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Oxbridge applicants 2018 part 2

992 replies

OhYouBadBadKitten · 04/12/2017 20:52

Hopefully this is in time!

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toomanytolist · 04/12/2017 21:00

Hello I'm here!

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whiteroseredrose · 04/12/2017 21:02

Evening all.

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 04/12/2017 21:05

Oh good :) I can't put this link on the old thread, my phone is being silly.

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itinerant · 04/12/2017 21:14

It worked!

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marmiteloversunite · 04/12/2017 21:14

Found you!!

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marmiteloversunite · 04/12/2017 21:18

So does anyone know if it a good sign or a bad sign to be asked for interview by another college? Or is it something that just happens if they like your personal statement for example?

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YippeeTeenager · 04/12/2017 21:19

Oh thank goodness, thought I’d lost you forever! Had a nice afternoon walking round Cambridge and now an early night before DDs interviews tomorrow morning. Good to hear that some of you have been here, done it and come out the other side relatively unscathed!

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YippeeTeenager · 04/12/2017 21:24

Marmite, I think this explains the winter pool system.

www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/decisions

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LadyMacnet · 04/12/2017 21:28

DS is getting the train to Cambridge tomorrow afternoon and staying overnight in the college that he’s applied to. He’s carefully laid out his clean jeans and given me a shirt to wash. Interview ready then!

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Hubble25 · 04/12/2017 21:43

Thank you itinerant. My tears are definitely for him and not for me. I'm very upbeat to him on phone. Sorry to be so down on a day when other people have clearly done very well. Good luck to all tomorrow's interviewees.

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YippeeTeenager · 04/12/2017 21:58

Hubble and itinerant, I’m really sorry if it sounds like it’s been a bad day, but I do think it’s impossible to tell the extent of the mishaps if you weren’t actually there in the room. And that it’s human nature to dwell on the things that didn’t go brilliantly, and forget everything that did, especially for those that are used to being high-achievers. Sending you hugs and a call to Keep the faith until definitively told otherwise!

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 04/12/2017 22:08

Hubble, you honestly can’t tell how they did from how they feel it went. I’ve read all sorts of tales of woe on Student Room that ended up being wrong. It’s impossible to know how the interviewers will have perceived him as compared to other interviewees. It also seems to work the other way with confident dc finding their confidence was misplaced.

It’s very hard to watch them go through the misery though, especially if you are some distance from them. Wine

Good luck to LadyMacnet and Yippees dc!

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marmiteloversunite · 04/12/2017 22:14

Thanks for the info Yipee. My DD is applying to Oxford but I suppose it is the same sort of system.

Hubble and Itinerant
I think there was a parent on the last thread who's DC had done what they thought was a terrible interview but they still got offered a place. So it's really hard to know. Sometimes our children are their own toughest critics!!

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HesMyLobster · 04/12/2017 22:28

Thankyou for the new thread Kitten.

Ah thank you Hingle.
She's all packed and gone to bed early. Not sure she'll be sleeping much though (I definitely won't!)

Philosophy is the interview she's really dreading as she's never done anything like it before!

Hubble from reading threads on here and TSR it's often the dc who think the interview went horrifically who end up with an offer.

Kitten very glad to hear it went well, and was all about the maths! And relax!! Wine

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 04/12/2017 22:33

Good luck to her Lobster, soon you will both be able to breathe a little.

All that build up and it’s done. I refuse to think about the next bit until we have had Christmas.

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AtiaoftheJulii · 04/12/2017 22:41

So does anyone know if it a good sign or a bad sign to be asked for interview by another college?

Marmite, it could be a good sign, a bag sign, or a completely neutral sign of standard procedure! Not helpful I know, but it's honestly a completely pointless exercise to try to divine any meaning Grin

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marmiteloversunite · 04/12/2017 22:51

Thanks Atia! DD is just going with the system and grabbing all opportunities. That's all she can do.

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Hubble25 · 04/12/2017 22:51

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RaindropsAndSparkles · 04/12/2017 22:55

Who knows. Last year dd had three Oxford interviews and didn't get an offer. Her A'Level results were so amazing, she dropped 7 UMS points overall, she decided to have another pop. This time Cambridge and a different subject! For those who remember and dd has had a rollercoaster few years dropping out of Yr 12 in 2014 due to anorexia, anxiety and depression and then a diagnosis of ADHD which was at the root of all this but nobody realised because she was well behaved and high performing - and it can manifest differently in girls!

It has all been rather eye opening. Today she Had, I think a subject interview, a general interview, An unseen reading exercise, a second interview a taxi ride away, and a scheduled assessment from 4-5. The taxi from interview 2 to assessment didn't show up. The replacement taxi took her to the wrong faculty. She got her own back to the admissions base and they arranged for her to do the assessment an hour late and alone. They said she wouldn't be penalised because it was their fault not hers. she took it all in her stride. A year ago that would have been a complete disaster.

We're in. She's had two ibuprofen because to top it all AF arrived to say hello. One couldn't make it up.

Is in the past. We'll see what the future holds.

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PandaG · 04/12/2017 23:12

Found you! Well DS is in Clare, staying overnight before 2 interviews tomorrow. Had a brief text to say he was there OK, and nothing more, but I don't expect to. For those who have already had their interviews, hope you can relax a little, for those interviewing this week or next I hope they feel they are able to show themselves to their best.

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HostofDaffodils · 05/12/2017 00:06

What's your son applying to study Panda? I know Clare quite well...

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kaiserschmarrn · 05/12/2017 07:23

Panda, my DS also has an interview at Clare, for Maths. He is on his way right now, hopefully at Liverpool Street by now as his train leaves in 9 minutes. I was going to drive him up and hang around but decided against in the end and I think he prefers the hands-off approach.

I know that he's perfectly capable of getting himself to the interview but I will not rest till he gets home this evening.

I guess it's too early for Wine, isn't it?

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OhYouBadBadKitten · 05/12/2017 07:33

Good luck today people.

Kaiser, maybe a wee snifter in your coffee Grin

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Hubble25 · 05/12/2017 07:36

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HingleMcCringleberry · 05/12/2017 07:56

marmite it’s never a bad sign (‘oh we don’t think much of this one, why don’t you take a look?’) to have interviews at other colleges. It could be the other college was under-applied for in that subject, so has a chance to see other candidates. To misquote Atia, it’s neutral, and best taken as another opportunity to talk about some of your favourite things.

Hubble, I can only lend the same sort of comments as previous posters, having seen it in action - the people coming out of an interview saying ‘I’ve nailed it’ (to someone other than their parents) tend not to have performed as well as they think. I didn’t see them 10 months later when I started, so they didn’t make it into their preferred college at any rate. The people agonising, more often than not, tended to be pretty successful.

I’m sorry the philosophy one didn’t go as your DS had hoped - it is a very different way of thinking than most students will have come across at school, so can take some getting used to. I came out of my two philosophy interviews having no idea how I’d done, as every answer I gave seemed not very substantial (how do you begin to coherently answer ‘can an omnipotent being create an object they cannot live?’) I hope your boy’s in better spirits today. Game face on!

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