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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Oxbridge 2015 #2

999 replies

Molio · 27/11/2014 19:14

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 Grin.

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

OP posts:
webwiz · 15/12/2014 22:18

Best of luck to those who are having interviews this week. I think the Oxford process sounds really tiring. DS just had the one day at Cambridge and was wiped out for the rest of the week.

Molio · 16/12/2014 08:12

Was the first day at the college of her choice or the allocated one Decorhate? I don't think every college even does two separate interviews for medicine, so the short one would only be a bit odd if other people doing that same interview with those same tutors had a full thirty minutes. And even then, the tutors might have simply run over earlier in the day and established that your DD was what they wanted very quickly, so didn't need to waste time!

OP posts:
Raidne · 16/12/2014 14:32

DecorHate, ds said that the medicine applicants at his college are doing 2 interviews each day as well.

Ds is out and about at the moment as his interview is late today (again!).

AtiaoftheJulii · 16/12/2014 15:26

Have been flat out yesterday and today, but thinking of you! Well done to everyone who's there atm, hope you can show them your best side!

MarianneSolong · 16/12/2014 15:32

I was thinking about this UA Fanthorpe poem. Perhaps an unsuitable one to share, but I'll do it anyway.

You will be hearing from us shortly

You feel adequate to the demands of this position?
What qualities do you feel you
Personally have to offer?
Ah

Let us consider your application form.
Your qualifications, though impressive, are
Not, we must admit, precisely what
We had in mind. Would you care
To defend their relevance?
Indeed

Now your age. Perhaps you feel able
To make your own comment about that,
Too? We are conscious ourselves
Of the need for a candidate with precisely
The right degree of immaturity.
So glad we agree

And now a delicate matter: your looks.
You do appreciate this work involves
Contact with the actual public? Might they,
Perhaps, find your appearance
Disturbing?
Quite so

And your accent. That is the way
You have always spoken, is it? What
Of your education? Were
You educated? We mean, of course,
Where were you educated?
And how
Much of a handicap is that to you.
Would you say?

                    Married, children,

We see. The usual dubious
Desire to perpetuate what had better
Not have happened at all. We do not
Ask what domestic disasters shimmer
Behind that vaguely unsuitable address.

And you were born—?
Yes. Pity.
So glad we agree.

MarianneSolong · 16/12/2014 15:33

The thread has messed up the formatting. You can see it on www.educationquizzes.com/gcse/english/poetry-you-will-be-hearing-from-us-shortly/

RandomFriend · 16/12/2014 15:38

DD said, "I haven't met a single person here that doesn't deserve a place".

If she doesn't get an offer, she will feel that it is because the other candidates were all really good academically, and not because of her age/looks/height/accent/dress.

MarianneSolong · 16/12/2014 15:47

The poem is funny, in a noir way. I've heard it performed by the late UA Fanthorpe and her partner Rosie Bailey. Both with links to the Establishment. Both non-Conformists. It does say something true about the interview process I think. (I've done interviewing myself occasionally.) You're looking for people's strengths, but also looking for reasons not to accept them.) And it captures the way the process of being interviewed - despite all the surface courtesy - can make one feel very uncomfortable indeed.

YogaCats · 16/12/2014 16:08

Good luck, to Decor and Raidne 's dc in their remaining interviews! My DS thinks he's finished (but might be recalled tomorrow or something) and said he enjoyed today's interviews but has no idea whether they went well or not. I'm so glad he seems to have enjoyed the experience, whatever the result proves to be. I was worried he'd go completely into his shell, but he seems to have been put at ease and even ended his email with a smiley face! Xmas Smile

Littleham · 16/12/2014 17:00

Good luck to the ones going through interviews at the moment. And good luck to their Mum's as well. Thinking of you all.

Decorhate · 16/12/2014 17:48

Thanks for all the supportive messages. My dd had to stay on till 4 in case she had another interview (after 2 this morning). She's on her way back now.

