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Higher education

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

Oxbridge - worth reapplying?

29 replies

mrsmootoo · 21/01/2015 08:54

DD1 wasn't given an offer from Cambridge this year. Is it worth reapplying post-A level? Her predictions are good, but obviously it would depend on what she actually gets in the summer. Does anyone know what the success rate is like post-A level? It's for Modern Languages. Or should she just take up good offers from Manchester or Bristol?

OP posts:
RandomFriend · 24/01/2015 13:26

OP, I think Bonsoir is spot-on in that a gap-year for MFL can completely change an applicant's profile in a very positive way. She doesn't have to go for the whole 12 months. Even a short trip would help. A job - any job where she is obliged to speak German every day - can make a big difference.

ChocolateWombat · 08/02/2015 10:20

I don't think you can decide the right course of action until your DD has her A Level results.
To make a post qualification application,they need to be stellar. So on paper, she needs to be as good as, or better than she was this year. It also depends on what she is doing in the year off. If she is doing something related to the subject and immersed in it, she improves her chances. Mid however, she is doing something unrelated, she is probably in a worse position, because on a day to day basis, won't be interacting with the subject (as she was at school) and will be further removed from it than when at school. Of course, if her love of the subject is such that despite doing something else for her gap year, she spends all of her free time immersed in languages through choice and love of them, she may well still have a good chance.

I think a post qualification applicant has to LOVE the subject and not just want Oxbridge. I know a girl who has recently re-applied for a humanities subject. Her Sisters both went to Oxbridge and her parents. She really wanted to go too and seemed to be a near miss first time round. Now she is on a year out working with a big bank. She reapplied with 2 A* and 2 A (2 lots of maths). When I met her to discuss her application and do an interview, it was obvious she had not really done much reading since A Level. When asked about it,she explained that she was working full time in the bank and didn't have time. I gently pointed out that those who love their subject always find time, because it is a delight not a chore to read. She realised then that her love was for Oxbridge not the humanities subject. She had her interview and was turned down again. She started from a weaker starting point than first time round, because whilst good, her grades were nothing out of the the ordinary for Oxbridge candidates, and she had not really connected with the subject for 6 months.

So consider, are the grades good enough, and is there a love of the subject that is genuine enough to keep a teenager no longer in school, immersed in it of their own free will? If so, another go is probably worth it.

JudgeRinderSays · 08/02/2015 14:27

what were her predicted grades and her AS grades?

mrsmootoo · 08/02/2015 16:35

She's predicted A*s in her languages (German and French) and As in History and Politics. At AS she got AAAB with high % (over 95%) in the languages. I think she could cope academically, but maybe she didn't come over well enough at interview. She isn't hugely confident and outgoing and as she isn't studying Eng Lit I think she may have undersold herself on that side of things, which is a big deal for Cambridge. (Thanks everyone for such useful feedback).

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