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?

fennel, I also did PPP around that time (finals in 1991) and did get a first. I'm sure i wasn't the only one in the whole year to do so, so I think a few more data points are needed before drawing your conclusion that firsts are easier to get nowadays...

peteneras- a bit narrow-minded also perhaps?
pagwatch 30-40 boys is phenomenal.
abride-I guess I meant Cambridge and for a particular subject. Oxford colleges didn't take women for all subjects either to begin with.

DD is at the school play........hang on the phone is ringing............no, wait, laughter and screams.........YES!

Interview at Wadham -she has to report to the porters lodge at 9am on the 13th!
Thank you God. So relieved. Thanks all for keeping me sane enough throughout.
Now to hear whether she will be going as a goth or boho- Boden has been previously rejected.....happy happy days.

oh WOW! What great news!

13th is the Monday, isn't it? Can she go down on the Sun night if the weather's still rubbish? (I don't know how far away you are)

Oh fab news funny!

Ds has been offered a room the night before. She might want to do that too.

Good luck to her

Ooh! This thread has moved on a bit...congratulations to funnyperson's DD! What is experimental psychology? Sounds very impressive whatever it entails.

DS1 travelling by train on Sunday. He too wants to go alone. DD1meanwhile is kicking up a fuss because I think she hoped that he'd be driven up by anxious parentals and she could load some of her Stuff in the car...

betelguese - how on earth can you manage with even two trips on the train...most impressed. (Don't let DH hear that you do that - he keeps on moaning about DD 1 and all her Stuff saying that he used to go to Oxford all the way from Glasgow by himself on the train with just a trunk and a back pack...)DD1 is living in a house this year which is fab for end of terms etc cos she can just leave a lot of her Stuff there. the downside is that the three girls sharing took so much Stuff between them that we ended up paying a man and his van to do the transport. Best decision ever!

By the way she had her interview with a newly pierced nose done while she was travelling in India.

Firstly, congratulations funnyperson on the great news. I know what great relief it is to finally have the confirmation. Well done to your DD and best wishes to her interview.

To be fair, pagwatch and Ponders, these boys have a solid proven track record and have known nothing else but intense competition throughout their school career. They are the celebrated top 5 percent from a school of more than 1300 very competitive boys; a school which traditionally sends 80 to 90 boys (one-third of its cohort) to Oxbridge annually and a school who has given us 19 prime ministers including the present one, amongst other things.

?Stupid? is the very last word from the Concise Oxford Dictionary or any dictionary for that matter, that I would apply to them, optimisticmumma. Personally, I would call them callously confident.

So relieved and happy. She has been doing quite a bit of steady work so is much better prepared than DS was at this stage. It was I who was paralysed with fear.
I think the weather being as icy as it is, the Sunday evening suggestion is a good one if it can be arranged. Also the two mobile phones. So happy she has an interview at her first choice college also.
Not entirely sure what experimental psychology entails though she has briefed me often enough- there seems to be an interesting overlap with cognitive neuroscience at Oxford which is why she applied there- the PPP people will know better. DD has spent time in the relevant units in Cambridge and UCL. The career options can range from being a clinical psychologist to the media. Its her choice of subject not mine. Incidentally PPP stands for psychology, physiology and philosophy which sounds amazing- I was reading a biography of Amartya Sen the other day in which he mentions that the study of philosophy helped widen his economic thinking.
DD has her ears pierced but nothing else exotic apart from, alas, the badly dyed hair and clothes sense. I have booked the hairdresser.

well I don't know what subjects they're all applying for, peteneras, but on average only 29% of independent school applicants get places & presumably not all of those are from Eton...

I stand corrected but I thought it's substantially more than 29% of indie students fill up Oxbridge.

Most of these boys are applying to do PPE thus only Oxford will do. The few who would also consider the 'E' bit of the PPE do put down LSE as their second choice of university and no more.

Being an old Etonian can be difficult to deal with at university. I know of Etonians who shuffle around muttering how they 'went to school near Windsor' and when asked out right (because its pretty obvious from the moment they open their mouth where they went) look at their highly polished leather shoes and mumble into their collar. Nice boys some of them. I suspect the ones who have only put down Oxford as the single UCAS choice may have applied to Harvard/Yale etc. Though as Betelgeuse says they can always add in choices- there are a lot of millionaire's sons at LSE and UCL. Surely it is this social diversity which helps to make university such a life changing experience. Is there truth in the saying that some Oxford colleges take more Etonians/Westminster/Paulines than others? I have looked at the stats - more like 48% private 52% state appears to be the balance overall. I must go and do some work. Good luck again all parents. Only a few more hurdles to go.

ah, yes, you're right - but so am I - different stats!

29.1% of indie applicants get places, but 43% of places given are to indie applicants. (State schools get 47% & others get 10%)

Can they add choices after Jan 15th though, funny person?

PPE (& P/E)is offered by several other very good universities though, peteneras?

& in fact (interestingly?) E isn't my DS's priority - his other apps (inc LSE) have been for just politics & philosophy, but as Oxford doesn't offer that PPE was all he could try for.

Just read your post Funny - am sooo pleased for your DD! Wish her all the luck...
peterenas- well it just goes to show that I'm not nearly bright enough to have attended Oxford! My poor grammar school educated DS is going to stand no chance against the 'callously confident'. What's wrong with York, Durham, Warwick - may I ask? Ane living 25 miles from London we have banned DS from applying to any London Unis as he would have to live at home!!!

which other universities & courses has your DS applied to, om? Mine has gone for LSE, Sheffield & York. He still has 1 choice left & mentioned tonight it's between Edinburgh, Manchester & Warwick.

(He didn't take to Durham - "too small & no McDonalds" - WTF? I am v disappointed, DD1 had an offer from Durham 10 years ago & declined it, I've been dying to have a child there ever since so I can visit )

York and Manchester (insurance) for which he has conditional places, Durham and Warwick (we haven't heard from either yet, but I gather that's usual), Ponders. As I said, obviously he would love to go to Oxford but he realises how stiff the competition is and how random it seems to be ( we know DC who should have gone but didn't and the other way round.) He will definitely go to uni next year to the 'best' place he gets offered. I feel it is utterly immature and arrogant of the boys mentioned to just put down Oxford. I'm very,very surprised at the quality of the advice they haven't been given!!

comixminx, that wasn't my year. I agree we need more data points to compare that course but there are lots of figures on proportions of firsts overall, nationally, across this time. also on proportions of 2.2s, there are far fewer of these now.

Butting in here, but DD2 got a letter last week saying she has been pooled for an Oxford interview, as first choice college over subscribed
I'm starting to panic a little as she has not yet heard which college will be seeing her, and she is flying home to the UK on Sunday and has to return to complete her foreign language course next Thursday.
I have been calling the original college's admissions tutor, but it has cut to answerphone for the past 2 days.
Any advice, anyone?

DS2 has offers from York & Sheffield (both AAB) & hasn't heard yet from LSE - that's usual too apparently.

He was looking at Warwick, but would really prefer a city university, so Manc or Edinburgh would be better, & Manc is a bit too close to home so I'm hoping he will try for Edinburgh. And he will also go next autumn to the best he can get into

(I do agree about only applying to Oxford; but then from Eton they will presumably be able to afford the £9K a year if they don't get in this year, so it's fairly academic for them...)

Ponders, PPP is Philosophy, Psychology and Physiology. It's not a very big course.

oh sorry, that was to optimisticmumma (no other replies when I started writing it!)

iwastooearly, has she been given an arrival time & date? If so I'd book her a flight on that basis & just keep trying to contact the university. Is there a general admissions number you can ring?