AKIL: Hi everybody on YouTube welcome to the
inside unique Q&A this is our third Q&A
and it's about life as a first
generation student at Oxford and Cambridge
which we will come on to explain. So
during the Q&A if you want to
send us any message just use the chat,
which is on the side of the video,
sometimes underneath. Even now,
just feel free to send us a wave,
say hello! So let's make a start. So, before we start,
I'll just give you an idea of what are
these InsideUni Q & A's. So InsideUni
is a non-profit which is just working to
helpmake the Oxford and
Cambridge, and then hopefully more
university applications, more accessible.
And, make student written information and
advice about how to apply and
the process people went through, more
available. We've started this YouTube
series to just give people a chance
to chat to students about different
aspects of Oxford and Cambridge life and
really here we're focusing a lot on the
experiences. So, if you would like if you
want official information the
University websites are really good,
particularly for some of the very
specific questions: what times do I need
to do something certain by, or what are
the specific requirements for this. But,
definitely there's more general
about student life feel free to ask us
and the agenda the call will be so we'll
all start off with introductions then
we're gonna cover a few questions that
were submitted in advance then we're
gonna come on to questions that you just
want to ask us in the live chat I just
keep sending them in and we'll have a
list of them and answer them three and
that will take us to about 4:45 and then
we'll do a little bit more and we'll
wrap up at 5 o'clock yeah and so a
little bit I've explained what inside
uni is we basically crowdsource this
advice from it's nearly 2,000 Oxford and
Cambridge students where they talk a
little bit about what it was like to a
pop apply and the sort of advice that
they would just pass on to themselves
that they were to do it again you can
find our website on inside unit org
which is free for any
to access and it's completely nonprofit
and Helena will put that in the YouTube
yeah and Alex is gonna start start us
off with actually tell you what before
we do that we'll do introductions and
then Alex will explain what
first-generation actually means so imma
kill an engineering student at the
University of Cambridge hi everyone my
name's Tom I'm a second year and I study
modern and medieval languages at
Cambridge my name is Abby and I'm a
third year finalist in classical
archaeology and ancient history or car
for short that Oxford my name is Charlie
I study French and Spanish at the
University of Cambridge and I'm a third
year so I just come to the end of my
year abroad
I am Chloe I'm a first year medic
fresnels College Oxford hi I'm Alex I'm
a second year biological Natural
Sciences at maudlin in Cambridge hi I'm
from I'm a first year classic student at
Oxford pregnant and so Alex is just
gonna explain a bit about what
first-generation actually means over to
you Alex yes so first-generation
students are basically the first people
in their immediate family to go to
university so the idea is is that like
your parents and like uncles not Cutt
uncle's Nancy's that kind of thing
happened University before and like we
look at join me to move straight onto
that kind of thing as well yeah so and
there's there's like specific societies
Knoxville in Cambridge and to represent
people over and so in Cambridge we've
got a thing called class act and this
looks at like represents in students who
have come from any kind of like
background that has been been
disadvantaged so looking at like fish
generation students like people who've
experienced homelessness or economic
disadvantage during that time and and we
just look at like trying to make life
that university is accessible for those
kind of people as possible and first gen
Oxford is as well as being the name of
like first-generation students is also
the name of the Society which was served
quite recently which aims to sort
provide a play
for first-generation students to meet
each other and go to events which
usually and subsidize or like partially
funded and they also do a lot of
campaigning for like making first young
people more comfortable at the
university I mean thank you both
anything anybody in the q and A's has in
the audience there's any more questions
about that feel free just to ask them
and we can explain a little bit more so
now we're gonna pick up a 3q in the life
in the day of three students doing some
of different subjects each University
and we're gonna start off with Tom okay
so from an animal's perspective in the
mail being modern in medieval languages
if I get up and have breakfast
okay like everyone else and what skip
breakfast every now and then I'm in a
rush but I will head usually over to the
citric site which is where most
humanities students in Cambridge have
their lectures or classes and I'll be
there for a few hours at least so I
might have a translation class looking
at a text we've been given in advance
I'm gonna have a grammar session looking
at key points of grammar in one of the
languages that I've done post a level so
French so that'll be sort of more
complex grammar or I might be doing more
remedial or basic grammar in the
language that I've done from scratch or
ab initio so that one for me is Russian
and so I'll have maybe two or three
classes when I'm at Sidgwick that might
not necessarily be as I was saying
before translational grammar it might
include supervisions that's one of the
small group or one-on-one sessions with
a lecturer or professor and so that
would be someone that I'm having a
conversation with about one of my essays
that I've written that week and so yeah
after a few hours of that I'll usually
head back to my college luckily for me
one of my colleges my college is one of
the more centrally located ones and so
it's not too far for me to wander back
from lectures I will have lunch either
with friends or just and by myself in my
accommodation and then I will head back
out now depending on the day I might
head back to civic site for another
lecture if there's one later in the
afternoon
or I might have another supervision of
one of the other colleges around
Cambridge but then if I don't have
anything on I will head to the college
cafe sit enjoyed my own work if I have
some stuff to do much a bit of reading
won't grab a coffee see some friends and
then in the evening again it really
depends but on an average day I might
pop out into town to do some shopping
and to get my weekly groceries or maybe
see a friend or two and then head back
to college for the evening where I will
do some more work in my room in the
