Oxford uni (and just unis in general)

[law4569]

Hi all!

Just wanted some advice. My daughter is applying for spanish + beginners German and wants to do a law conversion after. She's decided she wants to apply to Oxford, Edinburgh, ucl, durham and bristol or warwick. I wanted to know people's experiences with these unis as durham and Edinburgh are very far from where we live + warwick we're unsure if it's good for her degree. For anyone whose children went to Oxford, did they do well at gcse? She got 999888777 but she's worried because of the context of her skl (she did okay) then she'll be disadvantaged. if anyone has any sort of experience on any of this id appreciate it :)

@Letsgoforaskip DD had to submit written work. I remember it well - postal strike! I delivered it by hand! Not sure they ask for this now.

Accommodation in colleges at Oxbridge is heavily subsidised and cheaper than most student accommodation anywhere else in the country. Colleges bend over backwards to keep students within the community. That’s why you have dining in Hall and minimal cooking facilities in rooms. There are accessible rooms and bursaries available. (Authority: I was Welfare Officer on my students’ union at Cambridge).

That may well be the case but they’re not going to turn away students who need to live at home for whatever reason.

A tiny minority and “might get homesick” is not a reason.

For some it is, if there is ND in the mix or other life circumstances. They’re not going to know on application anyway.

They will clock very easily that the fit is not right. They have a duty to do so, actually. Not fair to let people in who will obviously struggle socially.

So you’re saying they’ll clock when there is ND in the mix and shut the door. Isn’t that actually against disability law?What they have a duty to do is to give reasonable adjustments to ensure all disabilities are catered for and the disabled are enabled to attend if they are offered a place. I would imagine they have a lot of non social ND students,particularly in STEM

OP, I really don't think she would want to go home every weekend if she was there. Literally nobody does that. The terms are only 8 weeks long - they're barely there as it is!

Looks like they welcome and encourage students with difficulties, whether that be ND, MH,SEND or other disabilities.

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/for-disabled-students.

You’re missing the point. Of course neurodiverse students can find their social niche, often exactly in colleges with lots of STEM students. That’s why is why they are welcomed. But it doesn't work if they go home all the time.

Unless there is some drip feed about your dd having a serious disability it would be a HUGE mistake to go to Oxford and go home every weekend. Actually I think it would be impossible. Your dd would need to have access to library facilities over the weekend unless she was absolutely heroically organised during the week and decided not to engage in any of the social life of her college/uni and do no extracurriculars (also a huge shame to miss out on).

Aside from that: of course there’s no reason not to apply. A 7 in both her analytical essay subjects (history and English) at private school is not going to impress anyone at all. She only did 9 GCSEs so it is not like she had a really big workload (compare my DD’s state school where 11 or 12 is the norm and the top set kids will smash out all 8s and 9s).

So your dc GCSEs are good but not great - and Oxford looks for people capable of greatness.

One reason Oxford look at excellence in GCSEs is because they can. The have to filter out the best candidates somehow. There are plenty of candidates with all 8s and 9s. Why would then need to take candidates with 7s? My neighbour’s son is an immigrant who arrived in the UK age 15 and started Y10 and got eight 9s and one 8 and then 4 strong Alevels (mid of A*/A ) and he still didn’t get an offer after his interview.

A lot rides on the tests and the interview.

Id say your dd needs an utterly compelling Personal Statement and prepare prepare prepare for the interview. Four good predicted A levels says a lot about her potential ability to take on a big workload … but if she messed up English GCSE can she deliver the goods at A level?

What are her supercurriculars like?

When I got my Oxford offer (straight As at my state school) I was also doing six hours of orchestral rehearsals a week, and had taken grade 8 (distinction) in my two instruments in year 10 and year 11 alongside 9 GCSEs. In year 11 also I started to teach myself Russian because I had fallen in love with Russian political history and literature and I read and read and read everything I could get my hands on, from biographies of Tsars to translations of Dostoevsky and Pushkin. You have to demonstrate you have something a bit special about you; something to talk about. And it needs to be genuine - I didn’t do those things in order to have something to talk about at interview, I really was a nerd!

Many ND students at uni need to live at home or go home regularly to manage overwhelm. Any uni including Oxford will need to accommodate that and I’m sure they do.

@VioletFig i disagree. I think it would be really frowned on to disappear home at weekends. In the same way you are supposed to contract with the college you won’t do paid work in term time. Terms are short. College life depends on the exchange of intellectual ideas. That doesn’t happen if for 48 hours everyone vanishes home so mummy can do laundry and the students can be tucked up in their own coat beds.

This is an elite university. You’re supposed to be a bit outside your comfort zone!

Oxford University regulations require undergraduates to live within 6 miles of Oxford city center during term time. If your family home is farther away, you are still expected to sleep in your college accommodation.

If you have a disability it needs to be catered for. Needing to go home more than others to decompress isn’t not going out of your comfort zone it’s managing a disability .

