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?

Liz Truss did NOT come from humble roots. She would not have qualified for a contextual offer or any of the improving access programmes. Check what her dad’s job was!

I think, reading around the somewhat varied and obsessive pots by this OP, that they had a Cambridge offer, missed it, and think that Oxford's system would have let them in.

Hence the grump at Oxford for being unfairly lenient. Or something.

You weren’t disadvantaged though? Your predicted grades were based on how you had performed without the extra time so you should/could have got those grades, or were expected to get them - if you’d been getting extra time in your mocks/assignments but didn’t when you had the real exams then you’d have a point

you say yourself you were on course for those grades - suddenly getting a diagnosis didn’t change your level of performance

Oh, it's you again.

Between you and the other one who didn't even APPLY yet has a bee in their bonnet despite doing well since, the board is quite Oxbridged-out.

You both need to build a bridge and get over it.

And im not sure what Liz Truss has to do with anything?

🤣They should have thought about that when they applied to Cambridge. Although, of course, Oxford might well have rejected them last year, too, before they even got their inconvenient results.

Someone I knew with outstanding grades was given a deferred place as the Oxbridge uni suggested they needed a year to “mature”. Sounds like you might need one as well…

And she's got the bit between her teeth again at, erm, 01:15 on a Saturday morning.

Honest op. So your resits and go to university. It hardly matters which one. If you are as bright as you think then you will do well anywhere. Let go of the bitterness it’s not helping you or anyone else

In the past I have certainly known people to be given very low offers for Oxbridge, but only after the interviews, presumably to ensure that they accepted. But at the same time I was told that academic staff would certainly not be pleased if the candidate failed to get their predicted AAA - in the days when an A was the highest grade you could get.

Edit to add, although there used to be an ‘S’ level - I did one decades ago and am still bemused at how on earth I managed a distinction in that, while only getting a C in the A level!

@janeeire244 "Even Liz Truss (when vying for office in 2022) suggested forcing Oxford and Cambridge to interview all students who had achieved 3As (so applying post A-levels) and to give preference to those with 3As over lesser grades."

I think citing the batshit-crazy Liz Truss doesn't really help your argument, whatever it may be.

I don't know the answer to your question OP but what I do know from being the parent of a recent Oxbridge graduate (as well as of two non Oxbridge graduates) that going to Oxbridge really isn't the be all and end all. The other two unis had many advantages over Oxbridge, there was a lot more time for fun and pursuing extra curricula activities and there were excellent links with industry meaning those two left with work experience that helped hugely in the graduate job market. Child 3 had a mixed experience at her Oxbridge college and wouldn't rush to repeat it.

Under the bridge rather than over it, surely?

If your complaint is with Oxford, why are you saying Oxbridge when you only mean oxford? This really annoys me. They are two entirely separate universities.

Also can you share this data source?

I actually have every sympathy for students who get obsessed with Oxford. It's part of the Zeitgeist and young people can't help being revved up by all it seems to signify. Part of me thinks that it should revert to being a niche place where scholar monks go.

OP you didn't get in. Stop wasting your time and headspace.

Why quote the entire OP? In any thread it's a given that you're responding to it unless you say otherwise.

Sorry if I am repeating here. Oxbridge has an unusual teaching process with 1:1 or 1:2 tutorials/supervisions every week, sometimes 2 a week. Not many lectures (for non sciences anyway).

In your tutorial you are expected to explain your essay and justify the views put forward in it. You might be asked something completely new. They are looking for students who will thrive in that system, will have something to say when challenged and can put together a cogent argument on the spot (without getting emotional or defensive). They used to interview every single applicant in person, as this personality/discussion aspect was so important to them. The interview is still very important.

It’s really not just about exam results. Nor should it be. Oxbridge isn’t some prize for doing the best in exams. It’s a specific teaching system and they very sensibly look for those most suited to it.

Why didn’t you get in then if your OP is true?
You’re one of those students who was predicted high, presumably interviewed okay and then didn’t succeed. You’d be a prime candidate under your OP?

Oxford used to have an entrance exam in the 90s - if people passed that, and the interview stage, the offer was two Es at A Level - effectively an 'unconditional offer' but the UCAS system required them to enter at least two A Level grades.

This made it awkward for my friend, who was unofficially told that despite the two Es on the form, they wouldn't let her in with less that AAB (STEM subject) but because of the way UCAS worked, she couldn't pick a second choice university showing higher grades than her first choice. Fortunately she got 3 As.

How do you know about the low admissions test scores, OP? The test scores aren't shared with anyone, either the schools or the candidates. Have you infiltrated the admissions databases?

In fact you DON'T know that the candidates admitted had low test scores.

sorry OP but Liz Truss didn’t come from humble roots. She had a very privileged upbringing

Having lesser grades in exams doesn't automatically mean that you are less intelligent. You might just have had a bad day, or been badly taught in respect of one of the questions. Or the person who did better may have good exam technique but be unable to express themselves or argue their case in interview.

I had a friend at school who - in the days before A stars - achieved 11 As at GCSE and 4 at A level. She was also very well rounded, good at everything, and one of only a few young people nationally who was selected for some sort of overseas adventure travel thing. She didn’t get into Cambridge. She went to Edinburgh; had a wonderful time there; and has made her life happily in rural Scotland.

My brother went to Oxford with one of the fabled EE offers (he took the entrance exam and got strings of As at A level, STEP and S level). He has two close friends who went to Cardiff and Leicester and considers them both ferociously intelligent. The one who went to Leicester especially has done extremely well in his career. (Obviously this is based on a sample size of one, but so is the OP!)

I promise you, OP, Oxbridge isn’t everything.

I genuinely think you should look at accessing some counselling to learn to deal with rejection. It sounds like you've posted a lot and it's really not healthy. Is it your wish to go or are your parents pressuring you?

I take it you're taking a year off to try to improve your grades and try to get in again. Other universities are also good, try to broaden your mind set.

And A levels are just a route to the next level of study, once you've done that no-one will care what grades they were. They feel really important at the time, but you will look back and realise they quickly fade into insignificance once you have a degree, post grad studies etc.

I say that as someone who didn't get an offer from Oxbridge, moved on and never looked back.