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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Oxbridge again

252 replies

ucasfracas · 16/09/2011 12:05

I know there are threads on this but difficult to trawl through them to get the information I would like.

Anyone who has or knows of DCs who got offers,

What grades GCSE did they have?

What was the offer?

What was the subject?

Did they have to sit a 'special' exam as well and how much did this affect the outcome.

Answers to any/some of these would be gratefully received.Smile

OP posts:
thekidsmom · 16/09/2011 12:40

There is loads on different threads here and you really should do a search for 'oxbridge' in the title.

And you should look at the admissions pages for Ox and Cam as they have a lot of useful info.

Loads of DCs on here have offers/places.
GCSE grades are typically 8A* or more.
Offers are almost always AAA
Subjects vary - offers dont
Special exams required for Law, Medicine, Physics, English, History and more I'm sure...

Lizcat · 16/09/2011 13:31

Know of DC who got Cambridge offer in Spring. She had 11A at GCSEs and the offer was 3A and passing STEP exam. She got the 3A*, but failed the STEP exam so she's off to Durham instead.

Original poster
ucasfracas · 16/09/2011 13:32

I was hoping to get a view of 'what happens in reality' rather than what the Universities say on their websites which I am sure is useful so I will take another look.

OP posts:
Original poster
ucasfracas · 16/09/2011 14:04

Thanks Liz, interesting I had thought STEP was used to decide whether to interview or not, so I had got the wrong end of the stick there.

OP posts:
webwiz · 16/09/2011 14:14

STEP is taken at the end of year 13 at the same time as A2's. Cambridge use it in their Maths offers but Oxford use their own maths tests in the October of year 13 to see who will be selected for interview. Cambridge is already using the A* in some offers but Oxford are moving to it this year for Maths and Science courses.

Shock at a 3 A* offer!

Original poster
ucasfracas · 16/09/2011 14:26

My thoughts as well Webwiz 3A*!!!

OP posts:
Yellowstone · 16/09/2011 15:25

ucas you asked the question, so....

DD1, 2 and 3 are all at (or in DD3's case about to go to) Oxford. They got 10A's, 11 A's and 11A's respectively. But they know plenty of people there or going there who have far fewer A's and the GCSE grades are moderated according to school. One friend of DD1's reading law has no A*'s; she came from a very low achieving inner London school.

All their offers were AAA and there is talk of Oxford changing to A offers but so far it's not happening across the board. The university wants to track the progress of the students who sat their A Levels in 2010, the first year of A awards. I think the tutors like latitude. They also set store by their own entrance tests or tests administered by an outside body in the case of the LNAT and BMAT. There are aptitude tests for everything at Oxford and/or work to submit.

The numbers called for interview at Oxford varies enormously between subjects.

Cambridge seems less particular about GCSE's, has few entrance tests, sets great store by the actual marks in AS modules and interviews far more applicants. Its offers are currently much higher than those from Oxford.

Original poster
ucasfracas · 16/09/2011 16:41

Congratulations on your clever and hard working family! Strangely my DC said that offers for maths were higher from Oxford than from Cambridge and the websites seem to agree. However perhaps the reality is different which is why I'm asking. Please post about other subjects as well, I am sure it will be helpful.

OP posts:
Yellowstone · 16/09/2011 18:09

I didn't know that you were being Maths specific. That's definitely not their subject! You seemed to be asking generically.

I'm curious as to how recent offers from Oxford can have been higher? They haven't so far used the A* grade. Some of the offers from Cambridge in the past couple of years have been brutal. And STEP has felled a few. Some of the outcomes after interview at Oxford for Maths amonst friends have also been not necessarily what was expected. Presumably there's method....

webwiz · 16/09/2011 21:10

I think your DC has their wires crossed somewhere ucasfracas because Oxford Maths offers have been AAA so far and Cambridge has the eye watering lots of A's and two Step one's. Oxford are moving to using the A for maths applicants for 2012 entry.

harbingerofdoom · 16/09/2011 21:21

webwiz and sciences. No word ,as far as I can see,on which ones.

webwiz · 16/09/2011 22:34

All the info is on the oxford website harbinger

Physics

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/courses/physics/physics_entrance.html

Chemistry

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/courses/chemistry/chemistry_entrance.html

Biological Sciences

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/courses/biological_sciences/biological_science_1.html

They are all asking for AAA with the A in maths or a science subject

Original poster
ucasfracas · 17/09/2011 18:29

I'm guessing here:

www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad/admissions/admissionsguide.pdf

and here

www.maths.ox.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate

It seems like Oxford have raised there standards and that Cambridge say one thing and do another?

OP posts:
kritur · 17/09/2011 20:30

A boy from my form last year starts at Christ Church, Oxford in a few weeks. He had 5As, 5As and a C at GCSE, applied for PPE and got an offer of ABB (lowest offer I've seen from Oxford in ages, in fact the same as I was offered 14 years ago!), he achieved AAAA and A* in extended project. School is a bog standard comp but the boy is exceptional, had done lots of drama so was eccentrically confident and also arranged himself some fantastic work experience.

