Grrrrr sorry this is a silent vent about ds who is 'undecided' re university - bit late!

What you've posted so far, NAO, says to me he's really not ready to decide now what he wants to do next year.

But the questioning is more subtle than why you have chosen a particular college. Once you have chosen your college and your course you have in effect chosen your tutor. The tutor will be interviewing to see whether your ds is a good fit to that tutor or not. Surely his school has drummed that into him?! Or do they not usually prepare for oxbridge?

Not in the 'formal' interview. In the informal chat bit (which they are still listening to and judging you on).

Apparently there are 3 ways to answer that question well:

1. You have a family/personal connection
2. You are a possible rugby/rowing blue and it's a sporty college
3. They have a reputation for something you are very, very good at/interested in such as drama or running an active college newspaper...

At Cambridge, he doesn't necessarily need to choose a college- he could make an "open" application and be allocated a college. However, the colleges are very different in their strenghths and "feel" so he might prefer to choose.

Having said that I was allocated my college through the pool system and it worked out fine for me- I had a blast.

So what is it about Oxbridge that attracts him? Why not Harvard or Yale where he can try a number of different courses before specialising.

He's got to decide for himself, NAO - don't let him put it on to you because if it all goes wrong later it'll be your fault.

If he can't decide this year say OK, fine, do something else while you make your mind up - don't decide for him, whatever you do!

But the original advice still stands - give him some time to work out what he wants.

If he asks you to decide then the above is my considered opinion!

They'll pick up on the lack of college preference.

Interviewer: "So why did you pick X?"

Me: "Family connection"

Translation: my father and uncle went there and I didn't know what college to pick. Had I not had that answer I'd have been screwed!

But it will work to his advantage because he can look at which college suits his 'profile' best.

He doesn't have a preference for either Oxford or Cambridge?

I'd say he applies for Cambridge and 5 other places for natsci or similar and RADA, Guildhall and Royal Welsh, possibly the Northern, for drama. At least I think those are still done separately to the UCAS system.
Then he can decide.

(My mother pushed my brother into medicine - "my son the doctor". He got through the first year, then messed up the second year; failed twice & dropped out - because it was her idea, not his)

If he wants drama then maybe he should think about RADA or something, not uni at all.

He doesn't know what he wants to do any more. He doesn't need to decide now - he is only 18 for heaven's sake! Take a step back, tell him to do the same, there is NO RUSH!!!

Tell you what. Let's tell him this NOA

'ds - here's how it is. Either you get your sweet arse in gear and give this some proper applied thinking and deciding - or else I'm opening it up to MN. And they are going to decide your course'

then I'll pop up shouting

I think he should do Tourism and Home-making combined with Hispanic Studies

or something like that.

Might work.

If he's undecided, I think NatSCi is a good option. My friend did NatSci and decided at the end of her first year she wanted to do medicine. However, there was no place to do medicine as it operated a quota system (I assume it still does but don't know for sure). However, she chose her NatSci courses carefully and as a result, was able to shave a year off her medicine degree when she did it as a post-grad. (Expensive way of doing it though, because of course she had to pay all her tuition fees as well as living expenses).

If your son's heart isn't in medicine it will come out at the interview. I think a gap year sounds like a good idea. If he gets the great A levels he is presumably predicted he will also be in a stronger position at interview.

On the other hand, if he decides to pursue medicine, there will be plenty of opportunities for acting should he be successful in getting a place at Cambridge- although as a medic he might not have very much time for acting compared to his friends pursuing arts courses.

Which college is he interested in?

Natsci sounds a good choice and he can have plenty of time to indulge in theatre! They will like a strong extra-curricular interest and dedication to his academic subjects too.

Why the Oxbridge obsession? Has he visited, talked to people, found out what it's really like, decided on a college?

I was also very Oxbridge focussed but not sure why. I ended up rejecting my place because I knew it was the wrong place for me. Hence the unscheduled gap year! In fact there are a lot of similarities between your DS and I, except I applied for Geography and my extra curricular interest was music which I ended up doing a degree in.

One word of advice though - if he's applying for Oxbridge he can only write a personal statement for that course so no join honours courses in biology and drama!

Oh PPE is pretty rigorous I think - lots of frightfully bright people did PPE when I was there a hundred years ago.

Oh just tell him to take a year out, do something earnest or useful or interesting or boring or whatever, think about what he really wants to do & then apply next year when he knows. Or the year after. Or whenever. But make it his decision, not yours, & him to do the legwork, not you.

I've always thought it's ludicrous to make them decide at an age when they really don't know

Or point out all the actors, directors, comedians which have studied medicine only to join dramatic society at Oxford and do that instead. That might cheer him up.

NAO, don't have children that age myself, so apologies if teaching you to suck eggs, but I have 2 cousins who are currently medical students and I would say that you have to be really dedicated to medicine to get a place on a good course. It's fiercely competitive (no doubt more so in present straitened times) so if your DS isn't really committed, I would imagine that would be very obvious in an interview. So if he does want to do it, I'd suggest he either gives himself a bit of a kick up the backside or takes a year out to make up his mind.

Does he fancy a year out?

Medicine is so tough! I spoke to a registrar the other week who is wondering - after over 7 years training, if she is in the right profession!

He can always combine an interest in Drama with an academic course. The Cambridge Footlights????

I feel your pain, DD was unsure as to what exact course until very late, and even last week was saying if she didn't make the grade would take a year out and reapply for a totally different course at another uni!

Hopefully he will get some sound advice from the career staff at his school when Term starts. They tend to spend ages helping them with statements etc.

Good Luck