Was an Average Student. Now I’m at Oxford. Here’s How. — Transcript

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1. 0:00Most people think that getting into a
2. 0:01top university is about being
3. 0:03objectively smart. Perfect grades,
4. 0:06straight A's, top of the class. And if
5. 0:08you don't have that, well, then you're
6. 0:10considered just not good enough. I used
7. 0:12to believe that. However, I'm currently
8. 0:14a PhD student at Oxford University.
9. 0:17Before that, I did a master's at
10. 0:19Imperial College London, but during my
11. 0:21undergraduate degree, my grades were
12. 0:23honestly pretty average, and I got
13. 0:25rejected from a lot of universities. So,
14. 0:28I ended up doing a bachelor's at a very
15. 0:30normal university. Nothing fancy,
16. 0:33nothing prestigious. So, in this video,
17. 0:34I'm going to explain something that most
18. 0:36people will never get told, which is
19. 0:38that even if you're not a top student,
20. 0:40you still have the potential to get into
21. 0:42a top university. And I am living proof
22. 0:44of that. I want to walk you through the
23. 0:46exact shifts that [music] changed
24. 0:47everything for me so that by the end of
25. 0:49this video, you know exactly what to do
26. 0:51to get into your dream university. So,
27. 0:54let's dive right in. Chapter one, being
28. 0:56naive is actually a superpower. Four
29. 0:59years ago, I came across a PhD project
30. 1:01that was advertised by Oxford University
31. 1:04and I thought this project is perfect
32. 1:07for me. It is exactly the topic that I'm
33. 1:09interested in and it gives a student the
34. 1:11chance to develop exactly the skills
35. 1:14that I want to learn, but there's no way
36. 1:16that I'm good enough for Oxford
37. 1:18University. I had no outstanding grades,
38. 1:21no publications, and no connections to
39. 1:23Oxford. And to be honest, the easiest
40. 1:25thing would have been [music] to just
41. 1:27close the tab and continue with my life
42. 1:29and never think of this again. But
43. 1:31here's the uncomfortable truth. Most
44. 1:32people don't fail because they're
45. 1:34underqualified. They fail because they
46. 1:37self-reject before even trying. If you
47. 1:39don't try, your [music] chance of
48. 1:41achieving your dream will always be
49. 1:44zero. But if you do apply, even if you
50. 1:46just have average grades, your chances
51. 1:48will always be above zero. And that's
52. 1:50it. That is the math. So being naive is
53. 1:53actually such an advantage because you
54. 1:55have to be willing to be vulnerable to
55. 1:57failure and to sometimes look slightly
56. 1:59foolish for trying. So I said to myself,
57. 2:01honestly, let's just try. There's
58. 2:04nothing to lose. So I applied and I
59. 2:06still remember how shocked I was when I
60. 2:09received the invitation to the
61. 2:11interview. So lesson number one is be
62. 2:14naive enough to send off that
63. 2:15application. Let them make the decision,
64. 2:18not you. Chapter two, controlling the
65. 2:21narrative. Okay, so you have decided to
66. 2:24apply. But here's where most people mess
67. 2:26up. If your grades are low or uneven, do
68. 2:29not ignore them in your application.
69. 2:31Admission officers have access to your
70. 2:34transcript, so they will see every
71. 2:36single grade, every fail, every dip. If
72. 2:39you don't explain these bad grades, they
73. 2:42will form assumptions about you, [music]
74. 2:43and they're usually not in your favor.
75. 2:45So, your job is to control the
76. 2:48narrative. This does not mean to make up
77. 2:50an excuse. Let me give you a bad
78. 2:53example. I got a low grade in my coding
79. 2:55course because the professor was bad at
80. 2:57explaining the concepts. This sounds
81. 2:59very defensive and shifting
82. 3:02responsibilities. A good explanation
83. 3:04does two things. First, it gives context
84. 3:07to the situation, but secondly, it
85. 3:09should show growth. For example, during
86. 3:12my last school year, I struggled with
87. 3:13coding courses as this was a completely
88. 3:15new area I had no foundational knowledge
89. 3:17in. However, I refused to let that gap
90. 3:20remain. Since then, I've completed two
91. 3:22accredited coding courses in my spare
92. 3:24time and published a self-built
93. 3:26calculator in R on GitHub to actively
94. 3:29strengthen the skill through real world
95. 3:31application. Both the good example and
96. 3:34the bad example have the same grade, but
97. 3:36a completely different story. When your
98. 3:39admission team sees your bad grades,
99. 3:41what they're actually asking themselves
100. 3:43is, does this person take
101. 3:44responsibility? Can the person reflect
102. 3:47on their failures and [music] can they
103. 3:50show growth and improvement? So, lesson
104. 3:53number two is to turn your bad or
105. 3:55average grades into a growth story.
