#oxbridge admissions

[metis-metis]

If you’re looking for resources for access into studying Classics/Archaeology/Ancient History at university, and/or access into Oxford University, watch this space!

@thatbarrowgirl and I are working on something, coming soon!

[theinconvenientlifestyle]

While the National Conservatism conference has been making headlines – for reasons ranging from admissions of gerrymandering to calls for delegates to breed – it’s been quite publicity-shy with journalists. openDemocracy was one of at least three left-leaning outlets whose application to cover the conference was refused.

But I managed to blag my way in anyway.

And once inside, I saw no shortage of whackadoodlery. ‘Deep State’ conspiracy theories were alive and well, as a man in a crumpled linen suit rose to his feet to declare: “One of the reasons Liz Truss was removed as prime minister was that her government was going to move against the Net-Zero agenda!” He offered no supporting evidence.

What I found more interesting was the feel of the place. Over 300 delegates, packed into a plush, wood-panelled hall in Westminster. The mood was angry, but comfortable. These were normally shy conservatives, glad to be among like minds, where they could speak freely.

For a ‘national’ conservatism conference in Britain, it was more Trump rally than Sunak conference. The crowd was almost entirely male, and younger than might be expected. In fact, as a 38-year-old, I couldn’t find anyone my own age – it looked like about 80% were under 30, and the other 20% over 50. One man next to me had dragged along his clearly bored girlfriend, who audibly harrumphed through several speeches.

Standard dress was blazers, tweeds, waistcoats, Union Jack bow ties, and summer dresses. In fact, there were more neckties than I’ve seen anywhere since the pandemic. This wasn’t a political convention; it was the Chap Olympiad.

It was a diverse audience, they assured us. Earnest young men introduced themselves as students from both Oxford and Cambridge. But they were not all Oxbridge types. One member of the audience piped up that he was attending the elite $78,000-a-year private Williams College, in Massachusetts.

The ‘red wall’ voters who featured so prominently in rhetoric didn’t appear to be terribly well-represented among the evidently affluent delegates, many of whom had flown in internationally, their airline labels still affixed to the luggage piled up by reception, as delegates introduced themselves as being from Pennsylvania, California, Copenhagen and Brussels. So much for anti-globalisation.

Still, there is an honesty about the conference: delegates and speakers didn’t really seem to care how they came across. A look at the speeches bears this out. “The ‘mad person’ is the apex individual!” declared writer and philosopher Nina Power, to an audience that lapped it up. Quite a few of them seemed keen to play the ‘mad person’.

What got them going

Most revealing were the bursts of applause. Energetic, prolonged, tub-thumping applauses whenever somebody said something that really struck a chord. It was instructive to see what pressed their buttons.

Immigration was the hottest topic – a guaranteed crowd-pleaser every time. In fact, delegates seemed inordinately interested in it, with outbursts of “oooooh” and “hear, hear” at every mention.

Someone who worked for the hard-right YouTube channel Triggernometry complained: “The left doesn’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigration! That’s what’s happened to people I know, particularly [in] London.” Mentions of London, or big cities, were often accompanied by a hiss.

Another barnstorming topic was gun ownership. When recently elected Trump-backed senator JD Vance of Ohio mentioned that he attended a raffle event where the prize was an AR-15 assault rifle, a prolonged ripple of applause broke out.

Nina Power’s declaration that “I strongly recommend everyone goes to church” also got a rapturous reception, suggesting that the “faith” part of the old far-right rallying cry of ‘Faith, Flag and Family’ is alive and well.

Clean energy and wind farms were a popular object of anger. Vance – who opposes US support for Ukraine – still gave the war as a reason for countries to stick to “coal and gas”, invoking populist tropes against wind farms: “I don’t want to live in some post-apocalyptic hellscape filled with dead birds!”

The subject of trans people’s rights was another favourite bogeyman, as speakers queued up to ridicule “hormones” and trans people themselves, with repeated references to so-called “basic biology”.

Meanwhile, Frank Furedi, a former leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, who has now seamlessly moved to the far right, told the audience that the conservative cause was “civilisational… there’s so much at stake… it’s existential.”

And, curiously, the most quoted political thinker was Karl Marx. More Marx was cited than at any Corbyn-era Labour Party conference. Delegates seemed obsessed with the idea that Marx lurks behind every corner.

Think tanks

Not all of the delegates were slightly awkward young men from Oxbridge and private liberal arts colleges in the US.

Many introduced themselves as working for conservative think tanks. This makes sense, for the ‘national’ conservatism conference in the UK is in fact organised by the Edmund Burke Foundation, a US think tank.

Among the many think tanks represented were the Bow Group, the Centre for Digital Assets and Democracy, the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (an offshoot of the Legatum Institute), and the Hungarian-state-funded Danube Institute – one of the few civil society organisations the Orbán government has not cracked down on, but has instead propped up.

