Oxbridge 2015 #2

[Molio]

Continuing Roisin's thread.

I've even succumbed to TSR, having sworn I wouldn't. Still no news here and haven't heard of news from any other source in the same subject at the same college but being very uncool tbh as the reality is that rejection after an interview would be much kinder for DS than a no ab initio. Massively cheered by a late afternoon offer from Bristol though. I thought I was chilled, I'm clearly not .

Fingers crossed for everyone still waiting and hoping. It's very hard to see them disappointed, is the problem :(

Figment it's a total myth, don't worry about it. Durham's lifeblood is those who don't quite make it to Oxford and Cambridge (I'm a Durham graduate and nothing has changed, believe me).

Well I crashed the car taking DS up, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage and an instant puncture. So stupid and quite scary too. He finally arrived three hours late and only had time to have a quick glance at the 22 page source and didn't want to explain why he was late beyond saying we had a puncture to the porters. Then after that interview (which he said was very superficial) he was called to another college for an interview ten minutes before his second interview at his first college, so obviously he couldn't go. But it was a huge mix up, tutors phoning tutors etc. So that was a bit distracting for the second interview, but he told the interviewing tutor that he was fine. He still can't fathom why the second college asked for an interview before he'd finished at the first, as he can't have been rejected from the first college by then. He's home now, just, and knackered.

I intend to read the thread carefully to catch up, but a brief glance suggests that there are deflated DCs - sorry for that.

Oh Molio, how did that happen? What a terrible day for you. Are you both OK?

Oh dear Molio that sounds awful I hope you are both ok

Thanks both. Yes fine, no casualties except the car and possibly/ probably the first interview. I'm very cross with myself .

Thank you Shattered

Sorry to hear that Molio. But sounds like he wasn't too flustered?

Molio, really sorry to hear that, how stressful that must've been for you both. Glad to read you're both OK though x

Molio how scary! But you both got through it.

Figment I can confirm what Molio said about Durham. Ds1 got a Durham offer last time, well before the Oxford decisions were made.

Oh bloody hell Molio that sounds awful for you both

Didn't think an interview at a second college automatically meant rejection from the first though - dd said someone applying for her course had interviews at two other colleges lined up pretty much as soon as they got there.

Hugs to both of you, hope you can put it aside for a while now x

Blimey: what a nightmare Molio. Cripes! Poor you.

Molio As if you didn't have enough stress to deal with!

Hope your son is OK now. Impossible to plan for these things. My usually confident dd had a very long wait and went into complete panic before the interview (hysteria is contagious). She phoned me and said she didn't think she could do it, so in the end I told her she didn't have to and I was happy to come and get her. At that point, she said 'I'm not a quitter' and went to it anyway (in a total state)!

You just can't anticipate dc's reactions, acts of nature and accidents. I really hope he gets a place at one of the colleges. Would it be worthwhile your son's school e-mailing to explain about the car crash?

Oh Molio - how awful for you. Hope you are both ok now.

Just had a thought Molio - can you not email the college and explain what happened so that they can make some allowances for the fact that your ds could have been shaken up?

Many thanks all. No he wasn't too flustered about the car stuff itself Decor, but the delay created a significant problem as far as reading the vast source went - others had hours longer to read it. From what I can gather he wasn't pushed that hard either, so it may be a non starter anyhow. Also, the tutors clearly found the title of his submitted work as tedious as anything could possibly be and asked why he'd chosen it as a title, to which the only correct response (which he gave) was that it was the A2 coursework title and he had no choice. He failed to add that he also finds it as tedious as could be, which he probably should have done. Neither tutor actually nodded off, so I suppose it could have been worse.

It's an excellent idea to move on to courier deliveries etc. I have a huge array of trivia to deal with at home, so I'm spoilt for choice :)

Good luck to next week's interviewees!

MrsB he would have murdered me if I'd tried that at the time, and all the decisions are done now, so too late. And he'd still murder me anyhow, just in a different location . But thanks for the thought!