Good grief.

There were heaps of ND kids at Oxford alongside myself and we all managed. You build resilience by pushing yourself a little outside what you’re comfortable with. It doesn’t always feel “nice” but it’s not supposed to. The challenge is part of your learning journey, and it is a driver of personal growth.

Oxford has always been a home for brilliant ND students. If anything the Scout system, the high amount of contact time with a personal and subject tutor, the fact you may have two or three years living in university accommodation, the fact most colleges encourage you to eat in their subsidised dining halls at breakfast, lunch and dinner, that there is an active JCR with a welfare officer and a hardship fund, that you are assigned a buddy from the year above when you start …All these things add up to a huge amount of support.

You shouldn’t be ducking out to decompress at home. It’s just a bad idea. If someone is so flakey they can’t survive eight weeks there, they don’t belong there.

Does her school not offer any university counseling? Your questions should all be answered by a school based university counselor.

Discounting a good university because of distance from home is very short sighted, fwiw.

Those are all very selective. Has she got anything as a back up option?

Wow how ableist can you get. It’s not ducking out and autism isn’t being a bit flakey. Forcing students to not manage their condition properly and have breaks at the weekend if they need to is foolhardy. Thankfully Oxford appears to be better informed, any student can go home at weekends and for those with disability it can be written into their student support plan. Sounds as if they’re hugely support for young carers and parents too.

It isnt necessarily an issue. I got a B in my gcse eng lit and got an offer from cambridge (20 yrs ago). Like your dd i had a bad day and got top grade A level.

But

I was comprehensive educated. They will expect more from private or grammar.

I had a lot of excellent extra curricular (2 instruments at grade 8, county orchestra, regional debate competitions, some very unique good quality direct experience in the subject).

In life generally ive had a lot of feedback that i interview well.

I would say don't give up because of gcse grades. My daughter got in with 988765333, so its not impossible. Good predicted grades and application as well as performance in the exam and interview are what mattered.

Did you go to Oxford or Cambridge @VioletFig ? Do you have a child there?

Anyone can read a website. And, in any event, none of this is relevant to OP’s child.

That’s as may be however anybody with a ND or disabled young person will be hugely put off by this thread and they shouldn’t be. Oxford are clearly better informed and understanding than many on this thread. They clearly have excellent disability and SEND support and welcome applicants with both alongside those dealing with struggles in life.

We don’t know if it’s relevant to the op’s child. Said child has been bullied so is clearly resilient. Maybe op you could weave overcoming adversity(bullying) into the personal statement, it might help explain the GCSEs you’re worried about. I’d get advice from school though.

It’s pretty ableist of you to assume that disabled or SEND students can’t last 8 weeks in a row at a university that offers them extensive support.

DD graduated from Uni of Bristol Law School yesterday 😁.

Bristol was her wild card choice - she hadn't visited it until offer holders day (by which time she's already accepted her place - she'd been turned down by her top choice, and decided she didn't like the other London option and Nottingham was too far away).

She had grades 7-9 in GCSEs, AAAB in A levels/EPQ and an LNAT score of 27.

As a widening participation student (I was a full time carer/single parent when she started) the support she received was fantastic. She has an annual bursary which enabled her to access lots of opportunities she might have struggled to afford otherwise, including lots of education and networking events in London, mini pupillages (she worked with a well respected chambers on a murder case alongside a KC) and a month volunteering for women's rights and safety groups in Cape Town.

She worked for the Careers service and while she can't speak for the rest of the uni said they offered lots of additional/tailored support services to neurodivergent students such as quiet events and longer appointments.

She lived in the centre of Bristol in halls for her first year - en suite room with a small double bed. It had been refurbished so was much more modern than the pics on the website showed and was perfectly clean, safe and comfortable. Second year in Clifton - great area, house was appalling but this was partly because a friend let her down so she was late to find accommodation. Her final year has been in Redlands - lovely house (she knew the people who were moving out last summer and got them to put a word in) and has had a great time. Rent is expensive, and finding somewhere is competetive but that's the same in most uni towns/cities.

Bristol is a big city - there are pockets that aren't so nice, you will see poverty there and less savoury characters, however DD has never felt unsafe there and I have never had cause to worry about her. The bus service is great and she got a free pass included in the cost of her first year accommodation - not sure if they still do that.

Another thing to consider is that if she went to Bristol and wanted to stay for her law masters (and it's highly respected for law) she would get a 25% fees discount as a Bristol alum.

That said, if you don't get the vibes, that's a big consideration. We liked Nottingham uni campus but the city itself massively gave us the willies! I liked QM campus and DD wanted to be in London but really didn't want to go to a campus uni. It's also the timing and life stage they're at - the first uni we looked at was LSE, which DD immediately discounted for her undergrad, but she's off there in September for postgrad.

Honestly I'd say do your research but have faith that sometimes things work out different to how you expected for exactly the right reasons. Good luck!