Ignorance "leads to" Oxford

It was back in 2002. I was in a high school in Xi'an, China. It wasn't that common for high school students applied for universities abroad directly from China at the time. Nobody around me did. I didn't even know that the pre-university education was one year longer in UK (13 years) than in China (12 years), hence most UK universities would require you to either have entered a Chinese university, or do a foundation year in UK, before starting at a UK university.

I applied only because of my lack of knowledge. I only found out that I wasn't "qualified" to apply after I submitted my application through the UCAS (the university application system in UK). In fact, Oxford was the only UK university that didn't reject my application immediately. They gave me an interview opportunity in Beijing where four of their tutors went to interview Chinese applicants, and also let me sat their written test.

Back in early 2000s, a "textbook" high school applicant from China would probably be a top student at an international school; I wasn't. I had never even been in an English system. I believe I had my "edge" in the sense that I had studied in the local systems in both Japan and China and pretty much studied English by myself because I had a goal, but I wouldn't have blamed universities for ruling me out on the basis that I simply wasn't "qualified". I guess Oxford was a bit less pedantic than other UK universities and gave me a chance.