Oxbridge again, I'm afraid - if they really want you there, what offer do they make in terms of grades?

[MikaelBlomkvist]

In the old days, if they really wanted you, they would make your place conditional on three Cs or even lower.

What happens now if you do really well in their own admission tests, and have done well in school, the school sing your praises to the skies, and you have a fab personal statement?

Do they still say they want three A*s? And let you slip through their fingers if you fuck mess up one of your A level exams and get a B?

Ah, well a lot depends on what you are applying for as well.

I am certainly no genius , and in fact went elsewhere for uni - changed my mind about what I wanted to study!

But for what I applied for (ASNAC), it would have made not a jot of difference if I gained an A in A level Physics or not, so it was only sensible that they said what they did.

He spends his time thinking about maths! Or computer gaming with his mates. I am very glad that he has a ton of mates and so is not nerdy really at all.

But I think he could miss out by a sliver of a few marks by not putting a bit of effort in, IYSWM. I think too he is a bit over confident possibly; he's too young to understand just how many applicants there will be, and how good they will be.

I also had a couple of EE offers but my teachers applied immense emotional pressure, blackmail, reverse psychology, and in some case actual flirting in order to motivate me to get the grades (for the benefit of their results tables obv).
It shows benefits in year 2/3 when you're applying for work placements/post graduate courses/milk round places - I can't imagine that CCD on my cv would have gone down well with recruiters.

Yes, of course. Maybe that's why they don't do v low offers any more. Also it does look a bit like taking the piss.

Friend's daughter slipped one level in her STEP papers and lost her place at Cambridge for Maths. Is now at Warwick and v happy. She got the A level grades that Cambs asked for though.

Worse this year I would imagine.

In 2004 I had a 3A offer, despite planning on taking 4 A2s. Subjects weren't specified in that offer. They were for other people though.

I know 1 person applying without grades who got a 2E offer and a couple more who got slightly reduced AAB, ABB offers. All had difficult personal circumstances.

Geeky is good for Oxbridge... We were talking on another thread about how they want you to just have an interest in your subject and don't care about the extra stuff.

Pippop1, so how did that work then? They take the STEP papers in the autumn before their A2 exams, don't they? So when do the unis make an offer? Is the offer based on their performance in STEP?

And am I right in thinking that if you do take 4 A2s, the fourth one is disregarded, so to speak? So you have 4 chances of getting A or A, and can afford to muck up one of them, which could even be a C, but you would still meet the criteria of AAA or whatever your offer was?

Christ's college Cambridge do approx a third of their offers as 2Es and not all to people with difficult circumstances (lad at ds's school had one a few years ago). I've not heard of any other colleges that do this though - it's nearly always A*AA or higher for Cambridge and AAA for Oxford.

There was one lad I heard of who had an AAA offer (with the A specified as f. maths, which was standard for that college) and who achieved A A A* A who was refused as the A was unfortunately f. maths.

Thanks, Snorkie, that's useful info.

They are just so harsh, aren't they? Obviously they can afford to be.

STEP is taken in June after A levels & is needed for maths (occasionally other things) at Cambridge, Warwick and one or two others. The MAT (maths aptitude test) is taken in Nov pre A-levels for Oxford (& other tests for other subjects too).

There are quite a few people who fail to meet their STEP requirements but get the required A*s at A level quite easily. One lad at ds's school a few years ago needed 1,1 in STEP but got 2,1 (with the 1 in the harder paper) and ended up a Warwick not Camb. but worse are those who miss the Warwick STEP offer too and so end up not getting into either their firm (Camb) or their backup (Warwick) and so don't have anywhere to go in spite of first rate A levels. It does happen .

STEP papers are usually taken at the end of June in year 13 after A2 exams. Cambridge include it in offers as do other universities for Maths such as Warwick.

Oxford have their own Maths entrance test that is taken in the autumn of year 13 and is used to choose candidates for interview.

Our ds needs AAA to go to manchester uni.

A couple of students at ds' school are talking about taking the STEP exam early. How does that sound? Obviously if you do well, it's a bit of pressure off, and the unis can see what you can do. Don't know what happens if you do badly, though.

I have heard of people taking STEP papers early but not of anyone doing well. The style of question is very different from A level and requires a lot of practice. STEP I and II are based on Core 1,2,3 and 4 plus Mechanics 1 and 2 (and some of Mechanics 3) plus Statistics 1 and 2 (and some of Statistics 3). Its a bit difficult to fit all that in by the end of year 12. If you do Further Maths A level you would be expected to have taken STEP II which is harder than STEP I.

Thanks Webwiz. You have no idea how all that makes my head spin.

Still, I daresay ds knows what he's doing.

It is a very convoluted system, though.

DD2 is in year 13 and wants to do Maths at university so we are experts!

STEP is aimed at the top 2% of Maths applicants so do not underestimate it as an exam.

A boy at my school last year had an EE offer for NatSci, at Cambridge IIRC, he was pretty amazing though.

My DN now in first year at Oxford this year had offer of 3 As to read English. At state grammar school, he did have 10 As at GCSE and was predicted 3 A at A2 (got 4 A* at AS).

oddly ds told me he would only be asked to sit the step if the university was concerned about his maths ability

Back at the end of the first Ice Age I got a 1E offer from Oxford (I did Maths A level early). Happy Days!

the next mrs depp WOW!

I think Oxford a bit bizarre not introducing the A - I cannot believe that students who are tossing up between top universities but don't think they are A material will not plump for Oxford.

Feel they will have to do far more weeding out at interview

A* in the state system did not seem that bounding in our schools despite the media hype

I think Oxford are relying more heavily on their own admissions process than A levels. They had pledged not to use the A for 2011 but I presume they will bring it into their offer for 2012. Their Maths exam is very difficult though - one of the past papers had a mad question about an alien system of music! It certainly it puts them out of synch with the other top universities who have brought it A offers 2011. Bath and Durham are asking for AAA for Maths and Warwick and Imperial AA*A.

There were a smattering of A*'s at DD2's school last year but not many.

Christ...