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 :(

I don't know what the offer/range is. She has applied for Chinese/Japanese oriental studies. I must check the prospectus, I really don't know if it is a highly competitive course. Thank you gonegrey, is you DD happy there? It is a collegiate set up which is like Oxbridge and would prob suit my DD better than a campus as she has Asperger's and finds large institution type places intimidating. But, like Cambridge it is so far away from where we are, Dorset. I worry about her social 'unsavviness'. Exeter, I loved, as she did and is closer!

Grammar your DD's offer of AAB is the offer/range of what they are asking. It can catch you out sometimes as it can change from when you first look at the website/brochure. I had this with DD and Sheffield.

Congratulations to DD :)

It is a pretty early offer from Durham, and your DD should feel justly proud . Good for her!
And my DD is so happy at Durham, a great relief for me as she was so disappointed to be turned down by Cambridge two years ago . It is a long way from home, but I do think this has helped her blossom and learn to stand on her own and cope with life - any closer and she would have been coming home all the time . The collegiate system at Durham is very nurturing and I am sure your DD would be well supported should she go there . Fingers crossed for her that she goes where she wants.

Happy Christmas everyone. Hope you get good news in the New Year.

Yes, Happy Christmas all. This time next year our dc will have already done a term at their uni! :-o

My daughter has chosen Boxing Day to get angst-ridden about her entire UCAS application.

On a purely logical level it's not making a good deal of sense. For example she a) really thinks she should have applied to LSE and UCL
but
b) she would much rather go to Sheffield or Bristol.

I think the difficulty might lie in the fact she really likes both these places. (Hasn't heard from the latter etc.) But because she's been high-achieving, there's been encouragement to apply to other universities which are especially competitive, ranked near the top etc etc.

That sort of thing. It's partly triggered by the fact that she soon has to get to work on something called an EPQ.

We had a good Christmas. It's just horrible to see her now, miserable and fretful about it all.

I told her the only thing which was a real mistake was ending up at a university that you didn't want to go to, studying something that you didn't want to study. This won't happen. If she wants to take a gap year and reapply with confirmed grades, that's absolutely fine by me and her Dad.

If she writes a list of ten things she loves and ten things she dislikes about each university on her UCAS list, she will probably see that she could be happy at most of them (& that each one will have flaws.....yes, even Oxford).

If a rejection comes along, hire the film Sunshine on Leith and fast forward to the song 'It's over and done with'. Sing at full volume until she feels better.

We have EPQ angst too. They always seem like such a good idea to help with the Personal Statement. Then you have to suffer the pain of living with them while they write the darn things!

I was very relieved when my dd decided not to do an EPQ! She picked up a new AS to do this year and it was very clear to me by the first week of term that doing both would be a push for her.

There are pros and cons of everywhere, and yes, I'd agree that it would be sensible for her to be very clear about that. And I know it's easier said than done, but she's made her choices, and there's really no point getting too caught up in all the what if's and possibilities Poor thing. Hope she can calm down a bit xxx

Thanks both of you! Originally my daughter was planning on 4 A-Levels and an EPQ! (It was the 4th A-Level that went. I had a conversation behind her back with the Head of Sixth Form) My daughter really was not smitten by Cambridge, and has mentally ruled it out - though I'm not sure what would happen if an offer did come through...

As you so rightly say it is a matter of keeping a level once offers are in and looking at pros and cons. Also as she will only just be 18 at the start of the next academic year, I think the option of not going for a year is worth keeping in mind.

Anyway I'm sure the next few months will be interesting for us all!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas.

Is she happier today?

Kind of you to ask Atia. She is off out with a friend in a bit, seems outwardly her normal self, and I'm not really probing for now. I suspect the next conversation re the future won't happen until the next offer/rejection comes in - though I shall feel obliged to ask re progress of the EPQ plus mocks revision over the coming days. She is pretty conscientious.

(Cambridge and Bristol are the universities whose replies are to come.)

We are also visiting some relatives for a new year's meal who are bound to ask her about future plans, so that is likely give me an update on what's going on in her head. She does a lot of quiet thinking - and just now and then there's a sort of outpouring/explosion, if you see what I mean.

My DD has been away since the 15th December, at the time I wasn't too happy about her being away for xmas, but I think it was for the best. There has been no temptation to talk about the interview I have driven my DH mad instead. She is having a really relaxed time no work and no Mum nagging either.
The EPQ thing was not an issue as she does the International Baccalaureate, so we had the dreaded Extended Essay instead and the joy of TOK.

My 83 year old mother (LSE postgrad) has just announced she really really wants to be a member of parliament. She has not mentioned this before incidentally. I was about to laugh at her when I realised (age 57 years) that since DD has been there, I really really want to go to Oxford. I had never mentioned this before because I had not thought of it before. When I was the right age i thought it a dreadful place and applied to the other university and got a place. I was thoroughly happy at university and have never (and still don't) regretted my choice. DD applied to Oxford because she wanted to after she visited. She was so happy there that I find I want to go myself! Life is weird. There is only one of it. We are only young once.