Talk was rife, on and off the stage, of “Anglosphere conservatism” – code for stage two of Brexit, with deepening relations with the hard-right.

Media management

Perhaps surprisingly, given its shambolic public image, the conference has a professionally organised social media presence. It’s just that none of the curators seems to think there’s anything amiss with what is being said.

Organisers film the proceedings, transcribing highlights, while monitoring Twitter and Facebook mentions in real-time, along with a WhatsApp channel.

The conference itself has been tweeting carefully curated highlights of some speeches. (See Douglas Murray declaring, “There was nothing wrong with nationalism in Britain, it’s just that there was something wrong with nationalism in Germany. I don’t see why no one should be allowed to love their country because the Germans mucked it up twice in a century.”)

Of course, one of the two reception desks was marked ‘media’. Given how many journalists had been kept out, perhaps that should have been marked ‘desk for excluding media’.

Is this the future of the right? They certainly think so. Professor Tim Bale has warned elsewhere, though, that this risks being a “cul de sac” for British conservatives – of great interest to the activist base, but navel-gazing over issues that leave most voters baffled, or even alienated.

This is a strand of the right that enjoys seeing itself as a popular insurgency, against the old boys’ club of Westminster politics, the heirs to UKIP and Brexit. But meeting in a prestigious Westminster venue, they did not seem to practise what they preached.

In fact, all it took for me to get in, free of charge, despite my not having booked, was my plummy accent, a blazer, a Panama hat, and old college cufflinks. Deference quickly kicked in, and they were tugging at their forelocks to show me in, imagining me to be one of their own. This was about as ‘establishment’ a gathering as you could imagine.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#20yrsago Ed Felten’s radical technology agenda https://web.archive.org/web/20021127140640/https://www.chronicle.com/free/v49/i14/14a02701.htm

#20yrsago Harry Potter/Luke Skywalker/Frodo Baggins https://craphound.com/images/frodoharryskywalker_furymix.jpg

#15yrsago How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook https://web.archive.org/web/20071128035044/http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204203573

#15yrsago Facebook privacy meltdown: company removed opt-out prior to launch https://web.archive.org/web/20081202155556/http://www.news.com/the-social/8301-13577_3-9823063-36.html

#15yrsago Voice of the London Underground canned for blogging funny fake announcement audio https://www.metafilter.com/66883/The-Voice-of-the-Underground-is-silenced

#15yrsago Mr Splashy Pants in the lead for Greenpeace whale-naming competition https://web.archive.org/web/20071121164456/http://vote.greenpeace.org/11/12/results

#15yrsago Universal Music CEO: Record industry can’t tell when geeks are lying to us about technology https://www.vulture.com/2007/11/universal_music_ceo_doug_morris.html

#10yrsago Toronto mayor Rob Ford is out https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/mayor-rob-ford-will-fight-removal-ruling-tooth-and-nail-1.1187334

#10yrsago Internet of the Dead: the net’s collision course with death https://locusmag.com/2012/11/cory-doctorow-the-internet-of-the-dead/

#5yrsago Reverse-engineering a connected Furby toy, revealing its disturbing security defects https://web.archive.org/web/20171124134624/https://www.contextis.com/blog/dont-feed-them-after-midnight-reverse-engineering-the-furby-connect

#5yrsago Rightscorp finished Sept 2017 with $3,147 in the bank, warns investors it will likely have to shut down without more cash https://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-revenue-from-piracy-settlements-down-48-in-2017-171125/

#5yrsago Arrogant overreach: Ajit Pai’s plan to totally destroy net neutrality may doom him in court https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/opinion/courts-net-neutrality-fcc.html">

#5yrsago A generation after American “libertarians” helped with mass disappearances, torture and murder of left-wing activists, Frente Amplio surge in Chilean elections https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-21/from-street-protests-to-kingmaker-chile-s-new-left-comes-of-age

#5yrsago Investigators claim that Oxbridge and other top UK universities are operating a massive, illegal surveillance dragnet aimed at students/alumni and their friends and families https://qz.com/1133808/universities-including-oxford-and-cambridge-are-accused-of-illegal-spying

#5yrsago For the next year, TV, newspapers, and the web will run massive ads from tobacco companies admitting that their products kill people, that they were engineered to be addictive, and that they covered this up https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-26/big-tobacco-forced-to-advertise-admissions-in-us/9194960

#5yrsago Melt a Nazi with the Major Toht candle https://web.archive.org/web/20171204030654/https://firebox.com/Melting-Toht-Candle/p6706

#1yrago UK ICO: surveillance advertising is dead https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/26/ico-ico/#market-structuring

[jonismitchell]

what kind of students get into oxbridge im scared now . Lol

i am not an admissions officer i am just one canadian student with an inferiority complex !!

[shipcestuous]

Remember that 90s Batman & Robin movie? The one with Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze as the villains? Recently I caught the last half of it on tv... and I unexpectedly caught myself shipping ALFRED, of all people, in an incestuous relationship!

