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 its quite useful to know beforehand what drugs are being offered as one can educate DC on likely dangers and side effects as well as dispel misconceptions ( such as ketamine being a cognitive enhancer. pathetic. date rape drug more likely. girls need to beware)

Agree Oxford is altogether kinder and quicker. I don't really see the point of using a stick for bright children (as in a very high multi A star offer) as they are usually so motivated anyway. I also thought the Cambridge pool thing was very stressful and inefficient for the young people in both DC year. The problem by that stage is the DC have committed to Cambridge and for last year's group there was a tuition fee pressure. My niece applied to Cambridge for architecture, three years ago, was interviewed by a stern old fogey who struck her dumb (couldn't remember what museums she had visited even though she had just curated a youth exhibition for the Tate Modern!) and she didn't get an offer but is deliriously happy at the Bartlett (UCL) which is a better architecture school anyway.

Cambridge is very beautiful and has excellent academics in molecular genetics. Good maths too they say. I do know some very happy rowers there. I'm really not sure its worth 3 A stars though compared to other places.

They must be admitting the wrong students if some are having to take performance-enhancing drugs just to keep up.

They should admit more state school pupils. State school pupils can't afford a drug habit, will have already seen tons of their peers at school go to hell in a handcart due to drugs, will want to finish their degree and get a job to earn money, and - most importantly - would never have got the results they need to get into Oxbridge if they lacked moral fibre.

hmmm I only know about ritalin- it can be got on prescription by those who have a confirmed diagnosis of adhd but only if a consultant has confirmed the diagnosis.It is a 'controlled drug' ie only a named person, the prescription has to be written in a certain way, the number of tablets is strictly regulated etc- thats because it is addictive, and also has serious side effects such as abnormal heart rythmns, high blood pressure and loss of appetite amongst others, it is also dangerous to stop it suddenly.
Ketamine is something no doctor on the medical register would prescribe outside hospital- think Michael Jackson.It is used in anaesthesia and results in memory loss

and can kill of course

They're both bloody awful. You wouldn't want any clever kids with significantly valuable brains to study anywhere that such drug-taking was rife.

Is it worse at Oxbridge than at other Russell Group unis?

www.talktofrank.com/drugs.aspx?id=188

No idea. DD hasn't started there yet. 7 days to go!

forewarned is forearmed hopefully

Fp, five from your ds' school got into Trinity to study maths? I know Trinity take a ton of mathematicians, but five from one school sounds a lot.

Three from SPGS got into Hertford for Geography last year too.

The drug taking is a fact lemonbalm and I'm not at all sure othat you should automatically assume that there's an independent v. state school divide. The idea that independent school kids go up to Oxford loaded with cash while state schoolers go up in rags is much too broad brush.

A lot of these students adopt very extreme lifestyles while they're up at Oxford and sometimes fooling around with drugs is a part of that. Drugs were rife in the place I grew up, rife at university and rife when I worked in the City. That didn't mean I was an addict myself or that I was ostracised for not taking to drugs.

Nothing very different about all this, it's just the names which have changed.

I just don't see how most state school students could get into drugs at Oxbridge. They won't have the money. Their parents won't be cokeheads nor will their old school chums. Any former school chums who went down the drugs route will be sleeping rough and selling the Big Issue. It's easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a state school student to even begin to think of applying to Oxbridge, so the idea that one could do so while sustaining a drug habit is laughable.

Of course it's a bit of a generalisation. Some very wealthy kids do go to state schools - and look at Jake Myerson.

yes, Betelguese I kid you not it was 5 - 3 years ago!
DS school was/is very strong on maths I am quite proud of his being in top set therefore and getting golds and to the olympiads and A at A level etc however it was so common at his school they never bothered to mention it on his ucas reference and he didnt put it on his personal statement as he applied for....history (!) Put it this way, no one got a B in maths at GCSE and most got A/A star at A level if they took it. I think if they got a gold in the UKMT senior maths challenge, Cambridge would mentor them and encourage them to apply- see the nrich websites and the Cambridge maths dept website.