Good that he wasn't too flustered. If he doesn't get an offer, will it help him to think that the fact that he didn't get the same time to prepare as the others may have played a role?

Some students that don't get offers but that do get very high A-levels apply again next year if they feel the interview was not to their advantage.

Yes I think so RandomFriend. I think also that he didn't go into this process with high expectations, so that helps too. But it's still a shame and I think was probably avoidable if I hadn't been in such a hurry. Unlike other DCs on this thread he has told me what happened (as far as he could recall) in each of the three interviews (they re-scheduled the odd second day one for the last day) and I agree that more time would have helped, but I think we both take the view that an offer was always going to be extremely unlikely. You're quite right though, it does help to be able to point to something as a reason - even if it's not actually the reason - in order to soften the blow.

School emailing is one thing, parent emailing is quite another. I don't think academics are all that impressed by that unless there is an excellent reason why the applicant couldn't communicate personally (e.g. disability, illness).

Sorry to hear about your crash, Molio. What a time for it to happen!

Re Durham offers:
My DD had her Durham offer in late October 2012, before her subsequent Cambridge rejection . I know that Durham can be slow in processing offers because many of her friends waited until late March 2013 to get offers (and all did) . It really is a myth that Durham will not take you if you are an Oxbridge candidate .

Fingers crossed for all candidates and I do hope success follows for them . Agonising for parents as I well remember .

And Molio, oh dear poor you meant to post a sympathetic comment ...
Just in a rush to try to refute the Durham myth !
There is every reason for Oxbridge candidates to anticipate a Durham offer . As others have said , Durham is stuffed full of Oxbridge rejects, according to DD, who is a current undergraduate. (BTW, for those possibly waiting for Edinburgh offers, her Edinburgh offer did not come until May 2013, by which time she had lost interest in the place)

I'd say a car crash and arriving too late to read the set passage is a pretty major 'reason'!

I agree, Littleham a car crash that halved the time available for preparation would be a major reason and could have been mentioned at the time. The tutors would have taken into account the fact that the Molio's DS had very little preparation time due to circumstances beyond his control. However, recalling the guidance to candidates who are taken ill, it probably doesn't help to mention it now.

On Edinburgh, DD has been informed that they hope to let her know by March but it might not be until May. I guess I take that to mean that Edinburgh is not interested in her?

No quite right RF, it's too late - decisions were all made yesterday so nothing will change. I said he should say something when he arrived late, short of sounding moany, but he said no, and he was quite clear about that. Actually it's slightly more complex as he assumed wrongly that the first interview would be on his written work not the source, so he thought he'd have the intervening time to catch up. He was caught unawares when he went into the room and they said ok lets talk about the source and after the interview was over he just wanted out. Never mind.

I've just seen your Littleham: thanks :) I missed that post. Your poor DD. I reckon her interview was probably far more difficult than DS's because panic is about the worst thing that can happen, in terms of ability to think. It's incredibly bad luck and I just don't know what can be done to avoid sudden panic - not much I don't think. One thing which must help both your DD and my DS is some really good offers in the bag. The trip to York idea is great.

Molio how do you know that the decisions were made yesterday? That would make sense, as I would assume that the interviewing team would like to meet as soon as possible after the interviews, whilst it is all fresh. Should we be expecting rejections/offers from next week?

And yes, let's talk about other universities! Where else are you all visiting? Which places do/did you like, and why? I don't think we can visit anywhere else before next June when exams are over.

DD still has one more choice to add to her UCAS form, so something else to agonise over - should it be another "aspirational" offer? Or an alternative "insurance" offer?

I believe Oxford will send out offers/rejections for all subjects in early January. Making the decision is the first step, but getting the letters/emails ready and checking them carefully must take ages. Not nearly such a big task in universities where everybody who meets the criteria gets an offer!

Three years ago when we were going through this the letters were timed to arrive just before Christmas. There was a lot of scope for things going missing in the Christmas post and it must have been a mad rush to meet the deadline, hence I suppose the decision to fall in line with Cambridge and offer after Christmas.