Right then. First thing is they do not care about your extra-curricular activities, etc. It is a pure academic selection. The only possible exceptions are medicine where they might check that applicants have some social skills to handle patients with, but given some of the medical students I know even this doesn’t seem to be screened that carefully, and maybe music where your musical ability comes in. Most of my tutors have told me this explicitly. One of them said he doesn’t really bother reading the personal statement except to glance at what books they say they have read. My IR tutor even (half) joked that when candidates go on about their extra-curriculars during an interview he secretly wants to stop them and tell them to say that actually they do nothing but study as they love their subject that much. Remember that academics are making the decision and ultimately they want students that they can teach and will put the effort into the work they set them. They don’t care how a year fits together. Tutors only make a decision for the students applying for their subject at their college. They have no say in the decision for the rest of the year.

http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/int/#9

“Extra-curricular activities will not form part of the selection process. Tutors select candidates based on their academic achievements and potential.”

If you really want to go to Oxbridge keep this in mind. If there is an activity that will adversely affect your academics question whether it is worth it. This is not to say that Oxford people have not done extra-curricular stuff. Most have done and still do bucket loads when they are here as there are plenty of opportunity to do some.

I’m assuming your American. You can’t just get in with a high school diploma and good SATs. You certainly will need a fantastic SAT score (most of my American friends here scored near perfect, I think one of them may even have got a perfect score in one paper) but you’ll need to take APs as well.

From http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/enreq.shtml#tab

“Successful candidates would typically have an excellent High School record supplemented by SAT 1 scores of at least 1400 in Critical Reading and Mathematics and preferably also 700 or more in the new Writing Paper, giving a combined score of at least 2100, or ACT with a score of at least 32 out of 36. We would also expect Grades 4 or 5 in two or more Advanced Placement tests in appropriate subjects or SAT II in a good spread of three or four subjects at 700 or better.”

Cambridge expects the same.

A good idea would be to choose APs in the subjects that are required A-levels for the course you wish to apply for. You apply for a specific or a preset combination of subjects as listed in the table and http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/ or http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/ for Cambridge. You effectively have to choose your major before you apply and be prepared to stick with it for the duration of degree. There is no liberal arts degree or possible subject combination that is not listed.

Depending on the subject (and at Cambridge depending on the college as well) you’ll have to do more. This may include submitting some essays that you’ve written and additional tests. These may be external tests like the BMAT for medicine and physiology, the LNAT for law or the HAT for history or a test set by Oxford and Cambridge themselves.

For Cambridge see http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/tests/

For Oxford see

http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/subreq.shtml

http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/tests.shtml

all of the Oxford colleges apply the same requirements.

Also see http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/criteria.shtml for the selection criteria.

Suitable candidates in Europe are interviewed. Oxford makes more cuts before the interview stage whereas Cambridge interviews a higher percentage. In the US where feasible they might try to arrange an interview for you, but this isn’t always possible and it almost certainly will not be with a tutor. You might get a phone interview. I helped out at this year’s interviews and we had a chap from Mexico come over especially for his interviews. If you do have an interview they’ll probably ask your motivation for the subject and set you plenty of problems related to your subject to guage your potential.

In any case you should read around the subject you’re interested in. Don’t be content with what you’re taught and track down some good and important books in your chosen field.

When it comes to choosing a college, one of the many small semi-autonomous institutions that make up Oxford ad Cambridge do your research. Check material provisions, such as food (each college has a Hall where meals are served, kind of like in Harry Potter, Christ Church, Oxford’s Hall was actually used to film the movie) , accommodation (Colleges that supply accommodation throughout your degree tend to be a good choice as you avoid having to live out if you don’t want to), etc. For some people size and beauty of the college is important. However don’t fret too much as most people I know are happy with their college, even if it wasn’t their first choice.

The actual mechanics of applying involve going through teh central Universities and Colleges Admission Service at www.ucas.com. You’ll have to apply by October 15th in the year before you intend to start. Fill in the forms on their website and name which universities you wish to apply to. You can only apply to one of of the Oxbridge universities. Only second BA and organ scholar applicants can apply to both Cambridge and Oxford. You’ll also need to submit a separate form CAF for Cambridge, OAF for Oxford. You can get this fro the website or email the admission office. If your subject requires sample essays to be submitted then you’ll need to obtain a special form to go with it as well. If you need to take an external aptitude test, eg. the BMAT, make sure you register for it and submit your scores as well. Interviews for candidates in the UK and Europe take place in early December.

Not sure about Oxford, but Cambridge has a college system. You can either enter through university-administered exams and meet their criteria and/or college-administered criteria. In my case, the college system worked for me, as they tend to look for slightly different strengths that would ‘fit’ into their annual intake. On the whole, while academic grades are important, the colleges look for that extra ‘something’, whether it is sporting abilitiy, community conscience, innovative nature, entrepreneurial thinking or just plain lateral thinking. The university/colleges may ask you to sit for specific exams or attend interviews, in addition to looking at your grades and student records. The good thing is that they offer a variety of ways to ‘prove’ your worth.

A levels

You have to be a genius.