ZAFIRAH

hi anon!

not at all! i’m a firm believer in doing what you love and what you’re passionate about. i’ve known since i was young that i wanted to go the humanities route, despite excelling in my STEM subjects too. i figure that if you love something, you’ll work harder at it because you enjoy it, and personally i would rather get a first class honours in history than i would a third class degree in biochemistry. 

i suppose it depends on the field of work you intend to go into, but for me, career has never been that much of a factor informing my academic choices, but rather what knowledge i would prefer to gain from my studies, because ultimately that is what it comes down to. 

hi anon!

i’ll describe it below, but bear in mind that this was an application for straight history (not joint with english, drama or law) 

firstly, it was extremely personal which i think a lot of people overlook when writing their own, since many teachers encourage to only talk about your subject. however, outside of the classroom i had little experience with history as i rarely holiday and i had done only minimal work experience, and i also knew that my personality and my passion are my selling points, so focused on communicating that clearly.

i began with explaining honestly the beginnings of my love of history (which was simply reading all the time as a child) and what history means to me. i then ventured further into my love of literature and how it linked to my passion for history, where i spoke about the tudors. i briefly touched on the topics i covered in school, especially nazi germany, and mentioned my coursework.

i then went on to talk about my passion for drama and theatre, and also the poetry i write, all of which i linked to my love for history. this was followed by details about my experience in the field of law and my involvement in politics, the relevance of which was mainly in the linking of the skills required for both law and history. 

overall, i actually only spent about >1/3 talking about history (despite the general advice to keep it focused primarily on the topic), and used the rest to describe myself and my interests. for me, the key was to constantly link back to how these skills enhance my passion for history, therefore everything i mentioned was relevant as i proceeded to explain how exactly it furthers my study of history in some way.

hi anon!

thank you very much :-)

unfortunately i missed my grades by a few marks so i will not be attending oxford university. i applied to queen mary (which is where i will be attending) as well as warwick, king’s and birmingham.

personally i think i had an exceptionally strong personal statement, and many others have agreed it was the best they had ever read! i also must have interviewed very well despite feeling the opposite! 

hi anon!

thinking of you by pino daeni 

hi anon!!

by ‘they’ who do you mean? the universities? 

hi anon!

an a* is the highest grade possible but the mark it indicates is relative to the grade boundaries of that exam, for example in my religious education gcse, i got an a* and i was a couple of marks away from full marks, so a* is rarely 100% but rather the in the region of top marks. 

hi anon!

hi there!

because i applied to oxford, i had to submit my ucas before 15th october and all five universities that i applied to are russell group universities. the dates my offers were made on were 23rd october, 27th october, 2nd november, 28th november and 10th january! i hope that answers your question about the time i received offers, and if there’s anything else you wish to know, don’t hesitate to ask!

12.1.18 // i have a place at the university of oxford! sorry, it's been a while since i have used my studyblr as my mental and emotional health have been under some strain recently but i had to update you all on my ucas application.

i have recieved offers from all five of my university choices to study history, however i am absolutely thrilled that i have a recieved an offer from oxford university after dreaming about it for so long! i vividly remember falling in love with oxford when i visited in 2015 and deciding that it would be my future home and i am stunned that it is finally a reality. so, assuming that i achieve three A grades in my a-levels, i will be attending magdalen college, oxford to study history come october 2018!