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.

The Fitzwilliam Museum is a fantastic place to waste a few hours - it a free and has a coffee shop.

Last yr ds1 went to Oxford alone. He stayed a couple of nights in college and all meals were provided. He had 2 interviews each conducted by 2 academics. This year ds2 has I think 2 interviews on the same afternoon. We are a short train journey away and he'll travel solo too. I don't think he'll want me hanging around but each to their own: do what makes your dc most comfortable.

My son went alone. Even if we'd wanted to go with him (which we didn't), he was in Oxford for two or three nights and might have been asked to stay an extra night, so it wouldn't have been feasible. The colleges go to great efforts to look after the interview candidates. We did have the advantage, of course, that the journey from London is very easy.

The question which would arise in my mind is whether, if a young person needs their parent to accompany them to the town where a university interview is taking place, they are sufficiently mature to cope with independent study in under a year's time?

Both Oxford and Cambridge have stations and can also be accessed via coach. The timing of interviews can be awkward in terms of public transport, but in those circumstances overnight accommodation is available.

Offer for dd2 for Bristol - makes it four out of five. Lovely to be in this situation before next week.

Does she have a favourite out of those four, Littleham?

I would echo the sentiments from GraceFox - I would do what makes my DS most comfortable when it comes to interviews. I waved DS off at the station yesterday and was relieved to get the 'think it went well' text a few hours later. Luckily, he was able to see the funny side of the cold water tap exploding across his nether regions minutes before interview

For me it's more a case of cost. It will be over £100 by train and about £50 by car. Well done to your DS PD6966

Well done to all candidates . Just a message to parents : keep away from the colleges . Some of the admissions staff hate parents accompanying the students . Be discreet and let it appear that your offspring are there on their own ! Unfair I know but don't risk harming their prospects .

bob123, I found the park and ride sites around Cambridge a good (value) option when we visited over summer - the central multi-storey car parks cost between £20 to £25 for over 5 hours.
DS interview was in London yesterday (fingers crossed he gets an offer); still awaiting news from the big 'O'.
Enjoy your afternoon in Cambridge if the nerves will allow it! A lovely place to wander around, especially when it's all festive .

I've offered to accompany DS but he looked at me like I was insane. He's been to cambridge twice before on the train, once with me and his friend for an open dat and once for a taster course by himself. The college have offered him room and board the night before so no worries about being late.

Just heard today he's got an interview for imperial in january too. He feels that's the most likely place he'll end up as for his course about 80-90% of those interviewed get an offer rather than the 20-30% chance at Cambridge

Good luck to everybody in the coming weeks

Fantastic to see all the good news coming in for DCs.

As far as Cambridge goes certainly echo an earlier comment on the Fitzwilliam, the coffee shop also has a range of extremely tempting s. The park & ride bus from Trumpington stops virtually outside it, and with its next stop being John Lewis you can't really go wrong. The Whipple Museum is also worth a look, wonderfully eclectically odd. I'd recommend rounding off at the Fudge Shop opposite Kings.

Just a caution on the Park & Ride the new pay for parking machines were still causing lengthy queues when we popped in to see DS1 at the end of October. Apparently you can pay for the parking (only £1) online, and presumably get the bus ticket at the same time - just worth knowing about.

Great news MadameJo

Kez100 - at the moment her favourite is York, partly because it is a four year course which includes a year abroad (which she really wants).

We are still waiting to hear about an interview at St John's Cambridge, but DS got his 3rd offer last week for Edinburgh, also has Glasgow & Strathclyde but will choose Edinburgh if he doesn't get St John's or St Andrews.

A year abroad sounds great!

Some of the admissions staff hate parents accompanying the students . Be discreet and let it appear that your offspring are there on their own ! Unfair I know but don't risk harming their prospects.

You think that academics would hold it against prospective students if their parents come too? Seriously?

The chance that academics would notice at all is tiny (they are far too busy) but if they did it would have absolutely no effect on the admissions process. Academics will look for maturity, intellectual and otherwise, in interviews but would not attempt to draw conclusions about maturity from whether parents are waiting for students to come out from interviews. (After all, kids who live in the middle of nowhere may get driven to Oxbridge rather than having long, tiring journeys on public transport... nothing at all to do with maturity.)

HMF1 waiting for St John's here as well

I speak from direct experience , taking part in a seminar with admissions staff at Cambridge . There was definite hostility to some candidates , those with perceived helicopter parents .

I am also speaking from 20 years of direct experience. In all those years I have most of the time never even noticed whether candidates came with parents or not.

Mild hostility to candidates due to helicopter parent behaviour in a seminar is not the same as their admissions prospects being harmed. This would be utterly unprofessional. I don't like it at open days/seminars when parents seem to be doing all the talking and questioning for their children but I accept there could be many reasons for this and there is no way I would hold it against candidates.

Sometimes there can be a correlation between having helicopter parents and not getting in, but it is not because of the helicopter behaviour: it is because the candidates themselves are not strong enough which (perhaps) is because they were pushed to apply by ambitious parents/schools.

Sometimes there can be a correlation between having helicopter parents and not getting in, but it is not because of the helicopter behaviour: it is because the candidates themselves are not strong enough which (perhaps) is because they were pushed to apply by ambitious parents/schools.

This rings true to me.

Morning

I don't think DD's school has been pushy at all. Interestingly, out of the 11 who applied to Cambridge, the only applicant not to get an interview wasn't that bothered about going to Cambridge - it was her parents who wanted her to apply.

Tbh, I'm not sure how DD would fare at Cambridge as I'm not sure if they have as much of a life as at other units????? She is by no means a party animal, but does want to be able to enjoy herself going out every so often and not be permanently studying. I'm afraid I probably have rather limited knowledge...

Still waiting to hear if DD will get an interview for Cambridge. She seems to think that, for the course/college she's applied to, they interview 85% of applicants, and that all interview notifications will go out this week (not sure where she's got this from though). Is that the case does anyway know? and should she hear either way, or do rejections come later? Feeling nervous for her.

They all vary slightly, but what your dd says sounds plausible!

The Oxford college to which my dd's applied put a list up of which subjects have sent out their decisions - you don't get any notice, but at least it's somethinf for parents to look at whilst the kids wait for the email, lol!

Hello - great to see all these offers coming in.

All this stuff about taking parents with you is bringing horribly back to life my own interview experience back in 1985 - it was snowing (this seems odd now, given that it was only December - perhaps it was colder then...) and we had to stay an extra day because of the weather and I ended up snogging someone from Manchester. The tutor who interviewed me was wearing a badge which said something like "I didn't vote for Maggie" and seemed to be genuinely pleased that he had never heard of my school.

I went on my own on the train - it was a great adventure, although the interview itself was something of a low point.

I would have been absolutely horrified at the idea of my mum coming too. If she gets an interview my DD will be catching the bus - it's only a couple of hours away, on a direct route that we've taken many times before, so very straightforward.