In this week's episode, Nikita (at Oriel), Grace (at Merton), and Georgia (at St. Catherine's or Catz) talk all things colleges, and give some advice on how to choose a college when applying to Oxford.
Timestamps:
0:09 - Introductions
1:18 - Why did you apply to your college?
4:50 - Location of colleges
6:44 - 'Touristy' colleges
7:50 - Accommodation facilities
13:01 - Moving out between terms and storage facilities
15:59 - One advantage/drawback about the colleges
20:45 - Wrapping up
In today's episode, Siam talks to Nikita about her experiences on her year abroad.
Timestamps:
0.09 - Introductions
0.40 - What is a year abroad and what does it involve?
3.36 - How much support do you get from the university?
6.28 - Is there a minimum length requirement for placements?
8.02 - Do students do academic work on their year abroad?
10.19 - What was your year abroad like day-to-day?
12.07 - What does being a language assistant involve?
13.22 - What else does a year abroad give you?
15.44 - Final thoughts and advice to current language students
16.56 - Wrapping up
In the first episode of the term, Grace talks to freshers Luke and Ashley about how they found their first term at Oxford.
Timestamps:
0:09 - Introductions
0:41 - Freshers' Week
3:02 - Balance between college and university events
4:00 - Diversity and Inclusion at Oxford
6:40 - Getting to know other students and college marriages (a way to build a buddy system within your year)
9:18 - Fifth Week Blues
11:13 - Feeling a sense of belonging at Oxford
13:40 - Non-drinking events
15:13 - The vacation and collections (mocks at the beginning of term)
17:35 - Does Hilary feel different?
18:28 - Wrapping up
In today's episode, Nikita talks to Arron O'Connor, the Outreach Officer at Oriel College, about his role, the application process, and how students can get involved in Outreach.
Timestamps:
0:09 - Introductions
0:47 - What role does Outreach play at Oxford?
3:14 - What should prospective applicants be thinking about?
5:56 - What support is available online to help people make the choice about university courses?
9:53 - Choosing a college
14:43 - What is pooling?
20:26 - How can current students get involved in Outreach?
23:53 - Goodbyes
Arron's recommendations:
In today's episode, Georgia speaks to Declan and Lottie to hear about their experiences of submitting an open application to Oxford.
Timestamps:
0:09 - Introductions
0:50 - What is an open application?
1:43 - Why did you decide to make an open application?
3:44 - Would you recommend making an open application?
4:37 - Any regrets?
6:12 - Myth about academics at different colleges
6:34 - What advice would you give prospective students about choosing a college vs. making an open application?
8:08 - Oxford isn't that big!
8:45 - Wrapping up
In today's episode, Georgia speaks to Dr Stephen Goddard, a tutor in French at St. Catherine's College, about how to best prepare for interviews.
Timestamps:
0:09 - Introductions
0:58 - What the interview process entails
3:14 - Types of interview questions
4:53 - Do you need to learn your personal statement?
7:25 - How should you answer interview questions?
12:25 - Balancing supercurriculars and extracurriculars on the personal statement
14:20 - Wrapping up
In this episode, Nikita (she/her) interviews Hannah (she/her) about writing a personal statement for an application to study Music.
Hannah adds: "Don’t name or venue-drop more than once or twice! Likewise, don't just list skills/experiences. Whenever you do this, think about how the experiences you have had have changed, challenged, or affirmed your perspective on music. You can then back up your point with some reading!"
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introductions
1:06 - The writing process
5:40 - One way to split up and structure a personal statement
9:45 - The placement of extracurriculars in a music personal statement, especially for Oxbridge
12:43 - Hannah's supercurricular recommendations:
16:24 - Being asked about your personal statement at interview
18:50 - Wrapping up
In this episode, Lucianna interviews Elena about writing a personal statement for a joint degree of History and English.
Timestamps:
0:00 - introductions
0:35 - what is a joint (honours) degree?
0:52 - what should prospective students consider when thinking about applying for History and English as a joint degree?
3:16 - what can be gained from studying History and English alongside each other? (Interdisciplinary work and connections)
5:18 - the link to personal statements! Making sure History and English thread together
6:20 - personal statement juggling! Balancing writing about the joint (Oxford) History and English course, with single honour courses at other universitites in a personal statement
10:02 - suggestions of topics or approaches that thread History and English well
11:52 - wrapping up
In this episode, Hannah interviews Sophie about writing a personal statement for Engineering.
Insight into University (Headstart) website: https://www.etrust.org.uk/insight-into-university
The hard-to-say book Sophie used for super-curricular reading: Professor Povey's Perplexing Problems
Timestamps:
0:00 - introductions
0:55 - advice for prospective students
1:45 - extra-curricular activities/hobbies in a personal statement?
