Should school do more to support Oxbridge candidates?

I get what you're saying to some extent, but in my Y13 classes this year I've had students interview for:

Oxford,
Medicine
Dentistry
Physiotherapy
Paramedicine
Nursing
Primary Education

I've also had students taking external admissions test this year, as well.

All these students had interviews on different time scales, and I have some students who still have upcoming interviews or haven't heard back from all their choices. Whenever mocks are scheduled, it will impact someone!

When we do "official" mocks, we deliberately use a paper that will be unseen for the students and different to last year's mock paper. People sit the mocks on the day or not at all like the real exams. Part of it is about preparation for that environment, but also to try and give everyone a realistic idea of how they are performing at the moment.

Personally I do think mocks between Decemeber-Feb of Y13 are pretty important, as they help students gauge a likely outcome for the summer, and hopefully make informed choices about their uni offers.

We don't often have students get in to Oxford or Cambridge, but when we do, they are genuinely exceptional, and usually comfortably getting As. Having "a lot on" might impact their performance, but that likely means scraping an A rather than being a good 10-20% inside the grade boundary. We do try to offer support in terms of mock interviews and guidance through the process, but we can't change things that impact other students to suit someone applying to somewhere prestigious.

I sympathise that he and you are disappointed by the rejection and disappointing results in the mocks. I think you’re having a knee-jerk reaction to that and the the suggestion he might not achieve his predicted grades.

On reflection, I imagine you’ll realise that what most people are saying is right. You will all get over the disappointment and mocks are just that…practices. There’s time for him to work really hard and boost his grades, as lots do. Now is the time for the hard work - and it has to come from him, not the school.

What exactly did you want the school to provide? Those successful with Oxbridge are often self-starters who look for resources and opportunities and access them. They find reading, webinars, stuff about interviews and they join stuff offered by the Oxbridge colleges - because lots is out there….but they have to be pro-active in finding it. Oxbridge are looking for those with passion for their subject and an ability to motivate themselves, work hard and find solutions. Passive isn’t what they want.

Sometimes people imagine those who did get in all went to indeodent schools where hours a week are devoted to Oxbridge Prep. A few schools probably do have heaps of resources,but most are sending a small handful if that to Oxbridge. They might offer to organise an interview but little more. An enthusiastic applicant can find far more online than most schools will offer.

Sorry he didn’t get in. It’s so disappointing. In the end almost all of the 23000 who applied for 3000 places will have had the top notch grades and predictions your DS had. Many many of them could have done really well there but there simply weren’t enough places. Even those who did have more support than he might have, will have been rejected. There are too many good people and not enough places.

I hope he can move forward and isn’t still feeling bitter about it, or looking for outside blame for this or the mock results. Hopefully he has some other good offers he can get excited about and can see the exams on the horizon and has the self belief to work really hard and achieve his potential. A poor set of mocks doesn’t define him and might be the kick up the arse that he needs. Onwards and uowards.

How many children are there in YR 13 at your son’s school as that is how many children deserve the same level of support from the school . Your son is not more special or more deserving than anyone else just because he’s applied to Cambridge .

Your anger seems misdirected. Ds's school is superb at backing Oxbridge candidates and their support, planning, pastoral care, meetings, talking about interviews, interview technique, practice interviews with parents who are CEO's etc, is superb. (Ds1 didn't apply to Oxbridge but many of his friends did and their parents said the school were superb, and nearly all got their place). But at the save time the school expects the children to put in the donkey work. His mocks weren't that great? He didn't get the marks for UCAS? That's down to him, surely?

OP you may want to look at/join this thread for sympathy/support

Redirected from Oxford and Cambridge 2024 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4982835-redirected-from-oxford-and-cambridge-2024

I think you are being unreasonable. My nephews and nieces had to sit, between them, their A levels and university finals when their dad had just suddenly died a week or so earlier.

Totally agree. University is intense full stop. My youngest had to sit her 2 nd year exams during the time her gran was receiving palliative care and died. No compassion for that, she just had to get on with it. Not her best grades but she still passed.

in general, university is all about juggling 6 subjects, labs, presentations, normal life and usually part times jobs all at once.

Oh and I think pre-christmas mocks are much better in general, they can have a good, much needed, rest then over the break.

OP in the kindest possible way I think you're barking up the wrong tree here.

My DS applied to Oxford, was interviewed but was unsuccessful this year. He also had his mocks the same week as the interviews.

He did fine in 2 of them but one which is content/ memory heavy he didn't have so much time as the interview was the afternoon before. He just emailed his teacher to explain the situation and she said it wasn't a problem if he slipped in that mock slightly as she knows he's on top of things generally. He did slip a grade from the summer year 12 mocks but it's no big deal.

As others have said other universities also have interviews. Medics & Vets and teachers etc can have up to 5 interviews.

It's up to our YP to manage themselves through this process, I'm not sure what exactly you expected the school to do here! ?

