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Applying for highly competitive courses
Applying to university, Oxbridge, League tables Jonathan Tinnacher Applying to university, Oxbridge, League tables Jonathan Tinnacher

Applying for highly competitive courses

Whether you are brand new to the university application process, or have been working in the education sector for as long as I have, you’ll undoubtedly have heard teachers, advisers and university staff talking about “highly competitive courses”.

It’s a term bandied about with little thought. On one hand teachers use it to make sure students take their applications seriously, and don’t make assumptions about their chances of getting into university. On the other, it is used by universities to make their courses seem more attractive; the more unattainable a course is, the more people want to get into it!

So, as students, applying through UCAS for the first time, how do you know which courses are genuinely “highly competitive”, and if they are, do you really need to do anything different with your application?

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University admissions interviews: What they’re for, what they’ll include and how to prepare for them!
Applying to university, Oxbridge Jonathan Tinnacher Applying to university, Oxbridge Jonathan Tinnacher

University admissions interviews: What they’re for, what they’ll include and how to prepare for them!

Potentially one of the most intimidating parts of the whole university selection process is the admissions interview.

Most advice I’ve seen on interviews tends to revolve around what questions you might be asked and what to wear. I’ll get to these a bit later, but I’ll start by looking a little deeper into why you are being interviewed, what structures the universities might use, who might be involved in these, and what impact it could have on your admissions. The more you know about this, the more sense the whole process will make, and the better you can prepare yourself.

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