Tavistock Tutors Blog

Nailing An Oxbridge Personal Statement

At the Oxford college I went to (and I believe it happens elsewhere, too), we have a formal meal after we have completed our finals. At this meal, it is traditional for one of the tutors to read out some of the most hilarious bits of the personal statements we submitted to them three years earlier. Although some of us [...]

The In’s And Out’s Of Medical School: Surviving 1st Year

So you’ve survived the educational system, kept your school grades up, your volunteering hours filled and have stretched yourself to near breaking point. It will all be worth it, you tell yourself, once I get into medical school- and it is.  But medical school will stretch you to your breaking point again and again and again (once at the end [...]

The Value Of Studying Languages

In an age of seemingly ever-expanding technological and scientific developments there is an increasing emphasis placed on the study of so-called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects at A-Level and University. The debate of arts and humanities versus science and maths is well-known and oft-repeated; but throughout the defence of subjects such as English Literature, History and Philosophy, languages [...]

The Role Of The Oxbridge Interview

Everyone who applies to Oxford and Cambridge boasts a similar academic background, they are all high flyers at GCSE, AS and A-Level (or equivalent) so it is vital for prospective students to distinguish themselves. This is of course the role of the Oxbridge interview and while proper interview preparation is important, it is easy to be sidelined by the myths [...]

The Perfect Personal Statement

What makes the perfect personal statement? Many hours are spent by students each year up and down the country trying to answer this question in the form of their personal statement. It's no easy thing encapsulating all of your interests, experiences, even your personality, in a 500 word document. It is however, a [...]

How To Become The Best Medical Student You Can Be

The leap from 6^th form to university is immense – but the leap from 6^th form to medical school can be likened to jumping from one side of the Grand Canyon to the other. But fear not, young traveller, for after reading this survival guide you will most assuredly rise to the upper echelons of the medical world. One of the [...]

Learning to learn: it’s child’s play

What we can learn from how our children learn It has long been evident that children pick things up far more quickly than adults. Whether it is learning a new language, how to play an instrument, the movements required for a certain sport or even the acquisition of the multitude of deceivingly complex skills essential for everyday life, we adults are [...]

Arts and Sciences (BASc) programmes

Arts and Sciences (BASc) programmes

Since the early conception of academic disciplines in classic civilizations, through the establishment  of higher education organised into subjects in the late middle ages, and up to the present day, knowledge is compartmentalised and split off into specific disciplines. At the tender age of fourteen we choose our GCSE subjects, which then determine which A-levels we [...]

Writing your Personal Statement

The end of your AS levels or your penultimate year of IB has finally come, almost the time to leave home and come of age...

Your Year Abroad

Your Year Abroad and How I Learnt to Stop Panicking and Embrace the Culture Around Me. How exciting does the prospect of a year abroad sound? A new culture! An adventure! True immersion into a different way of life! An opportunity to really find something out about yourself! At the very least, an extended holiday! Sounds great, doesn't it? It is not [...]