After spending a few weeks in the crowded streets of the British calf and the numerous courtyards of Oxford University, the Chinese-American young woman Anne Lee, who works in the Chinese city of London, lost her happy face like countless young candidates. Another semester has passed, and many of the college students here have gone home for the summer vacation. Anne is applying for Oxford and is here to pray for an interview. Because if you want to enter this dream school, you can’t make a final conclusion based on excellent written test results.
Established in the 13th century, Niubi University is famous for its beautiful university town. The fairy tale, Alice in Wonderland, is the background of this story. There are beautiful Gothic spires everywhere in the burdock, so it is called the “City of the Minaret”. Oxford is the first national university in the UK and has produced countless top outstanding individuals. In nearly 800 years of history, Oxford University has trained five kings, 26 British prime ministers, a number of foreign heads of government (such as former US President Bill Clinton), nearly 40 Nobel laureates, and a large number of famous scientists, such as the economy. Adam Smith, philosopher Bacon, poet Shelley, writer Green, chemist Robert Boyle, astronomer Halley and so on. There are more than 30 colleges in Burdock University, each with its own characteristics. The university’s programs, whether liberal arts or science, are awarded a bachelor’s degree in literature or a corresponding honours degree. The tutor picks up the students themselves and after three years of study, obtains a bachelor’s degree. In recent years, Oxford has also established subjects with more than two subjects, such as philosophy and mathematics, classical literature and modern literature. It fully reflects the multi-angle and multi-edge of the academic field, and the need for resource sharing trends and trends.
Although Oxford is not a school that everyone dares to apply for, in 2018 there are 14,200 young male and female students competing for 3,200 places in the school. This year, the number of male and female students enrolled at Oxford University is more than 15,000; there are nearly 10,000 students from England and Ireland, and the rest are candidates from overseas universities.
In the competition worries of applicants and 5/1 students, some applicants took the written test in Oxford a month ago, and some skipped the test according to the system. They are “high-level” for how to get into the university. The General Education Certificate and the A grades are issued: Some applicants have already obtained the entrance certificate, and the results are excellent, but there are still many melancholy waiting for the results of the interview review. In any case, if these young people are lucky enough to be selected, they must have a first face-to-face conversation with a future tutor.
The requirements of Oxford University are extremely strict and can be chosen. It is a blessing. 10% to 15% of volunteer candidates are eliminated without an interview: the remaining 13,000 candidates, even if they have the opportunity to participate in an interview like Anne, have a success rate of less than 30%.
The eloquent Anne comes from Canterbury’s famous British public school, Kings School (the British “public school” is a private high school), is a promising candidate. After listening to the evaluation of the colleges and universities, she selected Worcester College from 33 colleges in Oxford and wanted to study geography. She felt that the interview was quite laborious; the instructors handed her a rock specimen to her, but she was not a geologist. The instructor took out several maps and several photos for her analysis. She believes that the interview can reflect the true level of a person and is the best way to be understood. Even her, a total of nine people compete for three places in geography. She can enter the University of Southampton without an interview, but she also wants to try Durham University, University of London. She has also participated in an interview at the St. Hida Women’s College at Oxford University. She did a good job, but she was not enough to be selected, but she was not sure.
Bob Broughton from Beverly Grammar School in Humberside is also a promising candidate who is praying for music at Worcester College. He loves the beautiful environment of the hospital and loves the modern music master of the school, Cheryl Johnson. His alma mater is a comprehensive middle school and has achieved outstanding results in the fierce competition to enter Oxford. He convinced the principal to let him come to Oxford to try. Broughton has participated in three written tests and also believes that the interview is the best time to show his talent, but before the on-the-spot test, he is a little scared. Like Anne, he went straight to the University of Surrey, also at the Exeter College at Oxford University, and also attended the interview at Kibble College. He is also preparing to go to York University to try it. As a fiddler, he still wants to go to the Royal Music School.
The interview at Oxford University is not only for candidates, but even for the instructors and even the parents. Jewish Kristina Loriya confessed frankly that she had prayed many times for the son of the exam in Oxford at the church in Kings School.
Anecdote about the interview is often left here. It is said that a tutor happened to be a young man who was taking a test when he was watching the Thames. He was very impatient and said to the students through the newspaper, “Try to surprise me.” The young people lit the “Thailand News” with a lighter and he was accepted. Another candidate at the end of this tortured interview, the instructor asked him if he had any problems. He asked: “If I really got into Oxford, would I be allowed to spoil my arctic fox in the school building, and where should my clothes be sent to wash?” As a result, he was defeated.
Although the instructor tried to keep the students nervous, no candidate would feel comfortable with an interview with two or three instructors. This is the most important half hour of their life. Even if your father teaches in Oxford, he can’t help you. Although those who apply for Oxford must pass the “Advanced General Education Certificate” exam and have three courses in A, there are only less than 10% of the candidates who are eligible to be selected. Now in 2019, Oxford University and its branches still adhere to the traditional admission rules. Many selection procedures cannot be changed, because like everyone else, the instructors are not willing to spend three or four years to guide those who are difficult to grow and promising. s student.
Recalling the past is intriguing. 70 years ago, when Wyatt was appointed to Worcester, he only asked him to write a paper on Hyde Park. After the Second World War, the Dean John Masterman once offered preferential teaching to his children. In order to make the school stable and harmonious, he did not use intelligence as the sole criterion for admission when selecting candidates. Among the students, there were teachers and children. When he was applying for a close relative, he did not hesitate to take care of him. This practice of favoring relatives, teachers, and officials may not be abandoned until 1962, when Lord Franks became the dean.
