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 think that these stats from The Sutton Trust are particularly enlightening... www.suttontrust.com/newsarchive/summer-schools-aim-dispel-state-school-teachers-oxbridge-misconceptions/

Gosh.

In the Hocus household we are pretty much thinking of clean shirts and an early night.

Frankly , if DS is not the right person because he did not go to the right N London school , we can't fix that now.

He is either what they are looking for , or he isn't (other platitudes are available) Thank you PP ( lovely interviewer ) for your comments. When DS went on his looking around day the current students were so helpful and I think if anyone could help DS get over his nerves , one of them could .

I wish all those with interviews the very best. Littleham and Molio , but all others whose DCs are going through this .

I also want to say that Mimsy is absolutely right (I would say that wouldn't I - because I too am ex UCL) Oxford (or indeed Cambridge) is not a passport to life. There are other brilliant and well regarded universities (obviously ) , and for those of you who have DCs holding offers from those fantastic places - huge congratulations . (And by the way no university is a passport to life. )

Enough platitudes. I wish all DCs of those on this thread the very best .

HU

Agree re the access summer schools. My dd would possibly not have applied to Oxford otherwise. And she did know that applying there for her particular subject was a long shot but if she didn't apply she definitely wouldn't get in!

I think funnyperson is making sweeping generalizations which don't stand up to scrutiny.

In maths and science the majority of Oxbridge academics being hired are not from the UK and were not educated at Oxbridge themselves - they are "immigrants" and are often not from Europe. The idea that these people are racist and discriminate against ethnic minorities is quite laughable. As for sexism, this is continually under scrutiny (e.g. by Athena SWAN) and the data simply does not show that comparable male and female candidates have different chances of being accepted.

(In subjects such as maths one has to look at the raw admissions data with some care, as there is a huge spread of qualifications amongst applicants: schools encourage all students with A*AA+ predictions to apply, but serious candidates for maths will far exceed such grades.)

I would also comment that interviewers now routinely receive training in unconscious bias, gender and diversity issues, carrying out interviews. I don't accept that it is common for interviewers to be blatantly prejudiced.

Really good news here. Amazingly, at least three other people in dd's school have an interview, so she is quite relieved that other people around her will be going through the same process (although different subjects). Means she can discuss things with friends. Takes the pressure off a bit too.

Good luck to you as well Hocus (& everyone else). Anyone know of a good place to eat in Oxford on a weekday evening? We will drop her off outside her allotted 'exclusion perimeter' and then have a well deserved night out!

nice tapas restaurant in Little Clarendon St (off the beaten track a bit so not full of tourists)

Hi Littleham that's lucky. We have at least one more person, although not over the same three days or for the same subject.

I'm finding the whole thing quite stressful - I am just too obsessed by it - I knew I would be - part of me wishes she was trying for a subject I know absolutely nothing about, like maths or science. Being positive though, it is really exciting to have got this far.

Same - they are not over the same days or for the same subject, but it does mean that all the school expectation doesn't fall on her thank goodness.

I think it is quite normal to worry Figment & if your dd is anything like mine you are not allowed to tell anyone in real life so this is the only place to discuss things & ask questions. It is like being under a press embargo!

The Magdalen Arms is fabulous Littleham and miles away from where your DD will be!

Anyone driving to Oxford & has already sussed out good car parks?

Littleham how big is your DD's suitcase? I am thinking pull along suitcase - middle sized ie next size up from an on board flight bag. Is your DD taking a laptop? Mine is taking our shared house laptop, so I hope the security is not too ropey.

Decorhate others will know more than me but I think you should head for the park n ride. It is vg, and parking in oxford is very difficult and expensive.

Park and Ride is the best option according to my DH. Might be possible to find a space late evening for a short time but don't rely on it.

Figment - my dd is taking a mid size pull along suitcase, so she can manage it herself. She has one of those tiny laptops, so she may squeeze it in, but she is not sure about Wi-Fi (will have to look on website).

Thanks for the meal suggestions - will check those out!

Decorhate if you want to drive, park and walk the Norham Gardens area by LMH is the place to go. Anywhere completely central is a nightmare. Very handy for LMH, St Hugh's, Somerville, Keble, St. John's, Wadham. 15 mins walk for Trinity, Balliol, Hertford, and Worcester and the Turl St Colleges. If you're the other end of town there's a sensible car park just round the corner from Magdalen. I'm trying not to ask you the question!