library there's a lots of spaces where
you can do that kind of stuff I
personally prefer having a bit of noise
around me I can't really deal with
deafening silence so I tend to spend a
lot of my time in the college doing work
and then I'll have dinner and depending
on what everyone's doing or what work I
need to do I might go out I might stay
in and yes so I think there's no for me
personally there's no typical day but
generally it consists of a nice balance
of work and then having a bit of my own
time as well to do things that I can
choose to do so I'm a classic student
and classics is basically anything to do
with the ancient Greeks or Romans which
includes the languages so I'll get up
around 8:15 grumpily and roll up bed to
my 8:45 Greek language lessons I have
these around four times a week and then
on the fifth day I have a Latin lesson
and the amount of lessons you have in
each language depends on how much how
far you took these so I took Latin to a
level which is why I only have it once a
week and then I haven't done great
before so I have it four times a week
but don't worry if you haven't done
either of these languages you can still
start them from scratch after that I
will probably go grab a coffee with some
people and maybe breakfast from my
lesson and then we'll head over to a
lecture together we have around three of
these a week and then after that I will
go grab lunch from normally from college
or one of my friends colleges so college
is I think Oxford there's around 36 and
every student has their own college and
it's kind of a community
which you live in and you have your own
like tutors there and you go to most of
your tutorials there and you can
obviously most of my friends are in
college but a lot of you do mix with a
lot of people outside college as well
but I do have my languages language
lessons outside of college sorry that
was a bit of a confusing out there
anyway after lunch I normally head to
the library there is libraries with in
college but I normally prefer to head to
the body and library which is like the
big central library in Oxford and then I
stay there for about three or four hours
until my tutorial which is a bit like a
supervision at Cambridge where we just
discuss our essays or we do some
language work either one on one or one
on two sometimes one on three after that
I normally head back to my bedroom and I
either watch Netflix or do more work
normally Netflix and then I have choir
three times a week so I'll get choir and
then we'll have a service and then
afterwards we get free formal which is
like a three-course dinner in hall it's
very nice especially when it's free and
then I'd normally go to the bar with the
rest of the choir and then either head
over to see some friends and maybe go
out or just go like chill with some
friends maybe watch have like a little
movie night just it really depends right
I'm Chloe
so the medic day varies between week
between day between term between college
for first term for me it was about ten
lectures a week so you maybe have two or
three a day
that'd be maybe two labs a week and then
you would have one to two tutorials a
week so the average day you might start
with a 9:00 a.m. all the Brasenose
first-year medics and
at the entrance to college and we all
walk together and then you might have a
little break so some people will go get
brunch or the library for a bit and then
you might have a two to three hour lab
so that's usually building on what
you've done in the lectures so you're in
a little group usually with your college
and you're just exploring something
you've been learning about we also have
these sessions called VR which is
basically when you get human cadavers
so people who've donated their body to
teaching and we have demonstrators come
in from the local hospital and teach us
the anatomy we also with the tutorials
so that's with either a doctor or
someone who's in medical research and
that's two or three of us and they
usually about an hour so you'll do some
reading beforehand and then talk about
your reading and then do an essay or
sometimes you write the essay and then
go through it in the tutorial but
luckily medics usually have quite a free
afternoon so after about four o'clock or
so we don't have any contact hours so
we'll either spend that time doing the
reading we need to do or catching up on
lectures or just enjoying life in Oxford
there is a lot of time as a medic to do
other stuff as well I'm one of the
medics plays netball a lot she has a lot
of time for that so it's not all
lectures and labs and reading there is
time amazing hey Thank You Chloe
so and another thing I just wanted to
mention we've had quite a few questions
to came in advance a fair few of them
were international questions so could
this call we're mainly focusing on
first-generation as Alex explained at
the start we are hoping to have a future
inside unique UA
where will actually get internationals
then who have come from many different
countries so if we haven't answered very
specific questions about internationals
it's just because we're hoping to get a
call with like internationals you really
know that inside out
yeah but certainly if there were aspects
of your question that you submitted in
advance and we haven't covered because
maybe was in international if you want
to make it a bit more specific
first-generation or the subject feel
free to submit it in the live chat so
we'll start off with the first quantum
mitad questions we go in and this one is
for Tom okay so the question we have is
what a level subjects would you say are
the most useful for a Modern Languages
degree okay so as I'm sure you can
imagine doing a language of some kind is
very important for a languages degree
and I think with both Oxford and
Cambridge the general requirement for m
ml is to do at least one of those
languages to a level and if you do two
languages that you can also do two
languages post a level as well and so
yeah it's basically you you should be
doing at least one language at a level
to do LM L which is modern and medieval
languages but you can also take a
language from scraps what AB initio is
sometimes the the phrase that they use
which means you've never studied it
before but you start it when you are at
university so yeah number one is
definitely having at least one language
or have two if you want to study both of
those languages at university on top of
that the good thing about languages is
that I mean lots of the degrees are
anyway but languages in particular it's
quite a broad subject where in its it
requires a lot of kind of different
scales and so there's no particular
subject that is essential to do modern
languages degree if you're doing
