How to break into a G5 university?

Sometimes known as the ‘Golden Triangle’, the G5 are a group of five prestigious UK universities spread between Oxford, Cambridge and London: University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, LSE, and UCL. They are recognised as not only the top universities in the UK but hold a powerful global reputation. So how does one break into these universities? 

Crucially, you will need to have a real and defined passion in your subject. Unlike US universities which have a four-year “Liberal Arts” undergraduate structure (where you take courses in many different subjects), British university students specialise early in an individual field. Any “supercurricular” you can do which involves your subject will look impressive: aspiring STEM students might take part in Science Olympiads or proactively seek out experience with researchers, while the future literature major should take part in Oxbridge’s essay competitions or start their own book club. The crucial thing is to go beyond the bare minimum of your curriculum and show that you are intellectually engaged and ambitious. 

As an undergraduate candidate, you’re not expected to know all the answers before you go to university: that’s what elite higher education is for. But you are expected to be diligent, proactive, curious and have a proven track record of obtaining top grades at high school. 

Meanwhile, postgraduate candidates will need to show they have a feasible and carefully defined research proposal, as well as compelling justifications for how they will take advantage of the opportunities offered by their world-leading supervisor and institution. Whether or not you require funding will determine how impressive your undergraduate record needs to be. Those able to self-fund are often surprised at how much a thoughtful and carefully tailored application can make into breaking into the G5, even without an academic record that may not be super brilliant.

If you are going to a university which has interviews and entrance aptitude exams (like Oxbridge), you will want to find someone who can help familiarise you with the format and expectations of those assessments. Too often, however, “coaches” focus on rote learning and memorisation (which universities can use your high-school grades to find out) rather than working with candidates to identify their personal strengths and interests. Aptitude tests like these are designed to test how you think and approach new problems, with the high-school level knowledge you’ve learnt and any personal interests, and not what you know. A proper tutor will, instead, focus on familiarising you with the format of these exams and showing you how to best express your problem-solving skills and effectively communicate your academic passions.