106. 3:58Actually, talking about growth, we've
107. 4:00just hit 10,000 subscribers on my
108. 4:02channel, which is just mindblowing to
109. 4:04me. [music] Honestly, it's so amazing to
110. 4:06see how this community is growing. And
111. 4:08if you would like more videos like this,
112. 4:10make sure to let me know down in the
113. 4:11comments below and also subscribe so you
114. 4:13don't miss any more content like this.
115. 4:15But let's move on to chapter number
116. 4:17three. Chapter three, the spike. Why
117. 4:19well-rounded is overrated. If you have
118. 4:22average grades, you cannot win by being
119. 4:24well-rounded. Trying a bit of
120. 4:26everything, sports, volunteering, random
121. 4:28clubs, just makes you very forgettable.
122. 4:30Top universities actually don't want top
123. 4:33robots where everyone just looks the
124. 4:35same. It's quite the opposite. They want
125. 4:37interesting, unique human beings that
126. 4:40have a clear direction and a clear goal.
127. 4:42So what you need is a spike, [music] a
128. 4:44clear, consistent theme that ties
129. 4:46everything together. Let me give you an
130. 4:48example. So instead of focusing your
131. 4:50personal statement on loads of random
132. 4:52things like a random internship in a
133. 4:55completely different subject area, a
134. 4:57club that you actually already forgot
135. 4:59about, or a volunteering experience that
136. 5:01you actually don't care for. Instead of
137. 5:03that, you need to build one story. your
138. 5:05application and especially your personal
139. 5:07statement clearly needs to read that you
140. 5:09deeply care about one specific thing and
141. 5:12that everything that you've done points
142. 5:14towards that direction. Let's say for
143. 5:16example you have a deep passion for
144. 5:18making a social impact. You can explain
145. 5:21how you had an internship at a charity
146. 5:24or you volunteered for raising some
147. 5:26money for a specific cause or you
148. 5:28started a social media campaign to raise
149. 5:30awareness. Now your story makes a lot of
150. 5:32sense and your achievements, your drive,
151. 5:35your clear focus outshines your average
152. 5:38grades. So if your grades aren't
153. 5:39amazing, your story needs to be. And the
154. 5:42best way to do that is actually with a
155. 5:44serious passion project. This could be a
156. 5:46startup that actually solved a specific
157. 5:48issue or a research assistant role or a
158. 5:51content platform that you grew.
159. 5:52basically a craft that you pursued very
160. 5:54obsessively because what they're
161. 5:56actually looking for is to see whether
162. 5:58or not that person is driven and if you
163. 6:01don't have the grades to show drive you
164. 6:03have to find other examples to prove it.
165. 6:05So lesson number three is to stand out
166. 6:07with a clear very intentional storyline.
167. 6:10Chapter four real world experience proof
168. 6:14over promises. This was actually one of
169. 6:17the biggest turning points for me before
170. 6:19applying to Oxford. I actually worked as
171. 6:21a research assistant for almost a year.
172. 6:23And that single experience actually did
173. 6:25a lot more for my application than my
174. 6:27master's grades did. So for my masters,
175. 6:29I actually got quite good grades. And
176. 6:31for my bachelors, my grades were pretty
177. 6:33average. But they cared a lot more about
178. 6:36my experience. But why? Well, because it
179. 6:39answered the admissions team's [music]
180. 6:41biggest fear. Can this person actually
181. 6:43do the work? Does this person have a
182. 6:45specific skill that makes him a better
183. 6:47candidate than others? Real world
184. 6:49experience shows that you understand the
185. 6:51field, that you can apply theory into
186. 6:54solving practical issues, and that when
187. 6:56you face difficulties, you don't quit.
