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 :(

They do but it clashes with something else she will be doing, sadly.

Just thought I'd pop in and update, my DS was rejected from Cambridge for computer science but has just heard he has an offer for Maths and Computing at Imperial College!

Great news MadameJosephine well done to your DS

Good news! Hurray!

Great news! Congrats!

Thanks a lot, I'm so pleased for him. His interview was much better than the Cambridge one, thank goodness and not having s panic attack this time definitely helped! He's just waiting for the conditions of the offer to come through on UCAS and then the hard work really begins. Apparently Imperial have been giving some really hard offers for his course, the standard is AAAA which is hard enough but they've given some offers with STEP too so I've promised him I'll pay for a maths tutor if he gets a STEP offer

Oh MadameJo, that's brilliant, well done him! Imperial [proud smile] (we do all get to be proud of these intelligent, hard-working, motivated kids, don't we? )

MadameJo that is great news I wondered how he was getting on. The interview obviously went well. I just want to say this has been/is a lovely supportive thread and I am so grateful I could come here and read other peoples stories and then breathe again.

MadameJo, great news. People that I work with consider Imperial better than Cambridge in some ways for many subjects.

GB - could your DD apply for the Sutton Trust course, explaining the geographical disadvantage?

I'm sorry to hear of the teacher response to the Cambridge offer holder above, but feel the best answer is to keep one's head down and carry on being nice to people for the last few months of school.
Human jealousy and envy does strange things to people and being successful means one is going to come across such reactions and needs to learn how to deal positively with it (ie by not taking umbrage or feeling too hurt). In a way it's fine because you get to know who true friends are, and you learn to forgive those you love, and to be compassionate and kind to those less successful in this particular race but just as good at other things.
I was thrilled when I got a distinction in my grade 8 drama (a rare thing in antiquity) but my drama teacher was pissed off and said so to my face because her pet only got a merit. Teachers are only human.
In fact it is important to be extra nice and low key because sometimes jealous people can get spiteful and that can be very difficult.

So pleased for your ds, MadameJosephine - great news!

Thanks everybody, I did try to reply last night but for some reason my message vanished.

Atia, absolutely, we all get to collectively proud of our mumsnet offspring, they are a fabulous bunch

I totally agree about the support on here, it's been fantastic to have a place to come where people understand what you are going through, I don't really have anybody in RL who gets it the way you lot do. The first thought I had when he told me was 'I must tell mumsnet' :D

Fantastic news MadameJo!

Brilliant news MasterJosephine! Well done to him, you must be soooo pleased. Let us know what the offer is...

Hooray Madame j. That is marvellous news.

Fantastic MadameJo. Am so pleased & really great that the interview went well.

Hi to everyone else & hope you are all keeping well!

He's just woken me up to tell me the conditions are through from UCAS and they've made him a straight AAAA offer, no STEP required! Hurrah! He's already done enough to get him an A in Maths so that leaves AAA to get in the summer which will still be hard work but achievable. We are over the moon for him after his disappointment with Cambridge

That's what I was waiting to hear MJ ! great news. Several of the DCs friends have chosen Imperial over Oxford/ Cambridge and had a fantastic time. So glad it ended well :) (well, I know most of the DC aren't quite there yet, but you know what I mean).

This thread has been quiet for a few weeks but I wondered if anyone else has a dc who is now (at last) panicking about getting their required grades? Dd is now worried she won't get an A in anything (she needs AAA). She says she can only drop 30 UMS points and having done her ISAs she feels she has very little wriggle room for the summer papers. She will redo the ISAs this term but is not optimistic.

Dd1's not panicking, but she's realised just how much she wants it, and has at least started TALKING about revision. She's doing maths past papers and getting over 70/75 mostly, so that should be ok. English coursework is in - crazily high grade boundaries apparently - she said 36/40 for an A, 38 for an A*. Classical Civ - no idea. She only just scraped the A last year (161/200) so retaking one paper and hoping for the best. She is stubborn for the sake of it if anyone suggests she do anything, so trying not to say anything and just listen to her plans.

My daughter, after a period of ambivalence, has now decided she'd like to be in a position to take up the offer. She's always been hard working and focused, so my energies are directed more towards steering her away from overdoing it!

She's also decided on a gap year and reapplying via UCAS for 2016 entry if she doesn't get the required grades - and has some fairly realistic ideas of what she might do. As she's a late August birthday, I think this might be a good plan

for the parents of panicking young people - Oxford and Cambridge don't generally make many more offfers than they have places, with the exception of Maths at Cambridge. This is because they know that most of the applicants will match or exceed their offer and take up their place. They also take some who narrowly miss their grades. Cambridge actually publishes the figures for offers and acceptances, Oxford are a bit more reluctant to do so but overall it's something like 5-8% who dont go. As I said before this excludes Cambridge mathmos, STEP means a much higher percentage don't make their offers. for potential mathmo parents.

My impression, from my family and their friends, is that there can be a fair amount of worrying once they are at Oxbridge either about resits or about maintaining the standard they managed to achieve in the previous year. Try to keep them calm and focused and encourage them develop strategies for dealing with pressure now. Most will be going so they might like to sign up to Facebook pages to make contact with others before they go.

Anyone considering reapplying should be prepared to be asked for higher grades in their resits. These universities have some advantages but really mumsnet is far too obsessed with them. There are many excellent universities whose longer terms and different pattern of exams may suit some students better.

Has anyone's DC has an invitation to an Oxbridge offer holders' day? Dd1 has been invited to a day at college after Easter, with special bits for parents. She's been to her other offer days by herself, but I have to say I am tempted by this one!

Atia , no not here . Although he has had a financial declaration form sent through from the college. Must quiz him this evening. (smile).

Alreadytaken
Thank you for that post. I suppose where I worry is that whilst Oxford (compared to Cambridge) tends to make a relatively generous offer of AAA (i.e. not A*s - caveat I only know about DS's subject - History) I have read on here some posts about the discrepancies in Humanities subject marking for A level. The truth is - I can worry along with the best of them and need to stop