I put this in the thread as someone mentioned parental ambitions. Ambitions change with age and experience. They are dynamic. Once achieved, others take their place. If not achieved, they may be readjusted. Parents have ambitions for themselves and for their children. Children have ambitions for themselves and to please their parents. Trying to work out what one really wants as an eighteen year old isn't always easy. Trying to ensure that one's children aren't overwhelmed by one's hopes for their future isn't always easy.

Oxford and Cambridge are strange because in the international subconscious, simply to have gone there creates a halo of academia/success around the student's head, even if only temporarily, and this affects applicants, their families, and of course the staff. It is quite a thing to have to live up to. Anyway I don't know quite why I posted all this: well done to all those who interviewed and who were interviewed and, in particular, well done for trying to achieve their ambitions.

Previously I remarked in this thread that going to Oxford can create distance in families. I want to report that we have all just come back from a truly lovely long family holiday together and that the distance wasn't created by Oxford but by the independence of growing up and away from home just as one would wish.

mariannesolong I really like that song.

A lovely post. BTW a friend your age is studying at Oxford (Post Grad) having a great time and achieving good grades. However she is also having to work very hard. I think it is natural as our children set out on new and exciting paths that we too wonder what we want to do next.

mariannesolong, please tell your daughter not to worry, especially about things she cannot control. Her UCAS form is in and others control that part of the decision making. At this point the only element she has power over is doing as well as she can academically and thereby keeping as many doors open as possible.

Shelve decision making on this year's application until late March, when it can be based on the choices available. Going to offer days should help. Then focus on the summer exams. After that perhaps have a look at LSE/UCL and think again about Cambridge, assuming she does not get an offer this time round. When the results come out, and only then, does she need to really need to make her mind up between 2015 entry or a gap year. If she decides on a gap year, she would only need to add non Oxbridge choices before mid Jan, so lots of time to get away from school and consider where she really wants to do. If her results are good it seems ot be easier if you are applyng with confirmed grades. The only word of warning is that very oversubscribed courses are often looking for better grades than published in their prospectuses.

UCAS is a huge distraction especially in the first term of Yr 13. However for the next two terms, exams need to be the priority. Difficult for medics, who tend to hear late, and difficult for us last year as at this stage DS had not heard from any of his first 4 choices.

And as I always say! a gap year is no bad thing. I think they should be compulsory, actually.

Unless one has a burning desire to do something fulfilling or constructive, I don't really get the gap year thing...

DS has said he will take a gap year and apply to Oxford for 2016 entry if he doesn't get an offer from Cambridge this year but then does really wellrat A2, not sure he's thought about what he will actually do during the year though but it'll have to be something constructive, I doubt oxford would be very impressed with a year of sitting in his pants playing tetris ;)

Do any of the Cambridge applicants know when decisions are out? I had a look on tsr and they are saying letters are going to be posted on 9 jan but last year it seemed to be much earlier, 3rd or 4th? , and DS seems to think his college don't bother with letters anymore, they just email (he was actually disappointed with that as he said he wanted to frame his rejection letter!)

As far as I understand all the Cambridge colleges are sending letters out on the 9th and many are also emailing the results on the 10th. According to the website for Emmanuel this is the case, however the information should be available on each colleges website.
DD has said she does not want to do a gap year, she has an unconditional offer from her second choice so if she does not get into Cambridge she will be happy to go there. Her BF has already sorted his gap year, he will be working with a charity organisation so it should help his application next year, he is also very young in the year and it will mean he can grow up a little.

The admissions timetable for cambridge is here www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/admissions/handbook/section1/1_2.html with the 9th Jan as the agreed posting date for decision letters.

A Happy New Year to everyone on this thread and their DCs.

Oxford has announced that it let everyone know on Wednesday, 7th January.

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/decisions

This means that the decisions must have already been made and the administrators are just printing the letters now.

We're carefully avoiding the subject here. Apart from idiot stepmil. Family get together - young cousin talking about how he's looking forward to learning to drive and very keen to get a car. Dd says she has provisional for id purposes but isn't interested in driving. StepMIL says, "oh well, you won't need a car in Oxford". Ffs.

Oxford has not been mentioned by us once over the holidays. I'm not sure ds actually knows the date of the results but, no doubt, others will mention it when he goes back to school on Monday.

If it is a "no" (which it undoubtedly is!) then he won't reapply - he isn't 100% that it is the right course for him anyway. He said that if he got an offer he would have to visit again to see if he would actually want to go there. I'm glad he is so level-headed about it and not overwrought like others at school.

We've been determinedly not mentioning it too, but it feels like a long time in limbo land. Just want to hear now.

He's been to one off holders' day and has another one booked; but really needs the Oxford decision now, so he can consider how the others do or do not fit in with that!

We have the opposite here - DS deals with stuff by talking about it so we must have talked about Cambridge nearly everyday of the holidays. He feels he gave it a good shot so can deal with the outcome whatever it is.

Dd is usually a talker, but we went through the interviews extremely thoroughly in the days after her return, and she doesn't seem to have felt the need since.