Basically, one of the subplots in the movies is that Alfred has a niece named Barbara, who will eventually join in the crimefighting as Batgirl. Barbara's mother was Alfred's sister, Margaret. When Margaret died, Alfred decided to take care of Barbara, who loves him dearly and feels the need to repay him for all his kindness. Alfred got Barbara the kind of education that gets you a place to study in Oxbridge (though she's actually been kicked out for taking part in dangerous bike races and isn't telling him), and Barbara is protective of Alfred to the point she resents Bruce and Dick for "making" him sacrifice all his best years to serving them... and for claiming to be like a family to him while not even noticing that he's been dealing with a potentially fatal illness, while she's trying to raise enough money to cure him. He really is like a father more than an uncle to her.

And that's already good enough, sure, but the movie actually goes out of its way to hammer in just how much Alfred loved his sister. He clearly enjoys reminiscing about their youth together no matter how bittersweet it is to revisit those memories, and he keeps an old photo of her where she looks like some kind of Old Hollywood movie star and that is also signed "Love, Peg", with Peg being his old nickname for her... and also the passwords he set for the computer containing all of Batman's secret! And Barbara isn't even that surprised by that last bit! If she doesn't get it right on the first try, it's only because she initially thought he'd go with "Margaret."

Curiously, I'm not sure Margaret's husband and Barbara's dad is even mentioned in the whole thing...

I know Batman & Robin well, it is a long-time favorite of mine in all of its campy glory. I actually watched it earlier this year with a friend who had never seen it. The Mr. Freeze one-liners are worth the price of admission.

I'm glad you mentioned Alfred and Peg because even though they've spent their lives apart, it's SO shippable. Barbara clearly knows Alfred well, so even though he has been in service to the Waynes for decades, he has been in close touch with his family. Obviously Alfred loves Bruce like family, but aside from Bruce, his only personal connections seem to be with Peg and Barbara. The photo....!

SHE'S HIS PASSWORD.

Great point that Barbara's dad is a total non-entity. Who knows...

Maybe the incestuous relationship is why he left.

To escape this forbidden relationship I am going to the US to be a butler

[worldtopnews99]

The Profs Admissions Tutors

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Ready to take the next step? Contact The Profs Admissions Tutors today and let us help you secure your place at one of the world’s leading universities. Whether you’re aiming for Oxbridge, a Russell Group institution, or an independent school, our expert guidance will give you the best chance of success.

[pure-ablution]

Would you say it’s comparatively easier to get a PhD or grad degree at a good UK university if your GP A is not perfect

Keep in mind that I’m an undergrad, and I’ve never really dealt with any postgrad admissions.

The first point of note is that you’re less likely to get a student visa if you’ve been admitted to a lower-ranking university in the UK. The UK has a lot of universities—approximately 160—and about 50% of those are what’s now known as post-1992 universities. These are universities which received their university status in or after 1992. Most of them are former polytechnics or colleges (the closest US equivalent would be trade school or community college), and some are simply newer universities, but all of them are comparatively low in national rankings and have much higher admissions rates. I would not recommend applying to these universities as an international student, as your visa application is much more likely to be denied. Be careful when choosing universities, and stick to the Russell Group if you can (with a few notable exceptions—St Andrews comes to mind). At postgraduate level, the quality of the department matters more over the reputation of the university overall, but to immigration officers, rankings are still important.

The second point is that, regardless of the post-1992 unis, it’s still easier to get into a UK university at postgraduate level with a lower GPA. This is because UK universities put less weight on GPA (it’s not a thing over here), and they accept a much higher proportion of international students at postgraduate level. Undergraduate admissions to top UK universities are much, much more competitive than postgraduate admissions, and I know lots of students who were rejected from Oxbridge/LSE/Imperial for undergrad, but accepted for postgrad.

To give some statistics on this:

The acceptance rate for Jurisprudence BA (an undergraduate degree) at Oxford is approximately 9–11%.

The acceptance rate for the BCL (a postgrad degree) at Oxford is approximately 20–21%.

The percentage of international undergraduate students at Oxford is approximately 23%.

The percentage of international postgraduate students at Oxford is approximately 65%.

Your chances of studying in the UK increase significantly if you’re a postgrad international. To put it bluntly: yes, it’s easier to get in.

However—and this is a big however—postgraduate study in the UK is different from, and arguably more difficult than, postgraduate study in the US. In the UK, a Master’s degree is considered a specialisation, and courses are typically shorter, and more research-focused. You’re expected to work at a higher level, much earlier, and you don’t have the same proportion of classes and assignments as you would at postgrad in America. A British Master’s degree (with the exception of American-influenced courses, like the MBA) is like a mini American PhD, in that you’re expected to work independently and produce a dissertation by the end.

