Parent of oxbridge candidate-peersupportneeded

[funnyperson]

OK so my DD is applying to Oxford for entry in 2011 and has a 75% chance of getting rejected so I am told by the Oxford website so I reckon a new thread would be helpful for us parents who may end up with joy or grief but in any event need to keep sane enough to support our loved ones. Any tips on maximising chances of success at this stage?

Theholly - about 2 hours ago!!Love the fact that your boy and my boy will both be heaving Christmas trees - back down to earth with a bump!! BTW we still don't know DSs TSA result - he just doesn't want to know! How's your DD?? Hope she's feeling a bit better. Do give Lightning Process a try - my DD is a changed girl!

oh really? eek. DS2's already failed at that then (his 4th AS was a D)

Mind you he is applying for Politics & Philosophy elsewhere, not for PPE, so that might make a difference? His offers from York & Sheffield are both AAB. (Warwick's offers seem incredibly high all round!)

I know ponders - i guess I was trying to say that it will be harder to get the grades for Warwick than Oxford - but we did know it was asking for A* for PPE, maybe it's not so high for PP. DS has to get AAA for York PPE which is the standard offer!!
(I can't really believe I am writing these grades down - suffice to say I will never, ever divulge my own A level grades to my children! )

maybe they'll all go to York & we can have a meetup there instead (I lurve York )

om, I think I have read somewhere that TSA results aren't available until after the mid-Jan UCAS deadline (not that they matter by then anyway )

Oh I thought they were given a pin to access results almost straight away! We've been hassling poor boy for nothing then!
I love York too - ever since I went on the ghost tour there when I was 10!

I think TSA results were not available til Jan this year when Oxford results were already known.
Twas all academic at the end of the day.
You had obviously done well enough to get an interview, so why worry about it really.
DS didn't seem too bothered after rejection post interview. Twas only me who wanted to know.
Parachute mum I think DH calls me!

Betelgeuse you put my own thoughts very well on democracy and debate. DS and I were having this exact conversation. I hope that DS will learn even more to look at the evidence and be able to assess others arguments and present his own. Its a shame though when even the mother of parliaments doesn't appear to be able to hold proper debates anymore. The Commons was mostly empty for the debate. Lets hope the Lords do better.We must encourage the young in their path to democracy and steer them away from the anarchists. DS learned a lot about that on Thursday. It helped him realise who he is. He knows for sure that he isn't an anarchist and that riots serve no purpose.

agree - where are all the cambridge parents on here!???

optimistic whats this about a pin? Is there a pin for TSA results?
DD was talking in the tones of exH long term girlfriend who is a dreadful woman. Also uneducated. Also opinionated. DS noticed it. I thought DD voice had changed but DS has identified the cause. This is not a good change btw. DD has been living there for nearly a year now. Ghastly. Am thinking Oxford may not want the child of a broken home. Am feeling harrowed. Also wondering since neither exH or his longterm girlfriend went to uni whether that makes DS disadvantaged (they are actually both not only clueless but to a staggering degree e g in that house there is no desk and no budget for stationary and work is considered very uncool) and should I tell Oxford? I need advice. What do you all think?

Big hugs to funnyperson...

I am absolutely certain that Oxford ( or indeed any other university) wouldn't be against the child of a broken home. If anything it's another plus in their eyes for your DD - she's got herself to interview stage ( great exam results, extra curricular reading etc etc) despite personal difficulties and upheaval. That is no mean achievement. If there had been particular problems for her during the last few years might her school have mentioned them in the reference?

Personally I'm not sure how or what you would tell Oxford about lack of support at your ex's home - your DD has obviously managed ( excelled even) despite no desk, no stationary and no encouragement from one of her homes. I know you want the admissions tutors to appreciate that your daughter is not one of the spoonfed, privileged ones and that she has arguably worked hardder than some to get this far, but I honestly think they will get that through talking to her. Isn't that the purpose of the interview after all? Was it Incognito Interrogator who posted that s/he didn't want to see applicants dressed as if by their parents nor coming across as over prepared by school and woefully underprepared by themselves.

At 2 a.m when you posted everything seems a little bleak. This Oxford lark is a little bit of a lottery - I'm sure almost every single applicant who makes it to interview ( and a good few more besides who "fail" at an earlier hurdle) would do well at Oxford/Cambridge, assuming a genuine interest for their subject, but sadly not all can be accommodated. I'm telling myself and my DS that we have to roll with the decisions of the admissions tutors and it's no "fault" of his if something didn't click with a particular interviewer on the particular day he was interviewed. He LOVES politics and economics, has become really interested and knowledgeable about philosophy all through his own reading and efforts but who knows whether that came across? On another day/another topic he could have done so much better. Or so much worse. That applies to them all.

Your DD sounds just lovely from what you have written about her and more importantly very involved in her subject and choice of college.

But others may have different experiences/advice.

Thanks fififi you are right and its nice to hear it. I am feeling better in the morning. Busy day.

Funny - I couldn't put it better than holly. I agree wholeheartedly with the comments and glad you are feeling a bit better today.
I thought the TSA people were given a pin after the exam to get their results but I'm not 100% on this (so what's new??)
Try not to worry about your DD this weekend. Lots of DC - even seemingly priviledged ones - have stuff they have to deal with...

betelguese,as i understand it the TSA ( or equivalent exams for other subjects) is the basis for deciding who to interview. When they send the results out they indicate that everyone above a certain mark would almost certainly have been called for interview , the next band may be interviewed, the next band unlikely to be interviewed unless exceptional factor, then the bottom band not interviewed...

so once you get to interview then I guess the interview is the thing that is important together with teachers reference which the tutors might not even have considered before then...

Back to the X factor - a cultural hothouse here....

don't think the tsa results are ever fed back to the students ime

DS friends got details of their results from school last year in March i think

DD got her english results ...

both came via school though

\link{http://www.admissionstests.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/adt/tsaoxford/datesandcost\TSA results released 14th Jan 2011}

I think one of the tests doesn't release results - English maybe?

Ponders -does that mean ds could have looked at his last year...

well I assume it was the same last year, FH - do you know if he got a PIN?

There are contact details at the bottom of the linked page if you want to find out more.