whose dc has got into Cambridge from state school?

Which year is your DD in ggirl? If it is year 13 then AFAIK Oxbridge applications have to be made by October 15th (and you submit the rest of your UCAS form at the same time). If it is year 12 then she has rather longer to think about it.

DH went to Cambridge (natural sciences) from a bog standard Manchester comp.

i went to cambridge - having been at a very rough state school to GCSE, changed schools to a much more academic one for A levels - i think this helped me to get in as my headmaster was very keen to get a pupil into Cambridge (he started at the school just before i joined) so used to fire practise interview questions at me whenever he saw me

with cambridge a lot of whether or not you get a place depends on the college you apply to as much as the subject you study - for example colleges like trinity & st johns which are probably the best known have very stringent interviews & still make about 3 offers for every place - which means if you drop a grade you almost certainly wont get in. the newer colleges like robinson are supposedly much easier to get into especially if you are at state school, and they have a lower ratio of offers to places.

kings has a lot of state school pupils but they very much pick to a certain type - all the people i knew from there were VERY pc, politically active etc - the girls all used to do the reclaim the night marches etc (no offence to anyone meant - but thats the type they look to admit)

Not my DC, but my sister studied maths at Cambridge and went to a comprehensive school.

One friend's child going to Cambridge and one to Oxford this year from comps.

Both universities run open days specifically for maths, which may help your dd clarify her thoughts about what she wants to study and why.

I was offered an Oxford place coming from a rough comp and an even rougher family. It was clear in the interview and exams that I had not been educated to the level of other students and I had to work hard but they wanted me despite my background. IN the end it was me that turned them down for the lights of London.

my Dad is a bursar at one of the colleges in Cambridge - they have alot of access days from regular state schools and send students and lecturers to schools across the country to try to up their numbers.
The difficult thing for alot of schools is that the application system is totally separate from the UCAS system and if they don't have many students going through that system it can feel complicated.

If she knows which college she would like to attend she could be getting in touch to see if she could look round etc to wet her appetite.

I went to oxford from a pretty rubbish comp. Being from a state school isn't that much of a disadvantage, and tutors in most oxbridge colleges are actively looking for ways to increase state-school numbers.

But no point in applying to Cambridge unless she knows why she wants to go there rather than another place. And that involves deciding what subject she really wants to do, and which place teaches it best.

my nephew got an offer & turned it down! Dh & I both went, all from grammars though. It would be interesting to know the %age of non grammar v grammar state oxbridge entrants.

my nephew did

maths

Darrell would love to know which one... DH also went to possibly the poorest performing secondary in Bham... was offered a place at Oxford (Mathematics), but turned them down to go to Manchester.

ggirl My friend's DD went to Oxford, and read French- she had a year abroad between Y2 and Y3... so it does happen. They had to do a year abroad- was compulsory, though of course that was because of language immersion.

Some colleges are very committed to taking state school applicants, IIRC Kings College is about 70% state school pupils and suspect others will be too. I suggest she goes there for an open day to get a feel for the place, and whether she would like to study there.

Economics is probably the most difficult subject to get into at Cambridge. I checked the statistics when DS was applying to university and found there were more applications per place than for vet science. Lots of overseas applications as it is one of the world's best universities - so you aren't only competing against students from the UK. If your DD is undecided about the course or wants to do a sandwich course there are plenty of other good universities - check out Bath which definitely does a 4 year with sandwich course for economics (don't know about finance/business).

I went to a mixed comp and 6th form college up north, then to Oxford. The sixth form college was the only sixth form provision in the entire town so had a huge range of abilities, but about 20 went to Oxbridge from my year. Nine of them came from my comp which was VERY socially-diverse! It happens.

I hardly need add that I had no preparation at all for the interview etc, the careers adviser at school was useless. Still, seem to have done something right...

DH went to very very rough comp in Birmingham and he was probably the first there to go to Cambridge
He is v driven

To get into any of the top flight of universities she needs to have something fairly specific to aim for IME

ggirl my only advice on the math at oxbridge suggestion is only allow your girl to do it if she is a real mathmo. It's a very academically rigourous course filled with truly talented math minded individuals. If she is not one she fall by the wayside as it really is tough.
Oxbridge don't really offer vocational degrees (ob exception medicine, law etc) ie accounting or finance, business etc but are obviously excellent for a first degree before specialisation in these subjects

My cousin did. This was years ago, about 14 or so I think but she got in after going to a school in East London. I believe she studied History and English and she's now very successful and works in the media.

Sorry!!! Don't be put off!!! It's just the poncey name for the degree (comes from the 3-legged stool upon which students used to sit to take exams, apparently...). Just degrees, really.

my niece did this yr.
my old comp still gets 3-4 kids into oxbridge each year.

I was offered a place at cambridge to do maths and went to a ss, and a couple of people in my year went to oxford.
(didnt go cos screwed up a levels majorly, but the place was mine if I had got the grades!)

Had a phone call from my ex neighbour last week when we both used to live in a grotty part of Leeds. They had 5 boys under 7 then who all went to comp. No 2 son has just left Cambridge & is studying for his MBA in Paris, no 4 son is still there, no 5 son is applying.

Some schools are better at putting forward applicants than others. Maybe worth looking at the school's record on this?

Lots do from ours - about 15 into Oxbridge every year I think - but it is a high-achieving selective grammar so not typical.

(Actually the 6th form part is not highly selective, but most of the Oxbridge entrants came from the lower school, which is)