In the US, graduate courses are broader and more of an expected rite of passage after undergrad, and they’re taught similarly to British undergraduate degrees, in that you have much more contact with your professor. Students in the US can often go straight from undergrad to studying a PhD, but in the UK, you have to have a Master’s first, and you’re usually expected to have published research during your postgraduate studies. Depending on your subject and personal nature, you might consider one country’s system more challenging than the other, but the main point is that they’re very different, and I know a lot of American postgrads doing their Master’s over here who are really struggling with the lack of contact hours and the expectations of independence and quality research from their departments.

[phoenix-joy]

Date: 12 Jul 2024 Author: George Connor Publication: Bloomsbury.com Blog OP article word count and reading time: 926, appro. 2 to 3.5 minutes Extracts below total word count and reading time: 301, appro. 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes. Hyperlinks within the extracted text are my own.

I'm a working-class student from an economically depressed background (despite living in Edinburgh) and went to school in low-attainment areas. While I have always had a passion for ancient history, myths, and other aspects of the Classical era, it is only recently that I've dared to dream I could actually do something with that love. The Open University has opened so many opportunities for me, but I know I'll have to work triply hard to take this anywhere. I hope that, some day, I can be part of the growing shift in trends.

Extract:

There can be few areas of study in the UK – or indeed overseas – which is so assailed by perceptions of class, elitism and privilege as Classics. Whether we will it or not, none of us would be fool enough to suggest the discipline isn’t weighed down by its image: private school, Oxbridge, Establishment.

...

The publicly-known Classicists we have are important because their voices and manners feed the popular consciousness of the subject. Let’s be honest, when the general public are asked about Classics they usually think you’re talking about Classical music, or – at a push – Literary Classics. They may know broadly about “ancient history” but the word “Classics” is often met with a blank face. It is arguable that the absence of Classics in most of our state schools has led to a situation where even the subject’s name is unknown in the broader population.

...

Thankfully, there are good people working through Classics for All, the Classical Association and in other organisations to make changes. Voices which were previously silenced are slowly beginning to be heard, and DEI policies in universities are now accounting for class as a protected characteristic. It is our hope that in the future this can be removed, as class will then no longer be a barrier to access.

But the struggle to make Classics truly a subject for everyone is ongoing and we are only at the start. Work is needed in schools to add Classical subjects to curricula; universities must expand state-school admissions, and begin training teachers for those state schools (a significant issue in Scotland); and institutions beyond academia must break the habit instinctively employing from the private-school/Oxbridge diaspora. Only by achieving these things can we demonstrate that a student does not need to come from privilege to explore Classics.

/end of extract

[jemar]

The Oxbridge Interview: A Quick Guide

Receiving an invitation to an Oxbridge interview signifies a huge step forward in your admissions journey: you’ve created a compelling profile, and now the tutors want to get to know you more!

While it may seem a bit daunting initially, the Oxbridge Interview is more often just a dynamic, engaging conversation with a college tutor. In this article, we’ll cover some key information you need to know about your upcoming interview.

A Brief Summary

The Oxbridge Interview is the combined term for the renowned interview style of both Oxford and Cambridge University. During the interview, candidates participate in a one-on-one discussion session with a tutor from a certain Oxford/Cambridge college.

This admissions step is designed to simulate Oxford’s ‘tutorial system’ or Cambridge’s ‘supervision’ system. Your interviewer will be gauging how fit you are for this kind of academic environment. They will challenge you with personal and unexpected questions, evaluating your ability to articulate your thoughts properly and work through problems.

When thinking of the Oxbridge interview, consider it less a test of your pure knowledge and more an evaluation of your passion – your academic potential.

Common Questions

Different types of questions may be thrown at you during your Oxbridge interview. Some of these are:

General Questions – You will encounter traditional interview questions along the way, e.g. - Why Oxford? Why Cambridge? - Why this specific course?

Personal Statement Questions – Your interviewer(s) may also ask you to expound on a topic or experience that you’ve covered in your PS. - In your personal statement, you mentioned a particular interest in [specific topic]. Can you tell me more about what specifically fascinates you about this topic? - You discussed your experience with [a specific project or research] in your personal statement. Can you elaborate on the challenges you faced and how you overcame them?

Subject Questions – You’ll also be asked questions related to your chosen subject in the interview. - How do you evaluate the effectiveness of a new drug or treatment? - How do you assess the reliability of primary sources when studying [a particular period or event]?

Problem-solving Questions – These are especially prominent in interviews for STEM programs. You’ll be given sets of problems to work through, which all build up to one main question. - Prove or disprove the following mathematical statement: [specific theorem or conjecture]. - In a dihybrid cross between two heterozygous organisms (AaBb), what is the probability of obtaining an offspring with the genotype Aabb?

Reading Questions – You may be asked for your opinion on a book or research article. In some cases, you’ll be tasked to read a short work beforehand. - What does this graph tell us about the relationship between [two economic variables]? - What is the significance of this experiment described in the text for the field of [specific scientific discipline]?

