Not in the Oxbridge group

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

DD2's college have decided that to be in the group that gets to go on Oxbridge open days, access early help with planning an application etc, a student needs to have at least 7 A*s.

Is this a bit harsh? My DD has less but obtained at a school in special measures. I would expect her to get three As at A level; her A*s were in the subjects she is taking. I would have liked her to at least give an Oxbridge application a bash.

What do the "Oxbridge group" do? I'd find out & get those things arranged myself.

Oxford interview nearly 95% of Classics candidates, and don't Cambridge say they interview pretty much everyone with suitable predicted grades?

As well as the Sutton Trust summer schools, which are held at several universities, she could apply to UNIQ. Sutton Trust prioritises candidates whose parents didn't go to university, whilst UNIQ prioritises those who do well relative to their school cohort (simplifying - they both give their criteria clearly). There's also an Oxbridge Classics open day, which alternates between Oxford and Cambridge.

My eldest is about to go up to Oxford to study Classics (II A - no Latin), so if you want to pm me for some reasonably unbiased and up-to-date information, please do!

(And my dd scraped an A in Classical Civ at AS with 161, and achieved her A* prediction at A2 Glad her school are a bit more open-minded than some!)

When I used to write references for my sixth form students I always wrote a line or two about their previous school (very low achieving catchment area) and what the average 5 x A-C pass rate was. I wonder how many who are putting down the OP's daughter's grades are actually sending their own children to private, grammar or outstanding schools. Do you realise how hard it is to get good grades without even a teacher? All of that should go into her reference - it shows what a fantastic student she is and how amazing she is at organising her own work (never mind teaching herself.)

"The next annual Oxbridge Classics Open Day will take place in Cambridge on Friday 18 March 2016." - keep an eye out for when booking opens

Chocolate the school was in Special Measures. They got 50% with 5 A to C grades. I think part of the issue for DD was that they concentrated resources on the C/D borderline students.

However, our home address is a decent postcode and DH and I have both been to University, (well I went to Poly) so no contextual Brownie points there.

Actually DD and I have had a chat and she does not seem particularly bothered that Oxbridge looks to be out of the window, I guess she is more of a realist than me. She has a couple of friends from her old school who have made the Oxbridge group cut and she reckons they are miles brighter than her.

That's a sign of a bright student, thinking others are brighter than you!

The results of the school will be automatically visible to admissions tutors on the UCAS form and the sixth form college would usually mention that the school was in special measures in their reference, so admissions would take this into account in assessing the GCSE results. 50% is low, even if the polar score doesn't qualify for contextual offers.

Oxbridge is not out of the window based on the sixth form college's group: by the spring it will be clearer what kind of AS/A2 grades she is targeting and if these are A/A* then she should consider all universities as options.

So the admissions tutor actually sees the school's pass rates on UCAS? I didn't know that. I was told by a local university tutor to always mention it.

For the sixth form college we see the average points score in year 13 and for the GCSE institution we see the % getting 5 A*-C. In both cases we see the results for the preceding 3-5 years.

More specific comments in the school's reference such as "X was without a regular chemistry teacher for a whole term in year 11" or "Y was one of only two students out of a cohort of 50 obtaining A*s in GCSE Latin" are more useful in contextualising GCSE results.

There are other ways too if enhancing her application and showing that she is a self starter. For example oxford runs a lot of essay competitions. She should research the deadlines and see if any interest her. The Christopher tower poetry competition is a good example.

Well it's a poetry competition not an essay competition - but same point applies - and it shows that she is interested in the "craft" of language.

Here you are - these are the competitions.

Many aren't open at the moment but will become open in the next year. Bookmark the page!

Don't know about anyone else, but I am really rooting for this girl now!

If she doesn't give it a go, she'll never know. Nothing to stop her attending the open days, etc. or from applying. I hope she does.

I wonder if she might get more from a classical civilisations type course at a different university though, where the academic staff might be more experienced at bringing on young people who have had less exposure to Latin/Greek, etc.

Would it be worth thinking laterally and investigating Ancient History/Archaeology combinations too?

Would love to know how she gets on - wish her very well - she's obviously worked hard and independently.

Gosh, I had no idea about things like those competitions. Thank you. Hope lots of people are finding this thread useful.

Have sat through various presentations from various Oxbridge admissions tutors.

They are v clear that while they are looking for the brightest and best " we don't care if you have G8 flute and played sport for the school" they do take into account the level of support a school is able to give you. They have all quoted students who had poorer results but were amazing self starters given the school.

If she thinks she would enjoy the course and the collegiate atmosphere, go for it. The fact that her current college is being snotty and she'll have to do it all herself makes her even more interesting.

Go for it, gal.

Well, Oxford runs an ancient civilisations course of some sort, because Gove's special adviser Dominic Cummings did it. And they always used to do Mods B, where you were nit expected to have Etonian level Latin. My crap school didn't know that and prevented me from applying for classics. ( not bitter and twisted after decades, not me, no.)

My son has just graduated from Oxford (physics), and got 6A*, about 4A, a B & a C. He is good at the sciences, poor at English. This is from a reasonable comprehensive - 60 odd % A-C at GCSE. Surely it is not uncommon not to be an all-rounder but very good at your subject. I would definitely encourage anyone with the OPs DCs grades to apply to Oxbridge if they fancy going. Let the admissions people say no, don't rule yourself out!

DS is about to start at Cambridge. His GCSEs were not Oxbridge quality and nor were his first set of ASs (A, C, C, U). He re-did Y12 at a different college and a different set of subjects. Got stellar AS with high UMS the second time around, applied, interviewed, pooled, fished and given a high offer which he duly made. Not a typical profile in other words and he fought a long, hard battle to get either college to give him support.

If your daughter is commited enough to self-teach in the way you describe and she wants to apply, she should do it, whether the school put her in their Oxbridge Group or not. It's always worth calling the Admissions people at Ox and Camb and talking to them directly. The point is, if she wants to go for it, she most certainly should.

It's only one ucas choice out of five, why not give it a go? DS got an interview at Cambridge with 6As and 4Bs at GCSE.

My DD went to a talk by a Cambridge outreach/access person at her comprehensive school. He said that they will overlook gCSE if ASs are excellant. My DD is taking him at his word and is determined to apply if she pulls off excellent ASs.

Your DD's GCSEs are great, especially considering the circumstances. My DD did not do as well but there are some mitigating circumstances but they weren't close enough to the exams to affect the marks (2 serious illnesses, a change of school and really low attendance Y9 into 10). Actually her exam results were great but coursework wasn't!

I think getting too hung up on Oxbridge in year 12 is a mistake. Several of ds's friends were off on open days, blanking out dates for future interviews, aptitude tests etc... and then came the AS results. Much better to keep an open mind about everywhere and concentrate on studies.

I'm quite glad that my DD seems pretty certain she wants to do Elec Eng, not General Engineering, which automatically rules out oxbridge.

When to start thinking about Oxbridge is tricky. On the one hand spending year 12 over-focussing on university applications per se is not good.

But on the other hand, if we want to widen access we have to get students who would not normally consider Oxbridge to do so much earlier.

Sometimes it takes a lot of work to get students to rule themselves in and U6 gives precious little time.