188. 6:59And this doesn't even have to be
189. 7:00dramatic. Even a short internship, a
190. 7:03summer project, or a research
191. 7:05collaboration is so powerful for your
192. 7:08[music] application because it shifts
193. 7:10the narrative from why would we even
194. 7:12look at her application when her grades
195. 7:14are so low to look at what she has
196. 7:16already done. Look at the hands-on
197. 7:18skills that she has already acquired
198. 7:21that you cannot learn by just simply
199. 7:22reading a book. Look at all of the
200. 7:24hardships that she already managed to
201. 7:26overcome by herself. So, lesson number
202. 7:28four is to gain hands-on experience
203. 7:30[music] to overshine your grades. And
204. 7:33chapter number five is to find your own
205. 7:36personal cheerleaders. Let's talk about
206. 7:39recommendation letters. Most people,
207. 7:41they don't even think twice about them
208. 7:43and they just treat them as like
209. 7:44something they need to check off their
210. 7:46application. Well, you shouldn't. A
211. 7:48generic letter from a professor who
212. 7:50barely knows you is actually so damaging
213. 7:53to your application. What you really
214. 7:55want is someone who has supervised you
215. 7:57very closely in the past, who genuinely
216. 7:59respects the work that you've done, and
217. 8:01most importantly, someone who actually
218. 8:03wants to see you succeed. In my case, I
219. 8:06asked a previous supervisor that I had
220. 8:08worked together with my bachelors. Keep
221. 8:10in mind, I actually applied to my PhD
222. 8:13three years afterwards, but that
223. 8:16professor clearly still remembered me.
224. 8:18And the reason is that I actively overd
225. 8:20delivered throughout the project. I
226. 8:22asked him a lot of questions and I
227. 8:25showed that I really valued his advice
228. 8:28and I stayed in touch with him even
229. 8:30after I finished my project with him.
230. 8:31And because I put so much effort in
231. 8:33building this professional relationship,
232. 8:35he wrote the most exceptional reference
233. 8:37letter I could even ask for. Let me read
234. 8:40out a short part of it. I have
235. 8:41supervised a large number of
236. 8:43undergraduate and master students and
237. 8:45honestly Alina is among the best. Her
238. 8:48work ethic is great and at the same time
239. 8:50she listens carefully to suggestions and
240. 8:53criticism for which she adopts and comes
241. 8:55back to you with additional input. She
242. 8:57was also a joy to work with. Did I have
243. 9:00perfect grades at that time? 100% no.
244. 9:03And I'm pretty sure he had a bunch of
245. 9:06students that performed academically
246. 9:08much better than I did. But this
247. 9:10reference letter generally gave me an
248. 9:11entrance into Oxford because despite of
249. 9:14my average grades, this created
250. 9:16curiosity about me. It is very rare that
251. 9:18a professor writes such a good reference
252. 9:20letter. It is very powerful. So lesson
253. 9:23number five is to really work on
254. 9:27creating a relationship with a professor
255. 9:29so that you know you will get an
256. 9:31exceptional reference letter. To be
257. 9:33honest, getting into places like Oxford,
258. 9:35Harvard, or Stanford with average grades
259. 9:38isn't easy, but it is very much
260. 9:40possible. I mean, I did it. But it is
261. 9:42important to stop treating admissions
262. 9:44like a judgment of your past, but
263. 9:46instead start treating it like a pitch
264. 9:48of where you want to see yourself in the
265. 9:49future. So, be naive, apply [music]
266. 9:52anyway, even if you think that you don't
267. 9:53have a chance, and tell your story
268. 9:55properly. The worst thing they can say
269. 9:57is no, and the best thing is that it
270. 10:00could completely change your life. I
271. 10:01have a lot of videos on this topic on my
272. 10:03channel and YouTube thinks that you
273. 10:05might like one of these two. So, go
274. 10:08check them out. Thank you so much for
275. 10:09watching and I will see you next time.
276. 10:11Bye.