Open-ended Questions – Interviewers may present you with unexpected, open-ended questions, which are meant to evaluate your thought process. - How should we balance individual freedom and social order? - What is the role of the reader in interpreting a text?

Tips for Preparing

If you’re looking for some guidance on how to properly train for your upcoming interview, here are a few suggestions.

Practice with a Friend - Practice with a friend and ask for their constructive criticism. Your peer can provide personal advice on your diction, presentation, and responses.

Read Up on Books - Study a wide variety of subject-related books, ask recommendations from peers and teachers, and explore different essays related to your field.

Explore Sample Questions - Oxford has a few sample questions on its website. You can also try online interview practice apps, where you can practice questions within a specific time frame.

Join Mock Interviews - Ask your peers or teachers to hold mock interviews with you. Many online educational platforms also offer interview preparation sessions, which allow you to personally train with an Oxbridge tutor.

Recap

The key thing to remember for the Oxbridge interview is that it’s an evaluation of your critical thinking and enthusiasm. From general questions to books, to subject topics, to open-ended questions: you must demonstrate your understanding of your chosen program. Before your upcoming interview, be sure to prepare using the techniques we’ve mentioned above.

Good luck! If you’re really looking for rigorous training, there’s no better way to do that than by practicing under the guidance of Oxbridge tutors with the help of education consulting firms. Learning with an experienced tutor can help you enhance your performance and learn the ins and outs of the Oxbridge interview setting.

[oxbridge1]

Unlock Your Potential: Spoken English Classes in Bangalore

In today's globalized world, mastering the English language is a crucial skill that can open doors to numerous opportunities. Whether you are a student, a working professional, or someone looking to improve their communication skills, enrolling in Spoken English Classes in Bangalore can be a transformative step. If you are in Bangalore, Oxbridge is a top-notch institute that offers comprehensive spoken English classes designed to cater to various proficiency levels and individual needs.

Why Choose Oxbridge?

Expert Faculty

At Oxbridge, the quality of education is paramount. The institute boasts a team of highly qualified and experienced instructors who are passionate about teaching English. These experts employ innovative teaching methods and personalized approaches to ensure that every student gains a strong command of the language.

Tailored Curriculum

Understanding that each learner has unique needs and goals, Oxbridge offers a tailored curriculum that addresses various aspects of spoken English. Whether you are a beginner or looking to refine your advanced skills, the classes are designed to cover essential elements such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and conversational skills.

Interactive Learning Environment

One of the key features of Oxbridge's spoken English classes is the interactive learning environment. Small class sizes ensure that students receive individual attention and ample opportunities to participate in discussions, role-plays, and other interactive activities. This hands-on approach helps build confidence and fluency in spoken English.

Flexible Timings

Recognizing the busy schedules of its students, Oxbridge offers flexible class timings, including weekend and evening batches. This flexibility allows students to balance their learning with other commitments, making it convenient for working professionals and students alike.

Focus on Practical Usage

Oxbridge emphasizes the practical usage of English in everyday situations. The classes include real-life scenarios, group discussions, and presentations that prepare students to use English effectively in both personal and professional contexts. This practical focus ensures that students can confidently communicate in various settings.

Affordable Fees

High-quality education does not always have to come with a hefty price tag. Oxbridge offers its spoken English classes at competitive and affordable fees, making it accessible to a wide range of learners. The institute also provides value-for-money by ensuring that every student receives the best possible training.

How to Enroll

Enrolling in spoken English classes at Oxbridge is a straightforward process. Interested individuals can visit the institute's website or contact the admissions office for detailed information about the courses, schedules, and fees. The friendly staff at Oxbridge is always ready to assist and guide prospective students through the enrollment process.

Conclusion

Mastering spoken English can significantly enhance your communication skills, boost your confidence, and open up new opportunities. Oxbridge in Bangalore offers the perfect platform to achieve these goals with its expert faculty, tailored curriculum, interactive learning environment, and practical focus. Don't let language barriers hold you back – enroll in Oxbridge's spoken English classes today and unlock your full potential.

For more information, visit the Oxbridge website or contact the admissions office. Start your journey towards fluency and success with Oxbridge!

[viptutorsco]

Prepare for your Oxford or Cambridge admission interview with VIPTutors. Guided by our expert Oxford and Cambridge tutors, you will engage in mock interviews with sample questions to assess your academic abilities and potential.

Practice speaking confidently about your chosen programme, refine your answers, and discuss your personal statement. Ace your interview! Start preparing for your Oxbridge interview with VIPTutors. Check us out at www.viptutors.co.

You can also connect with us via WhatsApp at +44 20 8638 6241 or email at partners@viptutors.co.