Decor, we always use the Thornhill Park & Ride service which is efficient, inexpensive and has regular buses (depends where you're driving from as there are several others dotted around). Going out for lunch and a Christmas mooch around with DS on Sunday before saying farewell, so hoping he can drop his wheelie case off at the porter's lodge first (does anyone know if this possible please?). We always visit The Covered Market to pick up some tasty morsels for Christmas, have a Ben's Cookie (amazing) and pop into The Missing Bean for the best coffee I've ever tasted .
Just had a chat with DS whilst doing the teenage taxi service and he's now worrying that he's being too calm and collected and that he should be doing/stressing more - oh dear!
I'm just looking forward to our day out in lovely Oxford and leaving him to (what I hope is) an amazing experience.

Thanks for all the suggestions for parking. We will probably be coming via the M40 from London direction. The college she is staying at is very central so probably impossible to even pull in to chuck her out!

Yes wheelie cases can be dropped off.
I hope everyone has a lovely time
I don't expect any of my comments to be taken seriously. They aren't based on new observations and if observations like that had been taken seriously prejudice wouldn't exist anymore. Though of course the argument will always be that it doesn't exist. Here are stats for Oxford by ethnicity. They got worse recently.
Ethnic origin

The table below contains figures for the share of UK applications and acceptances who elected to record their ethnic origin and chose white as the category of self-identification. This particular presentation of the data is necessary as the number of non-white and mixed ethnic origin categories changes over time, which makes if difficult to make longitudinal comparisons.
' UK applications recording ethnic origin UK acceptances recording ethnic origin % applications - white % acceptances - white
1993 8,756 2,875 88.2 90.1
1994 8,783 2,856 88.3 91.2
1995 8,359 2,892 87.2 92.0
1996 8,555 3,200 87.1 92.4
1997 7,872 3,049 85.9 89.9
1998 7,872 3,049 85.9 89.9
1999 7,964 2,957 85.7 89.8
2000 7,772 2,928 86.5 89.5
2001 7,974 2,966 84.9 88.3
2002 9,266 3,082 84.7 88.0
2003 9,723 2,940 83.7 86.2
2004 9,881 2,792 82.7 85.6
2005 10,005 2,816 81.1 85.7
2006 9,760 2,755 84.2 88.1
2007 10,367 2,716 84.7 86.6
2008 9,280 2,683 83.5 87.6
2009 10,210 2,653 82.1 87.3
2010 11,566 2,617 82.4 87.8

On the basis of the above data, here are the success rates for white applicants and non-white applicants for each of the above years.
'' Success rate white Success Rate non-white Disparity
1993 34% 28% 22%
1994 34% 24% 38%
1995 37% 22% 69%
1996 40% 22% 80%
1997 41% 28% 46%
1998 41% 28% 46%
1999 39% 27% 47%
2000 39% 29% 33%
2001 39% 29% 34%
2002 35% 26% 32%
2003 31% 26% 22%
2004 29% 24% 24%
2005 30% 21% 40%
2006 30% 21% 39%
2007 27% 23% 17%
2008 30% 22% 39%
2009 28% 18% 50%
2010 24% 16% 54%

Note:Disparity is the greater likelihood of acceptance if one is white as opposed to ethnic minority (Difference in success rates/success rate non-white).

DS had a very brutal mock interview this evening. He was a bit upset about it at first but seems to be recovering a bit now and planning what he can do to improve. Not long to go now thank goodness.

Littleham it would be really useful to know if there is wifi, although I suppose not all colleges are the same. I suspect maybe not. I remember a couple of years ago one of my friend's mums having to send stuff to her DD who was using an Internet cafe.

Well every coffee shop going usually has wifi as well figment so that could be an emergency back up.

Oh webwiz that sounds awful. I'm all for a realistic mock, but hope that it hasn't knocked his confidence. I lose track of whose DC is interviewing where and doing what. Has he long to prepare?

I'm feeling quite subversive so I want to point out to those from ethnic minorities that they will be in an even greater minority at Oxford and Cambridge than at some other universities, that the admission bias is carried through to degree classifications so they will be less likely to be awarded a first than non -whites, and therefore (this is the subversive bit) there is a lot to be said for the brainiest to apply and accept offers where they will be valued and let Oxbridge shoot themselves in their non-21st century feet by making sure that the future nobel prize winners and movers and shakers don't go there. Let the academics deny all prejudice and let them stay in their ivory towers falling behind the rest of the world. I'm not bitter, just not willing to be silent. I'm not slave or native empire material.

Don't you think it would be better to start a separate thread for this discussion, funnyperson? This thread is currently for parents trying to support young people preparing for an interview. The time for decisions about where to apply is long gone and the time for decisions about whether to accept an Oxbridge offer is several weeks away. What you're talking about is important but it's not going to get the attention it deserves on this thread, and nor should it.

I hope your children are doing well now. If I recall correctly, they must both have graduated this summer.

Although WiFi is not available in the guest rooms we provide WiFi 'hot spots' across the College site.

Figment - found this on one of the college pages, so I'm sure there will be wi fi somewhere (even if she has to resort to coffee shops).