The Benefits of Starting Your Application Early
As the Mentor Manager at Doxa, one of my responsibilities is interviewing potential mentors. A question I often like to ask is “What would you tell a prospective applicant to do now?”. Interviewing is a year-round job; when I ask this question in December and January, answers include ideas such as really pinning down which course you want to study, and asking teachers for reading recommendations. However, as time marches on and we get closer and closer to September – the deadline for Oxford and Cambridge applications – answers gain a sense of urgency. By the time we have reached April, prospective mentors give various suggestions. But these suggestions all share an undercurrent of “you should have started preparing earlier”.
The most prominent feature of your application, aside from grades, is your personal statement. This will need to be submitted in September – so surely you don’t need to start work on it until June or July? Well, not quite. It might not take that long to write, but you need to have things to write about. Every applicant will write about their passion for the subject. What sets you apart? Doxa mentors help with this through a program of subject exploration. They guide you through the intricacies of your chosen subject and encourage you to dive into the parts which really pique your interest. Want to learn about how ancient Hittite became modern German? Or about the Anglo-Norman realm’s economy? Or anything in between? Our mentors have it covered. They will recommend readings and other resources; discussing these in your personal statement shows you have a true passion for the subject and that you are willing to go above and beyond when it comes to your studies. One of our humanities mentors points out that starting this early allowed her to truly enjoy the experience of developing her own intellectual interests, rather than feeling rushed to fit everything in.
Once you have something to write about, there comes the actual writing of the personal statement. Most British schools break up for Summer in July, and you’re unlikely to have any contact with teachers over this time. As your application needs to go to UCAS in September, you do not want to be leaving the writing until the end of the summer holidays. This is generally the time when ‘empty page syndrome’ strikes. You sit at your computer, watching the cursor blink on an empty page. And no matter how you try, you draw a complete blank. You just can’t work out how to start. Doxa mentors have helped with hundreds of personal statements; they work with you to build a structure that allows your work and achievements to truly shine. Once you have a draft, our mentors will work with you to primp and polish until it’s perfect.
When your personal statement is submitted, you are subject to a nerve-wracking wait to see if you’re invited to interview. However, you need to spend this time thinking ahead; if you do get invited to interview there may well be some sort of pre-interview test – and, of course, the interview itself. Doxa mentors are experts at preparing for pre-interview tests; they’ve taken them themselves and scored highly enough to be admitted. As current students and recent graduates, they also have the most up-to-date information on what the tests are like. Nothing quells exam nerves like knowing you’ve prepared as well as you can.
The subject exploration our mentors provide isn’t only helpful for personal statements; it means you are better prepared to talk about your subject in your interview. However, that’s not much help if you’re too shy to be able to say anything! Lots of students fall at the hurdle of the interview simply because they lack interview experience. Doxa mentors can coach you on interview techniques and provide practice interviews that are almost identical to the real thing – especially as lots of our mentors are involved in the interview processes for their colleges. Interview success is partly to do with confidence. It’s hard to feel confident in an unfamiliar situation, but practising with our mentors will make challenging interviews feel like second nature.
So, there’s one catch. You’d love to dedicate hours to this process – but you have school, extracurriculars and homework. That’s exactly why we recommend you start early. Starting early allows you to fit mentoring around your other commitments. It allows what you learn to sink in. And it means your preparation for pre-interview tests is effective, rather than last-minute cramming.
Early preparation is better preparation. If you want to give yourself the best chance of studying at Oxford, Cambridge or another top university, contact us now.
Author: Ashley - Mentor Manager
Doxa Staff
I’m the Mentor Manager for Doxa. I completed a Secondary English PGCE at Cambridge and have taught at top grammar schools. I recently finished an MEd at Cambridge and am in charge of Doxa’s mentors.
