Mr S Yates & Mr C Dodd – GSAL Oxbridge Coordinators
All GSAL students who would like to find out more about applying to Oxbridge should register their interest with Mr Yates or Mr Dodd in school. Students in Year 12 can request to be added to the Oxbridge emailing list to receive important updates throughout the year.
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Oxbridge Basics
Undergraduate website of the University of Cambridge
Undergraduate website of the University of Oxford
List of Open Days at Cambridge
List of Open Days at Oxford
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Oxbridge Outreach Network
The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge have collaborated to create an excellent online resource for students and teachers. Spend some time exploring the Oxford & Cambridge Collaborative Outreach Network to find out more, including watching a video of an Oxford and Cambridge Explained talk.
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Widening Participation
The Widening Participation programme seeks to increase both the number and proportion of people from under-represented and disadvantaged groups accessing higher education. Students from lower income households, people with disabilities and some ethnic minority groups may be eligible.
Find out more about Widening Access & Participation at Oxford
Find out more about Widening Participation at Cambridge
If you think that you might be eligible for consideration through the Widening Participation programme, please speak in confidence to a member of the Higher Education (HE) team in school.
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Useful Resources
In addition to the resources shared here, The GSAL Journal provides regular news and updates relating to Opportunities and Wider Learning Resources that will strengthen any Oxbridge application. It is strongly recommended that you follow The GSAL Journal, via email or on Twitter, and pay close attention to specific Oxbridge content.
Choosing What To Study (Oxford University)
34 Ideas for Super-curricular Activities (Oxford Royale Academy)
So You Want To Go To Oxbridge? Tell Me About A Banana… (Free eBook from Oxbridge Applications – registration required)
Critical Reasoning For Beginners (Oxford University/Open Culture)
Oxford Admissions Tests (Oxford University)
Currently trending on Instagram and with a newly published book of the same title, Tilly Rose (@thatoxfordgirl) provides a student perspective of the application process and life at Oxford.
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Oxbridge Conference
GSAL organises a trip to the Oxford & Cambridge Student Conference at Aintree Racecourse, usually held in March each year. The trip is open to Year 12 students interested in finding out more about applying to study at Oxford or Cambridge. Speak to Mr Yates or Mr Dodd to register your interest.
Review of the Oxbridge Conference – Amy Alexander & Natalia Sanchez Castro – Year 12 Students
Top Ten Tips… Applying to Oxbridge – Amy Alexander & Natalia Sanchez Castro – Year 12 Students
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Oxplore
Does fake news matter? Is falling in love bad for you? Could you survive a natural disaster?
Oxplore is an innovative digital outreach portal from the University of Oxford. As the ‘Home of Big Questions’ it aims to engage those from 11 to 18 years with debates and ideas that go beyond what is covered in the classroom. Big questions tackle complex ideas across a wide range of subjects and draw on the latest academic research. Oxplore aims to realise aspirations, promote broader thinking and stimulate intellectual curiosity. [https://oxplore.org/]
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HE+
Thinking about applying to University and looking for ways to explore your subject beyond the curriculum? Then this website is for you. Each topic is produced by Cambridge postgraduate students and academics at the cutting edge of research in their field. The topics provide guided activities, questions to think about and suggestions for further reading.
The main subject pages also give you a quick guide to what it would be like to study the subject at university level and suggest some further resources to check out. Click on a subject icon or search all topics to get started. [https://www.myheplus.com/]
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Oxbridge Interviews
For more information about the Oxbridge interview process, including support with preparing for an interview, please speak to Mr Yates or Mr Dodd in school.
Sample Interview Questions – University of Oxford
Oxford Interview Questions – Over 1000 past questions to help you prepare for your interview and help you get into Oxford.
Cambridge Interview Questions – Over 1000 past questions to help you prepare for your interview and help you get into Cambridge.
‘How can we estimate the mass of the atmosphere?‘ – Oxford interview questions explained.
Tips for answering Oxbridge interview questions – Sample interview questions across a range of subjects, with advice on what would impress them in students’ answers.
Can you solve it? Would you get into Oxbridge? – Test your wits against Oxford’s famed Mathematics Admission Test.
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Top Ten Interview Questions 2018
What are the three biggest threats to humanity? (Human Sciences)
Architecturally, how would you adapt this Oxbridge college? (Architecture)
Can manipulative qualities and bitter emotions be beautiful in literature? (English)
What is a more pressing issue right now: terrorism or climate change? (Geography)
Describe how a historian looking back at an autocratic regime would ascertain whether its citizens were happy with their quality of life. (History)
Should ten nurses who are religious and refuse to vaccinate be forced to vaccinate children in a hospital? (Medicine)
You have a point A(3,3) and a point B(0,2) and a point C on the curve ln(x). Find the general solution for the area of the triangle ABC. (Mathematics)
Why do people in colder environments have a higher rate of schizophrenia? (Psychology)
Discuss phosphorus pentafluoride based on its bonding, shape and reactivity. (Chemistry)
Do hamsters have personalities? (Veterinary Medicine)
Why was women’s emancipation never fully achieved under socialism? (HSPS)
Oxford University – Sample Interview Questions
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Oxbridge In The News
Due to their high profile, Oxford and Cambridge receive regular attention from the press and other interested parties. The following resources represent a selection of recent news stories and are presented here with the intention of trying to contribute in a balanced way to informed discussion about Oxbridge.
Cambridge university to study how it profited from colonial slavery – The Guardian, 30th April 2019
The cost of studying the arts at Oxbridge – The Economist, 26th January 2019
‘This is not a fluke’: how one state school got 41 Oxbridge offers – The Guardian, 19th January 2019
Inside the Cambridge admissions process – New Statesman, 14th January 2019
What stopped you applying to Oxbridge? – The Guardian, 18th December 2018
Oxbridge ‘over-recruits from eight schools’ – BBC News, 8th December 2018
The GSAL Journal 
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