Oxbridge Success!
Two students have been successful in their applications to Oxford University this academic year.
Philip Eakins, hailing from Spital, joined the school at age 11 after a primary education at Redcourt. After achieving 9 A*s and one A at GCSE, he now attempts to balance the studies of biology, chemistry, maths, and Spanish (the wildcard) with a budding music career as the resident “school drummer”, and a veritable plethora of other in-school extra-curricular activities. He aspires to study Biochemistry at Wadham College, Oxford, and has received an offer of 3A’s (in biology, chemistry and maths) to do so.
He says, “After filling in the UCAS form and sending it off as early as possible, I had quite a long wait to hear back from Oxford (although I heard from Nottingham University within a week) and I was eventually told that they wanted me to come for interviews during the 12th to the 14th of December. My interview process consisted of one interview at my college of choice (Wadham) and a second at a different college (in my case New College). Both interviews were given by the resident biochemistry lecturer of each college and were fairly informal discussions, completely unprepared at Wadham but with an article given to me upon my arrival that I was to discuss at my New College interview. After each, I felt as though they had gone well, but I wasn’t sure if they had gone well enough. However, I would advise anyone else in my position that the feelings of the interviewee rarely reflect how the interview really went.
At the end of this degree I will have earned a Masters in Biochemistry (MBioChem) which I hope to use in pursuit of a career in research, either of genetics or metabolism.”
Sophie Mathew-Jones from Meols joined Birkenhead School in September 2009 to study Chemistry, Physics, Maths and French having achieved 9A*’s at GCSE.
"After doing well in my AS Levels, gaining 4A’s, I applied to St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford to study Chemistry. The school arranged for me to have mock interviews, including one with the Headmaster and Dr Hunt, a former Chemistry teacher here, which was very useful.
I got invited for an interview at the college I applied to in early December so travelled down to Oxford for a couple of days. I had only the one interview at St Edmund Hall, nicknamed Teddy Hall, where I was asked various chemistry related questions and asked to solve a range of problems. The interviewers were two of the professors of chemistry at Teddy Hall so it gave me a good idea what the tutorial style teaching would be like there.
After my interview, which lasted approximately half an hour, I was required to wait until the next day to see if I was asked to attend a further interview at a different college, but seeing as I wasn’t, I was free to leave. Then there was an anxious wait for a response. A week later, I received an email from the admissions tutor at Teddy Hall informing me I had received an offer of AAA for Chemistry starting in October 2011. I was thrilled and can’t wait for later this year so I can get started there! Fingers crossed!"
