Advice for an ambitious Year 9?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

If you could give a very ambitious Year 9 who has their eyes on Oxbridge or similar some advice on options, activities etc over the next few years what would it be?

dd is very ambitious, academic and a hard worker. She knows where she wants to go in life and is very focussed. The choices she makes will be her own, but I'd like to be able to give her the guidance she needs.

As I've said on another thread, her headteacher wants her to do things like DoE to help, but I'm not sure that is good advice. I've told her that if she wants to for enjoyment and thinks she can comfortably fit it in then she is welcome to do it, but she doesnt need to. She wants to go to summer school for her favourite subject and we are going to try and arrange that for her. Am I on the right sort of track?

Thanks!

Fretting is my natural state . Though in typing this I re-remembered that 18 months doesn't mean I need to know what to do now!!

It will be fascinating to see what she chooses to do. I joined the busking club despite the fact that I haven't a musical note in my body and the world biggest klutz

I think once she actually looks at course content she will find there's a whole fascinating world linked to maths like weather but she keeps telling me she loves pure maths. i think she would be a great physicist but its is absolutely 100% her life and whatever she chooses in the end - if it makes her happy im happy. i have been on occasion been muttering at her 'don't forget there are other great unis' and you are right, she may find others are a better fit for her.

I actually think that she should just carry on enjoying life as she is and as long as we watch her choices and point out any pitfalls that might hinder her goals she should be ok. But it is worth knowing about the open days and access courses and what not and to make sure that her school can provide her with the support she will need.

DD2 is currently studying maths at Bath (well she's on a work placement this year so not actually there!). It was obvious from a very early age that she loved maths and would probably go in that direction but I did encourage her to consider other subjects as well so that she felt that she was making an informed choice. A maths degree at a top university will contain some very challenging elements so your DD would need to make sure she knew what she was letting herself in for.

I think at this stage I would just keep the interest in extra maths and to take on activities that she enjoys. DD2 did masses of ballet, acted in every school play and played the flute - all things that she got a huge amount of pleasure from and which were very useful when she was interviewed for her work placement but not so much for her maths degree .

Unless she is planning on studying Music or connected 'performance' subject, then Music Grade 8 won't make any difference to whether she gets an offer or not.

Hi. There is some interesting stuff on the head start website and STEP with some great stuff for year 11- my dd did a head start course at Warwick and got a lot from it. Khan academy website?OP you give so much to mn- thank you

You are welcome twentyten, I get so much in return that I reckon fairs fair!

I've seen khan academy, it has lots of good stuff on there but I didn't know about head start. There seems to be so much if you know about it!

I would say do any extra stuff that she enjoys and don't hold back from mentioning it briefly on the ps if it's noteworthy...

It's not always true that 'for purely academic subjects like maths, interviewers will simply not notice or be interested in extracurricular achievements' In 4 oxbridge maths interviews, one of my dc was asked by one interviewer a very oddly specific question about the sport (mentioned in passing in ps), that seemed to be aimed at ascertaining the precise standard achieved. And another interviewer asked about a slightly unusual musical interest that had been mentioned in the school reference not the PS at all. That's 50% of interviewers who at least noticed the ECs. I suspect that wordfactory was on the right lines thinking that unusual interests or things that coincide with the interests of the admissions tutor might catch the eye. (the sports question interviewer was found by a web search afterwards to be the senior tutor assigned to the university club for that sport, so probably genuine interest rather than trying to figure out how much time was likely to be spent not doing maths, though could have been either to be fair).

I also know a child currently at Cambridge reading maths whose GCSEs were well below the straight As mentioned as being needed up the thread (mostly Bs or lower with only one A* which of course was in maths) and I reckon that while straight As may be the usual GCSE profile, that for maths in particular there is likely to be more lenience. If you are brilliant at maths and have enough confidence, then your ability at other subjects is not as important, so don't let your dd be put off applying if GCSE grades turn out to be a bit low if that's the only thing hindering her application.

Those are useful things to note - thank you :)

I think some maths kids have very 'spiky profiles' and all of their mental genius gets focused into maths, so it's good to see that they have the opportunities they need.