languages at Oxford or Cambridge you
will be writing essays so a subject we
were writing essays and is useful so say
English literature or history or
philosophy or religious studies even
geography as well any of those subjects
you're doing some form of extended
writing is it's great but that being
said there's also other aspects of a
languages degree that means that other
options for a level or other forms of
higher education of post GCC or post 16
educate
also very useful so I know people that
have done maths or physics and done that
in conjunction with Modern Languages and
they are just as well placed to study
languages here because there are other
aspects of language is required for
example technical thinking or like
decoding what's in front of you all of
which are developed by other different
and a level options so yeah I would say
definitely have a language maybe two and
then anything else is really up to you
what are your interests
and I just jump in and say really
quickly I also do languages I need to
mention Spanish and I know some people
are quite put off by Oxford in general
if they haven't done a really academic
subject so for example I did Media
Studies a level which isn't always seen
as the techie academic and I know
someone who actually did dance a level
and still got into Cambridge and don't
be put off by something that seems less
academic or is more kind of vocational
or creative because you have just as
much of the trans everyone else and
those skills are valued here as well
okay so about preparing for the B Matt
so I think the best way to do that is to
use the official website they have all
of the past papers and all of the
information you need to apply as well so
I think the best way to do the Bema is
to honestly just practice the papers
there's a few videos on YouTube that
sort of go through the the essay portion
there's also medified which I didn't use
for the map but I used it for the UK cat
it can be very good but you you don't
have to buy it the past papers are more
than enough and if you like if you go
through a lot of then you get an idea of
what to do and it is just practice so
yeah I think the past papers are
probably the best vehicle
so just a question on how much weight
being a first-gen students on your
actual application and first thing that
I would say about this is it isn't
really going to disadvantage you so the
way the mocks bridge and does
applications is contextual so they look
for a number of markers which might like
suggest any kind of like disadvantage
that you've experienced so like being a
first-gen student like free school meals
or like those kind of things and and
pretty much your application will be
taken on the basis of its merit you're
not gonna be like directly compared to
someone else with that and I think the
main thing that I definitely like to
point out with this is it's whilst it is
important to be getting the grades and
that kind of thing if you if you are
getting like some of the best grades in
school that it and you come in from like
a school which typically doesn't perform
too well that looks quite good compared
to someone who's getting good grades in
school that gets like good grades
generally and so generally I would
really just like to say that being a
first year student doesn't have any kind
of like impact on your chances of
getting in and every every single
application is looked at holistically
so the next question was how easy is it
to meet people and make friends from a
similar background like first-gen so I
actually found this quite easy but
almost like accidental so if I just made
friends with people at my college which
is Christ Church Oxford and it turned
out that quite a lot of them were
first-gen like me or like had similar
like parents or incomes or like school
backgrounds and so that was really good
and then I also got involved with a
couple of societies which were working
to kind of like inside you need to make
other access resources to people so I
joined that Oxford girl which is like in
scrum and blog as a writer and
ambassador and then it went to a box of
Gallivan there's like five or six of
them each time and they range from like
brunches - like evenings out with a lot
of like free things like you don't have
to pay for any food which is really good
and then I met a lot of people there and
I met a lot of people who were involved
in the first gen societies and I joined
that society which again is like free to
join and they offer like free meals and
things you can go in make friends at
dinners and so I just found it really
easy oh so am I mentioned is that I got
involved in like access schemes so those
basically access means like making it
easier for people to get into university
you record list their backgrounds like
if you didn't go to school that gives
you lots and lots of information about
Oxbridge applications like putting out
resources that are free to access and
easy to access and lots of colleges have
something called an access and outreach
rep which is a member as you remember
who works with staff in college to
promote resources to like get people to
apply to that College so the next
question is what financial support is
available at Oxford and Cambridge
so on a uni wide level there is the
crank start scholarship and yet from
next year I think the minimum the
maximum income is twenty-five thousand
pounds and then if you your parents earn
less than that then you are
automatically available to it you don't
have to apply or anything
just for student finance and then there
are the oxford bursaries which are
really helpful and they again depend on
your parents finance although I do think
it's different for estranged students
and care leavers and then there's also
various scholarships so I for example am
on something called a ribbon scholarship
it just popped in my email one day I
don't have have to apply for it and then
on a uni wide level I think your best
way is to just go into the finance
section of the Oxford website and just
have an explore and then all colleges
are different but some of them offer
scholarships and then travel grants for
the summer and most a lot of the
colleges do offer but grants which I
have found really helpful so any some
books you have to buy for your course
you just give them the receipt and they
will refund it for you which is really
really great so for example my college
which is Christ Church Oxford there's a
bursary for everyone who's below whose
parental income is below 40,000 pounds
per household and it's all goes down in
increments up to ultimately if your
household income is below 16 thousand
pounds in the annual UK home student
then you have half-price food and
accommodation in college which is a
