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 :(

ds1 is still in limbo waiting for response from St Andrews. My understanding is he can't make any choices on UCAS until he's had a response from all 5.

He also hasn't decided on his back-up offer anyway and has some post-offer visits lined up.

Roisin , we're waiting for UCL here but it is likely to be the same as Oxford. It's looking like he won't actually have a back-up offer - AAA or bust here I fear.

Hocus I am thinking of suggesting to my DDD that she puts down Leeds - which she really liked - as her back up, even though they also want AAA, same as Oxford. My thinking is that if, say, she dropped a grade in the summer, Leeds might still take her anyway as long as (fingers crossed) she does well in the actual subject she wants to study at university. She had a very high UMS score in her chosen subject at AS, which could help. Who knows. Better to have a chosen and insurance that are the same than to have no back up at all?

DS will almost certainly have to do that too Figment - put York @ AAA down as his insurance and hope that they'll look kindly on him if he dips below. He's really liked the idea of York all along anyhow, so it would be fine.

I hope your DS was happy with his college GraceFox, when it came through.

We still on a lonely 1 offer (nottigham)this end :( . So still in limbo. DD wants to put notts as insurance as its the lowest offer obviously firm if get rejected by all the others. If she can get UCL that will be her firm. I know there's a thread for Durham taking there time but are others finding that with UCL and Bath. Or is it to do with course they have applied for. Just wish they could nay or yay so dd can mentally move forward.

Polkadot ,
We are waiting on UCL (History) . No idea when they decide or not. With you in spirit .
Hocus.

Thanks hocus I thought I would go on this thread to enquire, although my dd never applied to Oxbridge but thought the likely hood that other DC's on here may have put down UCL or either Bath may be greater. Learning to be patient is so hard. Im losing my marbles so to speak. You guys on this thread deserve a medal going through the Oxbridge endurance test, well done everyone. I know we praise our DC's but I think us parents deserve a pat on the back too, its like trying to juggle all those spinning plates without them falling down at times.

I've just heard that 10 pupils at ds1's school have received Oxbridge offers. Not bad for a non-selective state school!

ds1 is at a selective school but they have even for them had amazing Oxbridge success this year - 40 offers - usually around 25...

It's interesting that most of the state schools around here don't get many into Oxbridge, in spite of being outstanding, great results etc. I wonder of the process still puts a lot of people off even applying?

Decor hate Hmm well I think it's probably quite multi faceted, but that parental encouragement is probably at least as important as school support. In our house it was sort of taken as read that DD would have a go. It's true that the process is a stressful nightmare, but if the various hurdles weren't there, there would be even more applicants to sift through. Durham for example, which only makes A*AA offers for English, gets not far from twice as many applicants.

That said, they still have things they could do better. For eg my DD came back from her interview and said that there was this tacit assumption that all the candidates could read Roman numerals - so that eg when u were told your interview was on say staircase 18, you had the added puzzle of trying to identify which staircase it was - luckily she knew hers from the chapter headings of old fashioned novels...

DS is at a small non selective state sixth form and out of 4 that were interviewed no one got in. I would say that they tend to have much greater success getting candidates in for maths and science than they do for the humanities.

QueenQueenie: wow! That's incredible. How big is the sixth form? Is it a super selective? State or inde?

I think if you're at a school with a track record of Oxbridge success, they will have built up a body of evidence and experience and will also be skilled at identifying which students are likely to succeed. ds1's school (non-selective, state, c. 250 per year) sent 11 students last year (12 offers), plus 5 or 6 additional vetmed elsewhere. This year they've had 10 offers.

Post-Oxbridge interview, students were asked to submit a detailed report of their interview, including specific questions asked, to help future school candidates.

I can't fault the support ds1's school put in. From January yr12 interested students joined an "early entry" elective, 1hr each week. They had lessons, advice and support on writing personal statements, choosing a course/college etc, they had visits from Oxford and Cambridge admissions tutors and outreach workers, they had optional organised visits to Cambridge, Oxford and the Oxbridge exhibition/fair thing, they were circulated with links about Oxbridge masterclasses and summer residential courses, they had one-to-one advice and mentoring on final personal statement, they all had at least one mock interview with a specialist in their field who had attended Oxbridge, etc.