[homeinsuranch]

Home Insurance Offers And Their Misconceptions

For many students who are aspiring, gaining admission to the most prestigious universities like Oxbridge can be a major step in their academic path. But, the admissions process is extremely competitive, requiring applicants to present their distinctive qualities and achievements effectively. This is why personal statement professional writing assistance play a crucial role in bringing your application to new heights. A reputable personal statement writing service can provide expert guidance and support through all stages of the personal statement writing process. Their expert personal statement writers are aware of the subtleties of oxbridge application and can assist you in writing a compelling personal statement that emphasizes your strengths, goals and dreams. One of the major benefits of using a personal statement crafting service is the degree of professionalism and experience they provide to the table. If you are seeking to learn more about home insurance offers, browse the earlier mentioned site.

They have a deep understanding of what oxbridge admission committees are looking for in personal statements, allowing them to customize your personal statement to meet these criteria effectively. The personal statement Writing services are distinguished due to their personal approach that is an essential aspect in writing impressive personal statement that are suitable for Oxbridge applications. These services go beyond simple writing. They go deep into understanding your life accomplishments, goals, and achievements. The resulting knowledge allows them to write personal statements that authentically reflect your individual voice as well as your experiences and goals. The first step of this personalized approach is complete consultation. A personal statement writing services will take the time to conduct detailed discussions with you and discuss your academic experience and extracurricular pursuits, as well as your passions and plans for the future. In-depth discussions help you gain insights into your character goals, values, and motivations. These are essential to crafting an effective personal statement that is a hit with Oxbridge admission committees. Furthermore, personal statement writing services concentrate on understanding the specific demands and requirements for Oxbridge institutions.

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[personalstatem]

User Guide On Best Personal Statement Writer

Embarking on the journey towards your dream of Oxbridge applications requires careful consideration and meticulous preparation. Beyond the academic achievements that pave the way, a personal statement plays a pivotal role in securing a coveted spot at these prestigious institutions. Crafting an impactful personal statement is not just a task; it's an art that demands attention to detail and a strategic approach. When you delve into the realm of Oxbridge applications, a personal statement helper becomes an invaluable ally. Picture this: you've completed your medical shifts and earned your M.D., and now it's time to step into the realm of residency. The medical personal statement is your key to unlocking the doors of your chosen program. It's not a mere formality; it's your chance to stand out and shine. Start by customizing your personal statement to the specific Oxbridge program you've set your sights on. Whether it's medicine, law, or any other field, tailor your introduction to reflect who you are and why you aspire to join that particular niche.

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[grantgoddard]

An elite academy for aspiring rent-a-gob politicians : 1976 : Durham Union Society

 “I’m sorry but you must wear appropriate attire to attend,” the usher told me sternly.

I thought I had been dressed normally enough, but apparently not. I was waving my club membership card, having paid the annual subscription during Freshers’ Week. Only then did I learn that it was insufficient merely to be a paid-up member. Nobody had told me I needed additionally to wear an academic gown to be admitted, one of those flimsy black material things belonging to previous centuries or ghost movies. Since my arrival at university, I had spotted a few students wafting around the streets wearing such gowns and I had considered their fashion sense preposterous, particularly in the ‘Year of Punk’. Why would I waste £37 of my Surrey County Council student full grant on such an anachronistic garment? Now, to my frustration, I was being refused entry to the society’s first debate of the academic year and had to walk the mile back to my college in autumnal darkness.

I was unaware then that Durham University was so normalised to its elite status that it even labelled its relationship with the local population ‘town and gown’. Evidently it never had considered itself an integral part of Durham, one of Britain’s poorest working-class regions, because its students were not drawn from the locality but from some of Britain’s poshest families whose offspring had proven insufficiently academic to gain admission to Oxbridge. I recall my shock during a party at fellow student John Cummins’ town centre flat when I learnt that his parents had purchased that property for the duration of his studies. Whilst processing my astonishment, I rudely fell asleep on his sofa in the midst of the revelling. Only later did I discover that such investments by rich parents were commonplace. (Despite showing little interest in the pop music with which I was obsessed, later John landed a job at ‘The Tube’ music TV show and was then appointed Channel 4’s launch head of youth television.)

Clubs had never been for me. At school, the only one I had joined was ‘Strode’s Film Club’, a sixth-form wheeze by classmate and film buff Martin Nichols to legally screen in the main hall X-rated movies such as ‘Straw Dogs’, ‘Lord of The Flies’, ‘Canterbury Tales’, ‘North by Northwest’, 'Celine and Julie Go Boating' and ‘Closely Observed Trains’. Now, as a naïve fresher at university, I had been told it was essential to join numerous clubs, particularly the debating society, so I had paid my money, only to be turned away from its first event. A historian had written in 1952:

“When a young man comes into residence in Durham, in seven cases out of ten he decides to become a member of the Union Society. […] And he is then in the succession of many whose first experience in oratory and official administration, gained in the Union Debating Hall and clubrooms, has stood them in good stead for the rest of their lives.”

