Hey, my name is Jan (but I prefer Honza – it’s a Czech thing). I’m a third year Physics student at Corpus from Prague, Czech Republic. Before Oxford, I did my A-Levels in the UK.

If you’re thinking about applying to Oxford Physics, I really think you should try it, especially if you have a strong desire for understanding and you’ve often found yourself learning things on your own. You will gain so much from the process. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have; I’ve probably been in a similar situation and I’d be very happy to try and help.

A couple of years ago, the thought of applying to Oxford did not even cross my mind. As someone from outside the UK, I thought students at Oxford were a different breed, especially the STEM students, who surely must spend all day every day just doing calculations. I did not feel like one of those people, in fact I did not really enjoy the maths at school, even though I didn’t do badly. I slowly developed an interest in Physics, because I found it fascinating that you can figure out so much about real-world processes with pen and paper, just thinking. I liked science, but I was also very interested in Music and Drama, and I definitely did not have any clear vision of the future.

My life changed when I decided to go for a year abroad: I applied for a scholarship to do a year of A-Levels in the UK. I thought there wasn’t much of a chance of me getting it, but I applied anyway. Sometimes, things work out: suddenly, I was faced with the decision of going or staying at home. I took the risk, spent a year here, which turned into two years, taking exams, and applying to university. I received some amazing teaching and I developed a real passion for Maths and Physics during this time. I also saw that people around me were applying to Oxbridge, so I decided to give it a go. Ultimately, I got an offer from Oxford and I applied for multiple scholarships that would allow me to study here. It was a long journey that included a rejection, a gap year, and a pandemic, but everything worked out in the end and I enrolled at Oxford University.

Oxford has been a very rewarding but also challenging experience for me. There’s a lot happening during an Oxford term in every way, academically and socially. Even extracurricular things such as sport, music, drama are at a very high level here and you should get involved if you can. There is time to socialise and do other things as well: I like to go to open mic nights and perform on guitar or piano, I paint with friends at times, and I go to the gym. The music community here is great and I got to know a lot of people outside of College that way. Your life here will not be just Physics, but there could be a lot of it.

As for the course, I really enjoy the selection of topics we’ve encountered so far. In first year, you get a general baseline for most things, some of which will hopefully be familiar, such as classical mechanics, optics, linear algebra and vector calculus. In second year, you get to study more conceptually challenging theories of thermal physics, quantum mechanics and electrodynamics. There is much depth and beauty to all of these topics, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find them challenging at times. This year, we studied somewhat more contemporary topics such as condensed matter physics, atomic and subatomic physics, and relativity. Looking into the future, I want to specialize in quantum computation and information.

To sum it up, I think you should take the risk and apply if you’re thinking of it; it just might take you places you can’t even imagine at the moment. And email away if you have any questions!



Resources

Resources categorised by subject and by Key Stage, as well as materials for applying to Oxford and finding out more about Corpus, can be found here.