Yellowstone · 17/09/2011 22:55

To date Cambridge has made the more scary offers; is the difference from 2012 material?

Original poster
ucasfracas · 17/09/2011 23:40

Just copied from current websites.

Interesting Kritur! Same As and A*s at GCSE as my DC also done lots of drama.

Not bog standard comp, very good comp!

OP posts:
Yellowstone · 18/09/2011 00:01

I'm a bit confused ucas, what is it that your DC wants to read? Drama may be of marginally less interest to a Maths don than to a PPEist (I'm stereotyping, I know).

Original poster
ucasfracas · 18/09/2011 00:05

No you are not, DC has very little hope I feel!

OP posts:
Yellowstone · 18/09/2011 10:00

Well trying to distil the reality of what happens on MN may not be his best option. For a start, offer grades are in a state of some flux, so what happened last year and the year before may well not be what happens now. And looking at the Maths websites for both universities may not help much either, since offers from Cambridge vary. The most one can infer is that one university has its own test after the UCAS form is submitted but before interview and one requires STEP as part of the offer. The weighting given to his GCSE grades will vary according to which university he chooses and also how his school performs. Still, it's quite a nice idea that a dramatic flourish into the interview might help!

funnyperson · 18/09/2011 10:02

The subject tutor and the admissions tutor get a say in who to give an offer to-so some of it must depend on how good a student is at their subject and some on how they will contribute to college life. The previous oxbridge thread had loads of really interesting stuff on it.
DD got 10 A star and an A at gcse. We thought it was a fluke but it turned out it wasn't!

Original poster
ucasfracas · 18/09/2011 20:15

Funnyperson I have followed the thread, well a lot of it it was a very long thread, well done to your DD! What did you think was a fluke, her GCSEs or getting into Oxford.

Yellowstone, obviously (well I would have thought it was obviously) I am not relying solely on Mumsnet to get a picture of what goes on. I am not even entirely new to this, older DC sat an Oxford aptitude test, but didn't do well enough to get called for interview two years ago.

I wasn't subject specific because I thought the information people gave would be helpful to others in a similar position.

Kritur implied the drama helped based on experience, I just said my DC did lots of Drama.

OP posts:
Theas18 · 18/09/2011 21:16

Umm dunno if this helps or not but DD1 10a GCSE straught As with high UMS got through to interview for history/ancient history and was rejected at that point. She went on to get A A A plus A in EPQ/AQA bacc and is off to Nottingham. It galls her that people with significantly lower grades (AAA AAB got in) though for different subjects.

If we had to do this all again (as we may for DS) then more interview prep would be my tip- it seems clear that her ancient history interview was the poor one, simply because, at a state school she hasn't really done anything in this field (not even latin and the entry criteria were that prior experience was not needed) and was up against (in her interview group at her college) 100% privately educated kids including 1 from Eton.

"how much they will contribute to college life" has absolutely nothing to do with getting an offer or not. DD had a choral scholarship offer in hand. THis was not even considered by the academic panel (were were categorically told that) and never were other interests raised at interview,

funnyperson · 18/09/2011 23:16

ucasfracas we thought the 10A stars was a fluke because DD had not appeared to do a lot of work though had been very organised with folders and worked steadily. Thus we went into school late on gcse results day as DD thought she had failed and didn't want the other girls to see her unhappy face. Only when we reflected on it we realised it couldn't have been a fluke- she had, to be fair, got the academic prizes in previous years- only unlike some she (and we) never really publicised it.

Agree with Theas18 about the interview prep - this meant reading around the subject a lot for DD. Which she enjoyed. Along with all her socialising. I don't know whether her offer was a fluke. She got the grades.She thinks it might all have been a mistake and they meant someone else. But she is absolutely thrilled to bits and I can tell you the sight of her 'flying' round the living room in her subfusc with a lovely happy smile is priceless. I would ignore all the horrible people who whisper that Oxford is about social climbing and pushy parents etc. A bright child deserves to be given the chance to apply and should be supported in their desire to access the best undergraduate education the world can offer.

Yellowstone · 18/09/2011 23:24

Theas is completely right that applicants from certain schools are vastly better prepared than others. The type of school an applicant attends can affect all sorts of things, though the system tries to make allowances for the differences. What type of school does your DC attend ucas? You said you wanted 'to get a view of 'what happens in reality'' so that's one thing that's fairly germane.

Drama won't help at all if the raw intelligence isn't there. The tutors are too smart to be taken in by attributes if there's no substance beneath. My DD2 was a reluctant interviewee, very unsure of herself: the tutors in each of her interviews clearly got this fast and tempered the interview to try to draw her out and see what made her tick. Not underestimating the tutors is a probably a good first step.

I agree with Theas that contribution to college life isn't a factor in deciding offers, I can't see that it features at all.

Yellowstone · 18/09/2011 23:32

Cross-posted with funnyperson. It seems to me that a great many young people at Oxford now seem to think a mistake was made. They're charming, very clever and far too modest on the whole.

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