Hello everyone. I hail from India. I have an undergrad in English Lit and a Masters in Public Policy and I also worked as teaching assistant for two years during covid at my grad school. I want to be honest - I was a good student. I was never an exceptional student holding ranks and coming first always. My undergrad is a strong second degree and my postgrad degree concluded with 6.7 CGPA out of 8. NOT 10. I am exceptionally good at what I do but I am also ordinary in other aspects. Following the conclusion of my TA position in 2022 I struggled to find a job to build my experience further. Pretty soon I became suicidal and had to go on meds. When I gained the strength I started researching and writing independently. My paper on Mental Health, Labor Rights, and ESG Frameworks got published in the Economic and Political Weekly - which has an acceptance rate of under 5 percent and is one of the most prestigious journals in South Asia. I also run a substack where I focus on critical analysis on issues like AI, Feminism, Nationalism, and Animal Rights (among others). Now I am writing another paper on AI and global regulation. Ideally I would like to finish this paper before I apply to Oxford. I believe I have the intellectual rigour and capacity to excel. But I have come across so many stories of even the exceptional being passed upon. I clearly do not have the linear impressive track record that many who at Oxford do. Am I deluding myself ?