This blog post is a little (a lot) on the surreal side.
If you follow my on Instagram you may already know this but if not, I thought I'd just add a quick note on here. I am about to officially become a first year Law student at the University of Oxford!
I'll probably post a little bit more about this at another time but for now, I thought I'd just briefly highlight the process.
Flashback to September 2016. I'd just started A Level and for the past few years, Durham had been at the top of my list for university, followed by Bristol. I had never in my life even considered applying to Oxford or Cambridge. At all.
My head of Sixth Form came and spoke to me and said that a student from Cambridge was coming in to school to speak to students about studying at Oxbridge and he thought I should go. I said I really wasn't interested; I didn't know anything about the universities, I was 100% sure I wasn't smart enough, posh enough or just good enough to even consider applying and thought he was frankly delusional.
After a bit of persuading, I did go to the talk, and, after hearing about the university and how it worked, was frankly taken aback. It sounded really strange, the application process sounded stressful, the chance of getting in was slim to none and there didn't seem to be much point in pursuing the idea.
However, there was a parents' talk that evening, so I went along with my mum. After this talk, I was beginning to warm to the idea but it was really a fantasy and I didn't think I would apply because there was just no way I would get an offer.
Fast forward to Christmas 2016. I had decided that I might like to study Law at university, instead of English and History as I'd previously thought. Law seemed really interesting and I wanted to find out more. There was a taster Law lecture at Cambridge, so, interested in the subject more than the university, I decided to go down for the day to see if I'd like the course.
It turned out that I loved it and the day flew by. Afterwards, there was another talk about Cambridge and it was here that I really began to understand the beauty of the Oxbridge system. Tutors who love their subjects, tutorials with one or two students per tutor, a close knit college system and careers aid. It sounded perfect, but I was still convinced there was no chance I would get in is ruled out applying.
I heard about the UNIQ summer school (a summer school run by University of Oxford for state school students) probably around February or March. I almost forgot that I'd applied - the chances of getting in were about 1 in 5 to the summer school but I received an email saying that I had been given a place to spend the week in Oxford following a Law programme.
In July, I went down to Oxford and spent the week in lectures, tutorials, reading course material, exploring the area and it was fantastic. I met some incredible people (they were so amazing and friendly) two of whom I met up with in December when I was down at the university for interview.
After UNIQ, I was even more attracted to the prospect of studying at the university and, knowing I had five choices on UCAS, lived by the philosophy that I would always think 'what if' if I didn't apply. Oxbridge applications are due in early, so I spent September finalising my personal statement, taking the LNAT (the admissions test for Law which was frankly one of the most stressful experiences of my life) and sent my application off a couple of days before the 15th October deadline.
I was pretty stunned when I got an interview at Worcester College (I had visited during UNIQ and loved how green the college was and the friendly atmosphere) as I knew that around 70% don't get an interview. I drive down ridiculously early in the morning (around 5 or 5.30) to get there for 9am. When I arrived I found out that I was the first interview of the day so I pretty much went straight in.
At Oxford, each candidate has a minimum of 2 interviews over the space of 2 or 3 days. Since the interviews were alphabetical, I had the absolute joy of having 2 interviews in one day, one in the morning and one in the evening after having very little sleep. Although I had an amazing time at my interviews, the tutors were lovely and the city is beautiful, after this, I really was convinced I wasn't going to get an offer. I met people from all over the world who were frankly amazing and there was no way I could compete with them for a place, especially as I had gone in to the interview on so little sleep.
I found out that I had got an offer on 9th January 2018. I came out of an English Literature trial exam, checked my UCAS track, and broke down crying in the Sixth Form area. It was surreal and I really couldn't believe it.
For the rest of the year, I got my head down, and, on results day, I found out that my place had been confirmed.
The past month has been a process of accepting that I'm going to Oxford on 2nd October. It still hasn't completely sunk in. However, I've bought all sorts of random (but completely necessary) crap for my room over the past month and it's beginning to feel a bit more real. This weekend, my boyfriend and nearly all of my friends left our hometown for university so I'm hoping that over the next two weeks I'll begin to accept what's to come and feel ready for it.
If this whole thing has taught me anything, however, it's that sometimes you do have to put yourself out there and accept the chance of failure. It doesn't make it easy, but it's certainly worth it when it pays off eventually.