I was unable to benefit from this ‘experience in oratory’ until later in the year when I discovered the club held one annual debate where neither membership nor a gown were necessary to attend in the Great Hall of Durham Castle. It seemed bizarre that the town’s castle operated as neither a tourist attraction nor the home of some wealthy bigwig, but as a college of the university in which 150 students had lived and studied from 1837. Apparently, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, its oversized dining room had been renowned as Britain’s largest ‘Great Hall’. I sat at the back in my usual student-wear to quietly observe a debate dominated by white males wearing gowns.

What I witnessed stunned me. It was difficult to decide what impacted me the most. Adolescents of my age acting as if they were already middle-aged men, seemingly in imitation of their family’s upper-class characteristics. Boys confident enough to stand up and talk loudly and at length on global issues about which they displayed only the most basic understanding. Conversely, their peers not replying with factual corrections because they too were eagerly awaiting a chance to stand up and mouth their own ignorance. Overloud voices and theatrical flourishes as if the debater were the lead actor in a school play. Mob-like cheering and jeering at speakers as if it were some medieval tournament. Rude audience comments shouted out during speeches, eliciting rumbustious laughter. Loud banging of fists on tables and foot stomping like a mob of noisy yobo’s.

What proved most baffling were the moments when a participant whom I vaguely knew would stand up to argue a point of view that I had thought was the opposite of their personal beliefs. It appeared that, in this playground, moral certitude had to be sacrificed to the altar of argument purely for argument’s sake. It was an intellectual game whose purpose was to impress one’s peers with wit and verbosity rather than facts or evidence. The medium WAS the message, not the content that was being spoken … or more often bellowed. During an evening of insufferably posh accents, visions of fencing, guns at dawn and gloves smacked across opponents’ cheeks crossed my mind. It was evident that many of my fellow students must have already practised this parlour game for years in ‘debating societies’ at their private schools … while, in my parallel state school universe, I had been occupied presenting pop music programmes on London pirate radio stations.

At the event’s conclusion, I stumbled outside into the night air, reeling as if I had been returned to Earth after abduction by an alien civilisation. Perhaps you required blue blood to feel at home in there. I resolved not to renew my club membership nor to attend further debates. The academic Sir Walter Moberly had commented in 1950: “Undergraduate debates are not conducted at the deep level at which convictions are really formed.” This notion that an individual can lack personal conviction to debate or argue a point forcefully was a foreign land to me. I could frame an argument for my principles, but why would one propose a point of view that is not one’s own? Unless you never bother with ‘convictions’ and follow a path of merely blowing with the prevailing wind.

It was not until 1990 that Britain’s primary legislature, the House of Commons, allowed its proceedings to be permanently televised, following its eleventh vote on the issue during the preceding twenty-two years. The motion was opposed by then prime minister Margaret Thatcher because "my concern is for the good reputation of this House.” Initially, only close-up shots of the politician holding the floor were permitted because a wider view would have shown the public the faces of their elected representatives jeering, hectoring, desk banging and rabble-rousing during many speeches. This restriction was later relaxed, allowing the rest of the world to witness for the first time the childish habits of grown men who had never moved on from ‘bunfights’ in oak-panelled dining rooms during ‘High Tea’.

Watching those early televised broadcasts vividly recalled the one debate I had attended more than a decade earlier. I suddenly understood that Durham Union Society had been established in 1842 as ‘A Nursery of the [House of] Commons’, as noted a headline in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper. My privileged contemporaries had been in training to become politicians since an early age. Durham had merely been the latest stop on their route to the elevated roles to which they had forever been told they were entitled. Articulating this notion of ‘power’, Sir Winston Churchill had once observed at the Oxford Union: “If you can speak in this country, you can do anything.”

House of Commons rules strictly forbid members to call each other ‘a liar’ or to make an accusation of ‘lying’. As a result, just as I had witnessed in Durham, speakers are permitted to spout any old tosh that comes into their heads and get away with it. How can a critic ‘speak truth to power’ in a forum where the currency of ‘truth’ is not merely devalued but prohibited? Politicians know they can say whatever is expedient in the moment without any recourse, while the rest of us would be sacked from our jobs for what our world considers to be lying.

In my own field, the lack of, ahem, ‘conviction’ of politicians responsible for the British government’s media policy has been evident often. In March 2010 whilst in opposition, Ed Vaizey MP said “the government has set a provisional target date of 2015 [for digital radio switchover] and we are sceptical about whether that target can actually be met.” However, by July that same year and after an election had appointed him the new government’s culture minister, Vaizey conversely said that “2015 is an achievable target date and we will work to support that ambition.” Ho hum.

