Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
s to consider Name Gurdeep MallSubject Law with French LawCollege New College OxfordEntry Grades AAAEntrance Exam LNAT must be sat by the 20th October My parents had always wanted me to go to Oxford but i had always thought of it as a wholly unrealistic and unattainable aim. However following my gCse grades i began to seriously consider applying to Oxford. near the beginning of Year 12 whilst doing some research into what i wanted to do after sixth Form i came across the UniQ summer school a completely free week-long programme held by the University of Oxford to give students a taste of the life of an Oxford student. The application process to UniQ was not too dissimilar from the UCas process because it required a Personal statement gCse grades in the place of as grades and an academic reference from a subject tutor. as such it is a useful experience to go through because it forms a solid a basis for the actual UCas process which takes place just a few months later. Fortunately i was successful in this application and i got to spend a week during the summer Holidays at exeter College where i attended lectures tutorials and social events whilst ascertaining that Law was in fact what i wished to study. i also received a great deal of help and guidance with my UCas application including advice on how to write a Personal statement and on how to maximise my LnaT performance. Following the UniQ summer school and my reasonable exam results a in a-Level French and three as and a B at as i decided to apply. i submitted my UCas application on the 13th October 2014 and amongst my 5 university choices was an application to Mansfield College Oxford. On the 14th October 2014 i sat the LnaT entrance exam which was required by three of my university choices. This exam does not require any legal knowledge but is simply an exam of comprehension tested by 42 questions based on a number of texts and literacy tested by the candidates response to an essay question. There are many books and tutors which claim to guarantee LnaT success however these are largely a waste of money and the best way to practise is by reading academic texts on subjects with which you are not familiar and then explaining them to somebody else. For the essay question you should be up to date with important contemporary issues and practise writing a short but powerful argument on them. On the 25th november 2014 i received a letter from Mansfield College informing me that my application had been successful but i was going to be interviewed at new College rather than Mansfield. whilst this should have been a happy occasion it resulted in a great deal of nervousness because i realised how big a deal it all was. as such i threw myself into preparing for the interviews i reread all the books that i had mentioned on my Personal statement i practised speaking about myself and my subject by anticipating the sorts of questions that they could ask me and scheduled a number of mock interviews with my subject tutors. However the biggest mistake i made was reading forums on the student room in which students scrutinised every aspect of the interview process ranging from dress codes to the correct way to shake the interviewers hand On the 9th december i got on a train from new street station to Oxford and anticipated an emotionally draining week in Oxford. Upon arrival all of the candidates were gathered into a room with the four tutors who would be interviewing us. we were told that this was a competition between thirty people for a finite number of places for my course there were six applicants for one place. Terrifying My first interview took place on the day that i arrived i was shown to a room by one of the many friendly student helpers and there was an envelope on the table with my name on it. The piece of paper next to the envelope instructed me to read through the six page booklet which contained a piece of law and different situations in which it was applied. when the preparation time was over i knocked on the door and walked into a bookshelf-lined room with a roaring fire. The tutor asked me about my understanding of the passage and proceeded to apply the law to a series of increasingly confusing scenarios until i could no longer formulate a coherent argument at which point the interview was brought to an abrupt close. The structure of the second interview was much the same but the subject matter was completely different and it went on until i could no longer answer the questions. The third interview was entirely in French and involved discussing my passion for French the books that i had read and why i would like to study in France. after my interviews were done on wednesday i had to stay in Oxford until Friday in case any other interviews were scheduled. i spent this time exploring Oxford with the good friends that i had made during the UniQ summer school and getting to know my fellow interviewees who came from all walks of life and from all over the country. it was a completely unique experience being in a room with people at both extremes of the social scale but who had a deep academic passion in common. On the 8th of december the day that the decision was due to arrive i sat cross-legged in front of my front door waiting for the postman to arrive. about twenty minutes after i had taken my place the letter fell through the door. when i opened it and read the Congratulations it felt like years of hard work had paid off and it was the best motivator for the religious studies mock that i sat later that day 7 Prizegiving and awards Whether that college does your course If that college provides accommodation for the entirety of your course Living costs rent bills and other relevant costs The facilities of that college libraries societies gyms etc. The PrivateState school ratio INTERVIEWS There are some incredibly ridiculous and baseless rumours surrounding Oxbridge interviews including quirky professors impossible questions and secret dress codes. in reality interviews are merely intellectual conversations designed to test students aptitude for learning and to see whether the rigorous Oxbridge system of tutorials Oxford and seminars Cambridge can be handled. You should also ignore any student room forums that advise wearing three piece suits and brogues the tutors are dressed in smart-casual wear and dressing as you are comfortable is perfectly acceptable By Gurdeep Mall and Dont Nembhard