QueenQueenie · 16/12/2014 18:21

Glad she's survived the ordeal Decorhate! Be prepared for her to be completely exhausted... Ds still hoping he might hear something from B'ham (post interview) and / or from Leeds (offer of interview) before Christmas... Anyone else heard from Leeds for medicine?

PD6966 · 16/12/2014 18:30

Best wishes to all the DCs and parents this week - an 'exciting' time for all!Wink It's been a relief to put all of the pre-invitation/interview excitement behind us and focus on the festivities at last...

Decorhate · 16/12/2014 18:42

Queenie dd is also waiting to hear from Birmingham & hoping for a Leeds interview. Lurking on TSR, it seems that Leeds may not now send out interview offers before Christmas

Raidne · 16/12/2014 18:42

Decorhate, glad your dd is heading home.

Yogacats, my ds is in the same position as yours. He has to hang around until tomorrow to see if he has to have any more interviews! Hopefully he won't.

Decorhate · 16/12/2014 19:22

I think my dd has really enjoyed the experience, whether or not it goes any further. Sounds like the medicine interviews are not quite the gruelling interrogation that others have had. Which of course may be a bad sign... Anyway, she's going to try to forget about it till after Christmas now

Raidne · 17/12/2014 11:24

Ds is on his way home, no interviews required at any other college, thank goodness!

RandomFriend · 17/12/2014 11:53

DD has just been explaining to me how draining she found the whole experience last week. On one of the days, she had something mid-morning. She said that before it, she was busy preparing; and that afterwards, she was so tired that she spent the rest of the day recovering from the intense concentration and effort.

Well done to all the DCs that have now done their interviews.

YogaCats · 17/12/2014 16:39

DS now home (finally, after a lot of hanging around!). He's enjoyed it all apart from the first interview which is now described as "full of stupid mistakes" (down from "not too good", but thinks his chances of an offer are slim. "Good experience though!" he says.

roisin897 · 18/12/2014 08:35

Is everyone done now?

ds1 is rather demotivated this week. I think it's partly endoftermitis, partly this Oxford limbo situation. Hope he'll snap back into the right attitude once he has an answer in Jan. maybe 2 weeks chilling over Christmas will be good for him.

GraceFox · 18/12/2014 09:33

I've had a quick look at the Cambridge pool timetable. Decisions about who's going into it seem to be made quite early. The rest of the timing is quite vague (I really hope ds isn't hanging on till late Jan!!), but what I'd like to know is:

If the answer is to be straight offer or straight rejection (the more likely outcome), are those decisions also sent out around 8/9 Jan? Maybe I've missed something on the website - I'm struck down with pre Christmas lurgy so my brain's mega slow - can anyone enlighten me?

jneill · 18/12/2014 11:33

Straight Cambridge offers/rejections are posted out to everyone on the 9th Jan - I guess they should arrive on the 10th (a Saturday). But some colleges are also emailing decisions on 10th, and some on the 12th. The same timeline applies to pooled candidates that don't require a further interview.

Grammar · 18/12/2014 14:48

I've posted on here as DD had her Cambridge interview last week but it's not an Oxbridge question really. My question is;
If you get a 'low' offer, ie, say A,A,B rather than straight As or A*s, what does that mean? DD got an offer from Durham which I always thought was right up there with Oxbridge for AAB. I was wanting to believe it was because they really want you but I simply don't know.
I'm hoping this doesn't come across as a 'stealth boast', It is a genuine question. I'm thinking this is a thread where one doesn't really need to worry about things like this, as all our youngsters of posters on here are extremely able.

gonegrey56 · 18/12/2014 15:25

Congratulations to your daughter! I think it means that Durham really want her . If the standard offer for the course she has applied for is usually higher (check the prospectus ), then it shows that they are keen to take her. My own DD is at Durham now, and one of her friends was made an offer of ABB for a highly competitive course, a reflection of his musical and sporting talents .

AtiaoftheJulii · 18/12/2014 15:25

What's the usual offer/range of offers for her subject at Durham?

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