How do Unis/oxbridge offer contextual offers?

[Universityworries]

Well not just contextual offers but also how they expect candidates to perform in interviews etc as I have read on previous threads that Oxford/Cam have different expectations for students coming from Eton/SPS and students from normal comps.

If a student went to an average state school with average GCSE results but a ‘better’ sixth form (still state though) in a more middle class area, with better A Level results, would they still take into account the secondary she attended if they were to look at her GCSES?

Sorry if it is obvious but I’m interested/slightly worried! Thanks all.

This might help: www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/promoting-equal-opportunities/our-approach-to-access-and-participation/

There’s a score by postcode (POLAR I think it’s called).

There's normally a detailed policy published on each university's website eg www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/entry-requirements-qualifications/contextual-offers/

Undergraduates at Oxford are admitted by one of the 45 individual colleges or halls, and not by the university, so approaches may vary between the many admissions tutors responsible for the process.

For some subjects, Oxford (and I think also Cambridge) ask you to submit an essay that has already been marked by the teacher.

I understand that they like to see the comments from the teacher because it helps them to judge the quality of teaching that the pupil is receiving.

Oxbridge does not give contextual offers.

I can't answer the question but when I was at University my economics lecturer mentioned that he had been accepted by Oxford University but as his A level grades were better than expected he was able to go to a better university than Oxford or Cambridge.

Universities will say on their admissions pages whether they offer contextual offers or not and what their criteria are. My son goes to one of the best sixth forms in the country, but he has had a contextual offer (one grade lower for one A level) from one of the universities he has applied for as we live in the lowest quintile for university attendance and his senior school had lower than average GCSE results.

In the case of Oxford, every application has certain information linked to it including, has the candidate been in care, the POLAR score, information about the average performance of the school (and yes I think there is information about both GCSE school and A-level school as people change). Certain flags ie: the in care one or a certain total number of flags mean you are supposed to be invited for an interview as long as you meet minimum requirement ie: any GCSE grade requirements, minimum admission test score where a test is given for that subject. Some subjects ask for written work and yes they do ask for it to have teacher comments so they can see what feedback the school gives.

Once at interview, the contextual information doesn't guarantee you an offer but the tutors are aware of the flags still so will know if you are likely to have had more practice in debating clubs, interview practice with teachers experience in getting candidates into Oxford etc.

Both Oxford and Cambridge increasingly use some element of centralised 'pool' (actually called that at Cambridge) or centralized discussion to try and take out the influence of college choice over whether you get a place. 15 years or so ago, choosing the right college made a huge difference but they are trying to make it so that if you are of high quality you will get a place even if you apply to an oversubscribed college (before you could be good but the college you applied to might have loads of applicants so you don't get a place where another college has fewer good candidates so you would have got in there.). How this is managed varies by subject.

They system is by no means perfect and there are biases built into it (plus the element of having an interviewer) but there is increasing awareness of those biases and efforts are being made to take into account social and school background and the impacts of those. Interviewers have to have training which addresses bias, the contextual flags, attempts to negate the importance of college choice etc. It is certainly better than it was but there is still more that could be done.

No idea about other universities.