How can these students go to Oxbridge?

[Fiona2011231]

To protect the privacy of the students, I do not include their names and their school here.

I read the article in our local newspaper about some students at the local state school, which is not exactly famous for their academic performance.

These are their grades:

"Student, 18, achieved 4 A*s and will be studying Politics at Cambridge University.

Joining him at Cambridge will be A, who achieved 2 As and 2 A grades, and C, who gained 2 A a B and a C grade.

D will go to Oxford to study Classics after achieving 4 straight A grades and another E is USA-bound after securing a place at the Ivy League University, Princeton, to study Liberal Arts. E achieved 3 A grades in English Literature, French and Maths.

It seems that some of the cases here did not achieve excellent grades.

If this observation is correct, why were they accepted by these most prestigious universities? In the case of Oxbridge, do you think it may be because the universities considered their background, perhaps being poor, and that they come from a state school. So by accepting these students, the universities can fulfill their quota imposed by the government?

Thanks,

Don't some of the colleges give students tests to do as part of the interview process, too?

Those grades look excellent to me, for a pupil from any school.
The standard Oxford offer in arts/humanities was previously 3As so it would appear that just one pupil fell short of, what would usually be the standard offer at their uni of choice. DD has been told to email a copy of her UMS to Cambridge if she fails to make the grades in August so maybe they were impressed with pupil C's interview/exam/submitted work or they were very close on UMS?

Yes, few years back now - around 2002 - but personally know three people who had the same experience as SummerDreams

(one only could take maths a-levels due to weird personal circumstances meaning she had to do private study and got into Oxford - they said she just needed to show she had been studying something else.

One got a couple of low grades, showed them what he could do at interview and got a First

one scored B's and C's got an offer from Cambridge based on interview but she turned it down)

Oxford and cambridge interview people and seem very happy to bring them up for interviews to meet them in person/set their own tests.

lesson here: don't be scared of applying, they actually like people who are a bit "bright but not quite mainstream coached type".

Yes Countess may have changed and it will depend on college but they will have (1) tests at college level (2) in interviews, they'll often bring up something and see how the candidate responds to tackling the problem even if they don't "know" the answer.

(this problem will be very non standard)

Its funny how people talk about Oxford being "elitist" when it actually does its hardest to make sure genuine creativity, interest in the subject is rewarded not just "being coached by a particular school")

Ps the person I know who got into Cambridge accidentally said "fuck" during the interview.

I got AAA and oxford rejected me.

they look at more than grades.

UCL took me but I dropped out after a year to tour Europe with a bunch of drug addled rock stars.

good call, oxford.

You haven't personally met these pupils, the admissions staff at Oxbridge have.

Oxbridge do not simply want a brain on a chair type of student, they want unique, independent, critical thinkers. Yes grades are important but they also contextualize all information so they can take into account differing circumstances. They look for people who will flourish in the rigorous and challenging environment and try to admit students who will be suited to the teaching methods used.

That is why both universities interview prospective students.

To imply that the students you mentioned have only been admitted to fulfill a quota when you know nothing about them is very judgmental.

Here have my first

Oxbridge also take into account that students from state schools who get good grades are more independent as they have had lesser input from students at private schools. If a student from a private school scores the same grades then it perhaps shows that private school student needs more handholding/lessens to achieve this.

They also look at your demonstrable interest in the subject. I was at a school that didn't do Greek so I taught myself. As it happened this was in the days of the official entrance exam so I would have got in anyway but these days it's the sort of thing that might give you an edge over students with slightly better grades.

want2besupermum I think you've got me mixed up with another poster

My DH went to Oxford on the strength of their entrance exam and an interview with them. He was state school educated and from a working class background. All they wanted A levelwise was 2Es. OK,, this was ages ago. He is the type of thinker that sassymuffin describes.

Many moons ago I went to Cambridge with grades far less than those in the article but I had absolutely aced the subject specific entrance exam. How does the OP know from the information in the article that this wasn't the case here? Sounds like sour grapes from a parent whose precious prince(ess) was rejected

The ee offer was standard when they had the entrance exam. It was great because you had no pressure around your A levels

Not quite the same league but I received a EE offer from UCL on the basis of my interview. It's a top 5 uni, so pretty decent. It's not all about grades.

They take many factors into account. I got in to Cambridge with AAB even though my offer was AAA. Not everyone doing my subject in my college had the same offer, and some dropped by several grades, but still got a place. A lot depended on your college, a school friend also had an offer for a far more prestigious college than me, dropped a grade like me but didn't get a place.

I went to a state school, lived in a council house etc. None of my extended family had been to university. I still am the only one to have done so. Fwiw, my school was in Upminster, same borough as the school referred to in the OP (if the PP who said its a Hornchurch school was right). At the time I was only the second pupil to go to Oxbridge.

AAA is quite a common Oxbridge offer. Or 3As for some of the less popular courses. American universities have different admissions criteria so can't compare. All your people have AAA or equivalent, don't they?

Not sure what your point is.........

They look like pretty good grades to me, and the students have probably achieved very highly in other areas too.

How comes everyone can tell from the OP what school the article is about?

DH didn't get straight As and got into Cambridge
He was however amazing at the subject he chose to read, and had done lots of out-of-school learning and activities in this area

They did much better then David Miliband in his A levels BBBD, and he got into Corpus Christi, Oxford.

Seems the biggest hurdle in getting state kids into Oxbridge is not to discourage them from applying - happened at my school and guess what - no one got in because no one applied

The standard offer for Oxford in the humanities and social sciences is AAA. I'm a tutor. I know.

The only one of these that is even slightly surprising is the AABC. This one is going to Cambridge, but if it was an Oxford student in my subject the most likely interpretation would be that after an excellent interview (and other factors) he/she was given the standard offer. Having technically missed it, but exceeded it on other dimensions, the college would then have to decide whether to admit them anyway. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. We would look at performance in other areas; whether there were mitigating factors during it just before the exam (illness? Bereavement?); what subject each grade was in; and yes, the school. There is no quota, but these grades from an average comp would have very different implications than from a top public school.

I don't think there is anything surprising or concerning about any of that.

Your post is rather odd and ill-informed.

Did he really Blossom?

In those days there was an entrance exam and he would have got an EE offer. Plus there has been a lot of grade inflation since then.

Still a bit poor though!

When the ee offer was around most people still did their best and came with a clutch of a grades but there were always a few who stopped working once they had their place.