massive saving but I didn't know about
that until after I'd applied so I think
maybe the best thing to do is like check
the college websites quite carefully and
maybe email different colleges if you're
not sure what financial help is
available just going to talk a little
bit about and financial help that you'd
find at Cambridge and so similar kind of
system at the unified wide level there's
the Kem's bursary and you get to 3,500
pound a year and which is like graded on
your parent link um so I think I think
everyone who gets and whose parent link
um is like below around 25,000 pounds
gets the full amount of the bursaries
and anyone above that then it kinda like
grades down as you go and on top of that
there's a couple of other scholarships
so as Fran said there's the Ruth in
scholarship that happens in
Cambridge as well and and again looking
at the college level
each colleges got little pots of money
and lying about and so for example at my
college I get an extra one thousand five
hundred pounds on top of the three
thousand five hundred from the
university level I think I think that
well the university has made a
commitment that like no one's gonna be
disadvantaged from studying due to
financial reasons and I think that like
if you need any if you need any like
help financially and the universities
are really good at covering it I also
forgot to mention that a lot of the
colleges also have hardship funds so if
you do find like in the middle of term
or something that you're like in need or
something's happened you can just tell
the college and they're really normally
really supportive about helping out and
just yeah that's what the money is there
for to help you a couple of people have
mentioned this process being slightly
different if you are estranged or clever
or you come from a different kind of
family background and if you are in a
situation especially if you're in the
process of applying for Student Finance
now I'd really recommend looking at the
standalone website which is a standalone
as a charity which helps support
Australian students and students who are
care leaders they have lots of advice
and also new tests have a specific page
for students who are estranged and don't
have family support that you can look at
which will help you through university
application process and also student
finance process and there is actually a
largest like loan available I'm not
quite sure the exact number so there's a
larger loan available for students who
are estranged the qualification of
estranged is quite strict so you have to
kind of make sure that you fit into that
so you can have a look at that as well
and also my college for example gives me
loads of financial support and because I
have to stay in Cambridge over the
breaks because I don't have a home to
get back to and generally whenever I
email and say I'm short on money I need
some money
people are really understanding that not
everyone comes from the same background
and not everyone has a family or even
family support that they can rely on
financially so
I will send a link to the people
organizing this event at they'll be sure
to share it with you so someone asked if
it's really difficult for international
students to apply for medicine so I
think that it's much the same
I'm not international but I think it's
much the same to national applications
except that your interviews might be
online so via Skype I think there's more
information on the inside your new
website but generally you would do the
be map which you would probably have a
test center to do somewhere close to you
and there's more information about that
on the be met website and then you would
have your interviews like I say probably
over Skype but other than that I don't
think there's any real difference so the
interviews would be with the tutors that
would be working with you if you did end
up coming to Oxbridge and it would just
be asking you questions based on the
stuff you've learned or trying to get
you to think looking it
theater and graphs or clinical stuff and
ethical stuff yeah and Chloe I think
there was a question that kind of went
with that but can you speak about what
the medication mind you I guess you
spoken about what the application
involved generally if anybody's got more
specific questions that on that peel for
each follow-up and again we will
medicines clearly pretty popular so we
will aim to get a panel of six medics
and again with internationals we will
certainly target that Charlie another
question your way yes so we've been
asked is it common to feel impostor
syndrome if so how do you overcome this
so impostor syndrome is the feeling that
I think pretty much everyone can relate
to you know regardless of background
that you've kind of got into somewhere
based on a fluke or like you don't
belong or that you're kind of different
to everyone else there and you know it
kind of affects your confidence a lot
because you feel like yeah I mean
obviously most of us experience it some
time or another
makes you feel like you know it's scared
to speak up sometimes because you feel
like you're the only person experiencing
certain things or yeah that you don't
belong I wouldn't say it's common in
that every person feels it all the time
but I think that a lot of people have
definitely experienced it at one time in
another either you know I've definitely
had experiences where I'm asked a
question directly in like a small run on
to situation and I have no idea what I'm
gonna say and I think how on earth did I
get in here and I think that's
definitely a common experience having
spoken to my friends a lot of us feel
that regardless of background and one
thing that I do to overcome overcome
this which isn't available to everyone
but for me what helps is keeping in
touch with some of my teachers from
stick form I'm still in touch with my
media studies teacher we send a couple
of emails a year and it just really
reminds me where I've come from how hard
I work to get in here that I do deserve
to be here and that there are people who
backed me and believed in me along the
way
obviously not everyone is in that
situation but it can be quite helpful
just to think about you know I've put in
so many hours to my revision for my
a-levels of course I deserve to be here
and also that everyone kind of is
pretending all the time to know more
than they do and you know exactly how
much you personally don't know about a
subject or a topic or anything that you
always assume that other people know
more than you do and that's not always
the case and a lot of people in the same
situation they're they have only little
bits and bobs of knowledge but they put
on a front that they know everything and
