gelo As I said in my post I don't doubt there is some unconscious bias, academics tend to be lefty liberals as well as having the pressure of targets, but above all they also want the brightest most motivated pupils, who will succeed best on the course. Pupils and parents seeking to play the system by transferring to the state system at sixth form might well find themselves on the receiving end of an unconscious bias that suspected they had tried to play the system. At my own uni the system is similar to the Cambridge one, in that it is the contextual information; poorly performing schools, poverty, carers, illness, disability and SpLDs that really determines whether a candidate is shown any (formal) bias. Likewise the widening access strategy is focused on poorly performing schools who would not normally encourage their pupils to apply, mentoring schemes to provide positive role models, and neighbourhoods where few go to university. It is that culture rather than one of obsessing over targets that prevails in universities, and it can only be a matter of time before the OFA catch up. This is an interesting article on the Oxford situation www.cherwell.org/news/college/2012/10/12/oxford-denies-antiprivate-school-bias
In those circumstances it would be pretty silly to advise that there is definite advantage in switching to a state sixth in terms of university admissions, Oxbridge in particular. Some of DDs peers did switch to state for sixth form, though for reasons of choice of course, and no longer being able to pay fees. There was no obvious difference in the unis they were successful in applying to. The only instance where one might have thought that an Oxbridge place had been won that might not have been (and how can you know) they didn't get the A* anyway. I would add our local sixth form colleges are outstanding and have successful Oxbridge schemes and yet those pupils felt that without a doubt they had not had the same level of support in both the admission process and their academic studies that they would have had in their private school. Middle class parents should be reassured they are still paying for advantage.
In any case Mr Seddon is being disingenuous in pandering to parental and Telegraph prejudices, there have always been very bright straight A students who didn't get into Oxbridge and went elsewhere and got Firsts, even back when I was a teenager, in Victorian times according to my DDs. Now it is far more competitive, and TBH courses are more challenging too, especially given the number of very bright overseas students who apply, and it is as hard to get into some elite universities as it was to get into Oxbridge then. Doubtless Mr Seddon's very bright students get into the UCLs and Durhams etc. and are happy and thrive there.