Do Oxbridge like to see a MFL at GCSE?

I would add it is perfectly possible to get into Cambridge with no GCSEs as it is not an admission requirement and obviously the UK is the only place they are usually done (apart from Singapore etc still sometimes doing O'Levels). So no overseas students have GCSEs, and mature applicants sometimes don't have many 16+ qualifications either. In such cases we looked at things like Access courses and so on.

I have been involved in Cambridge admissions in the past and we didn't give a toss what subjects GCSEs were in as long as they looked sufficiently bookish and there was a clutch of some good grades in there.

In any event a couple of Bs outside the main area of interest is not going to hurt that much

I think that may well be the case. DS1 had a couple of Bs, ironically both in MFLs which peeved him greatly, and possibly on at least one perhaps I should have supported a remark on a highly questionable paper. Was not a barrier however to a place at Cambridge to read a subject rated 1st in all 3 of the league tables and at one of the high ranking colleges. May well get the boast in early and not be remotely stealthy about it either I'm not convinced having MFL at GCSE made any difference whatsoever.

That said this was a couple of years ago now. With the effective demise of AS things are increasingly different. Cambridge have announced today that they will be (re-) introducing pre-tests across the board for 2017 applications, so by the time your DC gets into any potential application cycle the picture may be different again.

My DD will probably apply for Economics, but I think she is a bit too modest for PPE. :). In February of Lower VI, she is undecided, so probably not Oxbridge. DH living vicariously through her so pressure encouragement.

The trouble with PPE is that it is one of THE most competitive courses to get onto. The competition from the top independent schools is fierce. You do, truly,have to be very bright and dedicated to get onto this course. However there are other courses that are less competitive. No-one has to be one dimensional about their subject. My DD loved lots of things! Art, drama, singing, history, politics but academically was strongest at MFL. Being confident at interview was a help. Also,there is no pre test for MFL. The tests are done at interview.

The stats show it is not necessary to have all A* at GCSE but more than 5 is good. No need to have 12 or 13 though. Taking GCSEs early is not counted in Best 8 either. 3 sciences, 3 Maths and Computer science sounds like an overload of stem to me and not a broad curriculum. Where is design technology? This is possibly more useful than stats to an engineer.

A candidate does not get eBacc without a MFL or ancient Language so whether computer science is in it or not makes no odds. DH is a Civil engineer and they employ specialist computer staff for their IT and buy off the shelf programs. Everyone does. Industry standard procedure. Aeronautical engineering is not available at Oxbridge. Bristol and other RG universities do it.

What Oxbridge actually care about is excellence in and passion for the subject chosen for study. I've seen kids with quite a spread of grades get offers when they show they are really outstanding in subjects relevant to the proposed area of study. I used to do Maths admissions for an Oxford college and an MFL was not on our list of things to worry about, nor do I suspect it is now, nor the friggin' EBACC, which would be regarded by many admissions tutors in tech subjects as an arbitrary list of topics that M Gove liked and of no relevance whatsoever to admissions. Computer Science is a good choice now it's a real subject rather than playing with Office. In any event a couple of Bs outside the main area of interest is not going to hurt that much.

Schools obsess with the EBACC only because it affects their league table standing. This is not a remotely good enough reason to let if affect your kid's choices!

I'm not sure you have to live and breath a particular subject GinandJag.

Has she considered PPE? (aka "The Passport To Power!")

My DD got 10 A* at GCSE. She is now a scholar and attends luncheons for prospective Oxbridge applicants (she is on a conveyor belt). I don't think she is Oxbridge material as such, as she does not live and breathe a particular subject.

However, I am sure she will apply and see where the conveyor belt leads.

The key thing to getting a place at Oxford or Cambridge is to apply, which is the seed that schools are planting at an early age.

Schools all seem to mention Oxbridge as soon as they get a kid who gets A/A quite naturally. DD attended an appointment for a College place last month, and as soon as they looked at her school report, they asked her if she'd considered Oxbridge. She hasn't and frankly, I don't think it would be the place for her. She learns easily and as she is quite competitive and ambitious, she will work hard to get the top grades. She however is not a natural scholar, nor loves to learn for the sake of learning*

This. I have a child who has 9 A* and 2 As and she is not remotely Oxbridge material , for exactly the same reasons.

Of course learning a language is a chore. There are no shortcuts. A clever kid can't figure things out by inference (as much). They simply have to knuckle down and learn their vocabulary.

Surely this, in itself, is a valued transferable skill that a top university would appreciate?