the fact that we know our own weaknesses
better than others often means that we
are harsh on ourselves and we should be
yeah so to add that I completely agreed
that on the whole from my perspective I
haven't felt out of place all the time
in Cambridge I think as Australia we're
saying there's definitely moments that
everyone has of impostor syndrome and
that partially could be due to the
generals or being an Oxbridge regardless
of your background but then on top of
that you might have moments that are
specifically related to being first gen
or class after etc and so yeah there are
moments particularly I think what people
are might be worried about is the fact
that
Oxford and Cambridge of my traditional
places and sometimes walking into some
of those buildings can you might think
oh gosh why am I here well this is very
much out of place I feel very much our
place here but those moments are very
isolated and I think once you get here
and once you are exposed to not only
people from your own background people
from different backgrounds and you start
to feel more comfortable in yourself I'm
more comfortable in that area in that's
not to say that it's a smooth process
and it disappears the moment you walk
through that door and start uni but it's
I think it's definitely a process that
you you do overcome over time and if you
do have moments where that might lapse I
think finding or seeking refuge in like
the college community or taking refuge
in the sort of first gen or class act
groups and societies that are designed
to support you that's like a really good
way of addressing those kinds of
feelings but yeah so as I was saying I
don't think I've experienced isolation
on the whole I think it's just
definitely an example of you know brief
moments of and self-doubt that everyone
goes through you know I'm just got a
question from Makela how significant are
college stereotypes so I think that
sometimes when thinking about like
Oxbridge specifically there's there's an
idea of like this like typical Oxford
student there is like Hashem like
generally from a rich background and
generally that isn't true I mean there's
there's a nice mix of people and in in
Oxford and Cambridge and well like
you'll find different people all over
the place and sometimes some people may
be more loud than others and that kind
of thing
like the differences between colleges
aren't really that massive and like I
think we'll explain a little bit about
this later but like colleges are pretty
much just like your home ground it's the
kind of people that you live with and
study with eat with that kind of thing
and like it's there isn't a massive
difference between each one and pretty
much you love whichever one you end up a
bit more on this I personally was
someone who did a lot of research into
the colleges and felt very much into the
stereotypes and was eventually persuaded
into applying to my college because they
gave me free ice cream but then I
realized that they had quite a big
stereotype of where fun went to die and
you know that wasn't really a place I
wanted to be in but since arriving it's
definitely not everybody is so lovely
there's such a wide range of people here
and and I think that goes from all of
the colleges and then even if you do
find when you get to the colleges that
you don't really like the sort of people
that are there there's always societies
and like different groups you can join
and you will find someone that you can
fit in with okay so coming back to a
question about learning something you've
never done before or doing a subject
that you perhaps haven't studied before
specifically a level and feelings or
disadvantaged by the fact that your
first gen so my person experience if you
just tuned in and I was explaining the
idea to one language from scratch when I
got to university so this is known as ab
initio so you've knocked on the language
before as I started learning Russian
when I started at Cambridge and the way
the course works at least in Cambridge
for modern of medieval languages is you
do one year in your first year of the
sort of initial course oh the beginners
course and then in your second year
uess it's what people who've done it for
a level did in their first years you're
almost hitting two first years or
courses but you go from beginner and
they take you from nothing up to
supposedly sort of a level standard and
then you go back and start again that
doesn't change your course trajectory
it's what everyone does if they're doing
a new language it just means that by
final year when you sit your final exams
you're supposedly at the same level as
people who have done it at a level and
so I won't say it's not challenging I
think particularly for Russian but any
other nation language really that it's
it's not plain sailing it's very
difficult it's very challenging and you
really have to commit learning that
language in such a short space of time
not least because Cambridge and Oxford
terms are short in of themselves but I
think the great thing about these
courses is that it gives the opportunity
to people who haven't had the
opportunity previously to study those
subjects to do it at a level and beyond
and I've actually loved doing it I mean
I knew when I was applying that I really
wanted to do Russian and that the fact
that I could do it from scratch at
Cambridge I think you can do it Oxford
as well was the resore the tract of
opportunity that I'm allowed to miss out
on and yeah I think if you want to study
something new definitely read around at
first and make sure it's something you
want to study but don't feel cut off and
don't feel like you have to stick within
the precincts of what you've studied
before and at university and so I think
personally I'd hope that if I was going
to use to study some things and I'd want
to have I'd want to be coming across
something new always like I can
understand why you'd be really anxious
about other people like seeming to know
more than you and I guess with my
subject so I do classical archaeology in
ancient history even if you've done like
Latin and Greek to a level and like
classical civilizations and knew like
everything that you could know about in
school you'd still come across loads of
topics that you haven't known about and
everyone would be in that same boat and
so I remember very clearly like our
first essay the first year was on like
this really really nice topic about like
a tyrant on a specific Greek island that
no one had ever heard of and I remember
reading it and being like I have no idea
what's going on and then it turned out
no one else did either
and then one of my papers has a span a
time span of like twelve hundred years
and covers the entire ancient
