Why does Oxbridge do this? Do you know any Students like this?

[janeeire244]

Why are there so many students at Oxbridge who study competitive degrees like law with relatively low A-level grades such as anything below 3A*s but also including AAA or even AAB? Most of these people applied with inflated predicted grades but are let in when they get lower grades than they were predicted either because they still met the really low entry requirements (shockingly Oxford Law is at AAA) or if they miss it and get AAB, they are reprieved?

I don’t even think it’s fair to say that they shone at some other stage of the application process because I know of some students who got relatively low admissions test scores or mediocre GCSEs and got in as well.

This is all the while they reject people with much high admissions test scores or much better grades.

That being said I’ve never heard of anyone who did poorly on the interviews get an offer (poorly by Oxbridge standards not just them thinking they did badly).

Do you know anyone at Oxbridge studying a degree (especially a competitive one like law) with an average admissions test score or below average; or less than 3A*s at A-level?

Less than 3 A*s isn't 'below average'. AAA is a very good A Level result.

@janeeire244 - when it came down to it, you did not meet Cambridge’s expectations. You were not good enough. The difference between the predictions your school made about you and your actual results were so far wide of the mark that you were rightfully rejected. You, or your school, should have had more honesty and integrity and stated that you would only stand a chance of getting the grades predicted for you if you were given extra time in your exams. Neither you nor your school told the truth in your original application, or alternatively, if you thought you were telling the truth, then you have a tendency to massively overestimate your capacity to meet the claims you make about yourself. The latter seems likely, given your current behaviour.

Oxbridge offers, offers, are usually AAA. So, a three A-star predicted student is ok to get AAA because it meets the offer.
You have no argument with students meeting their offer of AAA and going to Oxbridge.

Lower offers - they are Contextual Offers and I’m sure you know what they are.

Not every grade-qualified & great LNAT applicant gets an offer. There are just too many. Every year, many are disappointed - you must go and make Lemonade … you won’t find a way into Oxbridge on MN.

How many times on this thread have you told this teenager that they're not good enough - what are you trying to do, destroy them!

No, just reflecting back to them their opinion of every other student who didn’t meet the grades Cambridge asks for in order to get a place to read Law. They can’t have it both ways.

No, just reflecting back to them their opinion of every other student who didn’t meet the grades Cambridge asks for in order to get a place to read Law. They can’t have it both ways.

First, their school will have decided on the predicted grades, not the student.

And second, I think the OP's grumble is that although Cambridge didn't accept them with a missed grade (or several, who knows), Oxford might have been more lenient to a student with the same grades.

What relevance does Oxford have to a student who applied to Cambridge?

I'm not sure whether in the OP's opinion that makes Oxford better or worse, mind.

Not a lot, but I'm trying to make sense of the posts!

Anyway... good luck with the resits, OP. Do you have offers in hand that look realistic this time?

And the OP’s gripe is also that they believe themselves to be exceptional, whereas they do not believe any other students who failed to meet their grades are remotely as worthy as they are - on the basis of them having taken the LNAT after they were rejected by Cambridge, and after an extra year of preparation for taking it, and also on the basis of knowing nothing whatsoever about any of the other candidates. It’s a ridiculous obsession on their part, a waste of time and a waste of energy.

This is your 31st thread you have started on the same topic, in the last 2 months.

What are you expecting this one to achieve, that hasn't been answered on the 30 previous ones ???

Oh God…

Can MNHQ not have a word with this poster because this is getting out of hand and clearly isn’t helping the OP. He/she won’t stop with this obsession and never takes in any advice anyone gives on their threads.

I knew someone who studied engineering who got an unconditional offer, and got 2Es in his actual A Level.

This was back in late 90s.

Suddenly picturing OP in the dayroom at an asylum in Switzerland.

Those students who got under AAA didn’t meet Oxford’s expectations but were let in.

That would be when they still had the Entrance Test- I don't think anyone gets in with such low grades now!

You didn’t apply to Oxford, so fact is utterly irrelevant. You chose to apply to the only university in the country that was not going to let you in unless you performed as expected in your A-levels. You got what you deserved.

But they obviously did in the other measures that Oxford consider. The drop out rate for Oxbridge is very very low. They’re doing something right in their selection process. Are there people who would do well that don’t get in? Yes. But the reverse is not really true.
And Cambridge do take people who don’t quite meet their grades sometimes.

In conclusion, @janeeire244 was not considered by Cambridge to be a sufficiently worthy candidate to merit a place. Good for Cambridge. Not good for janeeire244.

Their exam results and achievements in the other elements of the application process are nothing to do with you, though.

What is something to do with you is your current situation, in which you need to focus on what's right and realistic for you. Do you want to be so focused on these two universities that you miss out on all the other opportunities available to you? Or do you want to get over your past disappointment and embrace the reality that you might find a better 'fit' for yourself at one of the many other excellent universities and colleges available?

You chose to apply to the only university in the country that was not going to let you in unless you performed as expected in your A-levels.

Well, not the only one. Many universities wouldn't take a candidate who missed the grades. That's the point of having an insurance offer.

To be fair, last year an awful lot of universities took students who failed to meet their grades, and took students through clearing on lower grades than the originally advertised grade expectations. It’s not exactly a secret that the university sector is struggling for money and needs bums on seats.