Welcome to our Spring 2010 Newsletter

...to guide, motivate and inspire you throughout the application process!

Key questions on applying to Oxbridge

Am I good enough to go to Oxbridge?
Should I apply to Oxford or Cambridge?
Is Oxbridge right for me?
How tough is the competition for places?
What can I do to improve my chances of success?

Read our answers to these questions here >

Think laterally: lectures to listen to

We've put together a selection of interesting lectures to download on the web, to help inspire and motivate you about your subject.

Politics at the London School of Economics - 21st Century Challenges: How global crises provide the opportunity to transform the world. Mix it up with UCL - University College London, Lunchtime Lectures: lectures which can be watched online (live and recorded). Our pick is See no evil...: The (Im)morality of denying genocide. This lecture focuses on the status of Genocide denial, beginning with the Holocaust, and moving on to discuss a number of 20th and 21st century genocides. 

iTunesU from Oxford and Cambridge - ITunes U – allows you to download lectures, interviews and podcasts from Oxford and Cambridge, as well as Yale and MIT. There you will find lots to pique your interest. Topics range from quantum mechanics to Shakespeare and Darwin. If you are not an ITunes user, you can access Oxford's podcasts here.

The University of Edinburgh has run the Edinburgh Lecture series every autumn since 1992. Recent topics include 21st century Enlightenment and medical research in today’s society.

The British Academy, London – runs a full and varied lecture series all year round. April looks particularly interesting for English students, with lectures on Shakespeare and Alexander Pope’s work The Dunciad. Non-Londoner.

Engage with your subject beyond the classroom:   

No matter what course you are applying for, it's so important to explore your subject beyond your normal school syllabus. It's a great way to find out more about what you are hoping to study and help you to develop your own ideas and opinions. Setting your subject within the context of the wider world is a fantastic way of understanding why it's such an important subject to study at university - and should inspire you to want to read it even more!

The Student British Medical Journal - for the prospective doctors among us, this is a brilliant resource, with articles and podcasts. If reading articles starts to drag, there are now a plethora of lectures and podcasts to listen to online.

Incredible lectures from the world’s top scientists – You can hear from some of the best scientific minds on this blog that provides links to online lectures from around the world. There really is something for everyone here, from nanotechnology to the environment, from x-raying comets to psychology.

BBC Online – a one stop shop of information and knowledge. A number of Radio 4’s excellent programmes are available to download. Our top picks include: A History of the World in 100 Objects (in association with the British Museum) and Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time. Programmes are archived by subject: Culture, History, Philosophy, Religion and Science. The Today Programme and From Our Own Correspondent are essential listening for all current affairs enthusiasts.

Could you tell me about a banana...?

The Interview: what influences the way we learn?

Our tutor, Alexandra Tyson read Physiological Sciences at University College, Oxford from 2006-9.

In our newseltter interview, Alex asks questions about how we learn at school and university every day. Here, she looks back at her education, the education of her parents Kathryn and Steve and her grandfather Cliff.

To read the full interview, click here >