Mediterranean and like north northern
Africa in Asia so you physically like
could not know everything there is to
know about that time period and
geographical span so I'd say like be put
off by coming across new resources it's
actually really exciting so somebody's
said that they're in year 11 and they're
school aren't really helpful towards
repairing peer interview so I had a bit
of the same experience my school were
really supportive but they hadn't really
sent anyone to do medicine or Oxbridge
before so they just didn't really know
how to help me so it wasn't full of
trying I think the best thing that you
can do is just be comfortable talking so
I used to stand in front of a mirror and
just like talk about a question for
about two or three minutes just to
practice here in myself speak out loud
you'll also probably have MMI interviews
which like multiple mini interviews
other medical schools and sometimes they
can come before the Oxford one and sort
of give you a little bit of practice I
think another really good thing that I
did for Oxford was I printed off a load
of random graphs from Google and just
annotated them because Oxford interviews
are about how you think and that you
just want to see your process of trying
to work something out it's not a test of
how much you know it's a test of how
you're working through something so I
was just annotating the graphs like what
they could mean what implications it
could have all that sort of stuff and
just trying to think about it without
any context and it turns out in one of
my interviews I had a very similar thing
to that but I think the best thing is
just being confident and accepting that
you won't know everything in any
interviews and especially in an oxidant
view if you don't know something try and
if you get confused just say like I'm
sorry I don't know if you repeat that or
could you rephrase it
because the troopers aren't trying to
grow you they're just trying to see if
it would work and whether you would be
compatible with them and they'd be
compatible with you so it's not like a
really big test so don't be too scared
yeah so I had quite a similar experience
like my school did want to help but they
hadn't really sent many people before so
it's like yes that this is fine and
there's a couple of things that you can
do to pop so prepare for it one of the
most useful things that I did was
actually just chat about my subject to
some of my friends or maybe even like a
teacher somewhere and it's it's just
useful to like get used to talking about
your subject like in an academic sense
as opposed to just like table chat that
kind of thing I think a couple of other
things as well is there's a lot of
resources out there that you can use and
like so low the university's got like
what to expect for an interview like
what the and like structures of that
kind of thing if you look on like the
YouTube pages which ban we can get that
link posted and later on on top of that
as well in terms of likes for for this
kind of thing and there's a thing called
the link area like scheme so every
College in Oxford and Cambridge is
actually linked to specific part of the
UK like if you go on the website you'll
be able to find out what college you're
linked to and they might be able to
provide a little bit extra support and
that kind of thing and they they're more
likely to give you more general support
because they don't want to like do like
interview coaching and personal
statement coaching but like they're able
to give you that kind of like more
generalized support and
yes I also found that I didn't have
anyone to talk to you about subject
specific things and like Alex said it's
really useful to be able to talk through
your opinions about subjects so what I
used to do was listen to podcasts that
were like thought-provoking and sort of
go on long walks and like talks or ideas
on my head and then I think actually
made me look forward to in to use more
because personally I find that my
interviews were just me talking to
tutors who were really interested in the
topics I was interested in and it was
the first time that that happened so it
actually made me like look forward to
interviews and then look back on them
quite fondly rather than like be scared
of them and then I think on another note
in terms of like preparing for the
application it can be really difficult
if you don't have any like school or
parental support with like personal
statements because they're quite like a
tricky thing to master but then I think
like on inside uni's website there's
lots of like subject specific resources
for like things to read about to get
into personal statements and then on the
website that Oxford girl which I've also
mentioned there's loads of advice on
writing personal statements so I think
just look like finding those resources
and like reading what other people have
said about personal statements and like
thinking about what you can put in them
and also not being worried if you don't
have the resources like spend loads of
money on like this specific book and
just like write about what you're
interested in and yeah I think that if
you just keep showing that you're really
interested then it almost doesn't matter
so much if you're like not really
specific about like having that support
and just to jump in with what avi said
that the inside unis most of our support
at the moment is very much focused on
specific subjects for the personal
statement itself how to write it we
don't have anything specific on that
just yet I think I believe you cus - and
as Ivy said that could go butts only if
you're looking for ideas of what can I
talk about or what can I go and read
definitely inside uni has a lot of good
stuff that
I just want to jump back in as well and
address something it's great it's quite
a good thing to think about as well if
you don't actually have people to talk
to so like do that I came across like
some resistance but I'm trying to talk
to like my friends about like subject
who's like well why would you want to
talk about that at lunch but there's a
lot of different things out there that
you can use to actually get in touch
with and like Oxbridge students for
example a project access and
zero-gravity there like mentoring
schemes and we can add a couple links
later on but it's it's a really useful
thing and like you get paired up with
someone from Oxford Cambridge depending
on which one you're interested and go
into and basically they take you through
a bunch of like different stuffs to help
prepare you to the interview and like
personal statements and that kind of
thing it's it's really good for getting
that kind of one-on-one support that is
it's difficult to get elsewhere I think
okay so we've been asked is it