Elle xxx
Instagram: ellerosepics
If you follow my on Instagram you may already know this but if not, I thought I'd just add a quick note on here. I am about to officially become a first year Law student at the University of Oxford!
I'll probably post a little bit more about this at another time but for now, I thought I'd just briefly highlight the process.
Flashback to September 2016. I'd just started A Level and for the past few years, Durham had been at the top of my list for university, followed by Bristol. I had never in my life even considered applying to Oxford or Cambridge. At all.
My head of Sixth Form came and spoke to me and said that a student from Cambridge was coming in to school to speak to students about studying at Oxbridge and he thought I should go. I said I really wasn't interested; I didn't know anything about the universities, I was 100% sure I wasn't smart enough, posh enough or just good enough to even consider applying and thought he was frankly delusional.
After a bit of persuading, I did go to the talk, and, after hearing about the university and how it worked, was frankly taken aback. It sounded really strange, the application process sounded stressful, the chance of getting in was slim to none and there didn't seem to be much point in pursuing the idea.
However, there was a parents' talk that evening, so I went along with my mum. After this talk, I was beginning to warm to the idea but it was really a fantasy and I didn't think I would apply because there was just no way I would get an offer.
Fast forward to Christmas 2016. I had decided that I might like to study Law at university, instead of English and History as I'd previously thought. Law seemed really interesting and I wanted to find out more. There was a taster Law lecture at Cambridge, so, interested in the subject more than the university, I decided to go down for the day to see if I'd like the course.
It turned out that I loved it and the day flew by. Afterwards, there was another talk about Cambridge and it was here that I really began to understand the beauty of the Oxbridge system. Tutors who love their subjects, tutorials with one or two students per tutor, a close knit college system and careers aid. It sounded perfect, but I was still convinced there was no chance I would get in is ruled out applying.
I heard about the UNIQ summer school (a summer school run by University of Oxford for state school students) probably around February or March. I almost forgot that I'd applied - the chances of getting in were about 1 in 5 to the summer school but I received an email saying that I had been given a place to spend the week in Oxford following a Law programme.
In July, I went down to Oxford and spent the week in lectures, tutorials, reading course material, exploring the area and it was fantastic. I met some incredible people (they were so amazing and friendly) two of whom I met up with in December when I was down at the university for interview.
After UNIQ, I was even more attracted to the prospect of studying at the university and, knowing I had five choices on UCAS, lived by the philosophy that I would always think 'what if' if I didn't apply. Oxbridge applications are due in early, so I spent September finalising my personal statement, taking the LNAT (the admissions test for Law which was frankly one of the most stressful experiences of my life) and sent my application off a couple of days before the 15th October deadline.
I was pretty stunned when I got an interview at Worcester College (I had visited during UNIQ and loved how green the college was and the friendly atmosphere) as I knew that around 70% don't get an interview. I drive down ridiculously early in the morning (around 5 or 5.30) to get there for 9am. When I arrived I found out that I was the first interview of the day so I pretty much went straight in.
At Oxford, each candidate has a minimum of 2 interviews over the space of 2 or 3 days. Since the interviews were alphabetical, I had the absolute joy of having 2 interviews in one day, one in the morning and one in the evening after having very little sleep. Although I had an amazing time at my interviews, the tutors were lovely and the city is beautiful, after this, I really was convinced I wasn't going to get an offer. I met people from all over the world who were frankly amazing and there was no way I could compete with them for a place, especially as I had gone in to the interview on so little sleep.
I found out that I had got an offer on 9th January 2018. I came out of an English Literature trial exam, checked my UCAS track, and broke down crying in the Sixth Form area. It was surreal and I really couldn't believe it.
For the rest of the year, I got my head down, and, on results day, I found out that my place had been confirmed.
The past month has been a process of accepting that I'm going to Oxford on 2nd October. It still hasn't completely sunk in. However, I've bought all sorts of random (but completely necessary) crap for my room over the past month and it's beginning to feel a bit more real. This weekend, my boyfriend and nearly all of my friends left our hometown for university so I'm hoping that over the next two weeks I'll begin to accept what's to come and feel ready for it.
If this whole thing has taught me anything, however, it's that sometimes you do have to put yourself out there and accept the chance of failure. It doesn't make it easy, but it's certainly worth it when it pays off eventually.
Elle xxx
Instagram: ellerosepics
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