollow ECs and even hollower essays. And again, reach out to me for anything. I’m very bored in quarantine.
mentorme 