Oxbridge again

[ucasfracas]

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.

I think Cambridge somewhere on its site has explained the sort of situation where a college might feel it right to make an AAA offer. The offer Lizcat* referred to is not a standard offer.

The 's did something odd: that should read A A A

Impossible! A A A*

Funnyperson your daughter sounded quite sparky and not at all geeky to me? For what it's worth my DC looks like a geek but doesn't act like one (well work like one) I did suggest one day it was just a costume they wore, the reply was "do you think I look like this on purpose?"

Riveninabingle thanks for your reply which got a bit lost, has your DC just started? Oxford or Cambridge?

I suppose there has always been quite a mix and there still is, as for the tests etc I suppose things like STEP are good because they prove they'll be able to cope when they get there (well that's the theory).

In the meantime the UCAS form needs completing...

When I went to college back in the day (1993) I think 8000 kids got AAA at A level. I read the other day somewhere that this year about 8000 got AAA. Does this mean that an A now is broadly equivalent to an A back then?

At Cambridge then they did make some standard offers offers at AAA for the harder subjects to ABB. I think I would have had AAB for history (had I not applied after A levels).

I'm sorry I seem to have ruffled your feathers, yellowstone. I didn't mean to.

Doing well at Oxford is about more than doing well in exams (well, was at least). It's about learning to think in a way that just cannot be done in the constraints of the exam room.

I was told many times that the exams (and that means finals, yes) were just a concession to employers.

That's interesting Riv and Betel - it seems that they are not going for straight exam results after all.

That makes me feel a lot better (don't know why, but it does).

Did your Ds have any external qualifications at all?

Thanks Betelguese, very kind :)

discrete it's fine, I do get uppity when people seem to put down students who've done well. There is sometimes a sense that 10A* can only be produced by a tedious automaton with no life, when year on year I see plenty of sociable, normal but hardish working and clever kids produce these results kids who could easily give my generation of Oxford and Cambridge grads a run for their money.

I completely agree that Oxford is about far more than exams. It's just that there are a lot of exams to be taken and you can't stay on if you regularly fail. I'd much rather mine came out having passed their Finals but in fact it's the education and that sharpened thinking that's the most valuable thing that they'll take away. Finals are certainly about the jobs, not the education.

I agree with Riven's point too. Both places are very intense. Having produced a string of A*'s and being able to cope with exams does indicate an abilty to cope with pressure (on the whole). To prosper and enjoy the undergraduate years you do need to be able to handle pressure. It certainly doesn't suit all.