Anybody else have DC applying for Oxford or Cambridge at the moment? DD submitted her UCAS into school on friday for checking. There are only two applying in her year. Trying to keep her feet (and mine) on the ground as she has fallen completely in love with Oxford and the college she is applying to, but realistically we know she's more likely to be rejected than not. She's got the grades, but I don't know if she's got enough confidence to carry off the interview. All the uni's she has applied to look fantastic, though, so we'll wait and see.
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DizzyDalmatians ·
07/10/2012 19:42
thanks, rejandme, webwiz, and thanks to all who have advised. Checking out of my own thread now, I had hoped it would be a place to share the excitement and the rollercoaster of oxbridge applications. Clearly i have just made a massive arse of myself, as the done thing is, not to give a shit. 
Copthallresident ·
07/10/2012 20:02
Thowra (or did she just morph into a dalmation) should be immensely proud and excited for her daughter. With those predicted grades she will without the uncertainty of college choice / pool/ interviews get an offer from some very good universities for her science, her options are not polarised between Oxford for Science or Film Studies 
. Remember the QS world rankings put UCL ahead of Oxford. UCL, Imperial and Bath outperform Oxford in terms of employment prospects for Scientists. She can encounter people at the forefront of their Scientific specialisms wherever she goes, Steve Jones at UCL teaches first years. The most able Scientists tend to pick Cambridge which is harder to get into for Natural Sciences so these universities are packed with the brightest students too. Try for Oxford if you would like to be amongst dreaming spires but the quad at UCL, being in the midst of the museums at Imperial, Georgian Bath, Medievil Durham all have their beauty too.
Betelguese ·
07/10/2012 20:39
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Betelguese ·
08/10/2012 13:52
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cinnamonnut ·
08/10/2012 22:22
Law, yellowtip - so a social science/humanities subject, I suppose 
Betelguese ·
09/10/2012 15:37
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Betelguese ·
09/10/2012 15:45
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Copthallresident ·
09/10/2012 18:29
Letty. This issue of parental pressure is a difficult one. I have sympathy for Thowra (or Dalmation or whatever disguise she may lurk undercover 
) because we come from a generation, many that didn't go to university, that were taught to revere Oxbridge as the very best and why wouldn't we want our DCs to have the benefit of that prestige. If we did go to university we also know that it did, by and large, take the best who applied in the past, and didn't muck it up for themselves. They cleared a fairly consistent hurdle. The trouble is that we don't understand how the academic world has changed. That means we nurse outdated perceptions of universities, and we are unfamilar with how the admissions process works. It has changed out of all recognition.
There are now many more able candidates applying (just think of the impact of the 10% of applicants that were female becoming 50%, let alone widening access). It is as competitive to get into most RG / 1994 unis now as it was to get into Oxbridge in the past, and developments in the academic world means standards are much higher as well. I returned to university 6 years ago and more is expected of students than was ever expected of me at a RG uni and they work so much harder too ( but don't panic, they are better prepared as well, whatever Gove thinks)). My peers at Oxford dispair at the choices they have to make, and the difficulty of choosing between so many amazing candidates. When one interviews at his Oxford College he starts by saying. " We only have 2 or 3 places but don't worry if you love (your subject) then you will be exposed to just as many amazing world leading academics and be able to study in just as much depth and with just as much interest at X" (my uni). The people who taught, and now supervise me are inspirational and world leaders in their fields regularly appearing on television, radio and in the press when an authoritative perspective is required (so not often enough obviously!!!) The same applies for Throwa's daughter.
Too many pupils now have to bear the weight of these outdated parental expectations. My DD commented, after her peers had gone through the UCAS admissions round, there were too many pupils whose sense of disappointment at rejection came not from their own disappointment, they knew there was an element of lottery and they were going to great unis, but from the feeling they had let their parents down, even if the parents had made it clear they didn't care. Just the fact that some parents made it clear that they did and some were throwing family celebrations of Oxbridge success (tempting fate when the actual A levels had yet to be sat in my view but then I didn't buy a cot or pram until I had my DD in my arms safe and healthy...) was enough. Imagine how you would feel if you knew how much it mattered to your parents even if they had tried to hide it?
As to interfering offering support, be very careful. Universities are very good at looking at applicants in the context of their background, sometimes in spite of the schools efforts. The link I posted earlier to the Guardian article which follows the Cambridge admissions process confirms that. There is a big difference between parents facilitating and supporting pupils to make their own choices and express themselves in their personal statements and taking over and imposing their own ideas interfering. A personal statement clearly written or heavily influenced by a parent is more hindrance than help, likewise a potential student spouting parentese in an interview. The personal statement and interview is where the student has a chance to communicate their unique qualities and passions, and they are those of an 18 year old ( or whatever) not someone who has been around whatever blocks they have been around ( I dread to think in some cases).
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