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?

thanks, hully

mos, I only just had a text from DS2 telling me has an interview - assume he's only just got it, it's probably still quite early in the email process, & different colleges/subjects don't send everything out at once.

For reference, his is St Peter's (from an open app) & PPE.

Do not despair

Ponders - I just heard this morning that the son of a friend of mine has just heard he has an interview for PPE at Lincoln College (I have been taking this French boy through the application process, helping him write his personal statement etc so feel highly invested!).

Fantastic to hear all the good news. esp Ponders self- raised- but- needing -lots-of money- DS2. Nothing from DD yet though as she is in class at school so that may not be bad-anyway no posts about psychology interviews or Wadham yet on TSR. I am feeling gloomy for goth/hobo girl. Perhaps nobody will want to sit with her in tutorials for three years. though she is very good company.

fingers crossed for DD, funnyperson, she sounds so lovely!

well done Ponders DS. Very and have to stop pressing refresh every 5 mins on hotmail and TSR threads

Thanks, mos - keeping everything crossed for you (I can imagine how frustrating it is for you not being there )

Bonsoir, congratulations to your protege too (MN won't let me put an accent on an e, sorry!) I've noticed on TSR that an astonishing number of European students seem to apply, is he completely fluent in English? Does he have an English parent?

Ponders - he speaks English very well. He is French, but attends a bilingual Franco-German high school (no-one in his family speaks German) and also speaks modern Greek (his paternal grandfather is of Greek origin, and his mother took her DCs to spend a year in Greece and go to Greek school five years ago).

I have known him since he was a little boy - I spent lots of summer holidays with his (divorced) mother and her two children when I was single - and the PPE thing was my idea (though he doesn't know it - I suggested it to his mother and she took it forward) so am getting a bit excited!

What's TSR please?

It is The Student Room Bonsoir... good chat forum for students from gcse upwards. It isnt a forum for parents. It might be good for the friend's son.

Although TSR is not for parents, an awful lot of us are stalking the chat rooms at the moment
Damm it oxford, send the bloody email (stress levels are rising in our house and DH keeps finding ANY excuse to leave the house)

Thanks

I've got a little sideline going this autumn in UCAS applications for French teens, and I have the feeling it might grow a bit in future as our friends' DCs start to hit those application age groups!

mumoverseas I feel for you and with you but you have inspired me to go and bake a cake, do some paperwork and go for a walk in the sunshine otherwise life will pass me and my family by.

funnyperson, I've been trying to do all that and am just trying to distract myself by cooking dinner (3 hours ahead of you)but still keep sneaking back and refreshing

'ooh thanks all ... I am enjoying all the love on the thread
Excellent news Ponders !

Funnyperson... I don't think uni types are going to be the slightest bit phased by goth stuff. Everyone just sees it as growing up and self expression....

going to eat the entire contents of my fridge and all the kids chocolates for their christmas stockings and don't give a rats arse that I've got my weekly weigh in tomorrow

DD has texted me saying that interview invitation updates are on the individual college websites- with lists of which subject invitations have gone out. I feel better about looking at a college website somehow. Apparently psychology interview invites might not go out for another few days. Oh dear.....character testing somewhat. I don't want my character tested yet again though...I am not busy enough......mum overseas I hope its a nice dinner!
Btw at some point I am going to rant about the commercialisation of Oxbridge entry- I refer to MPW/debate chambers/OTC/oxfordapplications/tutors etc etc which make a tidy profit out of parental anxiety, and want to recommend the very good free Oxford run workshops/subject specific open days which are available to a wide audience. I avoid MPW and oxfordapplications like the plague on principle and also because I am saving up for the actual university fees. Have others found these helpful?

Disappointment for DD here - no interview. Worst bit was hearing her crying on the end of the phone.....

Way to bring down the mood of thread, sorry...

Sorry. thekidsmom. Brave of you to post. Hugs.

Not a parent (DD only 17 months) but have a question - can you be rejected before interview stage from Oxbridge these days?

Back in the dark ages when I did it (1992) everyone got an interview, unless you were totally not in the right zone academically?

PS for those who are disappointed, there is always next year! I was rejected from Lincoln, Oxford but I just worked at getting my As at A level and went to Trinity Cambridge instead - a far better choice!

Though in those days there were no email, websites, forums, no chatrooms - it was deadly silence until one day a letter appeared in the post.

Definitely do NOT attend interviews with your DCs by the way!

Bumps - For many subjects you have to take extra aptitude tests in October/November or send in examples of your work.

Your performance in these determines whether you are called for interview or not.

Ooo that sounds grim.

Best of luck to your DCs. At the end of the day it's a bit of a lottery really.

Ponders your 12:36 post was the last thing I read as I was about to leave (late) for a meeting. DS was just arriving home and I passed him in the car...pulls in, winds window down
Me: Hey DS, have you been checking your email on your phone?
DS: Nah. This isn't about Oxford again is it? have you been on that site again for paranoid mums? the letter will come tomorrow
Me: Well, as it happens yes I have and someone has just posted that their DS has got an interview at St peters for PPE
DS : (noticeably more alert for that happens to be his subject and his college choice)oh well, I might have a look.

Mum drives off and sees son start to trot up the hill home through rear mirror.

Oh God! Should I have gone back with him? No, better to leave him alone, he really hasn't been confident about his TSA performance. Oh God!

Through the mental turmoil I hear phone beep. I pull in and yes DS has an interview for PPE at St Peter's.

So he's almost bound to meet Ponder's son. What's the etiquette for that then?

Congratulations to everyone else who has heard. Commiserations to those who have been unlucky. I've been in that position twice and it is horrid and disappointing, but not all those interviewed will get an offer and soon all the fuss dies down and the best thing your DCs can do is concentrate on getting the best A2 results they can and they can always apply again if they really do think Oxford/Cambridge is the place for them.

Bumpsadaisie it is perfectly possible to get rejected nowadays without an interview. Even Oxford and Cambridge change. The rejection comes up on UCAS track. Admittedly it is the bottom third or so in popular subjects and hardly anyone for, say, classics. DD has applied for a popular subject so no complacency here. Even at DS wonderful top academic school not everyone was interviewed for history at Oxford last year- only 6/11 and no one -repeat no one got an Oxford history offer last year and the single Cambridge offer boy didn't make his history A star. I complained about the teaching after DS left. Too much emphasis on Disraeli meant DS was ignorant of women's rights in France which was what he was asked about by the ex-Sorbonne graduate on the panel.

Haha just read fififi post -great news!-Intriguing though- perhaps a certain personality type tends to post.....perhaps a type more likely to correlate with success???? Only hypothesising. Or hoping more like.