Oxbridge Entry 2015

[Roisin]

Do we have a thread already?
ds1 has decided to definitely apply to Oxford to do Biochemistry. He will probably apply to St John's.

It's as Molio said though, Oxford have already done some serious filtering, and if they make an offer, they want you. I looked at the stats for last year (or year before) and about 90% of people with Oxford offers go there, which must be a lot higher than Exeter. Exeter and elsewhere's high offers do the weeding out that Oxford's aptitude tests and interviews do.

They also barely over offer. They want those they've offered to make the grades!

I genuinely think that is a point that cannot be emphasised enough. Those subjects requiring STEP at Cambridge may fall outside this, but for the majority of colleges and subjects (Cam or Ox) if they make your DC an offer they do so because they really want your DC. It is not a numbers game for them. From DS1's experience (Cambridge) his college were in regular contact with him in the run up to exams, and also as we later found out with the school as well - they wanted to know about anything that might have a negative impact on the DCs with offers. I'd imagine the approach from Oxford colleges is very similar.

From what I've read Littleham your DC is going in with the attitude of "its an opportunity that's presented itself and I'm going to give it a really good go", as opposed to some sort of hysterical "not getting to Oxford will be the end of the world". Yes the competition will be tough but she's in the mix which is what counts at this stage. Plus having York (sensible offer) in her pocket already can only help as well.

Ok - I understand now. Oxford and Cambridge do the filtering themselves, whereas the others filter with the A*'s.

That's correct boys3, my dd doesn't mind now she has her York offer. It would be awful to have a child that had their heart set on Oxford / Cambridge.

The numbers I found suggested that about 80% of those with Cambridge offers take up a place. So, lower than Oxford, but I would expect quite a lot of those are maths applicants!

No expert, but Cambridge appears different. Several we knew last year got A A A offers, and some missed. Including one really nice boy who was coping with serious health issues and had plenty else to offer, and who was only a couple of UMS off. A* is a hard grade to be sure of in humanities subjects.

As far as the 80% Cambridge seems to suffer more from the MIT or Stamford with Cambridge as a fall back approach used by some London based expats.

Not only at Expats - at DS school, last year a number of boys' (British) preferred option was the Ivy League, and Oxbridge was fallback,

OK, can we have a serious discussion about dress code for Oxford interviews. (Cambridge call you for a single day, maybe two interviews; whereas at Oxford you may be there for 2-4 days and may be called for an interview at very short notice.)

Their consistent advice is that you do not need to dress smartly and they want candidates to be comfortable; and that interviewers will also dress casually.

HOWEVER ds1 is a grungy slob. His trousers are usually hanging halfway down his bum, he's 6'4" and grows like a bean. He often outgrows his clothes, but won't get rid of them; so often wears battered old tatty T-shirts and hoodies that are too small for him! :-o He also doesn't care if his clothes have holes in them. And the only pair of footwear he had is some grungy black boots. He also doesn't wash enough... but that's another story!

I think we dh should take him shopping for some interview clothes, that will be 'casual' in anyone else's language. But for him will be unusually smart!

Roisin I think I would send him off to his interviews with only hole free and untatty clothing in his possession!

DS wants to wear a suit as he said that's what he feels comfortable in (he wears them for sixth form). He does have plenty of casual clothing but a lot of that falls into the loved but too short category as well. I may need to take him shopping to do the opposite and make him less smart.

I think t shirts and hoodies are fine but would insist on hole free, a belt and a shower. My DS lives in the same sort of thing and occasionally has to be told he stinks and has decided on the middle of the road, not too smart, option of a shirt with a collar and smart black jeans for his interviews.

This is one thing I don't have to worry about!!!! At last....

1. Because the odds of getting an interview are vanishingly small. (Do not speak the word HAT!)
2. My dd2 is one of those people who looks elegant and smart whatever she wears. It is much easier for girls too. She always opts for smart casual and looks smart anyway.

For your boys, I would get them newish looking clothes that they feel comfortable wearing. All the advice seems to be that they are more interested in their brains rather than appearance, but grungy slob might not be worth the risk!

Is the HAT imminent Littleham? I do think it has the best abbreviation of all the aptitude tests though.

Wednesday. Aaaaargh.

I agree, the abbreviation is very good. Everyone here has been wearing hats today in sympathy.

Eek I feel musing over interview attire is putting cart before horse in providence-tempting poor move. Elat on Wednesday. Absolutely no idea what, if any, work is being done to prepare. We are beyond actually mentioning the fact that Elat is even happening on wed - I just loosely (and hopefully) allude to the vague need to do lots of (unspecified) work. She is certainly working v hard on something - in fairness.

I just popped in her room ostensibly to put some clothes in wardrobe to find her hard at work on .... Biology.

Same here. HAT is on the list of banned words.

CAT on Wednesday for dd. This seems like a bit of an 'easy option' compared to some - she's not doing Latin/Greek A levels, so doesn't have to be tested on them, just has to do the CLAT part, lol. One hour language aptitude: bit of code-breaking type stuff with obscure and made up languages, bit of grammar. And they say "we do not recommend that candidates work through more than one sample paper (and we do not make more than one specimen available) as over-practising for the test can make candidates approach it in a more mechanical and consequently less effective way" so she's done one (although actually managed to track down three) and thinks she better not do any more!

Will be thinking of everyone on Wednesday. Do all schools do the tests first thing, or might some be later?

9.45am on Wodensday (Wednesday on banned list too).

Ds1 doing the BMAT on Wednesday... has been working V hard and will be glad when it's all over!
Good luck to all dcs sitting aptitude tests this week.

Goodness lots of tests going on this week - good luck to everyone taking them.

Thank goodness DD has no tests and good luck to all of who do. For the clothes DD was told to think job interview at a shop, smart but comfortable. Like Lttlehams DD mine manages to look smart without trying. The boys in her class dressed up for their school photos a couple of weeks ago 2-3 wore suits but the majority wore an open necked shirt and black trousers, to be honest they looked tidy and were relatively comfortable. The biggest no-no I would think would be the low rise jeans, I work in a school and there is nothing worse than some gangly 17 year old flashing his tighty whiteys at me (especially the ones with the cherries on! dear God)

Good luck to all doing tests on Wednesday and in the days preceding!

DD is doing the PAT test. She has been working hard, but we will all be glad when it's done. She just said it was morning.

Gin. That's what I'll need!

at everyone wearing their hats in sympathy - I've got mine on too.

I looked at the HAT tests during summer as DD was considering applying for history. It seemed to me that planning the time to be spent on each question would be very important so as not to miss marks from any question completely. The test is designed to make the student think. I can imagine it would be tempting to dwell on one of the questions and then find there is not enough time to answer the other question.

Very true RandomFriend. She is usually pretty good with timing issues, just not sure she knows what is required content wise. Roll on Wodensday, our heads are ready to explode!

Everyone in the family is being dragged into this mad enterprise & we are all being sent on History fact finding missions, as she seems to want to understand the entirety of History. My brother just told her to write 'it's just one blxxdy thing after another' and be done with it.

Has she looked at some of the past papers, Littleham?

From what I recall, she doesn't need lots of facts; it is more the ability to read a source, probably related to some bit of history that she doesn't know much about, and decipher some (hidden) meanings from what she reads.

When I thought of getting DD to do some practice, I thought that giving her just the source question to answer in a set time would be good practice and something that would be do-able in 45 minutes to one hour. Then she could compare her answer with the report.

Yes she has had a go at the papers & her teacher thinks she is ok (whatever that means). The written work for submission is now done & ready to be posted. Phew.