Molio, yes he is thank you. We're all relieved the application process is well and truly done now. Just got to get to August...

Just to say I have noticed that there is an admissions tutor from Christ Cambridge on TSR (where like Molio I vowed not to go looking!) inviting feedback on the Cambridge admissions process ( and responding!). Am not sure if I should be posting this re another board (sorry, if I've got it wrong - am quite new to this posting lark and not absolutely clear on the etiquette!) but felt it was worth sharing as so many good points have been made here around this issue.

My DD has an offer from Oxford to study Economics and Management, contingent on her getting A* A A, I think I'm more excited than she is! Trying not to be too neurotic about it (and probably failing miserably), it's a long old wait till results day. I feel like she'll move on quite quickly but I'll never get over it if she misses the grades!

Sherlock,
I feel for you. I gave myself a short holiday from worrying after Ds got his offer. Am now settling in nicely to the "what if he doesn't make the grades" worrying. I am sure I never worried this much about my own applications .It is so long ago , however , perhaps I have just forgotten.
Hocus

Glad it's not just me Hocus. We'll be dreaming (or should that be having nightmares) about the contents of that envelope by August!

I told my dd I'd disown her if she didn't manage the AAA she needs! That counts as supportive, encouraging parenting, surely? She replied that Leeds looked like a great place to live ...

I feel I should by now be concentrating on child 2 and her GCSEs and child 3 choosing GCSEs ...Just when I think eldest is done and attention can be focused elsewhere there is something else to worry about and making the grades certainly comes into that category, not helped by the collision of course work for 3 subjects he seems to be facing at the moment.

Glad it's not just me who is having "what if they don't make the grades" type worries! Dd's mock grades were not great so hoping she works a bit harder for the real ones

I haven't worried much at all: his offer is quite generous and if he can't get that, he doesn't deserve to get in!

I'm more exercised now by ds2's future ambitions, especially if they involve very competitive courses at Cambridge.

What year's ds2 in, roisin?

My dd2 is in y12 and wants to apply to Cambridge (on the basis of not ever doing anything her older sister does!), but for languages, which isn't too competitive. (Although she said then it might be worse not to get a place, lol!)

I'm trying to provide lots of support and info about that, and uni in general for her, atm, because I'm very aware that all through y12 at dd1's grammar school they were having talks about university about twice a month, and at dd2's comp there is far less of that sort of preparation. I think she will be relying more on the goodwill of individual teachers to put time in with her if necessary.

And ds (child #3) is just choosing options. But that's straightforward, phew

Hocus it might be worth your DS asking the schools liason officer in the history faculty for his HAT score if he hasn't done so already. If it's very high then they're more likely to take him even if he doesn't get the grades (maybe don't tell him that ). The average HAT score last year was 62 for an interview and 68 for an offer and I don't think those averages move much. DS2 asked this time last year and DS3 has just done so. Lots of people ask for their scores and the DSs' whizzed back within hours. The day before results I suggested DS2 hoik out the e-mail to have it to hand if it all went tits up. It didn't exactly, because UCAS updated by 7am to say he was in, but it did slightly because when he got to school at 9am he found he'd missed his grades. I was hundreds of miles away at this point on a Scottish island with intermittent phone signal (inevitably) but I eventually got the message through to him to phone and ask the college if there'd been a mistake. He was very reluctant but I said if you turn up in October and they say there's no place then you'll have a big problem because you'll have missed your insurance and clearing too, plus I'll be very cross (Atia type support, encouragement etc. :)). Anyhow, his Ho6 phoned for him after phoning me up and the college said no, no mistake, see him in October. Last year seems to have been a record year for offerees not making their grades and I'd expect that trend to continue. DS2 scored 77 in the HAT and we got some re-marks which ended up with him having a couple of A* and another in the EP plus an A and a B, but it was a tense few hours up North (though clearly much less so down South) especially as most of his siblings were up North with me and swearing blind that Oxford/ UCAS had made an admin mistake....