Oxbridge & US STEM admissions

For families whose son or daughter is aiming at Oxford or Cambridge in mathematics, computer science, engineering or physics — or at a US STEM programme.

The part most consultancies subcontract

Oxbridge STEM entry is decided by an admissions test and an interview, both of which are genuinely hard mathematics. Most consultancies handle the personal statement themselves and subcontract the MAT, STEP and TMUA preparation to a tutor you never meet at the point of sale. That is the wrong way round: the statement is worth little and the test is worth almost everything.

I teach the mathematics myself, every session.

MAT — Oxford mathematics and computer science
STEP — Cambridge mathematics, papers 2 and 3
TMUA — where it is required or advisable
Physics and engineering admissions assessments
Interview training — against real past questions, run harder than the real thing, and never giving the answer
Personal statement — edited, not written
College selection — which genuinely matters, and the ways in which it does not

An interview at Oxford is not an examination. The candidate is expected to think aloud, be visibly unfinished, take a hint and change direction. Students from drilling-heavy education systems are frequently excellent mathematicians and very poor at this, and it is the single biggest determinant of the outcome. It is trainable, and it takes months.

Programmes

Oxbridge STEMFull cycle. Admissions test preparation taught personally, personal statement, college selection, and interview training through to December.

£18,000

US STEMSchool list, positioning, essays, and the mathematics where it decides the outcome. Runs over a longer horizon than the UK cycle.

£22,000

Family retainerOne or two children, multi-year, from around age fourteen through to university entry. Continuous mathematical development rather than a panic in the final year. A small number held at any time.

£3,000/mo

Comparable firms run from $25,000 upwards, and considerably higher for the full multi-year engagement. Further reading: reading a MAT question the way an examiner does.

Start an enquiry Packages & payment

Timing

The UCAS deadline for Oxford and Cambridge is 15 October. Admissions tests sit shortly after; interviews fall in December. Serious preparation begins in the spring before — by the summer the strong candidates have been working for months. Enquiries from September onwards can usually be helped, but with materially less room.