affordable to study and live in Oxford
and Cambridge um so the first first off
I just want to reiterate what we were
talking about earlier that there are
lots of funds available for you because
I think in general Oxford and Cambridge
are seen as quite expensive cities not
expensive as London but if you live in
the North currently and you're coming
till twittle Cambridge it might be a
little bit more expensive than you're
used to but there are lots of funds
available there are hardship funds
available if you're struggling but just
to give you a rough idea rent varies
between colleges based in Oxford and in
Cambridge so one thing I recommend is
looking if you if you have an idea of
what colleges are like in your shortlist
you might not I know that I didn't I
applied to Christ because they had a cat
and then I got pulled and unum say if
you don't have an idea like that's fine
but one yeah one thing to do is look at
college websites and see what their run
is generally they will do it per term so
you might have to compare via terms and
I am rent wives generally it's between I
have friends who pay about three hundred
pounds a month I used to pay six hundred
and fifty pounds a month I now live
privately and I pay four hundred and
twenty five pounds a month but I'm
sharing with someone so we split the
rent between us so it really does vary
and
College websites will give you a better
idea of that in terms of food I probably
spend between 100 and 150 pounds a month
sometimes less sometimes more I tend to
do a bulk a bulk order to get delivered
at the start every time which will be
about 60 pounds and then shop for fresh
food and over the weeks and I also treat
myself quite often delivery clubbing
really depends I don't really go
clubbing but I've spent between 20 and
30 pounds on a night out you can quite
often get cheap tickets for club nights
in advance before you go out via like
college reps because college rep for
sell wristbands that reduce price or if
you pay on the door it will obviously be
a little bit more expensive again I
think this is kind of quite standard
this is the price in my hometown but if
you're from up north where it's 3 pounds
of pine I envy you and it's more
expensive here and one thing you also
want to consider is if you're going to
be going back to your hometown if you
have one transport home is obviously
going to be more expensive if you're
going back to Scotland then if you're
going to London or Norwich and it's
quite cheap for me and something to
mention and not much factored into any
budgeting that you're doing so yeah it
is summer it's quite an expensive place
it's not the most expensive not the
least expensive but there is lots of
funds available to you and guys just to
so it's quarter to now we've got quite a
few questions coming in so we will keep
talking about them but we are gonna
finish on the hour probably about 5 -
we'll finish questions so if you've got
more questions please just send them our
way Abby did you want to add something
more to that if not we can go straight
to Tom I guess I think Charlie pretty
much covered all of that but she's gonna
say like when you're applying for
colleges I applied for christchurch
because they had accommodation for all
three years and I was like too scared to
rent things and was worried about that
being expensive but then actually my
friends who've done that they just kind
of like got on with it and staying in
college has its downsides like you get
moved out at the end of each term so if
you wanted to live in the city for the
whole year then private rent is better
so I think that's something to consider
but it's also like maybe not the end of
the world
yeah and I just wanted to add on the end
and basically with affordability the
good thing about Cambridge and not for
the same in Oxford but when you have
your little sort of university card that
says that you remember the University
and there are lots of shops around the
city that you can use to get student
discounts there's lots of online stuff
as well to get student discounts I think
if you're thrifty enough you can you can
get a lot of money off of lots of
different places I mean I think even
some sort of restaurants in Cambridge
can give you as much as 40% off if
you've got a student card but again it
depends on the sort of different places
but yes it's deafening to be made aware
of that like if you have a student card
or if it's other ways you you can find
discounts as well other stuff so if
you're if you're thinking you're having
to pay top dollar for everything and try
and find some ways of getting around it
if you can just another question and
I've got a disability what supports
available to me and so in Cambridge
there's a thing called the Disability
Resource Center which is basically a
dedicated team run by the University to
essentially make sure that any kind of
like adjustments that you need a covered
this can range from everything from like
a physical disability or learning
disability or like issues a mental
health and that kind of thing
they're really support with this kind of
thing and like you get like disability
advisers who essentially like help you
write documents say this these are the
adjustments that I need and like you can
get like specific support so like
counselling help and that kind of thing
as well as mentors to basically help you
keep everything together if you get I
mean there's a lot support for this kind
of thing both on the University and the
college level
um so I'm coming at this from more a
mental health point of view so before
Oxford I'd never really had any
disability support but when I started at
Oxford my mental health got a lot worse
just because of other circumstances that
were going on and my doctor recommended
that I go to the disability service so I
got a support plan put in place which
just makes things a bit easier in my
studies I can record lectures I've got
like counselors and advisors and just so
it makes everyone around me in all the
lecturers and there's a bit more aware
of what I'm going through so I don't
have to go up to them and explain
everything I can just sort of give them
my support plan and then everyone knows
quite a few Oxford colleges have also
recently started implementing their own
private counselors so they'll typically
be in like one day a week so
Christchurch have one and she's lovely
and she looks like Cate Blanchett which
is also fun and yes she's actually
genuinely really really helpful I think
one of the things that I completely
forgot to mention is there's also and
the like different campaigns so in
Cambridge we've got the DSC disability
and disabled students campaign and it's
essentially just like part of the
