2011 Admissions Round Feedback Arch & Anth ... - Keble College

2011 Admissions Round Feedback
Arch & Anth/CAAH/Human Sciences
Please note this is subject admissions feedback from the 2011 selection
round - there will be changes for each subject for this year's round, and
these pages are only retained to provide a general indication of process.
Feedback for the current round will be published by mid-January.
At Keble, Archaeology & Anthropology, Classical Archaeology & Ancient History, and Human
Sciences form part of an integrated ‘subject area’ directed by two Tutorial Fellows, one in
Anthropology and one in Archaeology. The subject area as a whole admits 8 candidates per
year.
In Archaeology & Anthropology, 106 candidates applied to Oxford in 2011; 26 offers were
made, one for deferred entry in 2013. At Keble College, there were 18 applicants for four
places. (In total, 6 of the 18 Keble applicants eventually gained places at the university.)
In Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, 85 candidates applied to Oxford; 23 offers
were made. At Keble College, there were 5 applicants for two places.
In Human Sciences, 135 candidates applied to Oxford; 33 offers were made. At Keble
College, there were 12 applicants for two places. Given the high number of excellent
candidates an application was made, successfully, for an exceptional extra place, making
three places for 2012 entry. (In total, 6 of the 12 Keble applicants eventually gained places
at the university.)
As noted below, tutors consider candidates from other colleges as well, so the direct
application to place ratios for each college are not strongly indicative of a candidate's
chance of success.
For all three courses, candidates will normally be summoned for interview. Grounds for not
summoning include: poor results in official examinations (especially GCSE); poor results
predicted for A level and/or other impending examinations; negative school report; poor
written work (A&A and CAAH only) showing lack of intellectual coherence or power of
analysis, or serious inaccuracy. The field this year in Human Sciences was particularly strong
and all candidates were summoned for interview; most applicants had 7 or more A* at GCSE
or the equivalent. In A&A 11 candidates were summoned for interview and three were
summoned for CAAH.

Final selection was made on the basis of several factors, including achieved and predicted
grades, personal statement, school report, written work (A&A and CAAH only), and
performance at interview. In admitting students we hope to select those individuals who,
from the evidence that we have available to us, are the most able and most likely to benefit
from the course that we offer. Tutors were looking for evidence of enthusiasm for studying
the course, combined with an inquiring mind, analytical skills, intellectual ambition,
commitment and motivation.
As in previous years, tutors across the university worked together to ensure that the best
candidates from the entire cohort applying to Oxford were offered places, regardless of to
which college they had applied. Candidates are normally interviewed by at least two
different colleges. Keble applicants have two interviews with Keble tutors*, normally of
about 25 minutes each. There are no written tests, but candidates may be asked to read a
passage to discuss in the interview or to engage with images, graphs (particularly in the case
of Human Sciences) or (for A&A and CAAH) aspects of material culture. All candidates in
A&A and Human Sciences, and most in CAAH, had at least one further interview with tutors
from another college. Similarly, Keble tutors saw candidates from other colleges: 12
candidates from 5 other colleges for A&A; 5 from other colleges for CAAH, and 8 from 4
other colleges for Human Sciences. Thus, in all Keble interviewed 61 candidates.
Some applicants to Keble were this year offered places at other colleges, as noted above.
Keble has the largest cohort in the university of students reading A&A, and has a specific
commitment to taking two students in CAAH and Human Sciences each year (admission
numbers, particularly in CAAH, are more variable in other colleges).These subjects maintain
a strong presence at the college academically and in other areas of student life.
The university websites offer more information about the courses including the selection
criteria:
http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/
and
http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/criteria.shtml.
http://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses.asp
and
http://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/criteriacaah.asp
http://www.ihs.ox.ac.uk/prospective-students/admissions/