A nail-biting finish to my Oxford University application

Of all the universities I applied to, Oxford’s was perhaps the most challenging as well as rewarding process of all. It all started out under the guise of a simple UCAS application, which I filled in a few hours, with guidance from Urvashi Ma’am. Unlike lengthier US applications, the UCAS only required one piece of writing and one letter of recommendation. The only big deal, as such, was to decide which college in Oxford to apply to. So I researched online and spoke to people and got the general idea that if you get accepted, it doesn’t matter which college you’re in, it’s still Oxford at the end of the day. I liked the look and history of Balliol College so I decided on that and put my pen down with the air of having finished. However, as I soon realized, this was just the beginning.

The second step was to take the TSA test. The preparations for this test were so enjoyable that I didn’t at all mind sacrificing time from my school studies for the brain-teaser-like questions. When the day of the TSA finally rolled around though, I got cold feet, and walked out of the examination hall in tears thinking that I had failed and everything was over and the sky was falling down. But, as it later turned out, I had passed, and the blue above was still firmly in place. That being over, the next job was the both desired and dreaded interview that I had heard so very much about. Since I was informed about the interview just four days before it was to take place, it was extremely impractical for me to go all the way to the Oxford campus in London, so I requested, and was granted, an interview over Skype. At two minutes past the appointed time, my laptop started buzzing and my heartbeat increased to match its tempo. The interview was conducted by two professors, one of Economics and one of Management. Without getting into the ‘Why Oxford?’ or ‘Why Balliol?’ or ‘Why Economics?’ and other similar questions that I had prepared for, they launched straight into their respective topics and spent the better part of forty-five minutes quizzing me. It was intimidating, but also extremely interesting. I couldn’t answer a few of the questions, but managed to put most of my views across (or so I hoped). From then till January, I waited in agony, sometimes reassuring myself that I had done best, other times telling myself to be prepared for the worst. I was in class when I got the mail on my phone one cold morning. It was a very short note informing me that the Balliol tutor had attached a letter for me to read. When I finally opened the attachment, after it had taken half a painful hour to load on my phone, I realized that the print was too small to read. By this time, the teacher had stopped teaching and everyone was waiting for the verdict. By some miracle, my friend managed to enlarge the document that congratulated me on having secured a place!

 Priyanka Sethi

Applicant – Oxford University