Students Union that it's actually like a
help people get the kind of support if
they're struggling to know where to go
for and that kind of thing okay so
really quickly about wyck experience
with medicine um I didn't know any
doctors either the Oxford understands
that not everyone can get this really
impressive work experience and actually
they don't really want you to have
really impressive work experience they'd
rather that you have something you've
reflected on and learn from that's the
important bit so a week in a care home
or if any of your teachers know a doctor
maybe or you can reach out to a GP
nearby and ask to shadow them for a day
whatever you can get just working with
people is the main thing and it's what
you get from that rather than what you
see and what you do
rym Thank You Chloe um
all the days we're going to do two more
bets now we've had one question and
everybody's going to answer these
questions so the first one we'll talk
about our favorite thing about the
universities and then the second one
we'll talk about is kind of the one
thing that we really like
but recommend and we loved when we came
to apply as a resource so yeah we'll
start off with Tom what is your favorite
thing about being a junior Oxbridge I
would have to say the city itself I
think so I I don't live in a city I live
in quite a rural area and so going to
Cambridge where it's not a huge City and
as overwhelming as somewhere like London
but it's does or the city environment
it's very pretty very nice to walk
around especially in the summer I was
obviously unfortunately moment that we
can't be that but it's a beautiful city
and I just love being in that
environment so for me Oxford really
feels like home and kind of like Tom
said just like everything about the
University and the city is really great
and I just miss it so much when we're
not there for me it's the amount of
funding that is available to help me
pursue opportunities I haven't had a
chance to see all like language classes
music classes private counseling things
that they have lots of funds available
to help you do things I think my would
have to be the people the friends I made
are from such different backgrounds and
everyone's just so amazing and unique
and it really does feel like home yeah I
definitely agree with Chloe like the
community and within colleges and like
within different societies is definitely
my favorite thing our Cambridge I think
probably just like Charlie said the
resources available to you like you
could take point anything you wanted to
and then there's so many libraries and
just places to go it's just really
wonderful okay so I think we've got time
to just quickly mention a resource that
each of us has found useful whilst sort
of we've been applying say for me
personally I definitely found
that my most accurate source was the
University website itself I think it
always has the most up-to-date
information at it sort of bypasses the
risk of being victims of misinformation
or well-intentioned sort of advice from
people that might not be 100% accurate
so yeah I'd definitely say the
University website and more specifically
the department or faculty that you're
thinking of applying to for a specific
course that'll have the most up-to-date
information so for me I've mentioned it
a couple of times already but I really
liked their blog and Instagram the
Oxford girl because they post really
really bite-sized posts about like
everything to do the applying so used to
read them at the bus stop on the way to
school and now like five years later
it's grown and grown so there's loads
and loads of different personal
perspectives on there this is genuinely
something that someone from every kind
of walk of life is written so it's
really useful
for me I have to the first one is
specifically for languages podcasts on
Spotify in the target language that are
created for native speakers of that
language and I will link one in French
I'll send it and then secondly college
run student Instagram accounts so
there's quite a lot of College Instagram
accounts which I'd like run by official
members of like the college
administrative team and there's also
alternative ones which are run by the
student unions which are really good and
offer a more kind of unfiltered
representation of what life in the
college is like and so I used a lot of
different online resources even like
YouTube is a really good one
but the medic portal and medified are
really good ones but just try not to get
sucked into like finding a checklist and
meeting all these certain criteria you
don't have to be this big doctor now you
don't have to know all of these
conditions because that's what they're
going to teach you so just try to not
stress about it too much which is easier
said than done
but yeah yes so my like favorite ones
are like the alternative respect is's
and so you've got like timetables and
like different college descriptions that
kind of thing and on top of that also a
thing and from Cambridge the Students
Union called cam suite essentially
there's one account subject and people
just tweet about the lives and answer q
and A's say I found the student
alternative perspectives really useful
as well they've got different subject
interviews with different people but
then also the individual college
websites if you go into them you can
also find blogs or things by the
students just helping you to apply thank
you so much everybody so I'm gonna wrap
up now if you've got more questions
helena has posted a Google Form in the
Google Chat a few messages ago and you
can just send more questions to us on
that and yeah I'm aware like today that
we had a lot of international questions
submitted at the start
beforehand and we yeah we definitely
will come onto that and medicine as well
clearly super popular so
we are gonna over the next few weeks we
basically just need to reach out to
students and then find a panel together
people are in the middle exams at the
moment which is why it's all a bit yeah
sort of difficult to organize but
certainly we will work on those and if
you want to check out inside uni on
Facebook we've got the same logo as the
logo on the YouTube channel so it's
pretty easy to find the page also an
Instagram which is inside uni and
Twitter which is inside underscore uni
the website inside you need to org and
buy any of those channels you can just
keep them tabs on what we're doing and
when we announce the next QA but yeah
it's certainly if you've got more
questions please feel free to send them
on the forum and I'm just double
checking to make sure say anything else
I want to say no I think yeah that's
really yet but thank you so much for
those people tuned in and we hope see
you fairly soon bye