3:40 - finding an interest in engineering (and addressing that there isn't a specific A-Level in engineering, even though some A-Level subjects use similar knowledge and skills)
5:00 - Headstart/Insight into University
6:33 - some recommended/interesting super-curricular resources
9:13 - navigating and understanding differences between the (general) Oxford course, and courses at other universities which might focus on a specific aspect of engineering
15:22 - things Sophie had in her personal statement (structure and breakdown)
17:08 - wrapping up
In our first podcast with the new OFTI team, Hannah interviews Sofia, one of the founders of The Oxford Period, a society aimed at tackling period poverty and raising awareness of period-related issues.Timestamps:0:10 - introductions0:48 - what is the Oxford Period?1:25 - what made you want to start the Oxford Period?3:06 - overcoming challenges5:44 - expanding the team?7:07 - response across the university10:39 collaborations with other societies13:10 - future plans for the society We've defined some of the terminology/abbreviations mentioned in the episode: JCR - Junior Common Room. The organisation which represents all undergraduates in a College. It is also a physical space, where activities are organised. In the video, JCR is only used in the former context. SU - Student Union. The organisation which represents students at the university. There are different branches from the SU, which run campaigns for different groups of students. WOM*CAM (OR WOMEN*S CAMPAIGN) - this is a branch of the Student Union, which works interjectionally towards feminist justice, and represents women and non-binary students across the university. VP - Vice-president Turl Street Homeless Action - an Oxford society which distributes food, drink, and supplies to people living on the streets in Oxford
In this episode, Jurin(she/her) joined us to talk about her study experience from a student with low grades in high school to a masters at Oxford! The talk includes her experience of moving to different countries when growing up, how it influenced her study, her choice of learning Economics, and her suggestions for Economics applicants.
Timestamps
00:11 Introduction
00:56 Family and education backgroud
01:27 How moving to different countries when growing up influenced Jurin’s study
05:13 Gap year experience
08:36 Why chose to learn Economics
10:54 Applying for a Master at Oxford
14:00 A typical day in Jurin’s current study phase
15:41 Suggestions for Economics applicants
In this episode, Juan (he/him) is joined by Rachel (she/her) to talk about her experience as a law student from a South Asian background. What does a typical day look like? Are Oxford’s stereotypes really true? Plus a few tips for law applicants!
It's the start of a new year and a new term at Oxford, and we're back welcoming new interviewers to our team! In the first part of our "Meet the Interviewers" episode this term, meet Rose (4th year Law student) and Juan (2nd year Geographer), interviewed by Junaid.
In the latest episode, Siam (he/him) is joined by Sam (he/him) and Abishek (he/him) to talk about the Maths Admissions Test (MAT). How can you prepare? How is it different for each subject? Tune in to find out!
Timestamps:
0:45 - What is the MAT?
1:35 - What is the structure of the MAT?
6:15 - How similar are the questions to the Oxford course?
8:45 - How does the MAT compare to A-Level?
16:05 - How did you prepare?
23:15 - Do you have any advice to people taking the MAT?
26:00 - How does the MAT compare to the STEP?
In this episode, Olviya (any pronouns) speaks to Clarissa (she/her) about tackling university with chronic illnesses. Tune in to listen to Clarissa speak on navigating university and new diagnoses, dealing with doctors and prescriptions in the middle of a pandemic, and missing her cat!
[NB: Clarissa's experiences with her chronic illnesses are not meant to be assumptive of all chronic illnesses. There is a large range of chronic illnesses, all varying in severity and impact on quality of life - Clarissa speaks for her own experiences, which we ask you to respect!]
For more help and support as a disabled student in Oxford, do check out Oxford DisCam here: https://www.oxfordsu.org/campaigns/disabilities/
TIMESTAMPS:
00:40 - Clarissa’s chronic illnesses
01:49 - Initial concerns about moving
03:19 - Applying to university + open days
06:43 - Experiences with college
09:41 - Experiences with department
12:09 - Impacts of the pandemic
14:11 - Isolation food….
15:58 - Advice to incoming students with a chronic illness
In todays episode Siam is joined with Alice to talk about how to tackle your personal statement if you're applying for Law? Stay tuned for some great tips and personal anecdotes if you're interested in applying to Law at Uni!
In this episode, Aidan, Emily and Riya join us to talk about freshers' week. Find out about their work and role as JCR (Junior Common Room) reps during that week. As welfare, access and equalities and "enter" (entertainment) reps, they are in charge of many of the events taking place.
Introductions: 0:10
What events are you going to organise during freshers' week as JCR reps? 2:28
What are college families? 9:53
What is your favourite or least favourite memory of your freshers' week? 12:00
What's your advice to freshers? 20:30
On a specifically requested episode today, hear about a day in the life of a biochemist! Leah talks about the structure of the course, her workload, and extracurricular activities.
In today's episode Siam discusses with Freya all about how to go about writing your personal statement for Classics. Stay tuned for some very interesting insights, potential topic choices and Freya's own story of how she wrote her Classics personal statement.
In today's episode, Olviya (any pronouns) is joined by Sam (he/him), the treasurer of the Doctor Who Society. Join us as they discuss the society field trips, Sam's favourite doctor, and the creepiness of the Weeping Angels!
Link to the society website: https://users.ox.ac.uk/~whosoc/index.html
Doctor Who Society Discord sign-up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfBoz4t1uukUcCTlE-HEm0L5tpLyJ1NBzVhBx1DCsNbOx0Tiw/viewform
TIMESTAMPS:
00:37 - What is Doctor Who Soc?
01:42 - Society field trips
02:45 - Sam's role in the society
03:00 - How soc decides on episode (feat. a memory with an iconic guest speaker!)
04:40 - How Sam got into Doctor Who
07:26 - Classic Who vs New Who
9:33 - Sam's controversial opinion
9:54 - Favourite Doctor?
11:10 - Memories of the show, featuring terrifying Weeping Angels and very strange Oods
15:00 - Favourite episode
15:51 - Where to find Doctor Who Soc (links in caption)
16:46 - Where to sign up!
17:20 - Final words for budding enthusiasts!
