A-Level Results: Student ... Gets Seven A*s And REJECTED From Oxford University

[MariscallRoad]

here
Can somebody explain?

I understand the boy was was rejected by Oxford admissions tutors; after the rejection the he went on to get 7 A*s in A Levels. But is not clear to me - and i d like to know - whether the rejection was after an interview. ... and whether he attended a state school.

LRD: ?worksheets?, DC did them, they do them in engineering, maths, science, and other subjects, They are problems or essay questions, solved by the student, handed in in tutorials, discussed and marked by tutor they have deadlines. Some degrees have those.

lljkk 10 students at one college is actually a large intake, not a small one. The article says maths, not one of the even more esoteric combinations where the intake is small. Also, the smaller the intake doesn't mean the more competitive it is to get in.

Agree he doesn't need to court or respond to publicity. Lots of offerees and rejectees with starry profiles don't.

Stanford university professor in Chemistry Dept won a Nobel prize in 2012. Sure chemistry at Stanford is suited to Alastair. Congratulations to him for getting a place to study chemistry there ... and with financial help!

Quite possibly Alastair had heard the decision of his acceptance from Stanford from 1st December - the earliest decision there - before he had his interview later in December at Oxford. So his first choice as he said was chemistry at Stanford and he went for it. The news of Nobel for Chemistry at Stanford was broken before the deadline for app on 12th October...he made a great choice.

Russians: v good questions. Thanks.

the maths bit seems more likely to be a newspaper reporter error than fact. For me the two most interesting things about this are why you get these stories about Oxford but not Cambridge and if the the report was accurate why he didn't apply for a Natural Science course.

You can be a shy student and still be in newspapers if other people are surprised and outraged on your behalf.

Yeah, could well be.

The boy is evidently willing to talk to papers. It's entirely possible to say you don't want to talk.

I don't think it's possible to infer that Oxford is more likely to make 'mistakes' than Cambridge from a couple of stories now floating around. But it's likely to follow from Cambridge's heavier reliance on AS results that these stories are less likely to happen. Whether or not that means Oxford makes more 'mistakes' is incredibly moot. Oxford is a bit more quixotic, that's all. Maybe the student body is too.

He might be out for his five minutes of fame.

Or he might just be getting into the spirit of 'OMG, how dare they, I'm amazing', which he clearly is. He's a teenager.

The media, OTOH, know precisely what they're doing and they keep doing it because it's an easy, lazy story to write.

If he was deciding between Maths and chemistry, natural sciences at Cambridge wouldn't help much. If he was deciding between physics and chemistry, then it would.

already He spoke to Stephen Nolan. You have to be a certain type of person to talk to him on the radio. Shy isn't included in the characteristics. As for not hearing these stories about Cambridge - yes you do. Every year. At least, the 'how coukd they reject this genius?' Stories. (Perhaps not so much the 'I'd rather go to a less good but possibly more lucrative in the end college in the USA 'stories. ) There's one that's been mentioned in two threads this week.

If he had any social grace LRD he should have said yeah, I was disappointed at the time but it worked out fine. Not Oh well Oxford sucks I'd have turned them down anyway. Presumably he's one of those self-styled 'dead certs' who take rejection badly. Clearly he could have coped at Oxford, but so could so many very able rejectees. Nevertheless the interviewing tutors preferred those to whom they made an offer. As a poster said upthread: move on.

Oh, I agree, fair, but I don't know as I would have had much 'social grace' at that age.

You could well be right, I know. And it does make you wonder.

I guess I just wish this weren't a story at all.

I don't like this idea of 'mistakes' anyway. It's very unfair to the kids who have been accepted.

One thing that seemed to be true in my day (cambridge) was that while some colleges welcomed arrogance, others didn't. Perhaps this lad chose an incompatible college. It happens.

I don't think my DC are unusually graceful amongst their friends, but I'm certain they'd not do the Oxford sucks type of line. I've seen some very, very able school friends and peers of theirs rejected and none of them took that line. And a fair few of these were 'dead certs'.

It's a good test of character tbh. Parental character too :)

Obviously when one of life's all too frequent reverses happens, you have to ask yourself what would Johnny Depp do and then follow his advice. But not publically. To say 'fuck it' under your breath and move on is one thing - perfectly acceptable and a good way for parents to show solidarity with their kids (we probably all know people who spend sometimes years in mourning for something like not getting into a school or a uni or a part in a show or a scholarship....). But publically the only way to maintain dignity is to adopt the fräulein Maria approach (or atheist/non musicals fan equivalent ). When god closes a door (or it closes all by itself DEFINITELY no supernatural forces at play) he always opens a window somewhere (or someone else opens one. Perhaps you do. Or your mate. )
Anything else is futile, delays the healing process, lacks dignity and makes you look bitter.

Mmm. Not sure I agree, fair.

I know ideally we should all be mature and say 'oh, it's lovely' or 'no, never wanted to go there anyway' (especially when that seems to be true!). But I think at 18 you're still so much a product of what your parents and teachers expect, it's not easy to realize you might be coming across as a sore loser or a bit arrogant.

I mean, he has done extremely well, he ought to be proud of himself. If there is a parent or a teacher somewhere in the picture insinuating that he really should have got into Oxford, that could have quite an impact.

I knew a lad who didn't get into Oxford, and he was really pretty ungracious about it because he was really upset, and he'd been brought up to feel he was expected to do this. I'm not sure I blame him for reacting that way, though I do certainly blame teachers/parents who made him feel like that.

I think Oxford and Cambridge know very well what they are looking for. They do an excellent job finding it year after year.
So what? He did well in some exams.
so did every other applicant

I judge the social gracefulness of my DC on my own observations of how they behave in company outside the home, and how it's reported to me that they behave. A fuck it or fuck them response within the family circle would be expected (and, for some of them, tame).

The Independent is saying he applied for chemistry at Oxford.

I think it very unlikely he's been accepted to read any specific subject at Stanford btw - at most US colleges you don't have to declare your major until quite late - your second year or perhaps later. He'll have been accepted into their School of Arts and Sciences. Probably having done A Levels will be a huge advantage to him as he'll be able to skip some lower level courses.

I see he applied to Merton - Merton is known for being one of the most academic colleges and it's very unlikely that the people who were accepted there are significantly different in ability at Chemistry to him. Merton is packed with very bright people.

OP I think you need to come out and say whatever it is you are vaguely insinuating about the Oxford admissions process.

They'd be un-human if they didn't come out with a 'fuck it' within the privacy of the family, fair!

I know I'm possibly erring on the side of caution, I just think, poor lad, this wasn't a very gracious response to it all, but I won't put all the blame on him.

Having been on the other side of the interview table at a different RG university, I'd say it is not all that surprising. Students assume that their great predicted grades will be enough, but I've had students who didn't know the basics of the subject once you deviated from the script and probed their knowledge a bit further. Some also come across as extremely arrogant at interview and not the type you'd want to teach - it's not only about academic ability. Some don't seem to know much about their chosen career and I've heard all kinds of inappropriate answers to the question, "why do you want to study here?", which have included, "because my friend X (names biggest PITA in current year 1) is studying here and I hear the nightlife is fantastic".