It was 4 weeks since Christmas

How is 4 weeks "taking their sweet time"?

It is a massive task, involving hours of standardisation, hours of moderation, hors of meetings and probably several weekends dedicated to marking by each of the teachers involved.

Your son failed in his application, sorry about his disappointment - if it is truly for him he can apply again next year with his actual grades.

You seem to be casting around pretty desperately for people to pin the blame on - and it is totally unjustified in my opinion.

Tbh, I think it’s the kids who are not on track for Oxbridge who warrant more support from schools. Limited funding necessitates hard choices.
Oxbridge candidates should be capable of organising their own time.

I think you're looking for someone else/something else to blame for the rejection. Sometimes our kids just aren't going to get into everything they apply for, that's life.

The school sounds perfectly normal in its approach to mocks and results. They take ages to mark and moderate.

Interview dates aren't fixed, so schools can't schedule around them.

That’s wrong. Oxbridge timings are very specific - UCAS application in by a set deadline date in October, assessment tests for subjects that require them in October, interviews in December, and all offers for Oxford received on the same day in early January, with Cambridge offer day around a couple of weeks later in January than Oxford.

Well, I think mocks in December of year 13 are stupidly early, unless they like to overdose on mock exams at the school and are planning yet more mock exams between now and the real thing, but other than that, don’t think the school did anything wrong. If a school is going to set them that early in year 13 (after presumably having not so very long ago done year 12 mocks to help with UCAS predictions and references), they have to expect some children won’t take them particularly seriously, as it’s a very long way off the real thing. Maybe they do it deliberately to maximise the number of children who don’t do as well as they ought to, to shock them into working harder in the Spring term!

Oxbridge timing isn’t set in stone - the interviews happen over a couple of months, and then the offers (or rejections) dribble in. There’s no set timetable that school could work around. You’re being my very unfair to them.

He can always take a year out and reapply if he gets the grades

The thing is, your son had his interview before Christmas, but other kids might have had other interviews in the last few weeks. Interviews for medicine are still happing this month; Warwick, for example, is interviewing for Eng Lit at the moment; students applying for courses that need auditions have been doing so for the last couple of months. The mocks can’t be scheduled to suit all those eventualities.

The mock results have no bearing on his actual grades, he’s now got 100 days to pull his finger out and make sure he works hard and is exam-ready in May.

I understand that you are upset but I think you are wrong on this one. They happen before Christmas because that is often better. It means Christmas can be somewhat enjoyed by students. It gives staff time to mark them over Christmas if they wish. It allows time for another set of mocks of they are deemed to be useful.
As for ‘taking their sweet time’! A level papers take hours and hours to mark. Then we moderate. Alongside doing GCSE mocks usually, and teaching all day.
Plus, these are not ‘special circumstances’, as in, unusual. Plenty of courses have interviews. Art, nursing, teaching, pharmacy, medicine, plus more at certain universities. They can’t all be scheduled around mocks.

If he is to cope in university and with life he needs to cope with mocks and his interview. You sound utterly bonkers to be blaming the school. He didn't get in because they didn't think he would make the grade. By the way the university won't be holding a parents' evening for you to moan he isn't fulfilling his potential.

He couldn't manage mocks and an interview? He wouldn't hack Oxbridge.

The date of Mocks will have been on the school timetable for at least a year! And they can't re-arrange them around one student who has an interview. What support should the school have given him? The interview process for Oxbridge is really intense, but most state schools would have no expertise in preparing students for it. How would they? If he's not currently meeting his targets he wouldn't have got in, anyway. He would still have to achieve the grades they require to take up any offered place.

I've had students predicted (and achieved) 4 A*s who didn't get into Oxbridge, even though we thought they'd be a good candidate. There are apparently roughly 23,000 applicants for about 3,000 places.

I do think this is a bit of an overreaction even if understandable. Everything about applying to Oxbridge is time-tabled well in advance as is dates and times of mocks. Planning and organising are skills young people need to develop as they transition into adulthood. The more self- sufficient they are the less spoon feeding they need and the more resilient they become. The drive and motivation has to come from the student not the school.

@lurchersforlife I am going to agree with the other posters, Ds was also an Oxbridge reject 3 years ago after interview and now has friends there. It is an incredibly heavy work load and I agree that if he struggled to juggle aspects of year 13 and felt unsupported then Oxbridge might have done him a favour. Ds2 decided it wasn't worth all the extra effort of entry exams and interviews so didn't apply.

I know it feels completely shit when it is something your child wants and they get a no. Somewhere on the higher education board there is a current students of Oxbridge thread and it may open your eyes to the sheer volume of work they have to do. There was also a parent on here who said the lie is how hard it is to get in when it truth it is how hard it is to stay there once you do get in.

He did very well to even get an interview. I hope he can put this behind him and show them what he is capable of.