Now, Oxford University pays more attention to the knowledge of students. Its papers are rich in content, involving many schools, institutions, countries, cultures and religions. Some of the questions are very simple. For example, the first question of the geography paper a few years ago was “What is the cause of the rain?” The question and answer question of the historical test paper is “When does the Roman invasion of England end?” “Is the war of terror inevitable? ?”and many more. They believe that this method is conducive to students to exert their in-depth thinking and imagination, and to find talents with great potential. The interview is indispensable, because the pass exam has passed, and the candidates who have had three As may be outstanding, but there will be a small number of inferior intelligence. Before the final selection is finalized, candidates must be assessed and reviewed one by one. For this reason, some instructors have been busy until 9 pm.
The number of applicants for Oxford University is increasing every year, but the number of undergraduate students has been stable at around 3,200. According to Oxford University data, in the history of more than 1,000 years, the number of girls enrolled in Oxford in 2018 exceeded that of boys for the first time. In 2018, Oxford’s candidates increased slightly from 2017. In 2018, there were 1,736 female students and 1,464 male students. Among them, the proportion of female students is experimental psychology (80.8%), biomedicine (75.0%), English (69.9%), and modern linguistics (65.7%). The proportion of women with low proportion is computer science (7.9%), engineering (17.3%), physics (19.7%), economics and management (28.3%).
Among the local students admitted to the University of China, there are about 1,200 to 1,400 students in public schools. Others are students from private schools in the UK. In the UK, private schools in the country account for only 6% of the total number of students, but they account for nearly 50% of the total number of freshmen at Oxford University. There are many discussions in the community. In order to clarify the situation, Oxford University established a mentor committee in 2015 to conduct an investigation. The main criticism of Oxford University is that the new selection system is neither clear nor fair. Others have described the entire selection process as “a complete nightmare.” The committee first considered simplifying the process, but they also believed that “some people don’t pay attention to the university is a place to study advanced science and learning, but often regard it as a club for boys and girls.” They believe that the inclusion of certain admission statistics, including the implementation of voluntary application schools, can rule out the above concerns. The number of candidates who volunteer to apply to Oxford every year in public secondary schools is always increasing. The number of public secondary schools that transport such candidates each year is also expanding. However, of the 2,541 public schools on the “University Admissions Agreement” newsletter, about 500 secondary schools have never applied for Oxford for many years. Therefore, they concluded: “There are some people who do not know the truth, especially the teachers and students of some public high schools. They always think that Oxford University is biased. The preference for private schools is also good. The outstanding students from public high schools also Not necessarily good.
It should be noted that the high-level teaching in the senior middle school of private schools is in a clear and advantageous position in the competition for admission. In general public secondary schools, except for a few grammar schools, only two years of classes are offered, and there are few superior conditions for private secondary schools. Therefore, even with the most kind-hearted wish, no college would like to accept male and female candidates with excellent grades in private schools with good teaching and high standards. The situation is of course beneficial to these candidates. To solve this problem fundamentally, unless the existing college freshmen entrance exam is completely abolished, the private and public high school candidates will take the four-semester exam in the upper grades, and all will take the entrance exam. Only in this way can they be completely fair. However, this practice will also bring new problems to teachers. It is very difficult to see who has great potential for development among such young students.
The “entry scholarship” is another issue that people talk about. Many examples show that the most outstanding students who have passed the scholarship exam before entering the school are those who have studied in the senior year of private schools for three years. Of course, some scholarship students do not seek advancement and cannot seriously study after entering the school. In view of this, the school adopted the recommendation of the mentor committee to award all scholarships at the end of the first year. In recent years, some campuses at Oxford have held fair tests for all public and private students, but the proportion of scholarships in the two schools has changed little. In addition, in order to enable more public high school students to go to Oxford to go to school, the school has changed the way to wait for public high school students to apply for volunteers, such as taking the initiative to send people to public schools across the country to visit and select outstanding students, and, for example, welcome to the public. Middle school teachers and students went to Oxford to visit and learn.
Among the freshmen admitted to Oxford each year, about 450 to 600 freshmen are admitted from abroad. Among international students, the number of applicants and the number of admitted students in China has been the highest in recent years, and the results are gratifying. In the three years from 2015 to 2017, a total of 2,644 students from mainland China applied to Oxford University, and 267 were eventually admitted. In Hong Kong, a total of 1,102 students applied and 135 were admitted.
Oxford is a college system, and the selection of freshmen is finalized by the college. Among the 557 candidates who applied for Worcester College this year, about 125 candidates were admitted; among the 260 girls who applied for the exam, the admission rate was 20%; in addition, 384 of the 557 candidates came from public secondary schools, the admission rate It is 25%. Three of the 24 candidates who applied for music were selected. Broughton was not selected, but he thought it would be worthwhile to go to Oxford. Anne, who graduated from a private high school, was also unsuccessful, but her trip to Oxford was by no means a vain act. Her interview at St. Hill College was a great success.
Candidates simply abandon the “Oxford University”, the threshold of other universities in the UK is still relatively low. For example, girls who applied for Cambridge in 2018 also increased by 1% compared to last year. In addition, the former British Minister of Health Jerry Mi Hunt also announced: “By 2020, the University of England will add an additional 1,500 doctor training places to achieve the “self-sufficiency” of the British medical system after Brexit. So on average, That is to say, there will be 500 more medical students in the university this year, including the newly opened medical school in the Sunderland, Lancashire, Canterbury, Lincoln, and Chelmsford areas where doctors are more difficult to recruit.