If he is Oxbridge material, he should have no problem getting an A*. If he CBA, then perhaps he is not Oxbridge material after all.

I would say that for Oxbridge entry for science, a higher grade for computer science (with an overall higher percentage of top grades) would confer a very slight advantage over a lower French result. This would be more pronounced for some options, eg medicine at Oxford where the percentage of top grade GCSEs becomes more critical. For subjects with an aptitude test like Physics, acing that is way more important than GCSE results. I know of a number of recent succesful oxbridge applicants who had the odd B (or lower, and in one case, mostly Bs and Cs) at GCSE, so although it doesn't help, it won't rule you out either.

However a language can come in useful later on in unexpected ways, I know two youngsters now working in (different) French engineering firms whose GCSEs in French were a definite advantage in landing the job. One of them was predicted a C/D in year 10 and ended up with an A (change of teacher, a tutor and a lot of effort all contributed, but A was still unexpected), so it may be worth persisting.

OP, the new Computing curriculum came in from 2013. It was designed in conjunction with the Royal Society of Engineers. It means that the children below 14 years now (so everyone directly below your child and mine in age) are going to have compulsory coding, algorithm and programming classes from the ages of 5-14.

So that's all the people your child is going to be competing for jobs against in the future. And your child wants to work in STEM.

Computing GCSE is not demanding for someone doing Further Maths!

Oddly enough, DS was also prepared to consider a German out-of-hours option! I'm not filling in that form until I've had a good chat with the school on options evening anyway! Certain unis do want GCSE language for English and history, but only a very few - Durham and KCL, I think. Only UCL has it as an entrance requirement per se (with the alternative of doing a language module instead when you get there).

OP, I could have written your exact post, although I'm making no predictions on Oxbridge. I have checked Oxford admissions and the Russell Group website and they seem to be adamant that they prefer high grades to MFL. Oxford even insists it won't change the rules retroactively.
I agree having MFL is a sign of all-round skills (I did 3 at O level and loved them) and I think if you apply for arts or humanities degrees it will look really, really odd not to have done one, but my DS argues that computer science will be more use to him than French because he wants to do computing or a related subject. Only selected students can do the programming computer science GCSE so it is viewed as academically challenging and presumably that is why it's also an EBACC subject. Looking at it another way. He's planning to do 7 EBACC subjects, plus English lit, plus RE, plus art and music. To me that looks all-round academic!

TM, using a computer is ICT. It isn't the same thing as computing.

Schools all seem to mention Oxbridge as soon as they get a kid who gets A/A* quite naturally. DD attended an appointment for a College place last month, and as soon as they looked at her school report, they asked her if she'd considered Oxbridge. She hasn't and frankly, I don't think it would be the place for her. She learns easily and as she is quite competitive and ambitious, she will work hard to get the top grades. She however is not a natural scholar, nor loves to learn for the sake of learning.

Has your son expressed an interest in Oxbridge himself with the knowledge of what it truly represents?

Really @almondpudding? DS (year 9) currently choosing options has decided not to do Computer Science since he says he knows a lot about computing already (as do all children that age now). That he is more than happy using a computer, but isn't a computer nerd so will leave it to the kids that are really in to that kind of thing. He's going to choose Music and PE (along with Ebacc subjects) as they are more his interests.

I think that not very far in the future it is going to be seen as odd for any child of reasonable intelligence not to have a computer science qualification, particularly one thinking of going in to engineering or similar.

If your DS isn't doing GCSE computing, I would suggest you pay for them to at least do some online coding courses that offer certification.

The top set in Maths have to do three GCSEs - maths, further and statistics.

This doesn't make sense given the changes in the Maths GCSE. Currently they may well be doing three but I would be surprised if they are planning to do three with current year 9s. It will be much harder to get a top grade on the new maths and it contains part of the current further maths GCSE.

My da is in a similar situation , his school advise 10 , a mfl is compulsory unless dyslexia or similar is a factor so assuming 3 sciences three options . School advise as much breadth as you can can . Bear in mind with no AS levels anymore GCSEs will be the only indication universities have .

Sorry- that post was supposed to have "that was then, this is now" at the end of it!

"Husband did engineering at Oxford. He got a B in French and C in RE. What mattered were his Science/Maths grades. Good luck"

For Oxford, you need to ace the entrance test anyway. DS2s friend got an interview at Oxford for a science subject with 2 Bs including French in his portfolio. DS1 with all A and A including A MFL was 3% off threshold and didn't.