Getting into Oxbridge with average A'level results via 'connections'?

[Cortina]

Reading with interest, that this did happen in the late 80s. A case of a (very) well connected lad who got a
BCC (and fell short of his conditional offer by a distance). His family had been to Oxford for generations. His father insisted he was 'Oxford material' and in the end he was accepted.

I imagine this happens rarely if at all now?

I had a 2E offer for Oxford in the late 80s. That was the norm tbh.

I think this would be very unlikely even back in the 1980s. If he was well connected he would have done the 4th term entrance exam and then been given an EE offer.

It did happen, I know a similar case (its my generation) but ultimately who cares? Many schools have very good connections with Oxbridge colleges. Many people at Oxbridge were the same colleges as their parents. I would say now you are more likely to get an offer of a place if your parents went there but probably not so lenient on grades unless there were unusual circumstances. Its life. People get jobs because they have connections from a job to an investment banker to a job of being a postman.

I am rather naive about how these things work and read about this case with interest.

A boy after receiving his A level results sat the post A-level exam for Oxford (against the school's advice).

He sat papers in geography and failed to get a place. His parents did not accept the decision. Their son was 'unquestionably Oxford material'. On his father's side five generations had been at the university. Both parents had political and academic establishments and they approached one Oxford college after another.

They even approached Cambridge after appearing not to make progress!

Then one Oxford college looked like they were weakening. The father of the boy (at Westminster) told the head if he wrote a letter of support victory would be assured.

The head thought the boy could probably cope but there were undoubtedly hundreds of boys and girls all over the country who were better qualified for a place. He wrote, honestly but rather reluctantly.

The boy got a place but if his parents hadn't been able to mobilise the establishment on his behalf the boy wouldn't have gone to Oxford. An example of how power used to be exercised in Britain (allegedly). This happened in late 80s.

I just wondered if similar could happen today?

My friend got in with a EE offer in early 90's because she sat the entrance exam. Most students that sat the exam and were accepted had this offer. She actually got AAB, but did not need to.

I made a mistake in initial post, this boy failed the entrance exam.

where did you hear about this OP? it is just that i was at Westminster and Oxford around then and do not know about it.

I just know my tutor wouldn't have offered a place. But then I went to a very good college (as a post-grad), even within Oxbridge there are colleges and colleges.

Memoirs of Dr John Rae - a previous head of Westminster.

Oh is this one of the excerpts from John Rae's diary?

There was a scandal at one of the Cambridge colleges in the 90s when it was found to be willing to make low offers to children of alumni who were making big donations. (Someone in the college leaked a confidential memo or reported what had been said at a confidential meeting. How terribly ungentlemanly of them, don't you know.) Therefore it did happen, but from the reaction in the other colleges I think it was pretty unusual, not something that they were all doing and they were the only ones to get found out.

Ooops, crosspost.

I suspect it would be harder to get a poor candidate through now just because AAA is being so "normal". But if you think that I won't be ensuring that my dcs visit the colleges where I know the Admissions Tutors....

He also says, interestingly, that he would have taken a boy, who had not passed the entrance exam to Westminster but could probably hold his own in the school, if the parents gave a large donation to the school.

It would have to be substantial and guaranteed. If the boy was at least capable of holding his own he would effectively sell a place if the price was right.

He says that this was all about the commercialism of the independent sector. He goes on to say you can 'buy' a place in the state sector too, by buying an expensive house in the catchment area of a comprehensive.

He adds in his case at least the money goes to the school rather than into the property market and the other pupils benefit.

If he'd do this I wonder how many other indep schools would do and have done similar?

It used to happen, but now they get really cross at people who try it (DH used to do admissions at one of the colleges and said there would always be someone who tried it on). They didn't get in. They want the brightest students, not average ones with chequebooks.

must have been just before my time then. I am not surprised that numptys with the right background could get into oxford (was as school with some of them!) but never heard of a case as blatant as this.

2E offers do still occur though. They are called matriculation offers and are given when the college is already convinced that you will be brilliant and really wants you to go there.

it's not just Oxbridge though.... I know of cases where universities which take a lot of overseas students have been persuaded to lower entrance requirements for well-connected students. Happens right across the board.

Benign - what happens if you fail the entrance exam though? As this boy did.

my dh is an oxford boy. he was offered a place with a scholarship and all he had to do was get 2 Es. My boyfriend (same era) was too. It was definitely done in the 1970s therefore but would be surprised if that happened now. Having said that, they do all say they are more interested in potential than achievement to date !

btw they both got firsts, my dh a double first. he now works in social services earning a pittance and my old bf is a maths teacher - not quite sure they had the right idea

No, it could not happen these days.

It would have been an exceptional case then, too.

my nephew got EE to Cambridge last year

What about schools taking 'bribes' (donations) from parents to get children in? If this head would have done it no doubt others would and did too? Perhaps they still do in today's economic climate?

My DH did the exam in the fourth term of sixthform and passed (n the 70s) . His conditional offer was 2ES. He was from a state comprehensive.

2E offers don't still exist. You were offered 2Es if you passed the old entrance exam, which was ended in the late 90s. These days many subjects set aptitude tests, but this is IN ADDITION to minimum A-level grades (usually AAA).

You didn't "fail" the entrance exam. You sat it and then discussed your answers, or even some of the other questions which you didn't answer, with a tutor.