Thread 19 - Corona Cohort, Enrolling on Year 13, hopefully NOT unlucky for some

[OrangeCinnamonCocktail]

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[quote Decorhate]@Monkey2001 Yes Dd did a summer school at Oxford & feel in love with it. I won’t bore you all with her story. Luckily she loved where she ended up going straight away & would probably agree that it was a better outcome for her personally!

I am currently mentoring some 6th formers who are planning to apply to Oxbridge. Quite dismayed at how little research they have done so far tbh. Excellent academics but fear it’s an indicator of how they will fare...[/quote]
What research should they have done decor? asking for a friend

Back when I applied, all prospectuses had in them number of applicants and number of places available which was a useful statistic and also gives you some idea of the size of the course. Now hardly any publish these (or similar) figures and when I asked at open days a few years back, I invariably didn't get an answer.

@Piggywaspushed One didn’t know how applications were assessed. The other had not even set up his UCAS account & was unaware that he would have to book a test at a test centre!

In fairness a lot of our students might not have the support at home to remind/nag about deadlines etc.

@SandyBayley I’m aware that application to offer ratio varies widely across subjects. I just think it’s simplistic to boil it down to percentage chance.
There will be lots of other factors mediating the amount of applicants and of course, offers.
The subject DD wants to read has a ‘better’ applicant to offer ratio based on percentage chance but we are still framing her application as a punt.
A similar thing could be said about college choice (I’m aware most successful applicants end up at a different one) DD had ruled one out but since her summer course it’s now on her short list- which hopefully will be whittled down to one by the end of September.
That said, she hasn’t moved her draft PS from ‘her head’ to paper. That’s happening this weekend apparently…

It would be foolish to 'pick' a subject to apply for at Oxbridge based on % chance but I am very aware that DS1 had better odds than many based on his subject choice of Chemistry. Originally we thought he might go for history which is much more competitive but it's chemistry he loves so that was the right choice.

@Piggywaspushed if you are friendly with your school UCAS person, there is a lot of competition data available to download for their institutional users. I think it might be at university/course level, if they are a data geek they will know.

I wonder if DS’s draft PS is in his head, I don’t think I dare ask 😀

Did ask him about his home work situation this weekend and he said just one which I didn’t think was too bad and then he said and oh the PS and his project but that’s on going. He fell asleep by end of trip back from station , I think him trying to explain non Euclidean geometry may have contributed to this ! GP has emailed results which he hasn’t looked at but hopefully his medication is having an effect.

I do think 4 A levels and a project is pushing it a bit when you aren’t on top form but he seems to want to do it and I don’t want to be the one who pushes him to drop an A level and he regret it, we’ll have to see how he copes the next few weeks.

[quote Monkey2001]@Piggywaspushed if you are friendly with your school UCAS person, there is a lot of competition data available to download for their institutional users. I think it might be at university/course level, if they are a data geek they will know.[/quote]
What's competition data?

There is a UCAS person but she is the general careers lady so dealing with everyone. She is quite good and sets them deadlines etc but I am always aware of how much more support and mentoring is available (usually) in selective schools. However , DS has me at least !

He has set up a UCAS account and filled in the form - or so he tells me.

@Volterra if time wasn’t marching on I’d say from my perspective DDs PS being in her head is better than down on paper. That’s runs the risk of ‘could you read through this and give me constructive criticism
The rare occasions she’s asked me to read an essay has resulted in arguments…
Fingers crossed the meds are ‘kicking in’ and your DS is feeling much better

I saw what I think is the final version of DD's PS last night. There are 50 characters to 'lose' but other than that I am really impressed by what she has produced.

It definitely sounds like her and I think it does the job for a medical application. I've given up trying to influence a last minute switch from Newcastle to Nottingham so I think we're done. Other choices are Oxford, Bristol and Leeds.

She's got a busy day today with Open Day at school with real people! Then a hockey match for the 1st team - which she is the new captain of 😊

“I predict worried posts about people awaiting offers etc”

Yes @OrangeCinnamonCocktail I will be one of them!

Thanks Proggy 😊 Totally get the inevitable arguments, fortunately DD is good at things like that so doesn’t ask me to read hers or it would go exactly that way😂 Have read a few for friends DCs, they seem to take it better if you aren’t related to them. So proud of one of them, she has just managed to get onto a Ph.D at Birmingham straight from degree elsewhere. Remember well her PS angst and her nearly not wanting to go to university as got an unexpected C in degree subject and lost confidence.

Thanks for the killer PS link Monkey. DS has said he may watch it, hope he does as I found it pretty helpful.

Coincidentally, Monkey, we know someone who is studying Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies at Cambridge!

@SandyBayley great that your DD is happy with PS. I assume you know Newcastle and Bristol don't read it, and Oxford and Leeds don't use it for shortlisting or score it, but it may feed into interview. It is still a great way of putting your thoughts together and worth reading before interviews to remind yourself what you want them to know!

@Piggywaspushed competition data is number of applicants and offers for each course. UCAS lets registered users (not applicants) query their database. I don't know how it works as I am not a registered users, but someone on TSR knew how many applicants, unconditional/conditional firm offer holder there were for the 2021 cycle at a subject level..

Ah, I see - thanks!. I guess my main point was there used to be transparency and I am just not sure when -or why- it went!It feels like cloaks of secrecy.

Sounds like we need to find a registered user!

Yes @Monkey2001 I know the PS isn't going to be key for DD but seeing it written down has reassured me that she is well prepared for interviews if she gets them.

I pointed out today that DD had wasted characters by putting book titles in inverted commas rather than italics.
She still needs to lose 74, though.

Author's full name is another one, or writing ' Really Great Novel' by WP Piggy, which can be written as Piggy's Really Great Novel.

Guardian league tables are out by the way.

So, Cambridge College has been selected (Selwyn)

Next question: other than obviously distance and longer degrees , what do we need to consider/know to weigh up applying to a Scottish university?

@KingscoteStaff

I pointed out today that DD had wasted characters by putting book titles in inverted commas rather than italics. She still needs to lose 74, though.

DD has 1000 characters to lose off hers! Oops! Deadline is Friday at her school so I expect it will get condensed in a panic over the course of the week!

Her 4 medicine choices are Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter and KCL (HUGE thanks to @Ganfyd for the invaluable advice on selecting these four) - she knows KCL well as she's a Kings Volunteer but has never visited the other 3. I think her 5th choice will remain blank until the Spring.

@Piggywaspushed Can they do an open application for Cambridge ir do they have to choose a college?

They can do an open application, yes. DS is happy to choose and if pooled so be it.

Dd doesn't need her ucas application done for college until mid October!