During the period when I seemed to be the only City analyst covering the radio broadcast industry, I would occasionally be contacted by the BBC to be interviewed for a programme. Before sunrise one day, a BBC car collected me from home to take me to the studios of the ‘Today’ programme on ‘Radio 4’ for a live item about digital radio switchover. On arrival, I was told that I would be answering the presenter’s questions and then the government minister would be introduced and quizzed. However, the minister had insisted that I not be permitted to follow up or respond to what he would be saying. It was obvious that my presence in the studio would suggest a semblance of ‘balance’ whilst not actually allowing genuine debate or argument.

I had arrived at the BBC early and spent an age waiting in the show’s ‘green room’. The minister arrived late, accompanied by a flunky, entered the room and said to me: “So you are the person they have brought here to tell me that everything I am about to say is wrong.” 

Just as I had witnessed in Durham, patronising privileged toffs like him function in a world where they insist upon immunity from contradiction or correction to the drivel they shout. Despite my anger at his comment, I followed the instructions for that morning’s appearance, but have refused every BBC invitation since. Where there is purposefully no genuine debate, what would be the point?

Is this the “honourable tradition” maintained by graduates of debating societies like Durham Union Society, the phrase attributed to the club in 1952 by its historian who suggested it:

“… should always retain at least some its present rooms as a gentlemen’s club. There may it long offer to future generations those opportunities for the making of friendships, for argument, and for training in life and thinking …”

‘Training’ for a ‘life’ as a conviction-free politician?

[oxbridgepersonalstatements]

A Few Facts About Personal Statements

Personal statements can play an essential role in a person's daily life. A personal statement highlights the abilities of an individual over a period of time. Personal statements require impressive writing skills. A person must never abandon their learning abilities. Fundamental skills are what make a person a learner. The skills you have will make your personal statements stand out and increase your chances to be selected. It is important to have additional skills beyond the basics. This will help you stand out from the crowd and will improve your personal statement. If you're applying for a new course you need to have the practical skills necessary to successfully complete it. Your personal statement is incomplete without your experience. Experience is an important part of the personal statement. A person who is in business administration may have experience in acting or theatre. Are you looking for oxbridge personal statements? Browse the before described website.

But, it is possible for someone with vast experience to also be a potential outside of their chosen field. Thus, in that situation, a person can reframe the existing experience. It is important to explain the experience and the reasons for it to the selection authorities. Your personal statement will be different than others if you include the above. Individuals are highly interested in certain tasks and activities. It's a great idea to volunteer for these activities. Last but not least is keeping yourself updated and educated. When it comes to writing a personal statement, education is a key aspect. A person must learn how to effectively write a personal essay. You can hire a personal statement writing agency to get a personal statement that will strengthen your college application.

Only a few applicants are admitted to the best schools in the world. Because of this, there is intense competition. The personal statement is the only factor that will decide whether you are selected or rejected. A well-written personal essay can convince admission officers that your are a good fit for the college. A professional writer will know what personal statements should look like and provide you with guidance. You can hire a professional personal essay writer if your time is limited or you need additional assistance. Writing a personal essay can be difficult. There is no need to stress. It will be a great advantage to hire a professional personal statement writer agency. You should make sure that you only hire an agency that is reliable and can do original research. There are always reliable writing services available that work within the budget and adhere to deadlines.

[pazodetrasalba]

The Act of Distinguishing

Dear Caroline:

It seems this topic has become quite a burning issue: shortly before the whole FTX debacle, the Supreme Court heard a couple of related cases of race-based admissions at universities, and it seems destined to hand down a controversial decision some time soon. More information about this can be found in the following Vox article.

As for your proposal of more transparency, I don't really think it could ever be implemented, as it feels outrageously contentious and divisive to be talking about race quotas at all in the 21st century, and brings to mind ominous precedents, like the past anti-Jewish discrimination of most of those Ivy League places (a curious mirror to what was happening in the USSR, btw. Edward Frenkel talks a lot about this in his Love and Math).

I would imagine that if the issue were pure meritocracy, which it isn't, a solution could be arrived like the one they use in Oxbridge, I think: among the pool of applicants with high enough scores, make a hard classificatory exam (with a small part of it being the interview) and the positions go to the x best candidates. Probably not the perfect system, but definitely fairer than some arcane, obscure and hidden-away heuristics for social engineering.

As for the girl you mention, I am genuinely flabbergasted by her surprise. From what you imply, her SAT scores were definitely not 'Stanford worthy', so how could she have felt so disappointed? But I am equivocating a little: I am well aware of people's desire to keep their cake and eat it, of the rosy picture we like to paint of ourselves and on the amazing human capacity for self-delusion when it suits us. As Upton Sinclair famously said: ''It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.'

You, on the other hand, would have never had a problem here, as intelligence literally overflows from you in an embarrassment of riches, as illustrated in the quote I attach and which I read last night on twitter. The context is Jacquelyn Melinek encountering someone who used to take math classes at Stanford with you.

Quote:

“She was absolutely the best and a lot of the men in the class were pressed and steamed about it. I was a sophomore, she was a junior and we were in class with a lot of grad students”