Lucilou101 - An Oxford Student

Feel free to peruse the life and times of an Oxford Classicist!

[lucilou101]

Hi! Do you know if there is financial aid for international students at a college-level? There doesn't seem to be much at a university level, other than scholarships

It really depends on the college - some colleges will have certain funds, for example Univ has one for if you are a law student from Hong-Kong. You’d need to check out each of the colleges website or contact them for information. There are also the university level scholarships like you mentioned.

Colleges will help if you experience unforeseen hardship during your studies as well :)

[lucilou101]

Hi, I just got an offer for Law at Oxford at LMH after applying at a whim, thinking I'd have no hope of actually getting even an interview!! I'm just so torn between Oxford and Exeter just because of the work-load and pressure of Oxford in general and how much I'm compromising on a proper university experience?xx

I can’t really say if I’d have a more proper university experience if I went elsewhere, as I can only experience it once :P

But I would say that although the workload is heavy, everyone here finds time to do extracurriculars and things they enjoy and manages to balance the workload with fun and relaxation. If you want to do sports, plays, go clubbing, read, join various new societies - that’s all available and I would say the vast majority of people have a typical university experience :)

[lucilou101]

what are the other classicists like?? kinda scared bc the subject has such a high brow reputation but I can't shake my interest in it. have you noticed/experienced any misogyny/discrimination/obvious elitism at all in oxford?

They’re all lovely - I haven't met anyone that fits the kind of stereotypic posh kid who discriminates against everyone else that you see in movies. There are a few people who are very irritating and a bit elitist, but they’re few and far between, and none of them are Classicists! 

[lucilou101]

Oh ok! :) how much greek/latin did you know before coming to oxford? and what did your interviews focus on because you were applying for course II?

Apart from a 2 week course run by JACT at Bryanston to begin learning Ancient Greek, I knew nothing! 

My interviews were focused on literature I had read in English, and a passage of philosophy that they gave me to analyse. I also had a faculty interview where they discussed how I would go about learning a language, and memorising grammar/vocab etc :)

[lucilou101]

Hi!! Firstly, thank you so much for being so open to questions and providing insight into what student life is like at oxford. Do you have any friends who are doing classics course II and do you think they are at a disadvantage even with the first year of intensive study? How much time per week would you say you spend working with/translating Greek or Latin?

I am a course II student :)

For the first year as a course II you spend 5 hours a week in language lessons, and then however long it takes you to do the set work. After you’ve learnt the language it really depends on how quickly you translate and the way in which you work. Some people use vocab lists, others write out translations and some just read the text repeatedly. 

I wouldnt say course II students are disadvantaged, it’s just a slightly different system. You have a few less exams for Mods (the first set of exams) because you will not have either the Latin or Greek papers. After Mods you can choose to learn the other language, so by the time you graduate you should have the same language level as someone starting with both languages!

[lucilou101]

Hi! I got an invite to interview! Does this mean they assessed my application and my grades don't matter anymore? Because I feel like even if I excel at interview they might not give me an offer because of my previous grades (exten circumstances). I'm a bit confused. Does everyone have an equal chance of getting an offer at interview despite their grades from previous years? I've heard once u pass stage 1 (application, grades) stage 2 (the interview) is the only thing that matters. Advice? xx

All parts of the process are important, so your grades won't be disregarded after the interview. But the interview will become the most important factor :)

I hope all went well! 

[lucilou101]

Exams!?

It’s just before the start of Hilary term, which means it is precisely 7 weeks and 3 days till my first exam of 7! 

Revision is kicking up a notch so I may not be on here a lot - best of luck to all those who have exams soon and congrats to anyone who has just received an Oxford offer!

[josiebollam-blog]

[lucilou101]

Michaelmas 2015

Hey!

Sorry I have been quite AWOL - it is the term before my Mods (big, scary, Classics exams which count for nothing but mean everything) and so I’ve been pretty busy trying to keep on top of work!

Michaelmas in Oxford brings all the joy of Oxmas, the beginning of winter and events such as fireworks and the christmas market! It’s almost enough to make you forget the unending dread of essays and work... 

Today it is the Classics Dinner, which means free food, wine and lots of Classics chat. It should be very nice, and a chance to relax for a while away from work!

[lucilou101]

are ur oxford frnds hot

Oh yeaaaaah

[lucilou101]

do you love your flatmates?

Immensely. 

[lucilou101]

Hey,I'm a 17 yo Italian girl who has just finished 11th grade in a Classic Lyceum with a GPA of 8,58/10 (3,83 according to Foreign Credit and 3,43 according to a proportion). Thanks to my grades this year I went to Greece and to London. I want to improve my grades (lowest grades are Maths and Physics with 7/10) and I'd like to study Medicine at Oxbridge. Do I have a chance? How can I maximize my chances? In Italy there are no honor classes or APs. Thank you

The best thing to do would be to email admissions at the Medicine faculty, or the college you’re going to apply to. Medicine is extremely competitive, even moreso if you’re an international student (because of quotas etc). 

[lucilou101]

How did you choose your college? & what are JACT Durham and Bryanston like

I chose Magdalen because I liked that it had a deer park and lots of green space, I ended up being pooled to Univ during interviews and that’s where I got an offer! Univ is amazing though, and I wish I had applied here originally!

JACT Durham and Bryanston are both very good. Durham has a wider mix of ages, as lots of people from different backgrounds and ages come. Whereas Bryanston is mainly only 16-21 year olds. Both give really great teaching in the languages, although Bryanston is slightly more intensive as it’s 2 weeks long!

[lucilou101]

what did you get in your a-levels, if you dont mind my asking?:)

English Lit - AMaths - AClassical Civ - A :)

[lucilou101]

hello, i was wondering whether your school offered classics? because i'm considering doing classics at oxford & like you were, i'm not doing either language as an a level, but my school does offer them so i did have the opportunity & just did not realise that was what i wanted to do at the time! so i was just wondering if whether or not your school offered the languages affects admissions, if that makes sense?

Hey! Sorry for the late reply - people come to Classics from a lot of different backgrounds, so I’m sure it would be fine as long as you can demonstrate interest in the degree!

[lucilou101]

Here is a picture of my chocolate chicken I got for Easter! The joy amongst my revision :)

[lucilou101]

Vacation!

Hey!

So it is finally the end of term and I now have a blissful 6 weeks of freedom back at home! For those of you who don't know, at Oxford we have to vacate our rooms at the end of each term and completely empty them. Which meant a fun day of packing and lugging suitcases around old buildings on Friday! 

I’m now back at home and have started work for next term (it never ends!). This mainly consists of reading, greek grammar and vocab learning. But it is also a time to go over the work from last term and consolidate any aspects I wasn’t quite sure of or didn’t understand. 

Today I also went back to my Sixth Form to help with a talk for Year 12s on Oxbridge admissions. I also got roped into a talk with Year 11s. Both were very interesting and it’s really great to meet potential applicants and clear up some of the myths surrounding Oxbridge! Although I’m not sure my work ethic is really a good example..

Now back to some reading about the pre-socratic philosophers! Who knew Pythagoras didn't invent Pythagoras’ theorem!